Bulletin Board, excerpt

Fear and Trembling

Excerpt from (St. Paul Pioneer Press) Bulletin Board, December 9, 2003

. . . . .

FEAR AND TREMBLING



Poet X of PDX:

"This story usually comes up when talking about movies that are so bad they're good. My favorite example is 'Trog,' one of Joan Crawford's last starring roles. The movie is about a Neanderthal man found in a cave; Joan is teaching him how to be gentle. He escapes or is freed by some town busybody wanting to make trouble and terrorizes the countryside.

"The first time I saw the movie, I was in my early teens and babysitting for the neighbors who lived five houses up the hill in a rural but developed neighborhood. Midnight or 1 in the morning: The adults came home, and I began my walk home in the dark. I heard heavy breathing and decided to run. The breathing got faster and heavier. It was me! (I got home pretty fast, though.)

"I've sometimes thought the phrase 'scared of his own shadow' was invented just for me. I can't count the times my own shadow has, in fact, very much scared me. Why have irrational fears when there are so many real things — even a shadow — to be scared by?"

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