Livin PO in Sandbed HeLL Redux

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Gordon Long, PO, BSAE, MBA, Ph.d. Professor Emeritus Georgia College & State University, University System of Georgia, Milledgeville Georgia. Born at home in Girard, Burke County, Georgia in the middle of the official depression, and while it was not the intent of his family, the depression for his family lasted long beyond what the rest of America endured. What happened for him was the coming together of some global circumstances (Korea), and some strong teaching by some very strong parents, along with many very good and generally well meaning adults in an area which represented much of Georgia at that time.
Conscientiously from about the fourth grade, my major goal was to prepare, and figure out how to get away from grinding poverty even if I didn't know how bad it was. Fortunately PO doesn't have to be synonymous with stupid, and ignorance can be fixed. Girard High School was a very small school, without all the frills of today's schools, was quite thorough. Proving to some extent, a person could get the background to compete and graduate as an Agricultural Engineer at the University of Georgia. One year before graduation, a young Atlanta woman decided she was willing to take a chance on a PO Georgian and after fifty six plus years, she still won't give up. Later, an engineering position as a Mechanical Engineer in Research and Development, and after that a move into the mainstream of business was my agenda. Business promotions and my desire to stay in the South gave the impetus to get an MBA, while in the pipeline for a Ph.D in Marketing at the UGA. Starting the doctoral program at age thirty two, with a wife and two children which later became three was probably one of the biggest risks ever undertaken, particularly since scholarships were very few and far between and also since part of our agreement was without the totally enthusiastic support of the same wife mentioned, since she would return to UGA and finish her first degree as well.
We spent a ton of money she had saved, going back to college with a family. I became a professor at Georgia College, Milledgeville Georgia in June, 1969. Counseling students in Business Administration made it very clear that my successful journey from the sandbeds of Georgia, and some of the good, bad and ugly about getting away was interesting enough to tell. The pathos, humor, poverty, good living, and some bad and some good people, combine to make the book worthwhile reading. Saving for a "Rainey Day" was just a bad joke, it was always monsoon season for the PO. Some who read it will be able to substitute their own earlier circumstances, or maybe understand their parents much better. This may well be a tome on motivation for some who think they are the only one who has ever had it tough!!
Martin Luther King was credited with "Free at Last, Free at Last-Great God Almighty-Free at Last" At age 17, on the train, The Nancy Hanks to Atlanta, that July 6th, 1950 I know I shared the same thought with MLK expressed!!

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