Though art would become Birdsong’s livelihood, he said he got paddlings in elementary school because he couldn’t resist drawing in class.

“I got more whippings than the bullies and the people causing problems because I couldn’t concentrate on what the teacher was saying,” he said.

“I was always in the principal’s office, and he was always (saying), ‘You’re back again?’ He would walk down the hallway looking for me because he knew I would be in the hallway. He already had his paddle in his hands.”

Birdsong said he also got in trouble for illustrations of men and women that faculty members thought were too detailed. He started drawing monsters because that seemed less likely to get him in hot water. He said he did not make good grades in art class.

“I didn’t follow directions,” he said. “I always drew what I wanted. I would kind of start with what they wanted and then end up doing something else, doing my own thing.”

Birdsong said he lived in Muskogee until he was 14. He spent his sophomore, junior and senior years in California, Texas and Missouri. He entered the military in 1980 and was a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne.

“My first time I ever flew in an airplane, I jumped out,” he said.