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IHi WIST GEORGIAN HMUAIt t IHI
10
Susan Driskell
‘Two Heads Are Better Than One’
Have you ever had the oc
casion to meet or speak with one
of the mentally disturbed -
otherwise known as loony,
schizoid, flipped out, bananas? I
have been fortunate not only to
have known one, but to have
actually lived with one for six
months. My former roommate,
Mary Jane King (not her real
name), was * literally and
figuratively - insane!
Today she is majoring in
occupational therapy at a
medical college in Georgia. But
those six months of co-existence
were probably the most un
forgettable of my life. I have
never laughed so hard, cried so
much, been touched so easily.
Mary Jane knew how to enjoy
life because she came so close
to losing it.
She had all of the
qualifications for insanity. Last
summer she did a three-month
Student Thumbs Across U.S.
BY DALE McMICHAEL
How would you like to be
picked up by two hoodlums on a
New York Freeway, asked to
cash bad checks for them and,
in fear for your life, politely say
“no”?
This was what happened to
Jacques Grant, a twenty-year
old junior at West Georgia, and
it was just one of the many
experiences that Jacques and a
friend, Mike Spirks, ex
perienced one summer while
hitch-hiking recently around the
United States.
According to Jacques, the two
men who picked them up were
typical “crooks.”
“There was one big dumb guy
who did all the driving, and the
other was a short smart guy
w ho did the thinking. When they
asked us to cash the checks, we
really didn’t know what to do, so
we just said ‘no’ and they let us
out,” the student said.
Jacques and his friend
traveled the eastcoast, “mostly
staying with friends,’’ up
through New York, to Canada
and back down through
Colorado and Missouri, all the
Dear Debbie Lynn,
I'll be yours
y° u b e m * ne
forever &
WTIV. ever
V \ Happy
1 Aw ( Valentines
Luv,
Ace
Happy V. Day
\Susan & Linda,
"You're all J?
nghf"
stint in Brawner Hospital as a
result of a suicide attempt with
a broken Noxema jar. During
this “vacation,” Mary Jane was
being treated by a Dr. Blood
worth, whom she later jokingly
referred to as “Bloodthirsty.’’
After her release, she continued
to see him weekly, and their
relationship evolved from
therapy to friendship She
would return from these
sessions revitalized.
As far as I could gather, he
provided a proper mix of joy
and advice in those fifty
minutes. The former would be
evidenced as soon as Mary Jane
returned home. Springing
through the back door, she
would sputter, “Did you hear
the one about...?”, and then
trail off into a series of giggles
and cackles, simultaneously
slapping her knee, until she
eventually tumbled from her
way to Louisiana.
Being a music major came in
handy for Jacques. While in
Colorado he played the guitar
for food which saved having to
buy it. The young men spent
less than 100 dollars between
them so food did not always
come regularly.
When asked where they slept,
Jacques replied, “We mostly
slept near intersections, or
under bridges when it rained.
Once we slept in a stand of trees
and when we woke up we found
that we had camped in the
middle of an intersection and
there were people all around
us.”
Jacques also encountered
many people along the way, and
in so doing found “somewhat of
a change” had come over him,
he said. For example, they
hitched a ride with fourteen
people on a bus from Colorado
fe/ ’ALL YOU CAN EAT" \M
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Feb. 19, 1976 I
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chair - rolling around the floor
with tears of laughter spilling
down her cheeks The ritual was
so infectious that I would soon
join her hilarious gyrations,
although I rarely even came
close to hearing a punch line.
“Bloodthirsty’s” advice was
not exhibited quite so strongly,
but the fleeting pensive looks on
Mary Jane's face proved its
existence. After a heavy spell of
depression, he prescribed quite
an unusual treatment for her
He recommended a full bathtub
of very warm water and a bottle
of vintage wine, the wine to be
slowly sipped while she was
immersed in the relaxing
waters. This was a step up from
the bed and orange juice theory
that most doctors advocated
The subject of a bathtub w as a
sticky one with Mary Jane. She
took the emotion of anger into
to a rock festival in Missouri “I
saw a lot of people messed up on
drugs and, though I didn't
realize it then, I really saw the
uselessness in what they were
doing.”
Bom in France, with a father
in the U.S. Air Force and a
French mother, Jacques has
lived in Georgia, New York and
the Phillippines where he plans
to settle after a few years of
travel.
f PAULA, Y V
Ours' is everlasting. I;
\Happy Valentine's Day
\Love,
v Beau Jy
PASQVJALE’S.
her own hands, in the form of a
dozen eggs The cold porcelain
tub would become the vent for
her frustrations as she hurled
the raw eggs forcefully,
methodically into the gleaming
whiteness. Her face contorted,
she would mutter obscenities
with each bomb splattmg upon
its victim. After twelve direct
hits, Mary Jane would calmly
pick up the shells and wash the
broken yolks down the drain
She would emerge from the
bathroom appearing serene and
unruffled.
And then there were her
singing spurts Mary Jane loved
to sing, regardless of the time,
place or company. Her favorite
tune was “Twisted,” as sung by
Bette Midler, which I am quite
sure she used for the effect and
attention, drawing large
quantities of both. 1 could
always predict when the urge
hit, because her eyebrows
raised as she sized up the
situation. Beginning with a
small clearing of the throat, she
would launch into the almost
inaudible but painfully familiar
bars:
“My analyst told me that I
was right out of my head,
He said I’d need treatment.
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that I’d be better off dead
Than alive, I didn’t listen to
his jive,
I knew all along that he was
all wrong.
And I knew that he thought
I was crazy, but I’m not, oh,
n0...”
The last line resounded in a
lilting singsong.
“...to prove that I’ve got the
last laugh on you,
‘Cause instead of one head * I
got two,
And you know two heads are
better than one.”
Then total silence elapsed, as
she savored her momeni of
glory.
If Mary Jane is able to
produce her glorious effect upon
those under her therapy, as she
did upon my life, then maybe
her form of insanity isn't so
crazy after all.
Happy Valentine's Day
Mom
Love, 800 800
mf
All you can eat"