21 Comments

Outstanding. I too had similar experiences in my Chicago neighborhood. The cop in Rumle Fish was played by William Smith. He was one hell of an actor. Character actor. He was also brilliant...very smart man.

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Thanks, John! And I concur, Smith was good in everything he did.

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When I was a teen, parodies of Mr. Rogers were considered pretty funny, e.g. "can you say Statute of Limitations? I knew you could". Age has softened some memories from those years, but there's enough juice left in them for remorse, winces, cringes and building blocks for better things. Great post, Mickey. I think a certain amount of young male mischief is inevitable and might be in some ways necessary, even if ultimately regrettable.

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Thanks, James, and I concur. I regret any harm I did in the past but I know I could not be the person I am today without these experiences.

This essay was kinda tame but I will share more over time!

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By the way, Stewart Copeland's soundtrack for Rumble Fish was amazing. I can recall using it for workout music.

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Great call! Toiling in the massive shadow of Sting, Copeland never fully got his due.

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it must be said that life in big city is more exciting that small hamlet living. The biggest event on our way to school was a small candy store and the small money that would buy one candy. The fish did ring a bell, I remember them being very popular at the time. Catholic school but no uniforms until we were 12, thankfully LOL. I hated every bit of it. For years I detested blue.

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I had cousins who lived in what we called "the country" and I can attest, the city was more exciting (for better or for worse).

And I remember those uniforms well!

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I think there was enough excitement in the working-class suburb where I spent my first 12 years. Some punk pulled a knife on my sister as she walked to her high school; my mother was royally pissed while the school just shrugged. Some boy tried to hit me and my best friend when we were little; I just grabbed the stick he had and broke it. I also chased my annoying next-door neighbor up a tree.

There is something to be said for the indigenous tradition of sending young males into the wilderness to spend time alone.

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"...dressed in our pathetic Catholic school uniforms,..."

~

HEY ! Wait a second !

I still have my clip-on-tie !

How dare you !

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😂😂😂😂

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"...buck teeth,..."

~

I find that offensive.

I prefer deer-like-dentition.

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I didn't mean to trigger or offend! 😂

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You did neither of either.

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Nice Write Up Mick !

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Thank you, my friend!

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BUCKLE UP

CLASS IN SESSION

FROM THE HEART & MIND

~ Professor Mark Crispin Miller

Also: VIDEO

"Suppression of Excess Deaths"

https://open.substack.com/pub/markcrispinmiller/p/if-you-dont-know-this-you-dont-know?r=11r0co&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

{& DON'T FORGET THE "SUDDEN" TYPE !, All Too Suddenly}

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Admittedly, childhood mischief is not just relegated to boys. 🥹

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^ Truth.

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I never knew my middle sister or myself getting up to mischief, just me defending myself and her stealing a loaf of bread from the neighbors and eating the whole thing. She also licked all the frosting off a cake my mother had made for a neighbor child's birthday. It was always boys in our neighborhood who behaved badly and whose mothers defended their creepy little brats.

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