This was a journal entry from Sept. 8, 2007:
I had a lot of thoughts last night. Wish I could remember. One was to write this down:
It wasn’t “Going After Cacciato” that changed my life, although it was a wonderful book. It was living through the war itself.
That said, when I read “The Things They Carried,” the short story, all I could think was: Don’t let that soldier go down into that tunnel! What are you thinking? Toss a grenade down there first! So, I wasn’t taken in by Jimmy Cross’ apparent sudden decision to become a better leader, one who relies on SOPs. He has a long way to go . . .
When I was a young teen, which happened to be during the Vietnam War, I crawled into a war tunnel. It was on the beach at Pomponio in California. During WW II, the U.S. Coast Guard had dug tons of tunnels along the coastline to protect us from the Japanese — or so the story goes. This was one of them. A dangerous relic from a fearful time. I might have gone with Nick and Vince, it seems. I can’t recollect everything. Nick was older, Vince was my age. They were classmates from my alternative high school. We did things like take the school bus and go the beach. No supervision at all. I was probably about 14. Pomponio was made famous, if you knew what you were looking for, in the classic cult film, Harold and Maude. Harold stages one of his fake suicide attempts as a motorcycle leap off a cliff at Pomponio.
There was a long, winding trail down to the beach itself. You cross the beach and head up the backside of the far cliff. Somewhere there is an opening. It might have had boards around it. We go in. There is no light. We must crawl as the tunnel is not high, maybe three or four feet at the most. One of the boys is in front of me, the other behind. I have no choice but to keep going. We enter a pool of water, but must slither on. I am not afraid. Perhaps I should have been. Some 20 or 30 yards on, the ceiling rises and the tunnel breaks into the light. We find ourselves about 30 feet up a cliff looking out over the Pacific Ocean. We are protected and safe from harm, unless we fall off. But the opening onto the sea is wide enough and concave enough that there isn’t much to fear. It’s a spectacular moment. I’ve never been back through that tunnel. It may not even exist today, or they might have boarded it up.
Related Images:
Continue Reading
Tanya Harjan remembers PHS and Peninsula School-Letter to Robin B
Posted on 25. Sep, 2010 by Robin B.
Hi Robin, I had spoken to Bill Ashby last September after learning of Tag’s passing. We hadn’t seen each other since summer of ’69 and it took him a moment to remember me. I let him know about Mark Jacobs and yes, when I get to sit down with my old friend Steve’s sisters, then […]
Continue Reading
I uploaded a bunch of photos from Reunion 2010. There’s more to come, but this is a start. Click here for page, or use pulldown navigation bar at top of page under “Galleries.” Click on “View with PicLens” for a slideshow. Works on my mac, your mileage may vary. Related Images:
Continue Reading
Hey everyone! The fantastic string band that played at our reunion is called Brown Chicken Brown Cow. Here’s their website. Here’s their MySpace profile. Here’s some pix of them I pulled off the Web. I have a lot more pix from the reunion, which I will post soon. I promise! Related Images:
Continue Reading
It was great! Photos and updates to come! Please add your experiences here. Let me know if you have any trouble posting. Cheers! Melanie Related Images:
Continue Reading
From SFGate.com: SPEYER, Lars June 28, 2007 Lars Speyer 82, passed away at home on Saturday, June 23, 2007. He is survived by his wife Lorraine Capparell; daughter, Lara Speyer; son, David Speyer; sister, Lorle Kennedy, several nieces and nephews, and a host of loving friends. Lars was born in Stockholm, Sweden, on March 10, […]
Continue Reading
John Fischer, alumnus of Pacific High School has died. Obit below. He will be missed. Robin The Inyo Register Collision with deer kills Bishop man Register Staff 6-8-2010 Bishop resident and legendary mountaineer John Fischer, 63, died Saturday morning while riding his motorcycle in Mono County. According to the California Highway Patrol, Fischer was riding […]
Continue Reading
Hey everybody! Just got an email from Robin about signing up for the reunion Aug. 27 – 29. I, too, totally spaced it! Here’s the link to the document: Registration letter 2010 Please get on the stick and sign up! (The deadlines in the letter no longer apply, just get this turned in absolutely no […]
Continue Reading
The next Pacific High School Reunion will be in Northern California from August 27 through 29, 2010. If you are not on Robin B’s current list of addresses, please contact her for more info at r.bloomgarden@gmail.com, or you can use this site’s contact page to send her an email. Details to follow. Subscribe to this […]
Continue Reading
Back in 1968-70, I was the appliance repairman for office/school and taught Occultism. We always had macrobiotic lunch with Heath & Alan running the kitchen. I remember when my VW bus, which I used to transport students to and from Palo Alto to PHS, was sabotaged. We found nuts and bolts in the crankcase. PHS […]