The Valedictator

More authentically: C’est fait! It’s done!

Now in early December 2025, I’m officially announcing the completion of the latest piece of an old man’s memory madness, twelve chapters on my exceptional childhood (from 1942-1960, from 0 to 18) called KID STUFF, A Memoir of Chronic Innocence.

My childhood was unique, just as every individual’s life is by definition unique, though folks usually share many cultural contexts and conditioning in creating their personas. After a more or less “normal” childhood, my pubescence and adolescence (12 to 18) turned exceptional when we moved to a truck stop café out in the backwoods of Arkansas… Also exceptional, though shared perhaps to a lesser degree with thousands of teenaged boys across the country, was my three-year romantic obsession with Annette Funicello of the Mickey Mouse Club.

Meanwhile, my chronic innocence persisted, largely dictated by a merciless religion, but also by isolation. Through those 18 years, I never touched anyone impurely nor was touched that way by anyone—except myself. Of course, all my innocent hopes and dreams were dramatic, if futile.

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