My Autobiography: A Report

Photo: Joan Greenfield

Following is the latest draft of the Preface, Introduction, and Table of Contents for my autobiography.  I would appreciate your feedback.

For the Preface and Introduction, I was guided by “What’s the Difference Between a Foreword, Preface, and Introduction?”, in which Donald Bastian states:

In a preface an author explains briefly why they wrote the book, or how they came to write it. They also often use the preface to establish their credibility, indicating their experience in the topic or their professional suitability to address such a topic. Sometimes they acknowledge those who inspired them or helped them....

If a preface is about the book as a book, the introduction is about the content of the book. Sometimes it is as simple as that: It introduces what is covered in the book. Other times it introduces by setting the overall themes of the book, or by establishing definitions and methodology that will be used throughout the book.

Reviewing my letters to my mother, typing excerpts, and making notes has been very time-consuming. I was getting stressed about how much time it was taking, for I had in the back of my mind a deadline for finishing the book. I was hoping to complete it by March 31 so I could take a road trip throughout the United States in April and May with the book behind me. 

I want to meet with old friends and people I’ve gotten to know through the Internet in order to discuss whatever questions are on my mind at that time. I may want to explore with them the possibility of forming a new national (or global) network of like-minded people committed to compassionate action who could support one another in their efforts.

I believe I also had a fantasy in the back of my mind that the autobiography would be so good and quickly gather so much attention, it would boost my other efforts. But that is unlikely, especially by March 31.

Now I’ve dropped that March 31 deadline and plan to simply make the book as good as possible regardless of how long it takes, while still pursuing my other interests while I write. I can post chapters on the Web as I finish them and maybe slowly grow my circle of friends that way.

I really want to explore the States this spring, a great time of year for that. And I need to fully review the correspondence, journals, and other documents I brought with me in order to make the autobiography as good as possible, and I don’t know how long that will take. So I’ll play it by ear, type only excerpts from my papers that seem compelling and might fit in with the flow of the text (without constantly introducing them with phrases like “As I wrote in a letter to my mother”), and finish chapters after I’ve reviewed relevant documents.

So now I’m more relaxed and look forward to enjoying my work more, without feeling pressured by a deadline.

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Wade’s Autobiography

Preface

When I’ve told stories from my life, others have often been intrigued and at times amused. A friend recently told me, “You are one of a kind.” When I shared an early draft of this preface with some friends, one responded, “The list of accomplishments … is very moving and inspiring, and reflects your exceptional sense of integrity.  You should be proud, Wade!”

So, I decided to tell my full story, which includes many dramatic moments, including close encounters with death and numerous stories that are humorous. 

Without strong encouragement from others, I would never have taken on this task. Normally I’d be too self-conscious. In particular, the following individuals have encouraged me to write this book:

• Michael Larsen, long-time literary agent;
• David Robbins, retired English Literature professor who greatly influenced me when I was a freshman and he was a graduate student;
• Leonard Roy Frank, editor of the Random House Webster’s Quotationary who has been a dear friend for more than 40 years and knows me very well;
• Roma Guy, founder of the Women’s Building in San Francisco with whom I have collaborated off and on for 40 years;
• Sharon Johnson, former legislative aide to Supervisor Harry Britt and Assemblyman John Burton, who has known me and my work for almost 40 years, and;
• Numerous subscribers to Wade’s Weekly, where I posted early drafts of several chapters. 

Thanks to their encouragement, at the age of 69, in mid-October 2013, I brought correspondence, journals, and other documents with me to the north coast of the Dominican Republic to begin writing this autobiography, while posting chapters on Wade’s Bio as they were written.

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As a young child, I lived with little indoor plumbing on a small farm outside Little Rock, where my grandfather molded me into a Little League super-star and my mother, a rare White anti-racist in Arkansas, taught me the Golden Rule and other spiritual precepts. At seven, we moved to Dallas, where my father managed a theater in an African-American ghetto. 

When I was fourteen, my grandfather suffered a stroke after getting agitated watching me play baseball and died that night, for which I felt responsible. 

The next year I discovered the Dallas Public Library and an exciting world of new ideas, especially the works of Bertrand Russell, H.L. Menken, Thomas Paine, Voltaire, and other iconoclasts. Steeped in the Radical Right orthodoxy that dominated Dallas, most of my high school teachers did not appreciate my free thinking. 

In 1960 every junior was required to take a course on Anti-Communism, which prompted me to go to the University of California at Berkeley – after I persuaded my mother to support my decision by giving her an offer she could not refuse.

In less than two months, the Cuban Missile Crisis frightened the whole world and I went to my first political demonstration. 

At my student co-op where I ate meals, two graduate students introduced me to contemporary theologians who translated fundamentalist Christian myths into language that made sense to me.

My second semester I discovered Bob Dylan, whose music affected me profoundly and has inspired me ever since, and I heard James Baldwin speak on campus, which left me with tears rolling down my face. I proceeded to read everything Baldwin had written. 

Early the next year I became immersed in the civil rights movement and thereafter many movements associated with the Sixties, including anti-war, black liberation, women’s liberation, sexual liberation, gay liberation, the counter-culture, and People’s Park.

In 1967 I dedicated my life to organizing “communities of faith, love, and action” and studied theology for two years at the Pacific School of Religion, where I co-conducted “A Sort Of Modern-Day Dionysian Rite” in the chapel and helped organize the New Seminary Movement, which led to me being expelled by the President, only to be reinstated by the Board of Trustees.

In 1969, I moved to San Francisco to work as an intern minister at Glide Church and its National Sex and Drug Forum, whose methods included showing social-service workers erotic and pornographic movies. 

While demonstrating nonviolently in support of the Black Panther Party during a police raid on their Los Angeles office, the police beat me severely and charged me with felonious assault on a police officer, resulting in convictions on two misdemeanors.

Following my Glide internship, I decided to stay in San Francisco and do community organizing with no official credentials. My first project was the Alternative Futures Community, which conducted weekend marathon Urban Plunges addressing women’s liberation, gay liberation, racism, and the need for radical political action.

I then had a very bad LSD trip that lasted for months and landed me in two mental hospitals, including one in Dallas where I had worked as an orderly. My therapist was my former boss who had become a friend in the interim.

After I recovered, I initiated or co-founded a number of community-based projects focused on a variety of issues, including men’s  liberation, alternatives to psychiatry, public transit, food coops, a low-income housing coop, job creation, a neighborhood cultural center, national antipoverty policy, and corporate power. In addition, I participated in efforts initiated by others focused on issues like rent control and high-rise development, as well as anti-war campaigns, including reporting from Baghdad during the U.S. invasion.

These efforts resulted in some victories, some unplanned benefits, and other resounding defeats. Through it all, I kept plugging away, addressing unmet needs, and planting seeds. I feel I’ve done my best and more than my fair share.

I then took a break to step back and reevaluate the “progressive movement” with which I had identified. With others, I co-convened a series of Strategy Workshops, two Compassionate Politics Workshops, and a workshop on “the holistic Gandhi-King Three-fold Path,” which integrates personal, social, and political growth.

These efforts led me to self-publish two books that are posted on the Web – Economic Security for All: How to End Poverty in the United States and Global Transformation: Strategy for Action – and three booklets, Promoting the General Welfare: A Campaign for American Values, The Compassion Movement: A Declaration, and Baghdad Journal. Since October 2010 I’ve published a blog, Wade’s Weekly.

The consistent thread in my life has been the pursuit of truth, justice, and beauty – that is, get a better handle on what is true, work politically to improve public policies, and enjoy life, which has included being awestruck at the wonder of the life force that energizes and structures the universe (which some call God) as well as the healing power of music. 

With Jesus, I’ve wanted to love my neighbor and myself. With Buddha, I’ve tried to avoid both selfishness and self-sacrifice. I’ve taken care of myself so I can better serve others.

This journey recently led me to go beyond the artificial left-right division into which our society tries to pigeonhole us. I now embrace “conservative” values as much as I embrace “liberal” values. Efforts to destroy the federal government are a perversion of conservatism. I do not believe that individuals can logically be placed on one left-right continuum. 

I affirm compassionate politics, look at each issue independently, and analyze what works best to serve the general welfare, regardless of whether it serves some pre-determined ideology. And I believe political activists must pay attention to how we treat people and work constantly to improve ourselves inwardly so we achieve more outwardly.

Partly because I’ve been so focused on my community work, I’ve never been married and have no children, though I’ve had numerous rewarding intimate relations with women and one of the children I helped raise, Brandon Faloona, named his first son Azure Wade, which is very heartwarming. 

Humanity is my family. One lover who left me three times only to return and is now a friend calls me Wade “Save the World” Hudson. I miss not having children, but for every loss there is a gain.

For money, after hustling money from foundations for twenty years, I decided in 1987 to drive taxi part-time, which left me free to do whatever community work I wanted to do while living simply. In 2000, I became an owner of my own taxi permit, which provides me with a comfortable income.

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I write this book to:

• Tell some entertaining stories. We all need entertainment.
• Share lessons I’ve learned that others might find useful. Over the years, my perspective and ways of operating have shifted, hopefully for the better.
• Help liberate myself from fears associated with being honest. I find that the more transparent I am, the more easily I can be transparent. Writing this autobiography and sharing it publicly has assisted with this ongoing liberation.
• Connect with like-minded individuals with whom I might collaborate in the future. By articulating my convictions fully, illustrating them with interesting stories, and distributing them, I hope to find more people who are committed to supporting one another with their personal growth, community building, and political action.

Regardless, I welcome your feedback.

Wade Lee Hudson

                                                                                                         Date

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Introduction

Each chapter addresses a particular theme such as Mother, College, Politics, Work, Sex, and Love, flows chronologically, and begins at a point in time later than the previous chapter.

The bulk of each chapter simply tells the story of what happened, what I thought at the time, and how I felt about it. At the end of each chapter I share some current reflections on those events.

Quotes from my letters, journals, and other documents are inserted in the text. To avoid disrupting the flow of the story, these quotes are indented without repetitive introductory phrases like “As I wrote in a letter to my mother.” The source is indicated in small type at the bottom of each quote.

In the final chapter, Reflections, I reflect on my life as a whole.

In the Epilogue, I issue an invitation to readers to let me know if they are interested in participating in the new project that is described there.

Readers are encouraged to post comments at http://www.wadesbio.org or send a personal email to wadeATwadehudsonDOTnet. Corrections, alternative perspectives, and personal responses to my characterization of individuals are especially welcome. I particularly welcome comments from people who object to what I say about them (I tried to share drafts with everyone I could contact in order to enhance fairness and accuracy.)

I’ll respond to comments when I can and will correct and update the Web version when needed. The title of each chapter will indicate the date of the latest revision.

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Contents

1. Mother

2. Daddy

3. Spirituality

4. Baseball

5. Schooling

6. Friendship

7. Books

8. Work

9. Sex

10. College

11. Politics

12. Music

13. Psychiatry

14. Esalen

15. Drugs

16. Love

17. Glide

18. Madness

19. Massage

20. Blackjack

21. Tenderloin

22. DC

23. Taxis

24. Mexico

25. Reflections