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.

Full circle?

I find it somehow amusing that Diamonds Are Forever is on television right now. I first saw it on Christmas Day, 1971, at Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood.

In case anyone is interested, there's a bit in the movie that relates to my time on the carnival. About halfway through, Bond chases someone through the "Gorilla Girl" show at the Circus Circus in Vegas. I was in a traveling version of that same show. We even used the same bally tape, although ours was longer. They obviously cut some of it for the movie. For those who have met me in person, imagine me 34 years younger, with long blonde hair, at least 70 pounds lighter, wearing a very, very short leopard-print thing off one shoulder. LOL!

As I was typing that, I was wondering if I would go back to that time. I guess it would depend. If I had to relive the same things, not on your life. If I could go back with even a smattering of the knowledge I have now, you bet.