Post by winter unfazed on Feb 27, 2008 10:12:18 GMT -5
Well, now chapter 2 of the long story whose first chapter I already posted.
So from where I left off: We moved to the city when I was 4 years old. It was a totally different environment; for several years we lived in a relatively bad part of town and there were gunshots often heard. There was a military airport and a civilian one in our area, so fumes everywhere. It was a sickly place, and respiratory ailments were the main affliction. One time there was a local outbreak of a pneumonia-like virus and 500 were hospitalized. When the landlady came to our house and found that we were sick from that virus (though mildly compared to most cases of it), she said, "Oh yeah...everybody's got this $#!+."
Come to think of it, there were a lot of cuss words being used in the neighborhood; I just didn't know what they actually meant at the time.
Around that time the so-called revival of the early '90s was going on. There was the Toronto Blessing, the Pensacola thing, the Vineyard, gold teeth, divine levitation and other left-field stuff being celebrated on mainstream Christian radio and in churches all over. And it seemed a lot of the radio preachers were located in the area where we lived.
There was a local preacher who would say on his evening radio show. "Keep on kicking devil butt!" (At church, however, he was free of censorship and would tell the congregation to "Keep on kicking devil a$$!")
I remember the Clinton vs. Dole election, and Buchanan in the background. I also recall asking my parents about certain political terms that were being used by the news and pundits. They explained them to me, as best I could understand at that age. Mom explained that "abortion" was "killing babies before they're born," that conservatives were people who believe in right and wrong, and liberals are people who believe in anything-goes. Dad told me that a homosexual was someone who acts like or wants to be the opposite sex. (I know these are simplistic answers; after all, I was 6 years old going on 7. But I appreciate that they tried to answer my questions, rather than pulling out the "You're not old enough to understand" escape clause.)
Another notable memory is an interstate trip we took on Greyhound when I was almost 10 years old. Apparently Greyhound is a lowlife method of transportation; it's nothing like being on an airplane. In the middle of the day the driver pulled over to smoke (smoking was not allowed by Greyhound policy). Also along that trip there were two drunks (one of which got booted and the other went into the restroom to guzzle every hour or so), a "head" trying to "maintain", and a swearing teenage couple with their 9-month-old daughter. Do you get the picture yet?
follows tomorrow.
So from where I left off: We moved to the city when I was 4 years old. It was a totally different environment; for several years we lived in a relatively bad part of town and there were gunshots often heard. There was a military airport and a civilian one in our area, so fumes everywhere. It was a sickly place, and respiratory ailments were the main affliction. One time there was a local outbreak of a pneumonia-like virus and 500 were hospitalized. When the landlady came to our house and found that we were sick from that virus (though mildly compared to most cases of it), she said, "Oh yeah...everybody's got this $#!+."
Come to think of it, there were a lot of cuss words being used in the neighborhood; I just didn't know what they actually meant at the time.
Around that time the so-called revival of the early '90s was going on. There was the Toronto Blessing, the Pensacola thing, the Vineyard, gold teeth, divine levitation and other left-field stuff being celebrated on mainstream Christian radio and in churches all over. And it seemed a lot of the radio preachers were located in the area where we lived.
There was a local preacher who would say on his evening radio show. "Keep on kicking devil butt!" (At church, however, he was free of censorship and would tell the congregation to "Keep on kicking devil a$$!")
I remember the Clinton vs. Dole election, and Buchanan in the background. I also recall asking my parents about certain political terms that were being used by the news and pundits. They explained them to me, as best I could understand at that age. Mom explained that "abortion" was "killing babies before they're born," that conservatives were people who believe in right and wrong, and liberals are people who believe in anything-goes. Dad told me that a homosexual was someone who acts like or wants to be the opposite sex. (I know these are simplistic answers; after all, I was 6 years old going on 7. But I appreciate that they tried to answer my questions, rather than pulling out the "You're not old enough to understand" escape clause.)
Another notable memory is an interstate trip we took on Greyhound when I was almost 10 years old. Apparently Greyhound is a lowlife method of transportation; it's nothing like being on an airplane. In the middle of the day the driver pulled over to smoke (smoking was not allowed by Greyhound policy). Also along that trip there were two drunks (one of which got booted and the other went into the restroom to guzzle every hour or so), a "head" trying to "maintain", and a swearing teenage couple with their 9-month-old daughter. Do you get the picture yet?
follows tomorrow.