jimmox51

I'm 13. I'll be 14 at the end of the year. I think about girls a lot more than I used to. A lot more. I don't do anything about it, mind you, it's all just thinking. The female body has become a lot more interesting. I notice I pay more attention to things like the swimsuit competition during the Miss America pageant. I know next to nothing about girls, and I know absolutely nothing about sex. I know someone is supposed to have a long talk with me about the birds and the bees one of these... Read Full Story

I know, I haven't written anything in a long, long time. Something's coming I just don't know when. I've been doing public readings of the blog and they have been very well received. I'll be reading again in June, and I hope to write some more as well. Writer's block be gone! Stay tuned. Read Full Story

Spring is here and I'm counting the days until summer vacation. I can't wait for this first year at Gateway Regional High School to be over. No more gym class or industrial arts, and I certainly won't miss the cafeteria. It has been a tough year, getting used to a new routine, new classmates and teachers. I'm looking forward to a few months of not worrying about whether or not I remembered to bring my gym bag or if my book covers need replacing. I'm getting good grades at Gateway, but I don't... Read Full Story

It's hard to understand, this civil rights stuff, all this black against white. For years now I've watched people getting beaten, knocked down by fire hoses, attacked by police dogs and I've seen the bodies of those who have been murdered on the evening news. White people who marched along with the black people have also been killed and beaten, and I tell you I don't understand. Do my classmates understand any of this? Our school is all white except for one. Just one dark face in this sea of... Read Full Story

President Johnson had said that the United States was not seeking a wider war in Vietnam. We would only be advising the South Vietnamese army, training their soldiers and providing artillery and air support in their war not a war with the Communists in the north. More and more American "advisers" were sent to Vietnam in 1964. They get killed no matter what we call them. In January of 1965 President Johnson sent more American planes to Vietnam in order to help defend the South Vietnamese... Read Full Story

More violence on the evening news. More people killed. The black citizens of Alabama are marching on Selma. A voters' rights march. What do we understand about it, all of us here in Gateway Regional High School? A story on the evening news. March 8, 1965. We've seen this before. Tear gas. Police on horses. Protesters, black and white, Beaten Bloody Attacked by police. George Wallace Defiant Denying black Americans The rights they are entitled to. March 9, 1965 We see it all again. Beatings... Read Full Story

Malcolm X was shot the other day. Lots of white people were afraid of Malcolm X, hated Malcolm X, they did not like his ideas. I don’t know much about him really. I had seen him on the news talking about how black Americans needed to defend themselves by any means necessary and that black people should form their own country because all white people were devils. That kind of talk really scared white people like my father and my relatives and my neighbors. Another black man hated for his ideas... Read Full Story

Yes I know, I haven't been posting for a long time and I keep promising to. Ideas are forming. More to come, so stay tuned if you haven't given up. Curse words, nocturnal emissions, racism, Vietnam, scary adults on alcohol, a swimming pool in the back yard, Gateway Regional High School. It's in my brain waiting to come out. Read Full Story

Up until now the war that was going on in Vietnam wasn't considered a war, at least not for our country. American soldiers were over there, but officially they were just there to train and advise the South Vietnamese army; to help them beat the communists from the north. But now here in March of 1965 I see on the news and in Life Magazine that American Marines are landing there. Over three thousand marines walking ashore. Real combat troops. I guess we're not just policemen and teachers... Read Full Story

In the spring of 1965, around Easter, my mother decided that I should be baptized. My sister was going to be christened, so she figured to have a multiple ceremony which would include me, my brother Carl, Dad and Cheryl all together. I couldn't figure this out. It didn't make any sense to me since I had stopped going to church altogether and I had made it quite clear to my mother that I didn't really believe in all of this god stuff. I guess she didn't take me seriously. Maybe she figured... Read Full Story