From: ibshambat@gmail.com

The person who introduced St. Stephen's School to me was a man named Jack Kennedy, who looked quite a lot like Michael Dukakis. He showed me their spacious library, and I said that the library being so spacious was a waste of material. This set the tone
for what was going to be – and remains – a sometimes rankorous but mutually fulfilling relationship.

Everyone had to wear a coat and tie. My mother got me a clip-on tie. When a kid on the van pulled on my tie, it came off, to a huge chorus of laughter.

Many kids thought that I was rude and obnoxious. Then of course there was the little issue of me not at that time believing in God. When someone asked me if I believed in God, I said no. So he said, “Do you believe in Satan?” Of course I did not
believe in either at the time.

My Latin teacher was a brilliant and flamboyant man named Hughlings Himwich. He thought highly of me, and he became influential in my life on matters far exceeding Latin. When he saw me recite my poetry, he decided that there was promise in it. He
coached me for a long time. The final outcome of that was me reciting my poetry before 1500 people and getting a standing ovation.

Some students thought that I was very smart, and others that I simply had a big ego. There were some who tried to claim that my academic intelligence was worthless, and that the only thing that mattered in life was social skills and common sense. Of
course there is a need for both. You want academic intelligence in a doctor or a scientist, and you want social skills and common sense in a lawyer or a salesman. I did not know how to deal with such arguments at the time, but in my adult life I found
ways to reconcile these perspectives. But for a long time I was confused.

One perspective I got that I did not have previously came from a teacher named Douglas Adams. He told me that relationships with people are more important than doing well in academics. Once again, the correct response is that there is a need for both
relationships with people and intelligence. At that time I did not believe in that. I have learned this from life later.

There were however times when I did practice social skills. While at an academic competition I engaged a group of people and entertained them. A girl called my room, only to have another student tell her that I was pissing all over the floor. Some people
could not believe that. When Mr. Himwich told that to my mother, she said, “Of course I realize you are joking.”

I made friends with a tall fellow named Val who also was an excellent student. He was a humanitarian at heart, and he would befriend people who were pariahs. We were working on a project for a class, and when he saw me acting selfishly he said, “You
will get an A for yourself, all of us would get a C as a team.” This left an impression on me. Here was someone who was of my age but who actually made sense.

Not everything that the students did was right. Some of them played on me quite dirty tricks. One time my classmate asked me to come up to a girl and tell her that she had a sweaty cunt. There were others who claimed that I was going to become a trash
man. One day I was in a van riding toward a party, and someone told me, “This is the most fun that you will ever have.”

Through the Latin competitions I made friends with a girl named Meredith. She was smart and very good-looking, and her mother was happy to see me and her make friends. We would talk for a long time on the phone, discussing our insights and various social
and philosophical issues. She was opinionated but also respectful and compassionate. She admired my intellectual achievements and was apparently partial to nerds, as her boyfriend after me was one as well.

The following summer St. Stephen's School hosted a Soviet-American Youth Summit. Two dozen students from the Soviet Union came to America after winning writing prizes from an American political organization called Youth Ambassadors International. The
press favored me and put my picture with Oregon Senator Mark Hatfield into Washington Times. We went to Pentagon and to the National Science Association building in Washington. The Russian-speaking audience exploded in laughter when a Chinese person said
that they called Gorbachev “Old Man Gor.”

I attended the Jewish summer camp again, and this time I was better received. I was once told by a counselor on the bus that I will ride in the back, to which I responded, “In a bag?” People were no longer being nasty to me, and the experience was a
wholesome one. As a result I grew to respect American Jews. Eventually I also learned to respect American Christians.

More at https://sites.google.com/site/ilyashambatbiography

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