Crossing the Golden Gate

[Mythsaje]

Summer, 1987

I was sitting in a line with three other guys when the officer rode up on his horse. He looked down at us and asked us our names. We all gave them up. Then he asked our ages. We gave those up as well. Then he asked, "have you ever been arrested?" In a row down the line. When he reached the last of us, the kid grinned up at him and said "Yes."
So the cop asked, "What for?"
"Harassing cops."

We all laughed. But the kid was serious. I'd been there when he'd been arrested. He'd been lipping off and they hadn't taken it well. We were all far too smart for our own good.

If I remember right he asked if we had any drugs on us as well, to which we all answered in the negative, all thinking, of course, that we'd just finished off the joint one of us had brought.

I spent about two months in San Francisco, doing quite a bit of good LSD and smoking a lot of pot. And just hanging out. I got to know a young man who called himself "Timothy Leary" with a last name I don't remember, who had a kitten named Cannabis that sat on his hat. He was the cat ON the hat.

Then there was the Candyman, a "drug dealer" who lived in the park and sold who knew what--most of which wasn't even drugs, since he seemed to have the impression that he could somehow "enchant" anything to have a psychoactive properties.

Then there was the "Wrecking Crew," a group of the Thunderbird and Night Train crowd who all hung out together.

I got to know a lot about living on the street there in San Francisco that summer. How certain groups would hang outside the McDonalds, waiting for the last dumpster dump of stuff that had spent all evening in the warmer.

From San Francisco I went on to Sacramento and tracked down my father. For the next few months, I worked with my dad doing drywall and traveling back to San Francisco on the weekends to visit the friends I'd made and share some of the proceeds of my employment with them. Then, not long after my 21st birthday, I returned and found that everyone I knew had gone.

Before Halloween, I turned around and went back North to the Puget Sound, with some great memories and stories to tell.

Next year is the fortieth anniversary and I only wish I could return, this time with my wife. If things go well with my book sales this coming year, maybe I just might.

Maybe I'll see some of you there...

[ShotInTheDark]

1. Such a vibrant period of time

to be a bohemian in the Bay Area.

Enjoyed the vignettes...brief and focused, but possessing plenty of spare room for development.

Perhaps a departure from the SF genre would be a worthwhile journey?

Regardless, keep em' coming, ya bum!

[Mythsaje]

2. When we get to talking about my experiences

my dad almost always pokes at me to write an autobiography. I'm kinda testing the waters here and trying to see if the memories come alive for other people.

[ShotInTheDark]

3. To anyone in your situation, I always advise them to

do it! Quit sitting on your hands, letting self-doubt creep into the equation. Eventually, time will obscure events, and you'll either regret it or run into a block when it is necessary to fill in the gaps.

If you're concerned how this can muddy the waters, turn your readership off so to speak, then consider writing under a pen name.

[Mythsaje]

4. I don't really feel in a rush to do it...

And there's certainly nothing wrong with my memories of the events of my life.

I'm not even sure I WANT to write an autobiography...at least not for some time yet. I've still got a few things I'd like to add and I'm still waiting for them to come about.

:)

[ShotInTheDark]

5. It's usually only assholes who write autobiographies,

and they read more like The Encyclopedia of the Highly Censored Self, than anything else, so I can understand any hesitation on your part to begin such a grandiose "preservation" of one's legacy.

So screw censorship, forget legacy, it's obvious you seek a higher standard.

Consider the idea, (a few hundred pages being equal, space-wise), that a person sharing but a year or two, can find their effort infinitely more powerful than trying to explain the totality of the significant events taking place over a lifetime of 40 or so years.

With focus, an author can accurately and honestly capture the person he or she was during a finite period of personal growth, rather than summarizing and abbreviating one's greatest hits.

So whatever comes next, try to avoid falling into the trap of putting one's best foot forward: Don't become an asshole.

Find that old pair of sneakers and choose your favorite toe to write about!

[Mythsaje]

10. Yeah...I think that's part of my hesitation...

Why write a complete memoire when it's not complete yet, and hopefully won't be for many years?

Better to take a few years out of the whole and get into detail about those.

I figure that maybe someday people will be interested in the whole of my life, but, now, it's not all that compelling... PARTS may be, but not en toto.

[The Straight Story]

6. Bizzare timing :)

I was on the phone with my wife and as I hung up I refreshed GD and saw this thread.

She had just got on the road in Bakersfield heading to San Fran to take her brother home. She was saying how it had been many years since she had been there and would call me from the bridge :)

[TahitiNut]

7. "1987"? "fortieth anniversary"?

Does. not. compute. :dunce:

[hedgehog]

8. Maybe a little too much dope?

[Mythsaje]

9. Sorry...forgot this small detail.

1987 was the 20th Anniversary of the Summer of Love.

NOW do you get it?