The View from a Drawbridge

Tag: childhood

  • Tractor Mentality

    When I was 12 years old I was growing up in a semi-rural, semi-farming community, and one of the classes they insisted we take in school was agriculture. I vaguely remember having to identify various breeds of cow, and planting trees as a community project. It was the 70’s. Times were simpler. And Florida schools…

  • Thirty Yards Deep

    My childhood was full of dysfunction and poverty and abuse. A lot more people can say that than we as a society would care to admit. Beneath this civilized façade is a nasty and brutish reality for many of us, and that shapes who we are. When you grow up in a really screwed up…

  • Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!

    Whether or not you believe that Jesus was the son of God, his mother apparently did. Can you imagine the pressure, raising the son of God? I mean, kids are a handful as it is, without them being divine. How did Mary handle the terrible twos? How do you discipline God’s son? Did she and…

  • If You’re Happy and You Know It, Clap Your Hands

    I woke up humming that song from my childhood the other day. I have no idea why. And then I started thinking about the lyrics. It’s been my experience that it’s never a good idea to examine the lyrics from childhood too closely. (If you know the true meaning behind Ring Around the Rosie, for…

  • Roots

    If things go as planned I’m about to uproot myself and move 3000 miles across the country to a place I’ve never been, where I know no one. That’s pretty radical, I suppose. But my roots have never been deep. I have always sort of envied people with deep roots. People who go home for…

  • Movie Review: The Day I Became a Woman

    It’s just like me to review a film that came out in 2000, but cut me a little slack. I only just discovered it on the dusty shelves of my library. And it’s a tragedy that this film should be covered with dust, as it’s truly amazing. That’s the thing in America, though. This film…

  • Last Impressions

    We are all taught that it’s very important to make a good first impression, but I’ve had several experiences that lead me to believe that last impressions are equally important. A few years ago I went to visit a friend from high school 25 years after we had graduated. We had a pleasant visit, but…

  • Tony the Ice Cream Man

    When I was little, there was an ice cream truck that routinely visited the Connecticut projects where we lived. For people who couldn’t afford vacations, it was one of the few ways you could really tell that summer had arrived. That, and at the tail end of the baby boom the neighborhood was lousy with…