American actor and singer, Michael Dunn (born Gary Neil Miller) arrived on this date in 1934 in Shattuck, Oklahoma. When he was four, his family moved to Dearborn, Michigan. Parents Jewell and Fred championed his right to live and develop openly, as part of mainstream life, defying repeated pressures from school authorities to send him to a school for disabled children. An early reader, he was a champion speller, showed an early aptitude for the piano, and developed a lyric baritone and was given to crowd-drawing impromptu public performances even while just waiting for a bus. He ice-skated and swam in childhood, remaining a skilled swimmer throughout his life. He attended the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, but was seriously injured on a stairwell during a "student rush" and was hospitalized for three months. Transferring to the more forgiving climate and accessible campus of the University of Miami, he seemed to excel more in extracurricular...
now it's largely confirmed that smoking nearly doubles the risk of blindness later in life. (Thanks to Crypt Leak for this one.)
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Thing.
My brother knows this stuff is coating his lungs and has been for the past 31 years. He figures his periodic light exercise and pretending he'll quit someday compensate.
Our grandmother died of lung cancer. Our aunt died of emphysema. His girlfriend's dad is slowly dying of emphysema. Doesn't give him pause.
Well, maybe he pauses. Then he flicks his lighter and sucks on another coffin nail.