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Tripping Down Memory Lane
March 1, 2008


Andi Miller’s column this week about the bookshelves of the man she is dating and what his choice of books may represent made me laugh when she came to the part where she discovered a book on the legalization of marijuana. Seeing it, she said, “sent me straight into visions of bongs, college fraternity parties, and emotional wreckage.”

I had laughed out loud while reading this sentence because I suddenly remembered that upon one of my shelves are two books about marijuana. Not about their legalization. That’s so nineties! No, these are older, going back into the mid-1970s when bongs, double albums and lava lamps still graced many a commune, and growing marijuana was the province of the consumer rather than crime syndicates.

I just went and plucked them out now. Should I be worried that even though I haven’t looked at them in years I knew exactly where they would be?

How to Grow Marijuana Indoors Under Lights is my favorite of the two, the primary reason being the quirky drawings that appear to have emerged from the head and hand of a stoned artist. It’s probable that they were designed to look that way in order to appeal to the likely reader. I can’t remember if I bought it or if it was a gift to me, but this book was obviously loved. It bears signs of much use. Though no old seeds or bits of leaf are nestled in the gutter, it does have a few unidentifiable splotches and a slight yellowing of its pages. Numerous images on the cover and throughout the text constantly reference marijuana yet on the opening page, ironically just above a photograph of an extremely healthy plant, is the following statement:

This book is an accumulation of information on some of the best methods people are using to grow Marijuana indoors under artificial lights. The book is in no way intended to encourage or promote the illegal cultivation of Marijuana. It is illegal to cultivate Marijuana in the United States as in most countries, therefore, it is the author’s recommendation that you read this book for your own personal information. However, much of the information in this book can be applied to growing the majority of legal plants such as most house plants, vegetables, and many of the tropical plants that under normal conditions cannot be cultivated in a home.

The second one is even more battered with splatters and stains dotting its pages, though in surprisingly good condition for its age. More of a booklet than a book, A Guide to Growing Cannabis Under Fluorescents is a mere twenty-five pages long, and bound with two centered staples now rusted. The cover is a simple gray-toned one of the same inexpensive paper quality as the interior. It was published by the Flash Post Express Co. of San Rafael, California. This publisher lists ten books on the back cover, all dealing with marijuana or other stimulants (Supermothers Cooking with Grass—“15 recipes designed for the sensual culinary connoisseur”), but apparently it didn’t last. Very few references exist for the book, but one of them is from Hemp Shop, USA, an online store featuring products made from hemp. They have a copy of this book for sale, but what was originally priced at $1.50 is here a staggering $74.65. That makes each page worth $2.99!

And it comes with more or less than same warning as How to Grow Marijuana Indoors Under Lights, but this is a single paragraph on the title page labeled Foreword: “To possess or grow marijuana is against the law in every state of the Union as well as in most countries of the world. It is not the purpose of this booklet to promote any illegal acts whose penalties are often harsh. Rather it should be viewed solely as a reference work on raising plants under certain fluorescent light sources.”

Uh huh. In the same way, no doubt, that the roach clip earrings, several spoons, one with a stash, roach clips, and the Grow Your Own Kit (Everything you need to successfully grow your “favorite herbs” except for seeds and water.) listed for sale on the hand-drawn page on the inside back cover are merely “More Goodies.”

Why these books—and, of the same era, my personal copy of the first edition of The Art of Sensual Massage inscribed to me by one of the authors, a man with whom I was personally involved for a while—survived my many moves over the years when most did not intrigues me. For some reason, though I have considerable affection for those years, I am positively allergic to any books about the “sixties.” A number have come in for review or as part of the book design judging. Some are biographies of people or the era, others are fine art photography books, and still others are histories. To a single volume, they repulse me. I frantically rid myself of them, ideally on the same day they arrive. I’m not sure why I feel this way and why my feelings are so strong, but perhaps Nicki Leone expressed it best when she said (about her own era, a decade after), “Perhaps because I lived through it, I don't want to re-evaluate or have my own notions of the era challenged? They are a large part of how I define myself after all.”

That’s likely my reason too. I didn’t live much of the sixties except peripherally. I never saw the Beatles or Stones live. I lived in a semi-commune rather than a full-fledged one. I counseled draft evaders, but never spit upon or said a negative word to or about a Vietnam vet. I was interested in and participated to some degree in politics and marches, but was gassed only once by police. I didn’t harm anyone or anything. I cared more about “flower power” than riots. I believed more in changing things for the better than in “bongs, college fraternity parties, and emotional wreckage.”

Was I immature, some of my ideas and hopes naive? Yes, but not intentionally; it was simply a by-product of my youth. Age, experience and, hopefully, some wisdom are more my companions these days than adolescence, defiant opinions, and naïveté. I have no interest in wallowing in those days, but these three books, somehow and in some way without challenging my own notions and experiences of that time, re-affirm that they are and will always be part of who I am. 

Upcoming Book Festivals:
Two festivals of different kinds—one in Illinois, the other in Virginia—bathe this upcoming weekend in a literary light.

It’s not your standard book fair because there are no authors, panels, speakers, or special events, but for mystery, true crime, mystery classics, mysteries of the heart (a.k.a. romance), and science fiction lovers, the Newberry Library in Chicago is the place on March 6-7. From noon to 6:00 p.m. on Friday and from 9:00–2:00 on Saturday, the library is holding its 17th Annual Mystery and More Book Fair. Lovers of these genres will find all kinds of hardback and paperback books on sale at fabulous prices.

In Roanoke, Virginia, the Lex Allen Literary Festival offers a day-long celebration of poetry at Hollins University. There will be several readings, a luncheon, a poetry panel and a closing reception.

The Pub House:
“Books to Awaken, Delight, and Educate.” What a beautifully written portrayal of a publishing house, and at Paul Dry Books it is not only descriptive but accurate. It may be a small house with less than sixty books published over ten years, but the books themselves—a mix of fiction, both novels and short stories, biography, memoirs, history, and essays—cover subjects from Homer, Ovid and Chekhov to bird watching, jazz, shogunate Japan, mathematics, and philosophy. These are books that Dry himself loves as a reader, “delights in” as he says. I think you will too, and I encourage you to check out his catalog. I can truthfully say the books are wonderful—I already own two—and I have just placed my order for four more: As We Saw Them: The First Japanese Embassy to the United States; The Book Shopper: A Life in Review; The Discovery of Slowness; and To a Distant Island.

Of Interest:
Rain Taxi is a quarterly journal of literary criticism with a commitment to “innovative publishing.” It is issued in both print and online formats (each with different material), and features in-depth reviews of literary fiction, poetry, and nonfiction with, as it says, “an emphasis on works that push the boundaries of language, narrative, and genre.”

This publication is definitely worth reading—and subscribing to. Among its current online pieces is a wonderful review of The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin, a collection of two of his early 1960s works. Another is an interview with a writer about whom I had never heard until reading it, John Domini, a short story writer and novelist. It’s a fascinating read that has led me to place a couple of his Naples books on my want list. 

While I will be the first to acknowledge that it is essential for our sanity to severely limit what we choose to read, this particular publication (preferably the print version) does deserve a look by anyone interested in literary matters.

This Week . . .
I want to introduce you to Philobiblios by Jeremy Dibbell who terms himself “a Boston bibliophile, haunter of used bookstores, and reference librarian.” It’s an eclectic blog with lots of links to various articles around the world. You’ll learn about court decisions, historical society closures, favorite book lists, water damage at the National Library of Scotland, his latest acquisitions, and much more. And it’s all bundled in this one convenient blog.     

Until next week, read well, read often and read on!

Lauren

 

 

 
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