I’ve long had a theory that people are best-acclimated to the weather they were first exposed to.<\/p>\n
For example, when I left the hospital it was 25 degrees below zero.\u00a0 I rarely button my jacket if it’s above 10 degrees, and love the winter (commuting and getting kids to school aside); the dog days of summer pretty much incapacitate me if I’m not violently and constantly physically active.<\/p>\n
Dad, on the other hand, was born in the hottest summer in history.\u00a0 The temperature stayed in the 120s in central North Dakota during that year, the height of the dust bowl.\u00a0 And Dad, as long as I can remember, was immune to heat; on a 95 degree day he could play five sets of tennis, have a cup of iced tea, and knock out 18 holes without breaking a sweat.\u00a0 Of course, if it got below 40 degrees, he’d start like a Fiat, but them’s your tradeoffs.<\/p>\n
Of course, heat resistance is a thin claim to fame.\u00a0 Dad has more claims, naturally.\u00a0 Here’s a good story.<\/p>\n
In 1986, I was working at KSTP.\u00a0 I was producing “The Company Challenge”, a lame game show at the Criterion, a bar\/restaurant in Bloomington. \u00a0 During the break the host, Mike Edwards, phoned out to the studio.<\/p>\n
“Hey, Mitch – there’s a couple of guys here who’re asking if you’re related to a Bruce Berg who taught English in Rugby, North Dakota in 1960”.<\/p>\n
“Yep”, I responded.<\/p>\n
“Ah.\u00a0 They say he was the best ever…”<\/p>\n
He was the best high school teacher anyone ever had; everyone in Jamestown ND either had him in class, and\/or had kids who had him, and\/or had parents who’d had him.\u00a0 Sometimes two out of three (although Dad claims to have had no three-generation families), and everyone says he was the best ever.\u00a0 Including me.<\/p>\n
His signature subject was speech, which he taught as long as I can remember.\u00a0 He took generations of scared, stage-shy kids and turned them into capable public speakers – and took at least one born ham and taught him some technique and love of the genuine aesthetics of the subject.\u00a0 Everyone should have such a speech teacher.<\/p>\n