Friday, 24 June 2022
Lately, around 5:30 or 6 pm, I head to the patio in the back, turn on some music from my iPhone that I channel through some blue tooth speakers, shed clothes and either have a glass of iced tea or a glass of wine. Then I take a skinny dip in the pool, shower with my home-made outdoor shower, and then come in for the night.
Tonight, one song that hit me was Simon and Garfunkel’s “I Am A Rock.” I first heard that song when I was sitting with my cousin Jimmie in the back room of their house she shared with her sister Jean. It had to be summer since the song came out in 1965 and I graduated Morton Attendance Center the year after. Jimmie was a senior. I remember she hushed me when it came on the radio because she wanted to listen to it. That made me want to listen to the lyrics.
A winter’s day
In a deep and dark December
I am alone
Gazing from my window to the streets below
On a freshly fallen silent shroud of snow
I am a rock I am an island
I’ve built walls
A fortress deep and mighty
That none may penetrate
I have no need of friendship friendship causes pains
It’s laughter and it’s loving I disdain
I am a rock I am an island
Don’t talk of love
Well I’ve heard the word before
It’s sleeping in my memory
I won’t disturb the slumber of feelings that have died
If I never loved I never would have cried
I am a rock I am an island
I have my books
And my poetry to protect me
I am shielded in my armor
Hiding in my room safe within my womb
I touch no one and no one touches me
I am a rock I am an island
And a rock feels no pain
And an island never cries”
Lyrics from Musicmatch.
At that point in my life, those lyrics pretty much reflected my life. Maybe it was the wine this afternoon but Simon and Garfunkel singing those lyrics made me think of what my life had been up to the time in 1965 and then how far I’ve come since then. I certainly had no social skills in 1965 and only when I started the semester at Ole Miss in the fall of 1966 did I begin to develop any.
Powers Hall was my introduction to my new life with two roommates in a room designed for two. It was during the Viet Nam conflict and everyone was enrolling in college to get out of being sent to Viet Nam. I didn’t really know much about that at the time, I just knew I needed to go to college. It was at Powers that I made some of my first real friends, learn to socialize, learned about the fraternity system at Ole Miss (I didn’t join) and probably met my first gay person. It was also the first time I wasn’t considered a nerd. I’ve always said I learned more in the bull shit sessions at Powers than I did in any of my classes.
What was really interesting about the guy I assumed was gay was he was the social arbiter of the dorm, and particularly for the fraternities most of the guys in the dorm belonged to. He came from real money, as in plantation in the Delta money. I think he must have brought 60 shirts with him to Powers which only had two small closets that three guys had to share. I think all the men in the dorm assumed he was gay but he had such cachet with his wealth, they all deferred to him for advice with women, clothes, and pretty much everything else.
My next year at Ole Miss saw me in a new dormitory we called the Twin Towers. I’m sure, if it is still standing, it has another name but back in the 60’s it was Twin Towers. I had a room on one of the upper floors with two roommates (again for a two person room). Both the guys were the typical southern males of the time and I remember vividly one story they told. They were best friends from some small town in Mississippi and they related the story of how one of them was in bed with this girl when the girl’s boyfriend (apparently a bruising football player) came banging on the door, screaming for his girlfriend. The roommate quickly stripped, jumped in bed with both his friend and the girl, said “move over babee” and when the football player barged in, he found two guys in bed with his girlfriend. He stormed out.
My first thought was what a dirty trick to play on the girl. My second thought was why was she in bed with another guy? The third thing that crossed my mind was why the the guy in bed with later dumped her.
What all this is leading up to is today, the Supreme Court issued the verdict that struck down legalized abortion. It seems to me that women pay a far higher price in life than males. The day before, they struck down a New York law that prohibited certain people from carrying fire arms. In essence, the Supreme Court gave more rights to gun owners than to women. It also looks like Clarence Thomas wants to revisit contraception and gay marriage. Looks like three newest of the Supremes lied to Congress when they said Roe vs. Wade was established precedence. Maybe, they also want to revisit Brown vs. Board of Education.
In any case, I’m sure the girl’s reputation was ruined in that small town. I remember as a kid how many times young girls disappeared for about 9 months and then reappeared. I also remember how many girls disappeared never to reappear because of failed abortions. Yes, even in small town Morton, Mississippi, there were rumors of abortions. It was pretty common talk about how to avoid pregnancies. One that sticks in my mind was the idea that if you douched with a coke after intercourse, that would prevent pregnancy.
Little old ladies had nothing better to do than attend a wedding, go home and mark the date on the calendar and then check nine months later to see if the kid from the marriage was legitimate. Looks as though we are heading back to those days.
Stay tuned!