I loved the animated show “Beavis and Butthead” mostly because I identified with the crude smart-asses who starred in it. I wrote a piece once about the show, whose theme seemed to me to be “Because You Are Stupid, You Are Free.” That is crudely put, and not to be literally taken.

But I knew what they meant. And I identified with them. They hated their teachers, and their teachers hated them.  I never did well in any class of any school and was tossed from two colleges. I was not paying attention. I think I was too anxious and distracted to hear anything, a problem that sometimes plagues me still

But there are advantages to being unable to receive information. You are free. Since I knew knew what I was supposed to think – I was bounced out of two colleges – I had no choice but to think for myself. The results were not always pretty, yet I treasure on some level the fact that there was no dogma or canon for me to follow. If I had been paying attention, I would not in a million years have come up to this farm with cows, donkeys, sheep, chickens and goats. Nor written five books (and two children’s books) while living here.

My daughter went to Yale, and Yale always made me nervous, as a visceral outsider and educational ne’er do well. I never saw much evidence that the curriculum had much to do with the planet I was living on. But Emma disagrees. She loved it.

I have to be honest. I don’t think people who think freely would call themselves liberals or conservatives. Labels by definition suggest to me the absence of real thought because why would you want to tag yourself that way? In America, all other points of view are considered differing forms of heresy, and do not appear on the cable scream-a-thons.

When I started taking photographs, I had no idea what I was doing, and am still winging it. If I had taken some classes, I doubt I would have taken a fraction of the kinds of photos I take now. Because somebody would have told me what I was supposed to do – what makes a good photo, what settings to use. And since I didn’t know, I was able to form my own ideas.

There is definitely some Beavis & Butthead in me, a strange thing for a writer and novelist to admit. I am trying to learn now, and make up for lost time, and there are good and wise teachers in my life, but I hope a piece of them remains in my spirit and outlook. Because I am stupid, I am free. Because I don’t know what I’m supposed to think, I occasionally can.