Bio-Vlog

We step from Douglas’ car, I case my cards and place them in my bag. There is the hint of a past rain. The smell of mold is pervasive, “That could mean trouble for an asthmatic like me.” The Tijuana karate school is a dirty, dilapidated, graffiti-peppered cement-block building with no windows. Douglas and I…

Douglas continues, “Sensei Murphy is in combat with the bear-size man. “Sensei, with a grand heave of his body, swung the bear around and clamped his teeth onto the bear’s nose. This was an incredulous, action-movie moment that, in retelling seems exaggerated. Yet it happened, and it was jaw dropping. Onlookers stood wide-eyed as Sensei,…

“Again at my table are Glen and Bernelle Hansen, both of whom started performing with Richard in 1972.Bernelle, as the Lamb’s Player’s stage manager did you have concerns with a visually impaired actor that would go to Tijuana and fight?” Bernelle says mildly, with a touch of concern. “Jon, yes! The fact that Rick had…

“The bear was undeterred. He shrugged, violently shoved his way past Murphy, quickly turned around, and threw a sucker punch towards Sensei’s face. Sensei blocked the blow, and then countered by slamming his conditioned, rock hard knuckles against the side of the bear’s skull, and the punch was perfectly planted. The bear’s head bucked to…

John Douglas explains, “The grocery store where Sensei Murphy works as a meat cutter is in a rough part of town. Whenever trouble erupts, the manager always summons his black-belt fighter. On one occasion, a customer was spotted trying to steal a bottle of whiskey. Once alerted Sensei confronted the thief. Sensei calmly warned the…

It’s 1971, three months from my seventeenth birthday, and I’m scared and extremely apprehensive as I’m nervously over-hand stacking cards while traveling with a karate fighter name John Douglas. We are headed to his teacher, Sensei John Murphy’s karate dojo in Tijuana, Mexico. I realize that the beginning of training will be rough. I’m very…

After the funeral of my sister Debra, my ears are filled with an eerie revelation that gives my heart solace and assuredness.  Debra’s girlfriend Simonette says to me softly and reverently, “As Debra and I were walking home from school,” she pauses, “on that fateful day, Debra turned and handed me her Bible. She said…

As the funeral arrangements for my sister Debra are being made, my parents are discussing whether to have an open or closed casket. Since Debra’s body was dragged under the car over one hundred feet and mutilated, they decide to keep the casket closed. As we sit behind a side curtain reserved for the family,…

My father and Mother arrive home. My Dad lacks his usual up-beat character, and his demeanor is very grim. He lifts his head and his dim eyes are filled with tears. The odd thing is my Mother isn’t shedding any tears and says nothing.  “What’s going on?” I ask sensing something dreadful I don’t want…

I am sharing my rebellious life with a friend from church. We are pleading for God to show me how to heal my depleted body and provide me with lucid direction. As we talk and pray, the telephone rings. “Hello.” I say.  It is the police, and they want to talk with my parents. The…

The same week I start going to church, Debra and her girlfriend Simonette both dye their light hair black, run away from home and I’m concerned they are being sexually abused.  When Debra finally returns, I breathe a sigh of relief; she is safe and, when I see her, I wrap my arms around her…

I know I need to change my habits or I’m gonna be killed or die. I move closer to the three blurs and the woman says mildly, “I’m Rita. This is Bob and his brother Jim. She faces me and asks, “And what’s your name?  I say, “Rick.”  Jim says cheerfully, “I’ve seen you around…