1975
Woodbine Avenue
Overbrook Section
Philadelphia, PA
and
Long Beach Island, NJ (summer months)
My age: 19- 20
School- Penn
State University- junior year. I studied Adolescent Counseling with the hopes
of someday becoming a high school counselor.
- My dad insists that I buy season tickets ($12/6
games) to the Penn State football games. I had never heard anything about this
team and football doesn’t interested me so I just gave my tickets away. People
offered me money for the tickets but I couldn’t be bothered.
- I had stopped out of college for a
semester. This decision just about sent
my mother over the edge because she was certain I would never go back and she
would have a lazy, college drop-out on her hands. But I did go back and I was determined to do
the best I could. However, I had one
lecture class that was dreadful. there were 200 of us in the 8AM class. It was winter time and cold and snowy. The Teaching Assistant was boring. SO, I skipped a few classes. Then I looked at the syllabus and calculated
that a midterm was upon me. I went to
class, as prepared as can be for someone who’s missed three weeks of
class. I sit down and the teacher is
handing back the mid-term. I missed
it. I fucking missed the mid-term. I was
just about to throw up when the TA confesses that there is a problem with the
class. More than half of us missed the
exam and those who did take the exam, performed poorly. The TA agreed to own part of the
problem. He threw out the test,
rescheduled it and change the format of the class so that it was more interesting. I FUCKING LUCKED OUT.
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.
that 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 coincidently 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 worksite 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 left 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. A lot of great artists
capture my interest:
- ·
Joni Mitchell- The Hissing of Summer Lawns: Don't Interrupt the Sorrow" is my
favorite song on the album
- ·
Joan Baez- she sang a lot of war protest songs
- ·
Judy Collins
- ·
John Sebastian
- ·
C, S, N & Y
- ·
Phoebe Snow
- ·
Roberta Flack
- ·
Van Morrison
- ·
Laura Nyro
- ·
Johnnie Rivers
- ·
John Denver
- ·
Emit Rhoades
- ·
James Taylor
- ·
Livingston Taylor
Movies- I didn’t
go to many movies in the theatres now because they were just too expensive and
they cut in to my beer funds. There were
old movies shown on campus for 50 cents.
I’d go to them from time to time and catch a movie I didn’t see when it
was in the theatres.
Books-
- ·
I’ve started reading Japanese literature form
the 1950’s and 60’s.
- ·
I read JD Salinger’s Raise High the Roof Beam Carpenter which I loved and eventually
would read every year in the spring for the next 15 years.
Television-
- ·
I waste my summer afternoons watching soap
operas. I don’t watch them at all when I
am in school but once I start working my summer job, I get hooked on All My Children and General Hospital.
- ·
I start watching 60 Minutes and find myself
becoming interested in political issues.
News events
•
Margaret Thatcher becomes the 1st
female leader of the Free World. At the time, she seemed bold, decisive
and strong. When she died, almost 40
years later, Brits came out in force and celebrated her death and condemned her
leadership. This takes me by surprise. I didn't know she was so hated.
•
Oil prices surpass $13.00 per barrel and the
price of a gallon of gas begins to rise.
•
The Vietnam War ends. The United States’
involvement ended as the last American military members escaped in helicopters taking off
from the U.S. Embassy in Saigon.
•
The US Carries out Vietnam "Operation Baby
lift" bringing Vietnamese orphans to the US. We watched hundreds of babies
leave their country and come here to start a new life. It seemed as if all of
us wanted one of these babies.
•
US pulled out of Cambodia. At last, we are
not at war.
•
Betamax videotapes and VHS taped hit the
market and our world of movie viewing is never the same.
Jaws,
is released during the summer and it becomes the highest grossly film of all
times. Everyone is afraid to go in to the ocean. I didn’t watch this movie until recently and
I found the movie to be laughable with it’s obvious shark attacks.
•
The IRA bombs London Hilton Hotel in Park
Lane. It seems as if the IRA is bombing
London every other week. And although I
support the IRA’s cause, all their bombing unnerves me.
•
Jimmy Hoffa, ex teamsters boss, disappeared.
There are hundreds of rumors as to where he ended up. I don’t know what happened to him but it wasn’t
a happy ending.
•
Patty Hearst joined the Most Wanted list and
was arrested for armed robbery. Her bizzare story was riveting.
Family and friends
- ·
My grandmother went to Florida for Christmas.
This was her first Christmas without my grandfather and it would have been
their 50th wedding anniversary. We thought for sure she would be so
sorry she left us at this time. She
called us on Christmas day and told us she was having such a fun time that she
was going to move to Florida.
- ·
My two sisters and I work for John Maschal who
owned Bay Village. on Long Beach Island, NJ. This enterprise is
run entirely by college students. There are over 200 of us and we are not
allowed to pay cash for anything we purchase at this village of 20 stores. We must pay against our paycheck and if we
stay for the entire summer and through Labor Day, we get 20% back as a
bonus. This sounded great until the
first paycheck came in and way too much money went to a bar bill I accrued at
The Tide Bar. Some of my friends spent all
their money there every week. They went
back to college with zero money.
- ·
My college roommate is Jewish which is very different
from my all Catholic environment.
