My first autumn there exposed me to a mixture of New England’s intense fall foliage and that of the Southern forests. I drove many miles in the afternoon hours after my shift at the newsroom ended in explorations of the neighboring forests. The region was called the Southern Tier of New England, paired with the Northern Tier of Pennsylvania. Sometimes I got lost on lanes like this or on winding country roads.
~*~
The cover of Volume 9 of my journaling purposed a college geography course. I didn’t recall ever touched a map there, either. Turns out to have been Geog 314, urban geography – anything as long as it’s related to the city – part of my Urban Studies certificate program.
Includes a page torn from another notebook, about spending the night with [Judith, I presume, or perhaps Polly], and her moistness. Very confusing now.
Mostly Christmastime ’70: more winter observations.
The Kara lobster incident, quite telling: “What a little girl she is, how frightened of growing up into sex she is, of how much she is running away from herself, using work as an excuse.” Etc.
So she was home from Cornell for the holidays?
Also, reaction to getting Fay’s letter … “She’s further down than I am.” Also, my comments that we would never get back together, because “there is so much she will never tell (her friends) / bikes [motorcycles], sex thrill, freedom … she is physical” in contrast to me.
I was apparently spending time with Judith at this point, much earlier than I remembered. The book includes Christmas Eve, when D-Man and Helene moved to the second-floor place with the rounded bedroom.
I’m surprised by the lack of any record of the spectacular autumn foliage and my explorations of country roads after getting off work in the early afternoon.
Much of what was percolating in my life through these months will instead be found in my novel Pit-a-Pat High Jinks.
In general, it was a difficult time for me.
[Incinerated]
~*~
From Spiralbound Hippies, with commentary from now.
Jnana's Red Barn 