First Forty

Meet Suzy at Carlton; she invites me to warehouse party; abandoned landscape of downtown L.A. after dark; party is a wash; cops pull me over; segregation of neighborhoods is striking; Hancock Park an oasis, built on denial.

Lecture on the Golden Section; decide I want to see Beth; drive over; she invites me in with a smile; sit on the sofa with nothing to say — nothing changes; agree to do something sometime; really nice to see her again.

Today we beat Red Squad in floor hockey.

Rainy day; Muria has the car so we take the bus up to campus for brunch; talk to Faiza about her plans to go study in Egypt; play ping-pong for two hours; argue a bit at home, though we pull ourselves together before going to bed.

Nice to get smiling faces on campus; Meggin calls but neither of us feel like talking; see Jude Narita; 80s’ dance at Oakes; drive home in a wonderful fog; letter from Jost.

Discover Scooterville; buy 1980 Vespa P200E; so excited to pick it up I put a ding in the Valiant while backing out; ride around the block with Claire and Jean; don’t know when I’ve felt this excited; longer journeys of exploration at night.

‘69 Cubs lose to the ‘69 Mets; Todd and I help Grandma and Grandpa take down at Hawthorne; they set a new record; storm brings traffic to a crawl; freestyle driving in the snow.

We went to school and we had only half day. We played the other half.

Breakfast with Ted at Zachary’s; feeling like a third wheel; convince Ted to take Yumi with him up to San Francisco; scan pictures at Baytree; the Lizards and Foremen at Kuumbwa; the Foremen’s last show there; Hiroe helps me at the counter.

Begin reading “The Symposium”; Native American class thought provoking; go see “The Shrunken Head of Pancho Villa”; hearing music that reminds me of Todd; Meggin leaves message, she’s depressed; “Indian Hobbyism”… so that’s what it is.