Love this snapshot of your early life. I could listen to stories like this, from you, all day. I miss the time before the internet and cell phones. It seems incredible and magical to me now, the fact that nobody was walking around staring at a phone. It IS interesting how children are both shielded from a lot now yet exposed and vulnerable to our garbage culture every day on their iPhones. This story corroborates what a woman on Facebook once said about how children who grew up in the '70s shouldn't be underestimated, because we "regularly escaped kidnappers" and "washed blood out of our clothes so we wouldn't get in trouble."
They really were. Vans were like a category to themselves (“beds on wheels” my grandfather called them). Can’t believe that driver that hoped you’d get in. Horrifying. No adult rescuing the 13yo living with the handyman. Thanking God our society has evolved so much since then, even if it still has so much further to go.
The old, weird America...you have to take to the Blue Highways* to find it. Off the beaten path. And even then, bring plenty of cash. The poor but mostly honest semi-working folk in those oases of strangeness need it more than you do.
(*Not a coded reference to any political party...how I detest Partisan Color Wars.)
I had no idea you went to school at Marin City! Any Tupac stories? Also: “I fell in the water once, and one of my parent’s friends lifted me out by my hair.”
Love this snapshot of your early life. I could listen to stories like this, from you, all day. I miss the time before the internet and cell phones. It seems incredible and magical to me now, the fact that nobody was walking around staring at a phone. It IS interesting how children are both shielded from a lot now yet exposed and vulnerable to our garbage culture every day on their iPhones. This story corroborates what a woman on Facebook once said about how children who grew up in the '70s shouldn't be underestimated, because we "regularly escaped kidnappers" and "washed blood out of our clothes so we wouldn't get in trouble."
Oh my GOD I love that comment. It's true!! The seventies were terrifying!
They really were. Vans were like a category to themselves (“beds on wheels” my grandfather called them). Can’t believe that driver that hoped you’d get in. Horrifying. No adult rescuing the 13yo living with the handyman. Thanking God our society has evolved so much since then, even if it still has so much further to go.
Thanks for the walk down memory lane! You didn’t mention that you were called Cinnamon for a while.
My time living on Gate 6 1/2 was certainly interesting. We were an eclectic group of people who had a hard time being conventional.
Best memory for me were the gatherings, some spontaneous, to share food and drinks etc.
And my friendship with your mother lasted for decades.
Congratulations on your writing career!
Thanks Diane! I remember you!!
The old, weird America...you have to take to the Blue Highways* to find it. Off the beaten path. And even then, bring plenty of cash. The poor but mostly honest semi-working folk in those oases of strangeness need it more than you do.
(*Not a coded reference to any political party...how I detest Partisan Color Wars.)
Acts 16:31, 1 Corinthians 15:1-8, 1 Peter 1:17-21, Revelation 22:18-19
The beat goes on in Florida, it's basically cultural equivalent to 1980's California.
I had no idea you went to school at Marin City! Any Tupac stories? Also: “I fell in the water once, and one of my parent’s friends lifted me out by my hair.”
Here's Marin City Tupac in his own words- https://youtu.be/v_XT9-C5Qu8
killer!