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Back To: The Tyranny of Materiality
A few months before my injury . . . my jeans used to be so tight and uncomfortable yet that's what we had to do to be attractive . . . I haven't seen Lauren since the day of my accident . . . we are standing on a compost pile in front of the greenhouse where we went to BOCES: vocational training . . . our program was Horticulture but we called it Hornyculture because there were guys from several other schools to pick from . . . I'm wearing Bobby's vest . . . JA and I broke up: Bobby and I started seeing each other . . . we weren't together long . . . I remember being back with JA and Bobby left a note on JA's table saying: "Don't do it man it's not worth it." I laughed . . . Bobby went to BOCES and went to Cherry Valley School as well . . . he went to the Skip Day party . . . we didn't speak to each other the entire day or when I came back to the party hours later . . . when I fell off the cliff there were over 50 people at the party, though, when the group learned that I fell, people, many who were considered good friends, left as fast as they could . . . Bobby stayed . . . as a result he was arrested for serving minors . . . everyone who was of legal drinking age who stayed was arrested including my boyfriend Brian(1) . . .
Bobby [from our BOCES yearbook] . . .
Read the Newspaper Article: "Arrests Follow Teen Party Tragedy"
Growing
up in and near Cooperstown New York was very
interesting . . . such a small town but the tourism brought people from around
the World . . . Baseball Hall of
Fame Day was always mobbed . . . I worked as a waitress at the Cooperstown
Diner for my step-mother Wanda . . . I remember meeting neat people from other
places . . . once, there was a baseball team of young guys from Long Island who
were in Cooperstown and I watched them play on Doubleday Field . . . Debbie and
Kathy were there too . . . this guy named Mike approached me and we began to
chat . . . he invited my friend Sue and I to go hang out at their Motel . . .
we went and hung out, Mike's friend [I can't remember his name] gave me a pair
of purple and white striped underwear that I hung in my room for some time . .
. the Motel was in Springfield, a good ten miles give or take from Cooperstown,
so Sue and I were cringing regarding how we would get back . . . Mike and his
friend walked with us for a ways, but when cars came I immediately stuck my
thumb out because there was no way I was walking down the dark narrow Lake Road
if I didn't have to . . . a Jeep pulled over and Sue and I climbed in: he
was only going to Glimmerglass State Park [which wasn't far] so I lied and told
him that we were tricked into coming out there, were somewhat terrorized and
that they were following us . . . he gave us a ride the full way back to
Cooperstown . . . unfortunately, this guy knew the Motel administrators and
Mike and his friend had a bit of explaining to do . . . it all worked out . . .
Mike and I wrote to each other a few times and that was that . . . he sent me
his photo with one of the letters . . .
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My mother raised goats . . . she still does up on her farm "Wasted Acres" between Cooperstown and Cherry Valley . . . animals are so much more than a means to an end . . . my Grandmother Crystal used to always say: "There's nothing stupid in Nature darling, only human beings."
Dyane and I in "The Gulch" . . . this was the designated smoking area of our high school: you needed written permission from a parent and then you could puff away . . . more tight jeans, probably Jordache, I never wore dresses / skirts unless forced . . . I still smoked after my injury, though my diaphragm was compromised and I battled pneumonia and bronchitis constantly . . . I quit smoking in May 1989 . . . that was the best decision I ever made . . . have hardly even had colds . . .
