Ephemera: Head Injuries
What I talked about on the Rogan Experience
Here’s an overview of the head injury stuff I talked about with Joe Rogan…
He told me that Roseanne Barr had been a cheerful, quiet girl until she’d been hit by a car and woke up a loud comic. Likewise, Rogan cited a famous male comic who was hit by a car and woke up brash and funny. My writing definitely improved after the Friday night a gang of teenagers sucker punched me as I rode home on my bike.
No, I’m not recommending you get punched in the head or hit by a car.
Here’s a good overview of the phenomenon.
I heard somewhere that in pre-historic times, a clan who wanted to record an important event would traumatize a young child (by almost drowning him). The child would then remember everything that happened that day and be able to recount the event for many years. I can't find any evidence to support this theory.
I just got done reading the first 3 short stories in Thom Jones "The Pugilist at Rest" and wow. The stories are tremendous. The combination of head injuries, descriptions, flash backs, head authority, and setting are just spectacular. It reminds me of all the stories my dad told me about the Tet Offensive. How they had to run out to the dead bodies in between human waves to gather the ammo off the warm bodies. How he launched a rocket into a Bus filled with NVA and listened to them scream as the fireball burned them alive. He told me how war is the worst thing we do to each other as human beings and it's part of the reason I joined the Navy instead of the Army.
I'm grateful for my health. I really don't want a head injury. I never wanted to go to war. I hope my writing can measure up to the Titans that went before me.