It Wasn’t Fair: Six Years in the Life of Larry B

Abstract

The above is only one of the many songs composed by Larry B. who aspires to become a rock star. Born November 3, 1950, Larry was the first child of the B’s; his father was a mechanic and his mother a laboratory technician at the time, a job she had to abandon to care to Larry. Hyperactive as a toddler, Larry was taken by his mother to a child guidance clinic at the University of Southern California when he was three years of age. He was then diagnosed as having ‘possible minimal brain damage’. He was examined by a number of psychiatrists and psychologists and did not appear to them as retarded although they agreed that he was definitely hyperactive. At approximately $4\frac{1}{2}$ years Larry became verbal and was placed in a special school which attempted to train autistic and emotionally disturbed children. When Larry was 7 he was placed in an elementary school class for the educable mentally retarded although the school psychologist ‘didn’t know if he belonged there’. His hyperactivity caused considerable disruption at school and finally he was allowed to remain through the lunch hour only when his mother agreed to come and supervise him. He somehow made it through the grades, learning to read when he was 8 or 9. When he finished the elementary program he was sent to a Junior High School which did not have an EMR Program but did have ‘lower index’ classes.

I took her out/It wasn’t fair fair fair, Sat by another man in my place/It wasn’t fair fair fair, Took her out/It wasn’t fair fair fair, Bought her a hamburger/It wasn’t fair It wasn’t fair, it wasn’t fair, it wasn’t fair, Sat by another man in my place. Lyric by Larry B.