I'm usually the oldest one in the room. There are a few near and dear who are older, but not many. I was born in 1942, too late to be one of the lost generation and too soon to be a baby boomer. I'm a cusp dweller, I came in at the tail end of the silent generation, too young to Howl with the beat generation, but too old to enjoy the ruckus of 1967. My generation showed up for the draft, listened to our parents' music, and were seldom allowed to talk on the phone. Television did not warp our minds, we didn't have a TV.

Baby boomers certainly have more media cache—they rebelled, marched, grew their hair long, smoked weed, slept around, and changed social mores. Those of us from the class of 1960 listened to our parents, got jobs, and tried to stay married. We were labeled cautious, grave, unimaginative and believed that disappointment was one of life's certainties. No wonder—we ducked and covered in fifth grade, snoozed through the Eisenhower years, saw the  adults terrorized by Joe McCarthy, watched Elvis get fat, and lost our favorite President. Although if you look at the movers and shakers of the 70s, you'll find that the term silent might even be applied ironically. Ken Kesey, Alan Ginsberg, Eldridge Cleaver, Neal Armstrong, Abbie Hoffman, Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Frank Zappa, Jimi Hendrix—all born before 1946.

You may be asking, "Where is this all going?" Well...George Lucas used his early 1960s cruisin' years in Modesto, California, our current-but-not favorite temporary home, as fodder for the 1970 film, American Graffiti. Ironically the years around 1970, when American Graffiti came out, now seem to belong to a softer, gentler time. How can it possibly be that a film looking back at my high school years is 40 years old? Anyways, you can still see the remnants of paradise that Modesto was in the 60s—wide streets perfect for drag racing, weather that most of us only dream of, and impossibly blue skies. That nostalgic vision, however, is offset by a freeway-defined city, a bright, squat downtown, and an unfriendly mass transit system.

Oleander is everywhere.



Don't know what these beautiful trees are.



A charming, downtown church



Who knows?




Onion Soup Dip

1 package Lipton onion soup
1 1/2 pints sour cream
1 large package cream cheese
salt and pepper, to taste

Cream the cheese; stir in the sour cream and seasonings. Add soup mix. Combine well.
Thin with extra cream if necessary. Serve with crackers, chips, or raw vegetable sticks.