Happy Fourth. I used to love the Fourth of July when I was a kid. At night, we'd go to the island to watch the fireworks along with all of the other 100,000 people in my home town. The city hall of Cedar Rapids, Iowa is on an island in the Cedar River. It's split up into two or three different pieces because of the bridges that were built to span the river, which intersect the island. One of these pieces is a great open space where people gather during this festive holiday to watch the fireworks as they're launched over the river. It is a good memory of my childhood. I used to love to wait for the street lights to be shut off just for the fireworks. It was special to me because they never ever shut off the street lights for anything, you know? [My heart is so not into this explanation.]

Tonight, we'll probably cop a squat at one of the grassy bay-side parks of San Francisco to watch the works. Although we'll probably only get to see the clouds change different colors. We used to go up to Fish Ranch Road in the Berkeley/Oakland Hills, but this year we decided against it. Don't know why. It's a nice Friday off.

And speaking of Friday:

1. What were your favorite childhood stories? I loved Dr. Seuss books and Shel Silverstein's poems. I learned to read with Richard Scarry's books. I wish I could remember the name of the little worm who drove the apple car.

   And then there was a book I had for a long time. I can't remember the name or the author, and even the storyline is a bit faded from memory. I remember the story was about a dollhouse. The dolls that lived in the dollhouse were alive, but only at night. One of the dolls would always get its head stuck in the toilet of the dollhouse and would be stuck there until the girl who owned the dollhouse would come and set it free. I recall that the human family went on vacation, thieves tried to rob the house, and the dolls foiled their attempts and scared them away. I think of this story often, and I wish I could remember more about it. I would love to read it again now.

   I also read The Chronicles of Narnia at a very early age.

2. What books from your childhood would you like to share with [your] children?
   I like sharing Dr. Seuss' stories with anyone. They funny and poignant and completely relevant. I especially like The Lorax.
3. Have you re-read any of those childhood stories and been surprised by anything?
   I have read The Chronicles of Narnia since then, and I'm very surprised by the very religious overtones throughout some of the books. Of course, now I realize that C.S. Lewis was a deeply religious person. But when I was ten years old, I didn't really pay attention to the fact that the big lion, Aslan, who was tied to a stone table and slain, and who rose from the dead to defeat the White Witch, had anything to do with Jesus Christ and his own resurrection.

   I was also surprised to find such a huge cult following of Narnia. The step-son of C.S. Lewis has a website devoted to him, and on the FAQ page, there is a recipe for Turkish Delight. Hello? Maybe I'll give it a try.
   

4. How old were you when you first learned to read?
   I know I've said this before somewhere here, but I'll go and say it again. My mother taught me how to read when I was probably three or four. She tells me that I used sit with her while she was taking care of my infant sister and that when I came to a word that I didn't know, she would tell me to sound it out. Good old phonetics long long before Hooked on Phonics. Anyway, sometimes I would read to the other kids in my neighborhood. Their mothers, at one point, asked my mother if it was necessary that their children learn to read before kindergarten. My mother replied that it was just something I did.

   And I have been reading ever since. I sometimes take reading for granted, though, because I've been doing it so long. I simply cannot imagine not knowing how to read.

5. Do you remember the first 'grown-up' book you read? How old were you?
   No. Well, wait. I remember liking Agatha Christie's mysteries at an early age, although I can't recall what age that was. I also read Tales of the City and the subsequent novels when I was in junior high school. Tell me that wasn't grown-up reading. And little did I know when I was fourteen, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, that I would be living and breathing right in the same place as Mona and Mouse. I've never gone on about those books here because I think it's a little cliché, so let me take the time now to say just how much I love those books. In my humble opinion, these novels have some of the wittiest and sharpest and most realistic dialogue around. It's in your face and real. And I love the fact that I can walk through San Francisco today and see the places mentioned in the novels and remember reading about them for the first time when I was a shy, scaredy cat, gay boy in the midwest who never ever wanted to visit California.

I was silly enough to write this at 2:09 PM