I Always Won the "Big Hat Contest"


Here's the 1st post I ever made here :
Saturday, August 26, 2006
"NO MATTER WHERE YOU GO....THERE YOU ARE"

The only thing I learned in college.

I had a work study grant in college. 3 days a week I worked in the ceramics lab with George Soco. George had been tricked into coming to Texas Tech by the administration there. George wasn't happy about that. They promised him a modern lab to teach glass blowing to grad students, he ended up in the government surplus barracks teaching education majors ceramics.

Everyday when I showed up, my first duty was to ride my bike to the student union and get Prof. Soco 5 packs of Marlboro green 100's. Then my day could begin. On days we emptied the kilns after a firing, he would stand by wearing a big asbestos glove. Should a particular ash tray or coffee cup catch his eye, he would step forward, take the offending object, and hurl it across the court yard into the barracks wall that contained offices of other art profs. The pile of broken bisque ware was 3 feet deep.

In the late April of 1970, while sitting in a biology lecture, something snapped in my head and I got up, rode my bike to the administration building and dropped out of Texas Tech. I was bound for Colorado. When I went by the ceramics lab to say good-bye Prof. Soco said the following:

" Bob, if you forget everything I've taught you remember this....No matter where you go, there you are."

About my garb .... The hat band is bead work, and hand sewing on black deerskin. The shirt is brand new. Mule deer with brass buttons. Chaps are moose hide, they're the nicest pair I ever made. They had brass zippers and Buffalo Nickels on the pockets for fasteners.