Timothy Leary, Dennis Hopper and Me
                        my very first interview for 527 Naked Men

What are you afraid of?  What scares you silly?  
                                                   Rats? Snakes? Politicians?
Me...I've always been terrified of Dennis Hopper.  He's a character acter who specializes in psychos.  I still vividly remember a scene where Hopper mashed over some dude with his bike.  It had a permanent effect on my young mind. And now I begin my tale:

It was day #1 of my interviewing adventure which would become my book, 527 Naked Men & One Woman - The Adventures of a Love Investigator.  My best friend, Sal, had scribbled a list of eight men to start my interviewing caper.  It was up to me to make them want  to be interviewed.  From this starter-list I chose one name - 
Dr. Timothy Leary.   Never having interviewed anyone before, including my ex-husbands, I was naive and up for anything.  I've always been the type who jumps into the deep end of the pool.  I figure it's the best way to learn.

Leary was a professor who lectured in psychology at Harvard and explored psychedelic experiences and experiments; he espoused free-love and was the godfather of the 60's.  Leary was arrested and jailed by G.Gordon Liddy of WaterGate infamy.  Dr. Tim escaped prison, was re-arrested and ultimately released.  He then went on tour with Liddy!  They were now both ex cons with a story to tell.  Leary campaigned for governor of California against Ronald Reagan.  He hung out with an incredible array of names from The Beatles to Black Panther, Eldridge Cleaver.

I arrived at Leary's house full of unearned self-confidence.  His place was located up the road from the Beverly Hills Hotel. Tim was in the final year of his life  and death danced naked before him; yet he was full of piss and vinegar.  This was my first interview for 527 Naked Men.

Leary complimented me on my courage in takng on this daunting task.  "The de-humanizing by males of women and children is the key issue that you should address."  He lit a cigarette with shaky hands.  "It's the number one cause of suffering, illiness and genocide.  It is the pervasive, taken for granted, ever-present, brutalization of women and children by men."

His mind darted like a mouse picking up crumbs  of memory, nibbling on them and then moving on.  I dared not interrupt for fear of his anger which seemed to turn on a whisker.

Someone took our photo as we sat together (see below).  I wished I had known him when he was younger.  He was a pistol.   His memories are strings I must untangle.  Anger loops to pleasant memories, to passion and back to anger, and then tears.

                                            Please visit my blog for the rest of this story.
                                                       Blog.BarbaraSilkstone.com
 

 
Dr. Timothy Leary and Me (shortly before my hair turned red)