October 21, 2005
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Chapter 9 – War (cont.)
Click here for previous chaptersJimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin overdosed that winter (Jim Morrison would follow by July), while I agonized in my personal life over where it was heading. I attended group therapy at the Marin County Hospital, which got me nowhere except a crush on the male therapist. While I was busy crashing and burning, my mother in Oregon was receiving honors and awards for being a “woman of achievement” and “citizen of the year” in her community where she was the children’s librarian. As for the war,18-year-olds who were dying in Vietnam were finally given the right to vote in the spring of 1971. And within a few miles of me, the ferocious and beautiful Angela Davis was being held in the county jail as a civil rights political prisoner.
We made a final Marin County move that summer, when I was 32, to San Rafael where we inhabited the bottom floor of a big house with a large front yard space and a small back yard. Our first upstairs neighbors were a couple of guys, one of whom was the photographer who took this photo by a front window and used our pantry space for a darkroom. I got a job at a rehab center helping clients find employment as they left treatment. For a short time, two of them rented our front room and through them I began to take amphetamines, eventually going alone to a dealer’s house for the first and only time in my life to buy some. (to be continued)
Deep Thought: “I don’t say that the bird is “good” or the bat is “bad.” But I will say this: at least the bird is less nude. “
Today I am grateful for: Anesthesia when necessary
Guess the Movie: “You know what you look like to me, with your good bag and your cheap shoes? You look like a rube. A well scrubbed, hustling rube with a little taste.” Answer: The Silence of the Lambs, 1991.
Winner: Eliminate_the_Impossible.
Kucinich Uses Resolution Of Inquiry To Demand Documents From White House Group That Developed Strategy To “Sell” War To The Public And Press
Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich (D-OH) today introduced a Resolution of Inquiry to demand the White House turn over all white papers, minutes, notes, emails or other communications kept by the White House Iraq Group (WHIG). (Rest of article here.)
End of Day: 8:17 pm
+ = Incredible fall day in Portland, Oregon – breathlessly euphoric.
- = Politics as usual.
Comments (13)
Dear Lionne,
You were right. (I believe probably in an RYC comment you made on WhenWordsCollide that I should wait a bit and read more of the ”story”. You are illuminating some of the points I had thought lacking in my earlier comment here.
I especially love the black and white photos taken by your upstairs neighbors. You look quite the “free spirit” of the times.
Michael F. Nyiri, poet, philosopher, fool
While you were doing this, I was listening to anti-drug messages in junior high.
Seems like the fates of Joplin, Morrison, and Hendrix had something to do with the disappointment of careers that were past their peak.
Hmm, I just happened to be listening to Joplin’s “Cry Baby” when I was reading yer entry.
And the movie quote would be Silence of the Lambs.
Bingo – Silence of the Lambs is right!
oh darn,……..i was *this* close……..should have posted a little earlier
have a great day
Never fails; know the movie, not the first to post. Sigh. Keep writing, your story is fascinating.
I’ve lurked, but not commented. Just had to say “hey” and that I am loving your stuff.
Don’t know if I’ve mentioned it or not but thanks for sharing your story with us! I know I find it fascinating…..having been born in ’64 and in the sringent confines of Arkansas I spent my teen years trying to “relive” the 60′s and totally bummed out that I had missed living in San Fran during it’s heyday. This is actually the closest I’ve come to meeting someone who was there & although I don’t care to try and relive it anymore still find it interesting! Thanks again for sharing!
Great new entry…
Too tired to finish. I still have four more chapters to go (counting this one).
Silence of the Lambs indeed! Damn I need to get quicker with my answer!! LOL! Just an ongoing amazing piece of personal history this is…thank you so much for sharing it!
It seems contradictory to say I couldn’t put this “book” down, after admitting it took me a couple of days to read it all. But – there’s my ever-busyness combined with vacation recoveries and hurricane preparations and work shifts — so I know you understand.
What experiences! You lived more by the time you hit 25 than I have done in my 65 years. Part of me is very glad we’re so different, because I could never, would never, set such a pace. And part of me is in full awe and admiration of your courage to try new things, your resilience in recovering from them.
In other words, I’m glad I’m me even though part of me wishes I could be you. Be assured I’m looking forward to reading the rest. Jane and Joshua. I can’t wait to see how they’ve turned out. Felix and the rock musician. Gone but obviously not forgotten, and maybe not totally gone, at least as far as the musician is concerned. If memory serves.
Anyway, I crashed last night around 9 p.m., woke up at 12:10 and would have finished reading for sure if Barbara hadn’t come home from work “early.” She has a cold, got home at 1 a.m., so I bookmarked my place and we went to bed, she mostly coughing and I mostly sleeping.
This morning I couldn’t wait to get to the computer. Thanks for all you’ve written.
I think we all thank you fondly
one because this is written while
you are still here alive…so it is like
a rememberance around a oc campfire of sorts
and because for me it is a era that I missed
and with me a different culture…this is a rare
story that I have missed…I grew upon a farm..we had several
people from our rual area to go off to viet nam…but I was too
young to understand any of the implications from that time in my life