growing up | growing up
Oct.02.2011
Bicycles are important to me because I never had one when I was a kid. They still represent a part of growing up that feels deprived. True, the old Em and Pee always put food on the table, sometimes even on plates! We never wanted for the best frozen and canned processed foods the local supermarket...
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Sep.14.2011
September 14
Heartfelt
Boab trees litter my dreams; gossipy like old women in the late afternoon sun, I wonder at the tales they tell though I am far too young to understand. The Australian Kimberly shelters these mysteries in life; they shelter me in the...
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Sep.06.2011
I've had several subscribers ask how I got to be such a control freak (i.e. weirdo.) It's all quite embarrassing and I don't know where to begin. But, as I'm always advising my critique group, "You have to open a vein onto the page." So here's a humiliating glimpse into my...
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Aug.18.2011
Anyone who transitions from kidhood to adulthood loses their innocence. For most folks, I suppose it’s a gradual thing. Losing innocence is not the same as becoming a rebellious teenager. Most parents rue the day when their charming child went to bed as a sweetness and light angel and woke...
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Aug.12.2011
I had difficulty in high school. My grades were bad, I occasionally got into trouble and my report card was never released to me personally. Being a middle child, I had difficulties growing up. Among 6 siblings, I was the only one who needed a tutor.
I remember her name, what she looked like and...
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Aug.09.2011
Born in 1938, I was fortunate to grow up listening to radio programs that really were programs: dramas, comedies, mysteries, variety shows, even soap operas. Why do I say I was fortunate? Because to enjoy the programs I had to visualize the characters in action. So for me words were and still are...
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Jul.29.2011
"Ch-ch-ch-ch-changesPretty soon now you're going to get oldgoing to get a little older,Time may change me,But I can't trace time..."
I woke up with those lyrics from the David Bowie song Changes, running through my head. Today is Change, Part 2.
My oldest is home for three weeks. He...
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Jul.15.2011
Unless you've been under a rock, the last Harry Potter movie has been released.
I have been both eagerly anticipating and dreading the end of this magical tale because it's not just goodbye to the series, but a lingering goodbye to my son's childhood.
Harry and Scott grew up together. When Harry...
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Jun.24.2011
He drives to the speed of his music. Right hand on the steering wheel, the left gliding in the thin breeze. He never thinks, at least not too much. There's a hint of fall today and his smile reflects the sunset in his rear-view mirror. Yesterday's worries are gone and today gives way to...
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Jun.10.2011
My next book, Children of the Changing South: Accounts of Growing Up During and After Integration, is forthcoming from McFarland & Co., Publisher. This collection that I edited contains memoirs by 18 writers who tell their stories of growing up in a changing South from the late 1950s through...
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