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Feb 8
Pasadera finally filed for Chapter 11 yesterday. Lead story in the local fish wrap didn’t mention New Cities Development Group by name, but I imagine they’ll be dissolving too.
Poor boy from East Oakland’s dreams of joining the landed gentry class – poof! Up in smoke. The Great Gatsby really is the seminal American plotline.
Of course by the time I met Lee Newell, he’d been out of East Oakland for a long time. Trajectory went like this: East Oakland, basketball scholarship to UCLA, Boalt Law School, Tax Attorney, Land Developer. I didn’t exactly like Lee Newell but I respected him because he made his money, he didn’t inherit it. I would have done a much better job spending that money, of course, particularly when it came to the Newells’ Carmel Valley mansion which if I may say so was fug-lee though large – very, very large – I once got lost trying to find a bathroom. But the place looked like a display model for an upscale housing tract, decorated in that high-end Southwestern décor that no matter how expensive it might be ends up looking like it came straight from Pier One. In a word: bor-ring.
Plus there wasn’t a single book in that whole house.
I had occasion to go to the Newells’ mansion often: their son Travers was one of Max’s best friends at All Saints (middle school) and later at Robert Louis Stevenson (high school.) It was a friendship I didn’t understand until years later. Max and Travers were on the same football team, and the same basketball team. They both had opposable thumbs. Other than that… They didn’t have a thing in common that I could see. Max, though obnoxious the way all teenage boys are obnoxious, still had moments when his underlying personality came through. Travers didn’t have a personality as far as I could tell. He was a handsome rich kid whose eyes didn’t register a single thing he saw.
I’d taken Max out of the public school system in the 6th grade because I’d ID’d him as having a huge potential to get into trouble (read: start doing drugs.) He was my son, after all. Plus his stepbrother Beau had been in and out of rehab a couple of times by then, and I knew Max and Beau were tight whenever Max went down to Southern California to see his dad.
As it turned out I was a deluded idiot.
I’d wanted to put him back in the public school system for high school, but by then he’d made friends, and he wanted to stay with them. And he’s always been brilliant academically so RLS was willing to give him a sizeable scholarship.
Mr. Crane was his history teacher at All Saints. I’d always liked Mr. Crane a great deal – he was a Civil War enactor and had real passion for the subject he taught as well as the Shakespeare plays he directed once a year. In his senior year, Max played Malvolio in Twelfth Night – an inspired bit of casting, I must say, for any of us who’d ever read anything Max wrote. He’s since become a very good writer, but in those days his axiom was: never use a short word when three convoluted polysyllables will do.
Mr. Crane had always maintained a highly skeptical attitude towards Max which surprised and upset me, because I liked him so much.
One night on one of Max’s first trips home from Deep Springs, we ran into Mr. Crane at an Indian restaurant. Mr. Crane had been fired by All Saints the year after Max graduated. All Saints had a new head mistress; she had a major stick up her ass.
Mr. Crane was certainly overjoyed to see Max. “So good to see you, Max! What are you doing?”
Max explained about Deep Springs.
“I was just thinking about you the other day,” said Mr. Crane. “You’re everything I miss about teaching. I’m so glad you turned out well.”
As we walked away from the restaurant, Max chuckled and said, “Mr. Crane! Remember when Travers and I got busted with the oregano?”
I remembered very well. In the 8th grade Travers and Max had been discovered in one of All Saints bathrooms with a baggie full of oregano. They were trying to smoke it.
“I do indeed. Oregano! You guys were such innocents.”
Max laughed. “Oh, Mom. We had the oregano there as a decoy. We were smoking a joint, and when we heard Mr. Crane coming we flushed it down the toilet. Only of course he smelled it so he knew.”
“You what?”
“He knew we’d be kicked out of school, so he covered for us. But he told me, ‘I’ll be watching you like a hawk.’”
The reason Max hung out so much at the Newell mansion was because the Newell mansion was Party Central apparently, so large that even though Lee and Kathy Newell were nominally in residence, they never interfered with the boys’ drinking and drugging. The reason Travers acted like a zombie who never made eye contact was because from the 10th grade on, he was addicted to oxycontin.
The odd thing about this was that Lee coached the basketball team Max and his son were on… and never noticed his son’s addiction.
I was heartbroken when I finally found out about Max’s drug use. Three of the RLS posse are drug casualties to one extent or another – Travers, who’s still addicted, who (according to Fletcher) is minimally functional. Fletcher who’s been in and out of rehabs for the past 2 years, who recently was in a major car accident that lost him all of his front teeth. Max maintains that Fletcher was not high, that he was reaching on the floor for a CD or talking on his cell. I know better. Aaron who at least was always very open about his drug use, never secretive. I suspect Aaron is gay and struggling to come to terms with it; once that happens, he won’t need to use anymore.
I’m also pretty pissed because Max and Fletcher turned Robin on last year. Robin was 13 at the time. Robin has continued to smoke dope.
I’ve mentioned before that Robin and I talk through texting in ways that are far more intimate than our actual conversations. Here’s an example:
Robin: Has dad told u I’m going with him yet?
Me: To the circus u mean? Is that what u want 2 do?
Yes but I am only doing it til June. I plan to keep a journal and when I’m back work with u to format it into a book. U said that schools look for interesting things.
Lets talk about this. Schools look 4 interesting but they also look for good grades. It makes more sense 4 u 2 spend part of the summer w/the circus.
I think going alone would help. Publishing a book like that could be great for a scholarship, no?
I do like the book idea.
That’s the reason I’m going Mom. Monterey High School is such a bad school. I really want to try this out. It would be an adventure like and I’d only miss a quarter
I’m not saying “no.” But we should talk. Quite candidly I worry about yr discipline
I’m always good when not home. I try at home but you’ve heard Lew talk about how I behave.
True, but u won’t be w/Lew, you’ll be w/dad. I think u respect Lew more so u listen
I was good at circus with dad b4. I’ll have a job. Teach you responsibility.
Like I said, we’ll talk about it. I am a bit worried about u and I alone because u don’t listen to me and I worry that you’ll do something there’s no going back from
Well let’s talk thru texting. I’m in PE, lunch next. What r u worried I will do?
Here? Well I worry because so few of your friends value learning. You’ll blow off the chances you have even though I agree, Monterey High School sucks
Not true. I got above average grades last semester and I’m pretty good on homework. If you want we can organize a homework plan
I worry because your friends don’t sound very careful. You’ll get busted 4 pot or alcohol
Despite ur beliefs I don’t do it to often. But yes that is part of the reason I’m going. People around me and myself are getting in danger and a lot of kids in police trouble.
We should organize a plan. See for what u want – scholarship to a good college – “above average” won’t cut it. U need all “A”’s
… But there is none of that at the circus.
I appreciate that you’re open with me about this. Believe it or not, I like Wells. He has a real spark. I’d like to slap his mother 4 neglecting him. But Wells is headed for trouble.
I know I just need a break to get settled. If I keep a journal and we publish over summer RLS is possible
I don’t want Wells taking u with him
No he has no criminal record . Believe it or not he keeps me out of trouble. He’s safe and not dumb and we stay away from all the heavy drugs unlike other kids.
I really don’t know what to do. Send Robin to a military academy? I would at this point if I had the money. In actual education terms, it really wouldn’t matter if he missed a quarter – it’s not as though Monterey High School is anything but a bullpen for disaffected youth. He likes his Spanish teacher and he likes his Science teacher – consequently he gets A’s in those two subjects. Ditto English but that’s because he reads omnivorously and writes extremely well.
I know it’s important to keep the communication lines open. Even though I don’t like hearing what I’m hearing.
Pasadera finally filed for Chapter 11 yesterday. Lead story in the local fish wrap didn’t mention New Cities Development Group by name, but I imagine they’ll be dissolving too.
Poor boy from East Oakland’s dreams of joining the landed gentry class – poof! Up in smoke. The Great Gatsby really is the seminal American plotline.
Of course by the time I met Lee Newell, he’d been out of East Oakland for a long time. Trajectory went like this: East Oakland, basketball scholarship to UCLA, Boalt Law School, Tax Attorney, Land Developer. I didn’t exactly like Lee Newell but I respected him because he made his money, he didn’t inherit it. I would have done a much better job spending that money, of course, particularly when it came to the Newells’ Carmel Valley mansion which if I may say so was fug-lee though large – very, very large – I once got lost trying to find a bathroom. But the place looked like a display model for an upscale housing tract, decorated in that high-end Southwestern décor that no matter how expensive it might be ends up looking like it came straight from Pier One. In a word: bor-ring.
Plus there wasn’t a single book in that whole house.
I had occasion to go to the Newells’ mansion often: their son Travers was one of Max’s best friends at All Saints (middle school) and later at Robert Louis Stevenson (high school.) It was a friendship I didn’t understand until years later. Max and Travers were on the same football team, and the same basketball team. They both had opposable thumbs. Other than that… They didn’t have a thing in common that I could see. Max, though obnoxious the way all teenage boys are obnoxious, still had moments when his underlying personality came through. Travers didn’t have a personality as far as I could tell. He was a handsome rich kid whose eyes didn’t register a single thing he saw.
I’d taken Max out of the public school system in the 6th grade because I’d ID’d him as having a huge potential to get into trouble (read: start doing drugs.) He was my son, after all. Plus his stepbrother Beau had been in and out of rehab a couple of times by then, and I knew Max and Beau were tight whenever Max went down to Southern California to see his dad.
As it turned out I was a deluded idiot.
I’d wanted to put him back in the public school system for high school, but by then he’d made friends, and he wanted to stay with them. And he’s always been brilliant academically so RLS was willing to give him a sizeable scholarship.
Mr. Crane was his history teacher at All Saints. I’d always liked Mr. Crane a great deal – he was a Civil War enactor and had real passion for the subject he taught as well as the Shakespeare plays he directed once a year. In his senior year, Max played Malvolio in Twelfth Night – an inspired bit of casting, I must say, for any of us who’d ever read anything Max wrote. He’s since become a very good writer, but in those days his axiom was: never use a short word when three convoluted polysyllables will do.
Mr. Crane had always maintained a highly skeptical attitude towards Max which surprised and upset me, because I liked him so much.
One night on one of Max’s first trips home from Deep Springs, we ran into Mr. Crane at an Indian restaurant. Mr. Crane had been fired by All Saints the year after Max graduated. All Saints had a new head mistress; she had a major stick up her ass.
Mr. Crane was certainly overjoyed to see Max. “So good to see you, Max! What are you doing?”
Max explained about Deep Springs.
“I was just thinking about you the other day,” said Mr. Crane. “You’re everything I miss about teaching. I’m so glad you turned out well.”
As we walked away from the restaurant, Max chuckled and said, “Mr. Crane! Remember when Travers and I got busted with the oregano?”
I remembered very well. In the 8th grade Travers and Max had been discovered in one of All Saints bathrooms with a baggie full of oregano. They were trying to smoke it.
“I do indeed. Oregano! You guys were such innocents.”
Max laughed. “Oh, Mom. We had the oregano there as a decoy. We were smoking a joint, and when we heard Mr. Crane coming we flushed it down the toilet. Only of course he smelled it so he knew.”
“You what?”
“He knew we’d be kicked out of school, so he covered for us. But he told me, ‘I’ll be watching you like a hawk.’”
The reason Max hung out so much at the Newell mansion was because the Newell mansion was Party Central apparently, so large that even though Lee and Kathy Newell were nominally in residence, they never interfered with the boys’ drinking and drugging. The reason Travers acted like a zombie who never made eye contact was because from the 10th grade on, he was addicted to oxycontin.
The odd thing about this was that Lee coached the basketball team Max and his son were on… and never noticed his son’s addiction.
I was heartbroken when I finally found out about Max’s drug use. Three of the RLS posse are drug casualties to one extent or another – Travers, who’s still addicted, who (according to Fletcher) is minimally functional. Fletcher who’s been in and out of rehabs for the past 2 years, who recently was in a major car accident that lost him all of his front teeth. Max maintains that Fletcher was not high, that he was reaching on the floor for a CD or talking on his cell. I know better. Aaron who at least was always very open about his drug use, never secretive. I suspect Aaron is gay and struggling to come to terms with it; once that happens, he won’t need to use anymore.
I’m also pretty pissed because Max and Fletcher turned Robin on last year. Robin was 13 at the time. Robin has continued to smoke dope.
I’ve mentioned before that Robin and I talk through texting in ways that are far more intimate than our actual conversations. Here’s an example:
Robin: Has dad told u I’m going with him yet?
Me: To the circus u mean? Is that what u want 2 do?
Yes but I am only doing it til June. I plan to keep a journal and when I’m back work with u to format it into a book. U said that schools look for interesting things.
Lets talk about this. Schools look 4 interesting but they also look for good grades. It makes more sense 4 u 2 spend part of the summer w/the circus.
I think going alone would help. Publishing a book like that could be great for a scholarship, no?
I do like the book idea.
That’s the reason I’m going Mom. Monterey High School is such a bad school. I really want to try this out. It would be an adventure like and I’d only miss a quarter
I’m not saying “no.” But we should talk. Quite candidly I worry about yr discipline
I’m always good when not home. I try at home but you’ve heard Lew talk about how I behave.
True, but u won’t be w/Lew, you’ll be w/dad. I think u respect Lew more so u listen
I was good at circus with dad b4. I’ll have a job. Teach you responsibility.
Like I said, we’ll talk about it. I am a bit worried about u and I alone because u don’t listen to me and I worry that you’ll do something there’s no going back from
Well let’s talk thru texting. I’m in PE, lunch next. What r u worried I will do?
Here? Well I worry because so few of your friends value learning. You’ll blow off the chances you have even though I agree, Monterey High School sucks
Not true. I got above average grades last semester and I’m pretty good on homework. If you want we can organize a homework plan
I worry because your friends don’t sound very careful. You’ll get busted 4 pot or alcohol
Despite ur beliefs I don’t do it to often. But yes that is part of the reason I’m going. People around me and myself are getting in danger and a lot of kids in police trouble.
We should organize a plan. See for what u want – scholarship to a good college – “above average” won’t cut it. U need all “A”’s
… But there is none of that at the circus.
I appreciate that you’re open with me about this. Believe it or not, I like Wells. He has a real spark. I’d like to slap his mother 4 neglecting him. But Wells is headed for trouble.
I know I just need a break to get settled. If I keep a journal and we publish over summer RLS is possible
I don’t want Wells taking u with him
No he has no criminal record . Believe it or not he keeps me out of trouble. He’s safe and not dumb and we stay away from all the heavy drugs unlike other kids.
I really don’t know what to do. Send Robin to a military academy? I would at this point if I had the money. In actual education terms, it really wouldn’t matter if he missed a quarter – it’s not as though Monterey High School is anything but a bullpen for disaffected youth. He likes his Spanish teacher and he likes his Science teacher – consequently he gets A’s in those two subjects. Ditto English but that’s because he reads omnivorously and writes extremely well.
I know it’s important to keep the communication lines open. Even though I don’t like hearing what I’m hearing.
