For my family – you know who you are.
It was the wild and crazy Seventies, when American culture was divided by the social upheaval of the Sixties, the conservative imperialism of war, and the natural forces of sex, drugs, and rock & roll. San Francisco was still a bastion for the hippie lifestyle, and those who embraced its values were more experienced and dedicated than ever before.
In the verdant green hills of Marin County, just north of the Golden Gate, the organic, rural, “back to the earth” way of life probably reached its zenith during that period. Drugs were strong, cheap, and easy to obtain… and sternly condemned by the establishment. It was a perfect opportunity for an adventurous young person to defy authority and expand awareness at the same time.
Anyone who has been a teenager will probably agree it’s the most difficult period of their life. So many things are happening to your body and mind; at times it’s hard to know who you really are. It’s an “in between time,” when you are no longer a child, but not quite an adult, either. Most of us remember our adolescent years as if we couldn’t wait to grow up, but those were the experiences that germinated our personalities. Memories of the places and faces we knew, the books we read, the movies we saw, and the music we listened to, were planted in the fertile fields of our souls. Those wild oats we sowed as teenagers sometimes became a challenging harvest later in life.
The environment in which we found ourselves was a huge factor, too. Most children have no control over where they live, and struggle to cope with situations not of their own choosing. To transcend the trauma, they often have to break free of the gilded cages made by the mistakes of their parents. The Rusty Bucket Ranch was a beautiful, challenging cuckoo’s nest over which to fly.
This is one teenager’s story of growing up and falling down; of exuberant experimentation and suffocating sorrow. It is a celebration of love, and beauty, and the ultimate escape from a prison of one’s own making. It is a story for everyone who has ever stood on the precipice of adulthood and looked down, trembling.