Project Nim Page #3

Frankly, everybody in

the family got a kick out of Nim

doing just what Herb hated.

No one ever put him in his place,

and he just grew

more and more and more powerful,

and that was exciting to me.

We didn't have to try

to control him in any way. In fact,

we enjoyed just letting him

hang out and see how it went.

Stephanie being

the kind of mother she was,

was not very concerned about discipline.

It was sort of the hippie mentality,

and I think what I would tell her

would go in one ear and out the other.

Herb would have wanted

a schedule and a structure

and charted progress

and notes and all of that.

I didn't supply that,

I couldn't create that,

and I don't think Nim

would have thrived in that.

I was taking classes

at Columbia University

and there was a small sign that said,

"Research assistant needed,

course credit granted. "

A man opened the door

and he was completely breathless.

Also, he's one of those men

who was balding on the top.

So he had his hair pasted down,

but he was so upset and dishevelled

that his hair was standing

straight up on one side.

He explained it was a language project

and I immediately understood

the scientific relevance.

Nim was going to test

the nature-versus-nurture hypotheses

that were prevailing at the time.

It really was at the cusp of science.

You know, some things are just

immediately obvious about someone

from the beginning.

You know what kind of person you have.

I think she was 18, if I'm not mistaken.

At the time,

Nim was in Stephanie Lafarge's house,

and my first job

was to basically baby-sit.

To go to the house and ostensibly

teach him sign language.

She came out of nowhere as a

cute little thing from Ramapo.

When I got there,

I was actually really surprised.

There was utter chaos.

There was nothing.

This was a scientific project.

There were no journals.

There were no log books.

They didn't know who was covering Nim,

when they were going to be covering Nim,

who would be teaching Nim,

when they would be teaching Nim.

They didn't know what

they were going to teach Nim.

She quickly felt her power.

It was completely visible.

Everybody had to adapt to it.

She wanted that mother role.

This animal

climbed the walls all day.

He ripped apart Stephanie's house

all day.

The kinds of things she was

exposing Nim to were atypical.

He loved driving fast

in cars. He loved motorcycles.

He loved, you know,

virtually anything thrilling.

He liked alcohol.

You'd give him a sip and he'd want more.

We gave him puffs on a joint.

We didn't have to

treat him like a child.

We could expose him to

the sensations that we enjoyed.

I had an instinctive sense

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