Summer Reset - Welcome to All
A special welcome to all the new readers, and happy hellos to all of those current subscribers!
Welcome to My Own Private Waste Land: T. S. Eliot, Mental Illness, and the Making of a Memoir.
Summertime Gladness
Nothing quite says summer than a beach and palm trees and the ocean.
For years, I sent a quotation to an email list of friends, family, and colleagues with the following:
"Do you always watch for the longest day of the year then miss it? I always watch for the longest day of the year and then miss it."
I asked participants to identify the quotation: book, author, chapter, and character who says the quotation. (answer below)
I’d send the letter off a couple of weeks before summer solstice, and then sit back and see who responded. It was a fun way to keep in touch and celebrate the coming summer.
Through the ebb and flow of lives that are constantly changing my email list, I’m down to 1 person who remains on that list. I did start that practice 20 years ago. Why did I think I’d be able to carry it on forever?
If Gatsby can have infinite hope beyond the restrictions of time, so can I.
Happy Summer everyone
The Fremont Solstice Parade
I grew up watching the Rose Parade every January 1st. My mother loved the roses. I loved the floats and the award categories. Later I came to like the bands and the flowers as well.
When I still a teenger, the Doo Dah Parade started in Pasadena, a twisted sister to the formal Rose Parade. The Doo Dah parade celebrated the eccentric and weird, the parody and offbeat.
In the Fremont district of Seattle, such a parade exists, modeled after a similar parade in Santa Barbara. The 33rd annual Fremont Solstice Parade was held on June 17th, including a weekend festival of artists, artisans, food vendors, and live bands.
For my first summer in Seattle, I knew I would attend. The Solstice parade has few rules. No motorized vehicles allowed (except for those requiring them). All floats must be human powered. It’s a celebration of the arts, the weird and the offbeat: “giant puppets, stilt walkers, floats, dancers, cyclists, and musicians in this kaleidoscope of joyous human expression.”
The cyclists start the parade. They ride completely naked but are painted in various guises. I saw the M&Ms, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Spiderman, Forrest Gump jogging in his track attire, many rainbow-painted celebrants, a dazzling array of creativity and characters.
Because of the pandemic, the parade was not held the past few years, so the crowd was large, happy, and overjoyed for this celebration of light and life and art! It also hosted some great music and excellent vendors - not common vendors but some spectacular artisans and their myriad arts.
(The Flying Spaghetti Monster at the Fremont Solstice Parade, Seattle, June 2023 - author’s photo)
It rained much of the morning, but the crowd was large and in good spirits throughout the parade and the festival.
It’s heartening to know that the celebration of non-mainstream arts attracts large audiences and has a place in our communities.
Seattle Pride
The last weekend of June, Seattle held their PRIDE parade and festival. With events throughout June, Seattle has a vital PRIDE parade, with festivals in Capitol Hill and at the Seattle Center.
For this first year attending, I went to the Capitol Hill festival, listening to the music and looking at the vendors. Restaurants carved out reserved seating areas on the sidewalk and the street in front of their stores. Vendors hocked their wares as Drag Queens strutted on stage and made sure that no one would interrupt their singing, lip-syncing, or story-telling efforts.
The weather was beautiful (for a place known for its rain, we have had more sun and warmth than I thought I would have gotten in a year!). Spirits were high. The turn out was large and amazingly supportive. In the later part of the afternoon, it became almost too congested to walk the festival. Buses and light rail transit were packed.
Overall, it was a great event and well-supported by the community.
I would post a picture but it appears that neither my partner nor I took any!
Next week, I will return to the issue of memoir and writing.
I’ve written an unpublished memoir, My Own Private Waste Land, which I’m in the process of querying. I’m at work on my second memoir as well as many other assorted writing projects.
Support my writing as I seek traditional publication for my memoir. You can also provide a subscription as a gift to other who may enjoy my writing.
On this substack, I write about:
writing, literature, and the writing life
writing process
memoir craft
mental illness - major depressive disorder, suicide, borderline personality disorder, narcissistic personality disorder
sailing
alternative lifestyles - polyamory and kink
Until next time, I’ll . . ..
Just keep writing!
As always, thank you for reading. Comments are appreciated. Let me know what you think. Let’s get to know each other. All the best!
QUIZ ANSWER
"Do you always watch for the longest day of the year then miss it? I always watch for the longest day of the year and then miss it."
Book title, author, chapter, character
The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Chapter 1, Daisy Buchanon says this (the epitome of tragic, privileged ennui)