BARBARA'S TCHATZKAHS

Taylor Caldwell was always one of my favorite authors - through high school and beyond. From 6th grade to 12th grade I developed a serious handicap - TELLING THE TRUTH. Caldwell's writing was descriptive and honest, and I appreciated it deeply. My Nana, of blessed memory, always told me - "Barbara, no one likes a truth teller. Just remember that." It was not an admonition to lie but to be aware of the consequences. My father, of blessed memory, told me the same - "Sweetie, you have my disease - that telling the truth disease." In fact, my father who had been in sales and on the road for many years, stopped and joined the State Troopers around 1971-72 because he got sick of "twisting the facts", as he put it. He even said 'it was wearing him down.' Unfortunately, in my 53 years on the planet I have been villanized, lied to and about , called crazy, psycho, obsessed, insane and a variety of other mean-spirited labels by people who have bl