Doctor D, wearing his Stetson...

Doctor D's Hickory Cane

"The 'hickory stick' he carried was a cane made by an artisan from West Virginia. "Hickory wood is hard, stiff, dense, and shock resistant. There are woods stronger than hickory and woods that are harder, but the combination of strength, toughness, hardness, and stiffness found in hickory wood is not found in any other commercial wood."

~ American Woods 

I would add that it makes an incredible weapon.

******

"Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all" 

~ Aristotle

FROM THE AUTHOR:

I often wonder: Is this Doctor D persona that teaches inside the prisons the real me? Let me explain further. If you ask my family and close friends to describe me, they would probably describe me as an introverted, reserved person. For the last thirty years, I have been a quiet man. For the first thirty years of my life, I did whatever was necessary to survive.

My incarcerated students didn't need a calm, reserved college professor. What they needed was hope, so I gave them what they needed.

I gave them the persona who stood up against the 'wrongness' inside the prisons, regardless of personal consequences. A male role model they saw as fearless and larger than life. A cantankerous old man who carried a hickory stick and wore a funny hat. Someone who treated felons as if they were young soldiers in his personal army. He was a person in authority who defied the rules when they were unjust yet demanded that his students maintain their dignity, self-respect, honesty, and integrity.

I gave them... Doctor D.

*****

The importance of symbols...

I was raised in an unusual manner, different from most children. I was what is commonly referred to as a 'military brat, ' which meant I traveled a lot. My father was a lifer in the US Air Force. Every couple of years, we would pack up and move to another State or another country.

I was constantly being thrust into new schools and new cultures. As a youngster, I was raised in predominantly Eastern cultures. You learn to adapt quickly. You must learn how to judge situations and people accurately to survive. The survival skills I learned as a military brat would help me later in life.

At the tender age of seventeen, I graduated from high school. My frustrated mother eagerly signed the necessary paperwork to allow me to join the U.S. Army. Looking back over my sixty-plus years of life, everything I had done up to this point was preparing me for this final stage of my career. My last stand, my legacy.

I spent a few years (when I was in my early teens) attending school in Austin, Texas. My experience there with a hat also significantly impacted my ability to teach at the prisons.

Some would call that the hand of God. Others would call it Kismet or Serendipity.

No matter your personal beliefs. The sheer number of coincidences occurring during my prison teaching career is overwhelming. This next short story, The Stetson, is about just one of those coincidences.

It is more than just a story about a Stetson from Texas. It is about the importance of- and the need we all have for symbols. That dumb old hat has become a symbol in Northern Ohio prisons.

*****

"The Stetson Catera is a high-quality Fur Felt Hat included in the Stetson Gun Club Collection. The Catera has a teardrop crown with a pinch, and it has a 3 1/4" brim, which slants down in the front and back. The hat has a full satin lining and a leather interior sweatband."                                   ~ www.stetson.com

This is a story about a hat, well, a Stetson, actually.

I was experiencing frustration with one of my classes and taking it very personally. The class was quickly becoming dreary. A long parade of monosyllabic answers with little class participation. This class had zero connection.

I was blaming myself for this failure. This class contained 'return' students. In previous courses, students I had taught before made connecting and building trust much more straightforward. This particular class was comprised exclusively of new students with no prior relationships to rely upon.

Last night, I woke from sleep, sprung upright in bed, and experienced the famous 'aha' moment. I felt like a cartoon character with a lightbulb literally hovering over my head. The solution (as it often is) was very simple. The solution was-

To be continued...

END