Aug 23 - All about the PEACE Symbol**

Wednesday, August 23, 1972 - Page 236

LOCATION: Bethlehem, South Dakota

Here is the inspiration for the British designer, Gerald Holtom,
who created the Peace Symbol: The Third of May 1808,
an 1814 oil painting by Spanish artist Francisco Goya

(10:30 AM 8/24/1972)
Got up at 9:30, about. Did some work today -- Tom & I loaded the cement blocks into the van, then he, me, Bruce & Joe drove down to the sewer to carry the blocks to the odoriferous tanks and place them on top. Each block weighed a hundred pounds, so we took our time. By the way, yesterday while sawing away on my alabaster, two guys from Pittsburgh showed up. I talked with them an hour or so. I also bought a gold chain from the Gift Shop.

Now -- back to Wednesday. We really had fun working, and we finished by lunch time. I continued work on my [alabaster] chain, broke it, gave up, and started working on the peace symbol pendant Sue wanted (she wanted to buy one of the wooden ones sold in the gift shop, but they're all gone so I made one out of alabaster).

The first Peace Symbol lapel badge (ceramic, 1958)
made for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament

The internationally recognized Peace Symbol was designed by artist Gerald Holtom in 1958. It is a combination of the semaphore signals for N and D, standing for Nuclear Disarmament.

Semaphore symbol for letter N

Semaphore symbol for letter D

Here, Holtom explains how he first got the idea for this logo.

"I was in despair. Deep despair. I drew myself: the representative of an individual in despair, with hands palm outstretched outwards and downwards in the manner of Goya's peasant before the firing squad. I formalised the drawing into a line and put a circle around it."

Hmm. As you can see in the painting at the top, the peasant's hands actually appear up, not downward (No problem. Artistic license can never be revoked.)

It's all finished -- on the back it says "Sue Latka -- U.S. Grade A Gov't Inspected." [That's a joke based on my name, "Grady"]. Everyone was impressed at how well it came out. Bruce finished his cross, but broke a piece off the bottom while sanding it.

After dinner, Bruce & I went to the rock shop in the entrance bldg to get some emery cloth (we had to break into it through the window because it was locked) -- in the rock shop, collected by Jim Jorgenson, is a fantastic collection -- I drooled over the fossils, and Bruce had to pull me away. There were fantastic ammonites, nautiloids, shark's teeth, mammal teeth, coral, crinoid stems, snail shells, arrowheads and stone tools, agates and crystals.

There was a flood control meeting tonight in the Reception Center and lots of people showed up. Bruce, me & Joe got talking, and our discussion became very intellectually stimulating. Joe (Ed's brother) is very bright. He saw my artwork and is going to send me the books of the Famous Artists course. Far out. In the process of our discussion, lasting till 1:00 A.M., my story "The Typewriter" [end of page: continued in next entry]

TOMORROW: Not minding Lawrence of Arabia

May 09 - Major mail delivery

Tuesday, May 9, 1972 - Page 130
LOCATION: Newport Beach, California

12:00 AM
Goddup 'bout 11:00. Got mail at about noon. Got a letter from Soozwol today. Got five dollars when dad came over from a lunch break to drop off the mail (among which was Sooz' letter; vol. 1: Man, Myth, & Magic; a Time-Life Photography book and a Life mag). Today was sunny but too cool to go out so I stayed in, working on my comic collection, making great headway. I'll pro'ly have it out of the way by tomorrow.

That seems to sum up today... let's see... yes, I think that's it... hmmm... that does seem to be all... lemme think... uhuh, I do believe I din't do anything else noteworthy -- oh, the cat got another gopher. I don't know how she got it in, the windows and doors were shut. I tossed the clicking little fellow outside and it escaped safely. Well, that's about it... I think that about wraps it up... no more to put down... hmmm... yep, that's all. 12:08:00 A.M. --- Finis.

Mar 29 - Star Trek merchandise arrives***

Wednesday, March 29, 1972 - Page 89
LOCATION: Newport Beach, California

3:30 PM 3/29/72
ONLY THIS PAGE WILL HAVE TO SUPPORT MARCH 29, 30, & 31 IN THE INTEREST OF PRESERVING ONE SMALL PORTION OF THIS BOOK AS IT WAS BEFORE I MARRED ITS BEAUTIFUL BLANKNESS WITH MY THOUGHTS AND DEEDS. THAT'S CONSERVATION, BUBBY -- NEVER LET IT BE SAID OF ME THAT I NE-

Got up at noon thirty after going to sleep at six. This place has been invaded by tourists. I have no conception of the time changing outside Eyesore Park, but I'd guess we must be in the midst of a holiday of some sort (Easter pro'ly). Took a bath and got the mail and mailed my letters. All the mail was stuff for Mom, but one big envelope was for me -- the Star Trek stuff finally got here. It's about time. I sent for it  forty 5  days ago. I got the IDIC (Vulcan pendant) [Gene Roddenberry crassly inserted this item into a story -- Episode 60: "Is There in Truth No Beauty?" -- merely to have a Star Trek trinket to sell to people like me], the Enterprise charm (22 karat plated), USS Enterprise & Galileo plans, Enterprise & Kirk photos, Gold leatherette insignias (3), insignia decals (8), & seven packets of film clip frames (10 clips in each). RAH!

IDIC = Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations

Dad & Larry came over today -- so Mom got a chance to smoke (Larry however doesn't smoke), and Dad brought a bunch of mail -- for me a couple magazines and the third volume in the TIME-LIFE Photography series. Larry has seen Silent Running. Larry gave Mom her sapeeny [subpoena], or whatever the heck it's called, for the divorce thing -- I guess a third person has to serve it. Dad gave Mom some money, gave me $5, took the typewriter, said he might get me a job at Aeroneurotic [Aeronutronic] for the summer, and the two guys left, after about an hour. I finished eating the Easter Rabbit. Washed the dishes, mounted the Star Trek film clips (72 of them). And closed this here entry for today -- 11:06:54 P.M. FINIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

4:00 PM 3/30/72
Last night at 1:30 A.M. I went for a walk on the hill overlooking the Bay. It was a full moon, and about 45°. I did some exercise, and returned home at 2:30. Got to sleep at six A.M. Got up at 10:45 AM. Went for the mail, and got a letter from Soozwol [Sue Latka]. She's getting pretty chummy. Spring has indeed sprung. I went kayaking (the beach was crawling with beautious bikinied gals - WOW!) and reached the fish infested waters of Back Bay. Left at noon thirty, just got back and Tacosumi (who is in heat) was here with another cat. The surprised beast ran into my bedroom and stationed itself in one corner of the window sill, displacing a couple of encyclopedias residing thereby. For the past ten minutes he's been there, nervously glancing at me, then out the window, and back again. Taco is resting on the floor, apparently concerned, but both of them seem to be calming down due to boredom. To be continued --

A couple minutes later: the Tom cat was relieved that I wasn't hostile. With difficulty, I removed him from behind the lamp and set him outside on top of the cabana roof through the open screenless window. Taco was slightly frantic and I set her beside him. She groaned a little at him. He left shortly -- In the mail there also came The Big Book of Astronomy that LIFE was pushing me to buy. I have it here, so I can find out what kind it is. -- Tis now 4:20:53 P.M.

Three whole days jammed onto one page

[The following note refers to the illustration shown above]

MULLET: The mullets are blunt-nosed, warm-water fishes of both Atlantic and Pacific. They are common in shallow water, where small schools may leap in unison when frightened. Mullets feed on aquatic plants and mud but they sometimes bite on doughballs. A good food fish, they are often netted and smoked. Of several species, the striped mullet is most common; it grows to 2 ft. Tis now 4:39:22 P.M., 3/30/72.

7:00 PM 3/31/72
Incidentally, I shaved my beard yesterday -- it was about four millimeters long. Today is technically good Friday, so things are closed and people are home. Mom didn't have to work today. I got up at quarter to eleven. Got the mail (Popular Photography among it). Found out Pennys was selling Polaroid cameras for 15 dollars with trade in of old polaroid. I went to the bank to withdraw some money but it had closed at noon. So I went to the stationery store and bought fifty envelopes, and fifty return envelopes.

At about 1:30 I went out in the kayak & paddled to back bay. Two fish smashed into the boat and one struck my right shoulder. I threw bread to the birds but they didn't want it. After four hours I paddled back home and returned by a quarter to six. I've gotta write a letter to Soozwol today sometime. Next week Mike & I are riding to Las Vegas on his new Kawasaki. Mom's gone now (7:05:00), out someplace with Lois. Barbara called her. Tomorrow Mom's going to King's for the races -- Chunk is in them -- and Murray is hitching a ride. Time now is 7:06:20. Fini.

Feb 23 - More kayaking misadventures

Wednesday, February 23, 1972 - Page 54
LOCATION: Newport Beach, California

(2:42 AM 2/24/1972)
Last night I retired at the ungodly hour of 10:00 P.M. Awoke at 7:00 A.M. and immediately finished writing the last two pages on Moira, and typed them -- it's 14 pages long, 2,800 words. But that's just the rough draft -- now I have to rewrite it. I washed the dishes, got the mail and mailed the Latka Letter and an order for the Doubleday Time-Life book of Astronomy.

It was cloudy in the morning, and I decided that if it cleared up I'd go out kayaking. Unfortunately, it did clear up, and at 1:30 I staggered down to the bay with the blue down-river boat -- the one that had dunked me three times yesterday. I had determined to master the tippy monster -- after all, it was just a lump of fiberglass, right? It was a mere inanimate conveyance, and I was a man with a clever mind and skilled coordination. It only sank twice -- after that, I gave up. The first time I made it to the raft where I tied it down and sun bathed for an hour or so. The second time I made it to the shore and staggered back home. I took a warm bath to recover my senses. Chunk came over at 5:00 and I went out in Glenn's light blue slalom kayak, and he took the red slalom kayak that leaks alot: "Patch." We started to go around Lido Isle but turned around and returned at 6:00. M & I went to get Fish & Chips for dinner. I went to sleep at 8:00, woke up at 2:30.