WEBVTT

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As Suzanne indicated,
I was part of that crew

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too at Black's
Gaslight Village when

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we were all students in the Iowa
workshop back in the mid 60s.

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I was in the fiction program.

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Steve was in the poetry program.

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And that was how I knew
him, just because we all

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lived there.

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I have three short
anecdotes to tell.

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I remember Steve's best
friend at the time,

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a kid named Jon Anderson.

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And I remember that they did
a poetry reading together.

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They printed flyers
to announce it.

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But to puncture the possible
self-importance of that,

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instead of saying that Steve
Orlen and Jon Anderson would

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be reading their
poetry, the flyers

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said they would be
breeding their poultry

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at such and such a tiny place.

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It went on to say
both these boys are

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clean cut and under 40.

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Like Suzanne, I have vivid
memories of the pig roast.

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And I also have a photo of
Steve grinning and bare-chested,

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kneeling in the front row
with all the greasy celebrants

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behind him in front
of the pit where

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the pig was being roasted.

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And that is priceless.

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And I'm happy to
have that today.

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And the last thing
I want to talk about

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is the tragic incident,
particularly the suicide.

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But I have something to add
to what Suzanne told you.

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After the young
man killed himself,

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a couple of guys who lived
at Black's Gaslight Village,

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nobody I knew well,
formed the idea

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that yet another resident,
a goofy boy named Clyde,

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was somehow involved in
that apparent suicide.

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Clyde was a strange
and silent character,

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with a manner that
was definitely weird.

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He wouldn't meet your eye.

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He was the outsider
of all outsiders.

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And these two vigilante
guys took it upon themselves

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to hold Clyde responsible
for the death by hanging.

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But Steve Orlen
wouldn't allow that.

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He told them that if they
didn't leave Clyde alone,

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he was going to punch them out.

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And I remember being
terrifically impressed,

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not only by Steve's
physical courage,

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because there were
two of these guys.

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And they were both
bigger than he

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was, but also by his
sense of fair play

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and his readiness to
stand up for an underdog.

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I knew that such
an act of heroism

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would have been miles behind
me and would remain so

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for my whole life.

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But thanks, Steve for
a moral education.

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It's lesson is still with me.

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