college memories for writer's cramp |
Euclid House Madness When I was a college kid decades ago, my friends and I decided to move together into a house across the street from the Campus, which we dubbed the Euclid house. There were five of us, one for each room. Sara S was the house den mother, and I was the den father. It was pure, delicious, wild craziness from day one until it ended two and a half years later. We had a Platonic relationship, I wanted to be her lover, but she did not feel the same way. Years later she said she was ready and wanted me to come back to her, but by that time I had met and married my wife so her letter came too late. I always wondered what would have happened if I had gotten her letter before I met my wife. Would I have joined her? One of life’s imponderables I suppose. The others were a bit of a rotating cast of characters. Roy D stayed to the end, he became a speed head and later a small-town newspaper publisher, after going cold turkey sober. He beat drugs on his own telling me that he knew if he had continued he would have been dead, and he has just met his wife, the love of his life, so he had a reason to want to live. We went to several concerts including a Frank Zappa concert while high on mushroom . Sharon G, a rich “Jewish” princess from Pittsburgh, PA, was also there to the end. She was a lovable slob. We were joined by Kemet from Turkey, and Janice as well. Kemet was a deep philosopher and helped us deal with the madness of Jeff C. Janice was into eating ramen and other junk food, but was a kind soul, with a bit of a grumpy personality before she had her morning coffee. Kevin S, who later became Karen S and became a lesbian after his transition, joined us as well. He was infamous for his warped sense of female beauty; he thought that the ugly woman was the most beautiful. He was also an alcoholic. His favorite line was “I don’t drink before sunset” then a few minutes later, he would say, “God damn it, it is after sunset somewhere” and popped his first drink of the day along with cigarettes, and weed. Jeff C was there as well. He was the most brilliant man I ever knew, but took too much ACID and flipped out, convinced he was God. The house fell apart, and we all moved on to other things, but for two and a half years it was home, and we had legendary house parties every Friday night. We had the first one the first week we moved in together. Note: Will turn this into a story, tentative titled, “God’s roommate” NEW PROMPT: Tomorrow, December 3, is National Roof-Over-Your-Head Day. Write a story or poem about someone moving into their first house or apartment. |