On January 22, 1959 the Susquehanna River broke through the thin roof of the River Slope Mine of the Knox Coal Company located in Pittston, PA. The hole that was formed was approximately 150 feet in diameter and funneled in an estimated 10 billion gallons of icy water.
Over 50 coal hopper cars, 400 mine cars, thousands of bails of hay, and hundreds of rail road ties were dropped in in an attempt to plug the hole.
12 people died. 69 escaped.
On April 10, 1977, eighteen years later and just south of Pittston, Keith Perks was born in Wilkes-Barre.
On November 20, 2009 he released the new website 1120studios.com and “A Mad Mud Water Jam”.
In between he won first place in a drawing contest sponsored by the Ousterhout Free Library in grade school, played Little League Baseball for seven years, played soccer for two years, caught his first fish at Moon Lake State Park, bought his first car (a red Chevy Cavalier), had a deviated septum surgery, got kissed by a stripper, shot himself in the eye with a BB gun, para-sailed, tried to bungee jump, and helped save a green pig.
There were several other things but they weren’t important.
A few more ‘about me’ highlights:
I love books and quotes and words. A sentence can change a life. Tom Waits is a genius. Garden City, SC is one of my favorite places. I don’t think I’m great at anything. The world scares the shit out of me. I say “shit” a lot. I believe in karma. I believe everything happens for a reason. I believe in Jesus and Buddha. I believe in anyone that has something good to say. I’m scared of death. I’m obsessed with death. I’m scared to death. I know Cytoxan kicks in after about 8 hours. I know what Doxorubicin is and I wish I didn’t. I’ve been a burden. I often feel lonely. I wish I could change someone’s life for the better. I wish I wasn’t so afraid. I have allergies. I’m shy. I don’t care what people think. I worry about what you’re gonna think about me after you read this. I slouch. I went to a strip club once. I’m afraid to fly. I think I’m quite lazy. I miss Rhode Island. My mom always said I was like the boy with the weight of the world on his shoulders. My back hurts a lot. I have a limp. I get nervous. I get tension headaches. I have OCD’s. I double triple check the oven, unplug things that don’t need to be unplugged, flip switches off and on and off again to make sure they’re off. I leave things on all the time. I’m addicted to Chinese Food. I’m trying to be a better person. St. Jude is around my neck. I’m fighting life with all I got.