{"id":44940,"date":"2012-07-08T16:24:58","date_gmt":"2012-07-09T00:24:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=44940"},"modified":"2012-07-08T16:24:58","modified_gmt":"2012-07-09T00:24:58","slug":"you-know-what-they-say-about-sac-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=44940","title":{"rendered":"You Know What They Say About Sac State?"},"content":{"rendered":"

As I wrote in 2009<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Nineteen eighty was a tough year for me<\/a>. On the afternoon of Yom Kippur 1979, my father delivered a controversial talk before a thousand people at our Seventh-Day Adventist<\/a> Pacific Union College<\/a> (PUC<\/a>) in the Napa Valley questioning the foundational doctrine of the church — choseness<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In January, my parents moved to Washington D.C. so my dad could organize a defense of his views. I stayed behind at PUC<\/a> with friends. I was out of my dad’s shadow and I could have a childhood and do all the things normal kids do such as eat candy and talk to girls.<\/p>\n

I started listening to pop music, tuning in at night to radio stations KNBR<\/a> and KFRC<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In the summer of 1980, my father had his ministerial credentials taken away by the church and he moved to Auburn and set up his own non-denominational evangelical Christian foundation Good News Unlimited<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I was outside the warm bosom of the Adventist community for the first time and I felt desolate. My father said we belonged to the invisible church of Jesus Christ but that did not make for much practical community.<\/p>\n

I went to a non-Adventist school (Forest Lake Christian School<\/a>) and was surrounded by sinners who ate meat and did not keep the Sabbath. In my first semester I failed two classes (Algebra and Spanish) and ended up with a D average.<\/p>\n

My few sources of solace included trips to PUC<\/a> and listening to pop music at night under my pillow (most of my favorite songs are from this time<\/a>).<\/p>\n

I think it was on the powerful Los Angeles radio station KFI<\/a> that I heard my first REO Speedwagon songs.<\/p>\n

I remember us moving into a new home (7955 Bullard Drive, Newcastle, CA, 95658) in 1981. We had eight acres.<\/p>\n

One evening a neighbor had a party in our honor. My ****** wanted to come without a bra but my dad made her go home and change.<\/p>\n

It was a little awkward socializing with the un-churched. I did get into one good conversation that night. It was with Bob McKee. He lived about a mile away. He said his son Kevin, my age, liked a band called "REO Firewagon."<\/p>\n

I became friends with Kevin and hung out at his house. About the only band that we both liked was REO. The other music that I liked he said his mom listened to (Kenny Rogers, Ann Murray, etc).<\/p>\n

I ADD NOW: I spent many hours talking about sports with Bob McKee (who worked in California’s prison system). He was like a substitute father figure for me. He said I knew more about sports than any other kid he knew. <\/p>\n

After I graduated from high school in 1984, I didn’t see much of Kevin and his dad.<\/p>\n

I do remember one conversation I had with Bob circa 1986. I said I was planning on transferring from Sierra College to Sac State<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“You know what they say about Sac State?” he said.<\/p>\n

“No,” I said.<\/p>\n

“Somebody has to go there,” he said.<\/p>\n

I was stung by his words and determined to instead go somewhere prestigious, perhaps UC Davis. A few months later, I settled on UCLA.<\/p>\n

When I had to move home because of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in 1989, I rarely saw the McKees. I did invite myself over to their home for the epic Dallas-San Francisco football game<\/a> in January 1993.<\/p>\n

I babbled about Dennis Prager. Bob said he saw something by him in the newspaper about homosexuality. <\/p>\n

I think that was our last conversation.<\/p>\n

I can’t find him online. I can’t find Kevin either.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As I wrote in 2009: Nineteen eighty was a tough year for me. On the afternoon of Yom Kippur 1979, my father delivered a controversial talk before a thousand people at our Seventh-Day Adventist Pacific Union College (PUC) in the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[19917,19914,12212,7367,29470,29471],"class_list":["post-44940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-personal","tag-foundational-doctrine","tag-ministerial-credentials","tag-newcastle-ca","tag-reo-speedwagon","tag-reo-speedwagon-songs","tag-sac-state"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t