[godfry n. glad]

I was a pencil-necked geek in high school. I even had a pocket protector. I grew a beard (goatee) my sophmore year in high school. I grew my hair out to shoulder length, too. Since I went to a public all-boys' polytechnic, and it was 1969, it was a big deal and I had to cut my hair (for shop safety). However, there were no rules about facial hair, so my junior year, I grew a full beard and kept my hair length within expected norms (fighting the dress code the entire way). It got me exiled to study hall. My senior year, I got disgusted with the arbitrary authority wielded by the principal and took my bearded honors-student self to another, and experimental, high school. I didn't cut my hair for three years.

During my college years, I lived in flaired denim Levis, chambray work shirts, and Hush Puppy desert boots. The summer of '73, I took a job where I had to shave my beard off. The job lasted two weeks; after that I grew the beard out again. During the clean-shaven time, I felt naked and cooler than usual and even fairly close friends didn't recognize me until I opened my mouth and said something.

After college, I got an desk job in a central city business non-profit. I didn't shave, but I started wearing suits and ties (aka "leashes"). That lasted as long as that job. I would return occasionally to sports jackets and ties while trying to tack down a full-time teaching job.

In 1980, I went clean shaven again for a summer, this time for a role in "A Midsummer Night's Dream". Again, I felt naked and cold for at least a month. And, once the play was over, I grew the beard back and haven't been clean shaven since.

I like my spectacles and consider them a basic part of my image. These days, I live in khaki trousers and teeshirts (usually from travel destinations)...at work, at home, at play.

Prior to my wife's death, I had lost about 50 of the pounds I'd gained since leaving college. That's where I was when I did the "across Asia" gig. Since returning, I've put 30 of those pounds back on. I liked it at the lighter weight and actually got some compliments from co-workers on my success....but the bottom line is I'm disgustingly lazy, particularly about exercise.