Michael B. Loggins spends his days writing, drawing, and painting at Creativity Explored, a government-funded art center in San Francisco’s Mission District. The center hires developmentally disabled adults to create art and often publishes their work in the independent magazine Whipper Snapper Nerd. Publicity from the xeroxed-and-stapled publication has resulted in gallery exhibits in San Francisco, New York City, and Los Angeles.

Loggins lives with his parents and likes to take bus excursions and listen to his record collection; he has hundreds of 45s, mostly Motown. “Fears of Your Life” was first published in chapbook form. “Fear is a warning thing,” Loggins says,“a warning system. It lets you know you’re going to be in danger, like something jeopardizes your life. I guess everybody has fears in common. In fact, I’m quite sure they do. Things like bees, monsters, and probably pit bulls.”

— Ed.

 

  1. Fear of hospitals and needles.
  2. Fear of school and dentists.
  3. Fear of black cats.
  4. Fear of monsters being under my bed. Fear of intruders coming into the house to steal things and hurt us all.
  5. Fear of going to jail as being punish for doing something very wrong and have to stay in for a long time.
  6. Fear of being followed.
  7. Fear of dogs.
  8. Fear of strangers.
  9. Fear of time bombs.
  10. Fear of deep waters.
  11. Fear of noises and bumps in the middle of the night.
  12. Fear of being chase by bulls.
  13. Fear of being lost.
  14. Fear of elevators.
  15. Fear of doors when they slams.
  16. Fear of fires and smokes.
  17. Fear of guns and knives.
  18. Fear of authority and punishment.
  19. Fear of toys that comes on by itself without anyone touching it.
  20. Fear of someone doing wrong to you and don’t want you to do wrong back to them.
  21. Fear of spiders and roaches. And mouse, raccoons and rats too.
  22. Fear of getting in deep trouble. Or going to get in deep trouble.
  23. Fear of being caught with another woman after cheating on your wife.
  24. Fear of getting run over by a car when not paying attention.
  25. Fear of being caught by being with the person that steals.
  26. Fear of bees.
  27. Fear of getting left alone.
  28. Fear of going to the doctor.
  29. Fear of riding in deserted areas when it’s dark.
  30. Fear of your life being in great danger and threaten.
  31. There’s Los Angeles fears.
  32. Oakland fears.
  33. San Francisco fears.
  34. Fear of tornadoes and thunders, and lightning too.
  35. Fear of being in wrong places at the wrong time.
  36. Fear of dropping your soda as it hit the ground and fizz on you.
  37. Fear of planes.
  38. Fear of insects.
  39. Fear of televisions when you are afraid that it might blow out all the lights in the house.
  40. Fear of getting hit over the head when you carry lots of dough with you. Or bucks.
  41. Fear of getting in trouble by the law. When you aren’t going by rules.
  42. Fear of death.
  43. Fear of cemetery as you drive by there at night.
  44. Fear of tall giraffe.
  45. Fear of some birds.
  46. Fear of bears.
  47. Fear that the television will explode if you turn it on.
  48. Fear of earthquakes. And volcanoes.
  49. Fear of a blasted music on the radio when you are not aware that the volume is turn up.
  50. Fear of being spanking by a principal when a parent give an permission.
  51. Fear of sexually abused.
  52. Fear of rolling down hill backward.
  53. Fear of bats.
  54. Kids feared that whatever they have done wrong that they afraid of getting punishment or their parents will kill them.
  55. Fear of heights.
  56. Fear of storms.
  57. Fear of being different.
  58. Fear of getting shot.
  59. Fear of getting put out the house.
  60. Feared of if I do something naughty I will cause something to happen to me and I will get into trouble.
  61. Fear of rattlesnakes.
  62. Fear of fog horn.
  63. Fear of high tides.
  64. Fear of pirates.
  65. Feared blackouts.
  66. Fear of disease and germs.
  67. Fear of hurricanes.
  68. Fear of witches and gobblins.
  69. Fear of dangerous weapons.
  70. Fear of dragon.
  71. Feared that if you get in the way of a tall tree when it get chop or sawed for it to come tumbling toward you get out of the way because it liable to fall on you and kill you and it wouldn’t be such a beautiful sight to see.
  72. Fear of firecrackers and cherry bombs. Fireworks.
  73. Feared wind and rain. Heavy rain. Hailing rain.
  74. Fear of police.
  75. Fear of scary ghost stories.
  76. Fear of wild animals.
  77. Feared that you will get scald by a skillet on a stove if it turn over on you. If it get real hot!
  78. Fear of being barefooted walking around the house without any shoes on your feet just liable to get stuck on a tack or glass or nails or piece of metal or something.
  79. Fear of nightmares.
  80. Fear of someone hurting themselves.
  81. Feared of being left in the house alone afraid that there would be an earthquake in few more seconds.
  82. Fear that if you are bad or naughty no one’s isn’t going to love you anymore.
  83. Fear of a glass table if it cut you.
  84. Fear of dreaming that you have got sunk down into quicksand.
  85. Feared that if you put too much of toilet paper in the toilet bowl it will run over and get all over the floor and on you and on someone else too. It would leak from upstairs to the next floor below.
  86. Fear of some things that are scary.
  87. Fear of getting hugged by somebody you don’t like is scary.
  88. Fear of stepping down from something that is higher than you thought it was is scary.
  89. Fear of roller-skating downhill when you haven’t learned how to stop is scary.
  90. Fear of doing something you shouldn’t be doing is scary.
  91. Fear of something that you think that could be in the closet that might be scary is scary.
  92. Fear of cars when they skid like if you think they’re going to crash is scary.
  93. Fear of cows and buffalos.
  94. Fear of a dark house.
  95. Fear of hearing somebody coming towards the door at midnight.
  96. Feared. Michael heard the cable on the 5 Fulton bus popped like a loud firecracker it scared him and the bus driver Sunday night November 11 1992. At night.
  97. Feared something is scaring Blackie tonight.
  98. People are fearful of me which I wonder is they think that I’m all that terrible or I’m thinking that they think I’m not human at all because when they sit next to me that they get back up and move away from me. I may be a stranger but that doesn’t make me a created monster or something like that. People aren’t humans they act like ignorance dogs with their tail in back of their legs or in between their middle bodies their legs. They don’t think who feelings they hurt at all they just do it. No consideration for whatsoever.
  99. People don’t think about how they hurt my feelings or don’t give a hoot. They don’t give a crap.
  100. Ignorance: No kind of sense at all whatsoever stupid and conceited and no consideration for me always scared and move away to the next seat from me. People nowadays are mean only thinking of themselves no one else.
  101. What people think of when they see me coming up the street? What the first thing that they can think of once they see a stranger like me coming in the direction I goes in? Nothing but fear!
  102. Why do people when they see me coming what do they tell their friends? Let’s cross the street I don’t want to get hurt.
  103. We better cross the street because this man is following us and he wants to bother us. What we ought to do is turn and go another direction. Fear.
  104. What does fear itself can do to make you afraid of a stranger and what does that fear tells you about that man and what fear cause you to think something may happen to you in just 5 seconds or 1 minute? Does fear warns people to move away from him or is it that it’s a warning system tells you that man is ready for an attack you and harm you or what kind of danger your life is when you or guys and girls think to do is it lot threatening or just a kind of situation you may face soon?
  105. What is fear? What does fear tells you about a stranger? Does fear makes you clever or does it warns you that you and your friends needs to protect yourselves from danger!
  106. Does fear makes you smart or does it takes you over? It tries but it also save your life! It helps you to avoid problems and protect you and keep you safe from harm.
  107. I better not stick my feet out of the side of my bed or the monsters will bite me or wanting to eat me so I better stay foot. That’s fear for you!!
  108. People that say that they aren’t afraid of anything is ashame to admit it and they are just plain ignorance and just lying to admit that they have as much fear as the next guy they know that they do fear different things they are lying because they don’t want anyone to know how fearful they really are.
  109. Momma’s fearful of Michael’s little TV is that she’s afraid that it liable to blow out all the lights in the house. But I solve her fear by showing her that it works pretty good now I still don’t know if she is fearful or not? Are you? Yes or No. Circle which answer is what you choose is right.
  110. Fear of ghost stories in the dark room.
  111. Fear of boogeyman.
  112. Fear of killer bees.
  113. Fear of Draculas.
  114. Fear of werewolf.
  115. Fear of mummy.
  116. Fear of widow spider.
  117. Fear of haunted house.
  118. Frankenstein is fearful.
  119. Dinosaurs is fearful.
  120. Fear of sharks.
  121. Fear of giant man.
  122. Fear of gorilla.
  123. Fear of Godzilla.
  124. Fear of tall woman.
  125. Fear of killer whales.
  126. Fear of dinosaurs bird.
  127. Fear of invisible man.
  128. Fear of Blob.
  129. Fear of getting molester.
  130. Fear of mountain lion.
  131. Fear of apes.
  132. Feared when you don’t know that you feel that somebody liable to sneak up on you as if you were being surprised is scary.
  133. Fear is like this: someone like a woman that you grab ahold of her hand and going down the escalator when of a sudden you happens to be holding a stranger hand not realizing that she isn’t your mother is scary.
  134. Fear is like this: If you are ever getting out of your car and not alert and just going on doing what you normally wouldn’t dreamed of doing, not paying attention and not thinking clearly or not focusing on what is happening and not aware or not be careful somehow ended up locking your baby in a closed in door to your car will have you panic and it’s scary.
  135. Fear is like this: Bump into a person that is tall and slim and much older than you standing in line in front of you and you didn’t know all that much about him at all you were in back of him playing or talking kind of light type tone voice and he look at you with mean expression on his face saying are you talking to me? Oh no I were thinking about something else. You feel scared mumbling to yourself in his presence which you thought that you were talking a stranger that isn’t your brother is scary.
  136. Staying up late late late at night watching horror movies alone is scary.
  137. Feared that the bus driver is driving much too fast like if he don’t know how to stop it or he tries slowing it down some so that he wouldn’t hurt up bunch of passengers. They’re scare of his driving.
  138. Fear of jumping off the bridge way up high going down real deep splash in that deepest water and take your own life away from yourself. You’ll jump from top ledge.

“Fears of Your Life” is reprinted from Fears of Your Life (Whipper Snapper Nerd, © 1995 by Michael B. Loggins. It appears here by permission of the author. Copies are available from Creativity Explored, 3245 16th St., San Francisco, CA 94103.