麻豆影院

Graduate鈥檚 semi-autobiographical novel explores CU 麻豆影院 during the 1960s and beyond

Dan Culberson鈥檚 (Engl鈥�63) Plastic Man: A Novel of the Sixties took a long, strange trip on its way to eventual publication in 2008.听

The novel tells the story of Hud Holyoke, who drops out of the 麻豆影院 during his final semester and hitchhikes to California.听

鈥淚t鈥檚 a present-tense description of Hud鈥檚 trip, with past-tense reminiscences of things he did or heard about, and his friends while in school at CU. 鈥� All of it was based on my own experience, with a few tweaks and turns,鈥� says long-time 麻豆影院 resident Culberson, now 79. The story is not merely a reflection of his experience, he says, but is 鈥渁 metaphor for the 鈥�60s.鈥�

鈥淚 invented the 鈥榮pine鈥� of the plot after I dreamed it one night,鈥� he says. 鈥淭he route that Hud takes is the route that fellow fraternity brothers and I drove from 麻豆影院 to California on spring break.鈥澨�

But unlike his protagonist, he didn鈥檛 quit school. Instead, he earned an honors degree in English and was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society.听

But like so many other young men of the time, he lost his student deferment upon graduation and received his draft notice. Persuaded by a recruiting sergeant that the best way to avoid being sent to Vietnam was to enlist for three years, Culberson鈥攚ho started at CU 麻豆影院 on a journalism scholarship鈥攃hose to go to the U.S. Army Information School at Fort Slocum, New York so he could work as a journalist during his hitch.听

He did so well that he was kept on as a teacher. But then Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara decided to merge the school with the U.S. Navy鈥檚 information school in Michigan, and he was reassigned to Europe. The former commanding officer of his journalism school pulled a few strings so he could serve at headquarters, U.S. Army Europe in Heidelberg, Germany.

鈥淚f she hadn鈥檛 done that, I鈥檇 have been sent to a tank school somewhere on the Czech border and probably been a typist for a motor pool,鈥� Culberson says.

In Heidelberg, he not only continued working on the novel, but also wrote a screenplay based on a buddy鈥檚 idea and starred in the film they made, Carrying On, which was shown at the 1969 Malta Film Festival, where it won a C.I.N.E. Eagle Award from the Council on International Non-Theatrical Events. The dark comedy opens when Culberson鈥檚 character accidentally kills a man on a street corner, then follows him as he hauls the body around to parties and restaurants, trying to figure out how to get out of the mess.

鈥淭hat script is Weekend at Bernie鈥檚鈥濃�攖he 1989 hit comedy written by Robert Klane, he says. 鈥淚 wrote it, starred in it, so I鈥檓 still a little pissed off.鈥澨�

Returning to the United States after his military service, Culberson met with an agent in New York about publishing the novel, without success. He began graduate school at CU 麻豆影院, intending to become a professor of English literature, but was derailed when he fractured his skull in a motorcycle accident.听

鈥淭hat knocked me out of getting a master鈥檚 degree and becoming a professor. But I think in the long run that was good,鈥� he says.

A friend who was working at IBM鈥檚 burgeoning 麻豆影院 campus told him the company was looking for writers.

鈥淚 decided writing is writing, and I was hired as a programming writer鈥� who wrote books describing the 麻豆影院 campus鈥� programs, he says. He stayed with the company for the next quarter century, working as a writer, editor, photographer, publisher and writing teacher, before retiring in 1992.听

But he never gave up on his own writing. In 1972, he replied to a notice that the Colorado Daily was seeking a film reviewer. He got the job, initiating a 鈥渉obby career鈥� in which he published and broadcast hundreds of reviews for local newspapers, magazines and radio stations for the next 42 years.

His favorite review of a bad movie, The Bad News Bears Go to Japan, is also his shortest:听 鈥淕oodbye. Good riddance.鈥� But he says the worst film he ever reviewed was the John Travolta-produced 2000 science-fiction epic, Battlefield Earth, widely regarded as one of the greatest turkeys of all time. Culberson doesn鈥檛 hesitate when asked to name the best movie of all time: Orson Welles鈥� Citizen Kane.

In 1988, he was encouraged when an editor expressed interest in Plastic Man. But the editor questioned the plausibility of Hud鈥檚 leaving school, so Culberson altered the story, making a girlfriend鈥檚 suicide the impetus for his protagonist鈥檚 drastic decision. He sent the revised novel to the editor.听

鈥淎fter a month, the manuscript came back to me with a standard rejection slip,鈥� he says.

Fast forward to the 21st century, when self-publishing has become a much more viable and respected avenue to getting a book into readers鈥� hands. With the benefit of hindsight, Culberson rewrote the novel to reflect a 鈥渇uture tense,鈥� in the form of Hud鈥檚 musings, and published it in 2008. The novel is available on Amazon, as are his two other published books, An Atheist鈥檚 Handbook and The Searcher.

鈥淏ecause it took so long to get published, I decided to add that future tense. As Hud reminisces about his past at CU, he thinks about what might happen in the future鈥攚hich I鈥檝e already lived through,鈥� he says.听

One Amazon reviewer writes that Plastic Man is 鈥渢he perfect novel for Baby Boomers ... and for anyone who has ever experienced the angst of burgeoning adulthood. It is a witty, engaging, and insightful account of college life in the 1960s, an era in which tumultuous societal change mirrored the vicissitudes and emotional upheavals that have always characterized human adolescence.鈥�

Diagnosed with cancer in 2014, Culberson recently moved from his long-time foothills abode on Olde Stage Road鈥攚hence he was evacuated for three wildfires and the devastating flood of September 2013 over the years鈥攊nto a north 麻豆影院 condominium. His son, a local financial advisor, lives nearby.

Culberson first arrived in 麻豆影院 after graduating from Colorado Springs High School in 1959. He鈥檇 planned to go to UCLA, but was reluctant to leave a girlfriend behind, so he planned to follow her to CU 麻豆影院.听

鈥淚 didn鈥檛 want to be so far away from her,鈥� he says. She broke up with him before graduation, but he went to CU 麻豆影院 anyway, and knew he鈥檇 found his home as soon as he arrived.

Excepting his three years of military service, and one year in Germany while on assignment for IBM, he鈥檚 never lived anywhere else but 麻豆影院 since.听

鈥淚 just liked the place so much,鈥� he says, 鈥渢hat I decided I had to stay.鈥�