Driving Sue Banducci to divorce. I started driving for Veterans Cab just after I moved to San Francisco in 1975, or it might have been 76. I soon discovered some regular rides were very lucrative, but you had to beat out the older drivers who would sit at an intersection at a specific time for one of the really good tippers. I was at Broadway and Columbus about 12:15 one night when the dispatcher called out “Broadway and Kearny.” I shouted “Bingo.” Tommy said “Pick up Enrico at Banducci’s.” He rolled into the cab, very jovial. He said “oh, you’ve never driven me before, Swing out through the tunnel and cut over to Lake on Anza.” I drove him out to 14th Avenue. It was a fun trip, lots of fun banter, and he did tip something like 25 bucks. Well, I said, let's try Broadway and Columbus tomorrow at 12:15, I get how this works. 12:20 Tommy said over the radio, "Broadway and Kearny." I yelled “Bingo.” 25 bucks in those days was real money. Tommy said, “Take Sue home. Be care
I knew that Allen was in town when there was a knock at the front door at 3:30 exactly. A young man, 21 but not a month more, clean shaven, holding a book, asked, “Is this the Philip Whalen Zendo?” I invited him into the living room where he sat down and quietly continued his reading. Allen would be at the door shortly; I could hear Phil beginning to make his way up the stairs. He and Allen shared years of friendship. They were punctual. I began to prepare tea. I loved when Phil’s friends came to visit. Phil was on his best behavior. Not that he was normally badly behaved though in private moments he could be angry, even insulting. Despite being one of the foremost leaders of a movement that questioned the very roots of believing and behaving what my parents taught me, when he was proper, he was extremely proper. But there was another quality to the conversations with his poet friends. Their language was careful and measured. It was literate. I was always looking for any innuendos, an
Dear Toby, You have a gay uncle. I had one too, you met once or twice, your grandfather’s brother, Donny. I always knew he was gay, and so did my parents, but it was something that no one ever talked about. Before Stonewall no one talked about gay life in middle class society. Of course everyone knew that there were gay people out there, even relatives. It was just expected that you’d keep your mouth shut and not bring disgrace on the family. And that dynamic set up a very difficult barrier set up to being honest about most everything. I am not by nature a liar. Every time I opened my mouth I got myself in trouble. I am going to talk about a wide range of things. I will of course refer to specific people, times and places. I may not always recall all the facts exactly as they occurred. I am almost 80, and some details play the tricks that memory is prone to. Sometimes as with storytelling, I write for effect and, though I don’t want to play too loose with the facts, and I certainly don
Comments
Post a Comment