I was sitting in the living room working. My son, dressed in a red cowboy duster and red cowboy hat,  rollerskated over and said:

Look at me, I’m so tall. When I was a little I was like a plate of lettuce!

Then he skated away.

I’ve lived across the water from my hometown for over a year without ever running across someone I knew growing up. When I go out I often run into college friends or people I know from the tech world. But I never see anyone from my reckless teen years.

Yesterday I was walking down Broadway with AEM and glanced in a store. I found myself staring right at one of my friends from back home, the only queer punk skateboarder in that dismal junior high school. He was looking back at me.

I kept walking.

This was a kid I really liked. When it was too dangerous for me to ride the bus home he invited me to hide at his house after school.

There were only about six freaky kids in that institution, and no more than a few dozen in the consolidated high school. Whatever solidarity we enjoyed was based mostly on the principle of safety in numbers. We were friends until graduation, when the crew of misfits split up and went off to have real lives.

I would have liked to say hello to my old friend, but I just didn’t know how.

Al is curating this and my daughter will be introducing acts:

Bands Against Bush
Friday October 3rd, 2003
Sylvester Park Gazebo

8-10 pm Free

Dub Narcotic Sound System
Bangs
Jason Traeger
speaking: Phan Nguyen