Well, let's see how this goes. Here I am, only 8 1/2 months from 60 and I'm finally starting my first blog!
I've been thinking of doing this for a longtime. But I've gotten quite lazy and rusty at writing. I think I may have been a fairly decent writer in school. At least SOME of my teachers thought so. I was a diligent student when I wanted to be. And an avid reader at various points in my life. Very avid the past few years.
As I approach 60..........an age I once thought I would never reach..........I've been thinking how fortunate I am to still be here and wondering just what I have to show for my life.
So one of my goals is: I want to get into the habit of writing more. I've been reading so many good books lately. But I'm so out of the habit of writing, that writing anything more than a short review seems a monumental task.
Another motivation to finally start on this has been the sudden loss, a couple of months ago, of a lifelong friend from college. Ellen loved to write. And she was a very good writer. Of fantasies.
Ellen and I became great friends in college in Bloomington. We both had work-study jobs at the Lilly (rare books) Library there on campus. That's how we met. We hit it off right away. Then we quickly became part of a tight circle of friends. Phil, Ken, Jo, Mike H., Mike B., etc. This all happened my senior year. 1975-'76. That's when Ellen had transferred from Kentucky. That fall semester, Phil, Ken, Dodie (now a well-known writer) another Mike and I shared a ranch house east of campus on Roosevelt St. We called our house Alice, in honor of Teddy's daughter Alice Roosevelt Longworth who was still alive at the time. A few years ago I was tickled to read about our time at Alice in Dodie's published memoir.
Tonight I just finished reading The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolanos. That may be affecting my scattered writing style tonight. I may be in need of an editor already!
Also, how can folks write uninterrupted when they have a cat? Rhetorical question. I'm sure Roxy will figure prominently in this blog.
Dodie and the other Mike moved out of Alice. Phil, Ken and I could no longer afford the rent. We found a great apartment house a half block from campus. Ken's ex, John, and another friend Paul (who was moving to San Francisco) were moving out. Mike H., Ken and Phil and I moved in. Ellen and Jo still lived in a dorm.
I had a boyfriend Bill that senior year. He also moved to San Francisco that winter and then broke up with me by phone.
In the spring I would graduate with a liberal arts BA.......... in
French. Don't ask if I can speak French! But my rudimentary college
French (in high school I'd only taken Latin and a little German) did
come in handy when Noel (my life partner) and I finally visited Paris 20
years after my graduation.
I could have had a double
major in history. But I was too lazy (and too busy "coming out") to
take the required pro-seminar course that last spring semester. Come to
think about it, that would have required WRITING a thesis.
Bloomington was so incestuous. Everyone knew everyone. You wouldn't believe the parties! No wonder I didn't have time for my history pro-seminar!
Anyway, when I got my BA, I had no specific plans and very little money. Phil and Ken also made the 1976 great migration to San Francisco. So I moved into the studio apartment next door, previously occupied by Ken. Ellen and Jo moved into the apartment Phil and I vacated. Mike H. was still downstairs. That late spring, early summer was magical. The stairway leading to our second floor apartments was actually nothing more than a fire escape. Ellen and Jo would bake bread and the 3 of us would hang out on the fire escape and read and talk. Ellen would write fantasies with strong female main characters. And I would read what she was writing.
Ellen was still in school, so she was able to take a special summer job at the Lilly. Jo and Mike H. were taking summer classes. But I could not find a job in that college town! So that bicentennial July, after a brief stop in Valpo my hometown, I was off to San Francisco with 2 suitcases and my remaining savings of $200 in cash. Ah, to be young and brave and 23 again!
That summer was exciting and scary at the same time. My song for that summer was Young Hearts Run Free by Candi Staton. I half expected to reconcile with Bill. But that wasn't to be.
It's midnight. Til next.
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