Stalking The Average Man
Volume One
Copyright © 2011 John Axelson
Published by Smashwords
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted by any
means, electronic or mechanical, or by any information storage or retrieval system without the
written consent of the publisher and author.
Cover design / photograph © Geri Nolan Hilfiker
Based on a true story:
The absurd theatre in which I was an unwitting participant unfolded in a manner unsuited to
established storytelling formats: Its nonlinear presentation, by design, forced me to extract and
categorize the elements of an intricate teaching scheme, and conform them to a chronology that
did not distort otherwise true events. My teacher’s goal was to have me claim as my own
knowledge the efficacy and necessity of the procedures as if my life depended on them, because
it did.
Acknowledgment:
This work would not have been possible without the four decades of overt friendship and
surreptitious guardianship that Ed Koenig provided, and the many forms of support that Britta
Young and Brenda MacPherson offered me. It is dedicated to JBM, the loving memories of Eric
and Mary Lee Axelson, and Michael Monty, each of whom left this place better off than they
found it.
Special thanks to Lia Avalos for her contributions in editing, research, and design
suggestions, and Nadine Tamlyn for her input and distribution assistance.
As part of a guided process, for determining key events and people who influenced my life,
I gratefully acknowledge my former close associations with cameramen Robert Whyte and
David Wilson, with whom I shared much of the world’s misery, and correspondent Brian
Stewart, with whom I worked in El Salvador, Nicaragua, Brazil, Chile, Ethiopia, and
Mozambique – all hard stuff for me that this gentleman of deep consideration made tolerable,
and Barbara Perry for the disproportionate comfort she freely offered to a damaged soul.
I thank Ann Medina (ABC, CBC) whose often brazen and delightful verbal assaults of
Middle Eastern leaders lessened the tension of a rookie, and Gavin Hewitt (CBC, BBC) for the
intangibles that working with a man of heart brings to the table. Then there is a freelance
cameraman, Manny Alvarez, whose insights and actions probably saved my life a couple of
times. You can decide.
