1975

1975

Woodbine Avenue

Overbrook

Philadelphia, PA

   and

Long Beach Island, NJ (summer months)

My age: 19- 20

School- Penn State University- junior year- I studied Adolescent Counseling.  I transferred to PSU from Drexel University and I loved this new school.  There was so much to do and so many fun people.  I don't think I studied as hard as I should have.  But I have very fond memories of this time.

Work-

• During the summer, I worked at the Crust and Crumb Bakery.  We sold Elephant Ears, “a flaky French pastry with brown sugar, cinnamon and pecans.”  I probably said that line 100 times a day. We used to call this place the Crust and Crud Bakery. I think I made $1.35/hour.
•  
• During the fall semester, I stopped out of college.  To fill my time and to make money (which was a desperate need) I was a server at the Sander’s Nursing Home in Philadelphia. Mostly I poured coffee for the old people, which was their greatest vice. They were middle class residence who were paying lots of money to live there.  And most of the workers were indifferent to them and their needs. At one point during my three-month tenure here, my brother needed a job and coincidentally there was an opening at work. I told Chris he could work there and then I told my boss that my brother was immediately available.  My boss told me he had reservations as he never liked to hire siblings as that usually resulted in work site bickering.  He didn’t give me a “NO” so I went home and told Chris to come to work with me the next day.  We arrived at 630 and my boss didn’t show up until 9.  I thought he could come in and see what a good worker Chris was. Sure enough, things worked as I had hoped.  I let in December to go back to school and Chris worked there or another three or four years.

Music- I started to listen to music more as literature and poetry rather than background music.  I could listen to the same song again and again and again.

Joni MitchellThe Hissing of Summer Lawns

Other Artists

• Minnie Riperton- she died too young. 
• Aerosmith - I was never a heavy metal fan.
• Joan Baez
• Judy Collins
• John Sebastian- I really liked a lot of his songs.
• Black Sabbath - nay, this wasn't my type of music.
• Chicago 
• Bob Dylan 
• David Bowie with  " Fame " 
• Alice Cooper 
• The Eagles
• Jefferson Starship 
• Elton John with Island Girl and  " Lucy in the sky with Diamonds " 
• Kiss 
• Led Zeppelin 
• John Lennon - I hated that the Beatles broke up.
• Bob Marley and the Wailers 
• Paul McCartney and Wings - I never liked much of what he did after he left the Beatles.
• Pink Floyd 
• Paul Simon 
• Queen - never a fan.
• Bruce Springsteen - he was on fire.
• The Who 
• ZZ Top- I was never a fan.

TV- I watched Mary Tyler Moore, MASH, All in the Family.

Movies

• Barry Lyndon
• Rocky Horror Picture Show- I'm not sure I saw this move this year or not.  I didnt see it until int became a cult film.  I've seen it about 10 times.  And it just gets weirder and weirder to me.
• Nashville- this movie was intriguing to me.
• Love and Death- I used to love Woody Alone movies.  Now, he spooks me.
• The Sunshine Boys- this was a silly movie.
• The Other Side of the Mountain
• The Prisoner of 2nd Avenue
• Shampoo- Warren Beatty seemed arrogant to me.
• Jaws- I didnt see this movie.
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest-I didnt see this movie

Books

•   JD Salinger
•   Japanese writers of the 1940s and the 1950s

Travels

• I went nowhere.  I had no money and no transportation.  I spent the summers on Long Beach Island, NJ

News events

• Operation Babysit brought hundreds of Viet Names orphan babies to the USA. And every photo of new parents picking up their new family member caused me to cry.
• Patty Hearst was wanted by the FBI and the story was creepy.
• The unemployment rate was 9.2% and we were in a recession and I was oblivious about this as I didnt have a damn penny to my name.
• NYC tettered on bankruptcy. I can't image what a crisis this would be today.

Family

• My grandmother tried to find her way through the world now that she was a widow.  She broke my heart. She went to Florida for Christmas because she didn't want to be sad and ruin our day.
• I hung at the beach through the fall and loved it.
• I don't have a car so I have to bum rides from friends, hitchhike or take the bus through life.