From the Photo Archive | Summer 1991
The basement is where the fun happens. There’s a recreation room down there with hideous carpet and completely expendable furniture. Dogs play cards there. The Minnesota Twins are world champions forever. The magic eight-ball has all the answers.
Who bought that latch-hook kit and made a U.S. flag out of yarn? Where did that big ceramic monkey come from? Is that an autographed photo of Adam West with an exploded balloon covering his Batman face?
There are boxes of old clothing in the back room, near the half-empty paint cans and dusty whipped topping containers filled with old screws and unidentifiable appliance parts. It’s like a miniature Goodwill store back there. It opens every Halloween or whenever the urge to play “dress up” takes hold.
There once were people who wore this clothing seriously. They thought it was attractive, and it probably was. Eventually, however, these garments became the stuff of ridicule. Wearing them requires performing the role of some exaggerated character.
Aunt Ellen needed that cane to walk. Eventually, she needed a four-legged cane -- a “walker.” They were serious tools that increased her mobility. Now that she’s gone, they are a joke. “Look at me. I’m old!” says the hunched-over teenager, his friends laughing at the absurdity of it all.
Posted by
Paul Lundgren on June 15, 2007 08:21 AM | Permalink
Comments
I have vague memories of watching Dale Murphy era Atlanta Braves games on WTBS in that very basement. It was as they say "the place to be". Due in some small part to my damn parents being to cheap to have cable at that point in the Early 80's.
Posted by: Chris | June 15, 2007 03:48 PM
Chris, I remember trading baseball cards at your house when that cement truck lost its brakes on Highland and smashed into a house on Eighth Street, lifting it off its foundation.
We heard the crash from four blocks away and thought someone dropped an atom bomb. There's still an open lot where that house used to be.
I think I was trading you a Cal Ripken rookie card and a Rickey Henderson rookie card for Sixto Lezcano, Carney Lansford and a player-to-be-named-later.
Posted by: Paul Lundgren | June 15, 2007 06:32 PM
paul: idea. you should do a show where you show a bunch of slides and write little deals for each of them and read them. that'd be neat. maybe you could use a little laser pointer, too, to point out details as you talk about them.
PS - i can't get any of those fucking file transfer things to work for me. i'm still trying, though.
Posted by: tony | June 15, 2007 09:23 PM
I remember the cement truck incident, but I had forgotten what I was doing when it happened. I believe the player to be named later turned out to be the speedy Latin sensation Caveat Emptor.
Posted by: Chris | June 16, 2007 01:24 PM
No, no. For that I traded you Chris Chambliss, Mookie Wilson and Bump Wills.
Posted by: Paul Lundgren | June 17, 2007 12:15 AM
Is that the Rustly pillow?
Ahhhh Russsstly Pillllooowwww....
Posted by: Pune | June 17, 2007 06:21 PM
Is that the Rustly pillow?
Ahhhh Russsstly Pillllooowwww....
Posted by: Pune | June 17, 2007 06:21 PM