Wow, where to begin.   I guess I'll start with Father (he insisted we call him Father), a wealthy aristocrat that traveled the world in search of fun and maybe a bit of adventure.   This is an early picture of him in the Congo with a couple college frat buddies.  Father tried to sell U.S. SAVINGS BONDS to the desolate peoples of many lands, eventually serving 3 years in prison.   All the time claiming he was the victim, some say he was a bit of a shyster.

Shown on the left is Connie, Fathers first wife (Father had four wives).   Connie was a school teacher in Ethiopia's southern province of Dolo Odo.   Teaching advanced quantum physics to the young ones was her passion. My Father always said that Connie was the love of his life, and had a "round firm bottom to boot".  I only mention Connie because she was eventually murdered for a pair of Converse Air Zoom Excellence sneakers Father bestowed upon her during their courtship (personally I think Adidas is better, but Father was frugal in a cheap kind of way!).   He blamed himself, after all a sensible pair of loafers and she would still be with us.

This is Ma, Father met her in Utah in the early 60's while scrounging for aluminum cans.   Funny, to this day I still have no idea what her name is, but she'll always be Ma to me!   Anyhow, Ma was 20 years younger than Father when they wed. Ma worked at the local slaughter house at night, Father tells me this is where my artistic ability came from.   Ma was a master with a bow knife, she used to ritualistically shave Fathers head until one night she nicked his hairy mole (to her credit she did eventually shave it off).   That is the first and last time Father wept, he had his tear ducts cauterized that night to prevent it happening again.

I'm still embarrassed about my early life in the slums of Detroit.   We went to the private academy early on, roughing it as Father called it.  This was my childhood home, I had to share a room with my sister Lea, she was Evil!