Some AutoBiography

To set the record straight ... 'Where you from?' People in my cab sometimes want to know.. Sometimes people think all cab drivers are from


some foreign country. Sometimes there is a bit of an underlying challenge

like you are a newcomer. Nowadays that would be from a youngish person here in Marin. Newcomers not quite the same as someone who was born here (or there). 'Where you from?' Frequently I've been defensive a bit -- it's a legitimate question though. From.. well most people

mean where did you grow up. Maybe they really just want to know where you were born.



I was born in New York, New York.. Manhattan. The Flower 5th Avenue Hospital. That what it was called. Apparently it no longer exists. In the early years of living in Marin County California I noticed that being from New York City evoked a peculiar (but maybe not so) overtone of -- disdain

maybe I fed into that with my own insecurity. I didn't want to be 'a New Yorker' after all I had moved with my family to Round Pond, Maine before I was two years old. Still ' Where you from?' mean't yup I'm a New Yorker' in general I say I'm originally from the the North East - New England and New York. Our family moved around a lot. From Maine to Harrisville, Rhode Island another beautiful little village in the North West corner of the smallest state.. So who's your team my new kids on the block asked me as I played my first baseball game with them Red Sox or Yankees? Red Sox I said. First Graders. Must have been Ted Williams or the color of the sox was cool or something I picked up the year before in Round Pond.

Then up to Arlington, Massachussetts.. 65.8 miles away and now I was a 4th grader and the kids had insane accents.





'The Rape of Marin, they let the New Yorkers In' Thank God I didn't walk into a show by one of the early and only Punk Rock bands out of Marin County that song might have sent me home crying... My friend Jim #64 of Radio Cab played bass for the band 'Wet Nurse' and relayed the story he told me 'a girlfriend' said to one of the members of the band you guys are so pathetic you should get yourself a 'Wet Nurse' and the name was quickly adopted.

If I make it here through next February it will be 40 years of living in Marin County. Where did you grow up? Most of my growing up has been right here in Marin. But what does that mean? How have I grown, did I learn the secrets of wisdom available to a human or did I merely keep replacing cells in brain and body and keep rolling out of bed being the same me.