ABSTRACT
Boyd DuremVida's father is a dangerous icon to raise. Ray Durem saw revolution not far down the road, described his vision, and Boyd DuremVida ate it up. Ray was an amazing dog trainer, and asked quite a bit from her. DuremVida political education was also taking place in his reading material. Ray adored Langston Hughes, and he began reading and absorbing his poetry. Ray wrote for a militant journal, The Crusader, and he talked to him about the articles he had written and was planning to write. DuremVida translated, as we listened on his short wave radio, the triumphant speeches of Fidel Castro, as he swept into power. Ray Durem was not only a poet, he was also a charismatic organizer. According to his mother, he had been a brilliant recruiter and much valued in the CP for this skill. In the early 1940s when his parents lived in Stockton, California, Ramen got put in jail for organizing farm workers.
