Nancy Rommelmann: "Dazed and Confused" (And In NYT Magazine)
Very happy to see that my dear and very talented friend Nancy Rommelmann has a piece piece in New York Times Magazine. An excerpt:

It's 1976. I am 15 and have been "asked to leave" the progressive private school in Brooklyn Heights I've attended since age 4. This is not a surprise. I have been playing hooky all year, hanging out with boys from other neighborhoods, smoking pot every day. My parents wheedle me into another private school. Walking to this new school on the third morning, I stop in a pocket park off Court Street, knowing that if I miss the mandatory morning meeting, I'll be kicked out. I miss it.

The city is a fantastic playground in 1976, '77. My best friend and I crash gay discos. We wear our hair up because it is said that Son of Sam targets girls with long brown hair. We wear short shorts and halters and smoke Newports and eat Hostess cherry pies when we get the munchies. There is no need for school, no need to go home. I want to stay out forever.

Until I don't. Until the light trouble we've been getting into becomes heavier. My friend and I are arrested for shoplifting. The drugs get stronger. My mother's jewelry goes missing. The boys we hang out with start to carry chains. One night, while sitting on a stoop in the Heights, someone's little brother runs up and says, "Dave and them are on the Promenade, beating up gays!" I tell the kid he must have it wrong, they're probably just rumbling. Ten minutes later, I hear Dave and the kids walking toward us. There is a light if unmistakably victorious ring to their voices. I ask if they've been fighting. They shuffle their feet and stare to the side. Have they been beating up gay men? I ask. They stop fidgeting and look at me. No, they say, they haven't. The denial seems to get them back on track. They rev up and start moving, loose and righteous, if not about what they've been doing, then about coming together against some chick acting all Mother Conscience.

I get myself into Satellite Academy, an alternative school with classrooms over a discount drugstore near Wall Street. It's for kids who have no options, kids with criminal records, kids with babies. We are assigned Harold Robbins's "Lonely Lady" for English class. We are given a history test of stuff I learned in fifth grade.

Every day at lunch, 20 of us squeeze into the entryway of a service elevator off Chambers Street to get high. It's 1977, and the media are crowing about how dangerous angel dust is. I watch Dawn the dust-head go quiet as she slides down the wall, but most of the kids never shut up. The loudest is Chico, a wiry Puerto Rican kid who wears a bandoleer, and whose overblown tales of gangbanging no one believes.

The history teacher asks me to stay after class. Great, I think; I even failed here. But I haven't. I scored 100. The teacher asks if I've considered whether I'm at the wrong school...

This essay was adapted from Nancy's recently published ebook, which I've bought, and which you can, too, for only 99 cents at Amazon: The Queens of Montague Street. I haven't read Montague Street yet, but I have read her gem of a book, The Bad Mother, which you can buy on Amazon for only $2.99.

Amy,

This sounds like one you need: The Man Cave Cookbook.

Run it up to you link and I'll buy it too.

Jim P. at February 4, 2012 11:19 AM

Regarding The Man Cave Cookbook, I expect that the burger on bun displayed on the cover will not constitute an effective marketing tease for Amy, lol.

Jeff at February 4, 2012 12:53 PM

Amy Alkon

https://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2012/02/nancy-rommelman-4.html#comment-2959159">comment from Jim P.

Hah, thanks. Here's a link: The Man Cave Cookbook: MoreThan 150 Fast and Easy Recipes for Dining In The Man Cave (The Man Cave Cookbook Series).

Amy Alkon at February 4, 2012 1:29 PM

Kindle.

Steve Daniels at February 4, 2012 6:34 PM

Amy Alkon

https://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2012/02/nancy-rommelman-4.html#comment-2959412">comment from Steve Daniels

That is the Kindle edition. Doesn't seem to exist otherwise.

Amy Alkon at February 4, 2012 7:04 PM

And so I mourn for the printed word.

Steve Daniels at February 4, 2012 7:36 PM

Legacy media will die within a generation.

Snoopy at February 4, 2012 7:44 PM

Thank you Amy xx

Nancy Rommelmann at February 4, 2012 10:15 PM

Between her incredible coffee beans and her haunting writing, Nancy is probably the best virtual introduction I've ever gleaned from Amy's blog. Loved the Bad Mother. Loved this piece. Would love another bag of Ethiopian.

Snakeman99 at February 5, 2012 3:59 PM

Amy Alkon

https://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2012/02/nancy-rommelman-4.html#comment-2960674">comment from Snakeman99

Hah - beans are Nancy's husband Din's doing and they are, indeed, fabulous. RistrettoRoasters.com

Amy Alkon at February 5, 2012 4:02 PM

Never thoughts I would say these words in a row but: I heart Snakeman99. And: no Ethiopia for a few weeks, but we have a killer Costa Rica

Nancy Rommelmann at February 5, 2012 7:12 PM

One costa rica and one cowboy blend ordered! Long overdue. I know a bunch of food industry lawyers and bankers if you ever need someone to broker some LA shelving. Just sayin'.

Snakeman99 at February 5, 2012 7:28 PM

Just bought both in thirty seconds. Isn't living in the future cool? Still waiting for my jetpack, though.

Orwellian at February 6, 2012 8:44 PM

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