SEASONS
Almost a year ago (10-15-19 to be exact), I posted the following:
For my first English 1A assignment in college, inspired by Thoreau’s dense, poetic prose in Walden Pond, I made my first creative writing attempt.
PLACEMENT TEST
I remember being horribly anxious the day I had to take my college placement test in Spanish—because I was so afraid of making a bad showing and disappointing both Britte and my Spanish teacher Mr. Washburn. I’d had two years of high school Spanish by then, but they...
SNEAKER WAVE
It may seem paradoxical that, being as hypochondriacal as I am, I’m liable to risk life and limb when it comes to taking on challenges of nature. If there’s a promontory, I have to walk out to the very edge of it—to Earl’s chagrin; he’s afraid the ground beneath me is...
HAIRPIN TURNS
Besides having introduced me to the girls who became my teenage tribe, Linda introduced me to another of the major players in my life that same summer of our double date. She was living with the Steinkes at the time—her family‘s next-door neighbors—who were close...
POINTING UP
That same summer, I wrote a letter to Nikki, who was in Europe:“Dear Nik-nak, “I’m sitting here on my bed among the litter and cursing my gigantic bottom, which refuses to fit into a size 12. It’s too big for the jumper I’m making—and I don’t have enough scraps to...
DOUBLE DATE
The summer after my high school graduation, Britte, Kita, and Alice went on a trip to Mexico. I couldn’t join them because I didn’t have the money, so I went instead to spend a week with Linda at her grandmother’s in Los Angeles. We went to Disneyland, stayed up till all hours…