Raymond, among the many middle-class families in our extended neighborhood, was very poor indeed. One look at the disheveled exterior of his house, crying out for the touch of a paint brush and a weed whacker, and you could see…
Tag: best
Elvis Training Wheels
I don’t think I ever quite got the worth of Kindergarten. Back in 1956, pre-school hadn’t been created and kindergarten was the launching pad for your school years. Most of the kids in my class were discovering the wonders of…
The Unassisted
Of the many experiences one can rack up over the years, sometimes it’s nature’s unexpected revelations that become the most memorable. Your first tornado, your first look at birth, your first foray into Poison Ivy, but it was the onset…
The Pamtastic Crush
I was 16 when I started working at Jack’s music store and there’s plenty surrounding that employ but one terribly distracting feature of the job was Pam. Pam was the store manager and was in charge of phone calls, ordering…
Shop Class Show Stopper
What a weird, weird thing that junior high ‘shop class’ thing was, and what was the point really? Of all of the nonsense that I created in shop class, none of it could have held a spec of worthiness compared…
‘Pipeline’ Pioneers
No, not that Pipeline, the mammoth coastal waves located in Hawaii, because that would involve a near-death experience with a surfboard and water rolling over head. Mmmm, not so much on that one. The Pipeline I’m referring to was born…
Diane Interruptus
I sat in the rear of my 9th grade science class and I felt safe there because I could survey the entire classroom and dissect the sum of its parts (very scientific of me). It was all about perspective and…
The Pants Strategy
I worked on it in 6th grade but 7th grade really brought me around to fine tuning a fundamental style choice, one that had its roots in the late ’50’s and still had traction for many of the boys in…
Still Waiting for Godot
I was still in grade school when I started playing Youth Football and my baby sitter had to pick me up from school and trek me over to the practice field every week day during the season and then the…
At the End of the Line
When I was younger I occasionally liked to fly kites from my yard, which was unusually large and offered plenty of runway to put it in the air and room to get it over the treetops. My success was moderate…