Turns out there were some major events that are like parenthesis in my life.
Beginning parens: The Summer I arrived at the University of
Chicago at age 15, was two months after the first improvisational theater was
developed. I didn’t know that. Improv has been a big and joyful influence
in my life. Every time I get an
unsolicited phone call I use the opportunity to practice my improv. I had previously given Keith Johnstone
credit for creating improv. I took a
class from him many decades ago.
Ending parens: The last year I was at Chicago I had a dramatic experience with my girl friend who got kicked out of her Catholic family home and had to stay in my apartment with me and my roommate. The next semester my roommate passed on the story to his new roommate, a grad student in English, Philip Roth. The story of my girl friend and I became the lead story in Roth’s first book Goodbye Columbus.