Ephemera

A couple of days ago I was looking for something and thought I'd check in that top drawer in the little cabinet in the storage closet. That's the one that holds all sorts of memorabilia that I intend one day to organize, but I know I never will. For some reason, I felt the need to share its contents, so I'm sitting here with the drawer in front of me. I'll organize the list better than I've organized the drawer. I started to list all the photos, but there are too many. I'll just mention some special categories.

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• A little photo album that Jim's mother made up of pictures of him as a child


• A deflated mylar balloon that says "Go for it." I'm sure it was supposed to be encouragement for something, but I don't remember what it was. It was probably from Nicki.


• A deflated mylar balloon for Mother's Day. Definitely from Nicki.


• A box of bookplates with fairy designs on them. I've no doubt they were a gift.


• Pictures of my brother-in-law Michael and his ice sculptures


• A bumper sticker that obviously belonged to Nicki: "Left-handed -- Right-minded"


• A Christmas ornament that Nicki made.


• The works for a music box -- no box, just the music-making part with a hand crank. Plays "Greensleeves." A gift from Nicki.


• A paper fan. Must have been Nicki's.


• Pictures of me and of my friend Richard when he came to visit. -- 1975


• An envelope of photos taken when Nicki's "Kindergym" class had their public performance. -- 1976


• Ticket stubs and program for the three-day Bread and Roses festival in Berkeley. (Price: $5.00 for each day) -- 1977


• Nicki's baptismal certificate -- 1979 (She was baptized when she said she wanted to be.)


• My college diploma and my magna cum lauda rope -- 1981


• A picture of Jim and me from the weekend we spent in Tahoe after we got married. The closest thing we had to a honeymoon. (This one must be scanned to show to the world!!) -- 1983


• Nicki's fingerprints, taken by the Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department "just in case". -- 1983


• Nicki's school ID. -- 1984/85


• A certificate for Nicki finishing second in a spelling bee. -- 1985


• Ticket stubs from when Nicki and I saw The Nutcracker at the Shrine Auditorium in L.A. -- 1986


• A page from a newspaper in Merced that has an ad featuring my friend Dee. -- 1987


• Ticket stubs and program from a production of La Bayadere by American Ballet Theatre. -- 1987


• A card that came with a gift for Nicki -- 1990


• A long article featuring my friend Kaye that was in the Ventura CA newspaper -- 1992

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A separate section for theatre productions I was a part of:

• March 1985 -- The Crucible at Modesto Junior College. I played Sarah Goode and the offstage voice of Martha Corey.




• 3 photos


• Program




• May 1985 -- Museum at Modesto Junior College. This was an acting class production. I played "Maggie Snow, lost woman", "Barbara Castle", "Lillian, one of the laughing ladies" and "Zoe, Giorgio's wife".




• Program




• 1986 -- Addict at Fresno City College. What a horrible play! I played Janis, the crack-smoker.




• Program




• 1987 -- Noises Off at Fresno City College. I played "Dottie Otley/Mrs. Clackett" (the role Carol Burnett played in the movie)




• Program


• Article in the college newsletter)




• 1987 -- Eden Court at Fresno City College. I played Barb, the neighbor.




• Program




• Summer 1989 -- Madwoman of Chaillot at Miracosta College. I played "Josephine, the Madwoman of La Concorde."




• Script




• 1989 -- A photo. Can't remember the name of the play. It focuses on a married couple. I played the secretary of the husband who was having an affair with him. I guess there's lots of plays with that plot.


• Spring 1990 -- Love and Desperation via Pineapple Manipulation: A Psycho-Comedy with Fruit, a one-act, student-written play that I directed at Miracosta College in Oceanside CA.




• Photo of the screaming pineapple


• Photos of "my" actors getting into their drag queen makeup


• My copy of the script


• The card that came with the flowers my friends sent me on opening night




• Fall 1990 -- Androcles and the Lion at Miracosta. I was the assistant director.




• Program

I guess I should talk about what I was looking for, rather than being cryptic. I used to manage the newsletter for a grief support group in the area. I was thinking about one of the essays I wrote for that newsletter and I thought it was in the drawer. It wasn't. I was able to get a copy of it, though, because the founder of the group has all the past newsletters and made a copy of it for me. The funny thing was that when I read it, it wasn't nearly as good as I thought it had been.