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(I'm about to turn 50) My mother used to talk about the fear she and her friends had talking about certain subjects during the McCarthy era -- and mind you, my mother has always been a registered Republican. Her father, my grand, used to march myself and my twin brother around the living room with his viola having us sing; "You won't get me, I'm part of the union" and other british- scots-welsh-irish union/labor/rebel songs. He had been a member of the british socialist party in his youth, a labor organizer, and had lived in Russia for a while during the years following WWI. Sunday dinners were interesting (to say the least) --my grand would belch, snap the rubber bands holding his sleeves up, and say things like, "Mugsie, remember the queen was born with a bare arse too." and My Mother would fly into rages about teaching her children things which would only get them in trouble here (meaning the states). Aside from her upwardly mobile aspirations which my grandfather scorned, she was terribly afraid one of us kids would spout the wrong thing in public and the whole family would be blackballed. So after a while, my grandfather would take me and my brother for walks in the woods (on the easternmost end of LI) and sit us on logs and tell us about the great Russian revolution and swear us to secrecy where my mother was concerned. I think my mother blames him, in part, for what she sees as my still recalcitrant life style and opinions. maggie coleman mscoleman at aol.com