38 years ago me and a bunch of other slackers in High School made a perfectly innocuous guy famous.
Loren Fiske.
November 1970.
The day of the creation of the Loren Fiske Fan Club
I know it was this date as that's what's written on the back of the photo. It's one of those memories that you forget and one picture suddenly brings it all back. We were the Anti-Cheerleaders. The Anti-Jocks. The Anti-Student Body Presidents. The Anti Peggy-Sues.
And while we weren't exactly bad. We were the poets. The writers. The drama club. The artists.
We were BAD...
At least we wanted to be when our parents would let us.
Anyway we started a fan club. Actually if I'm correct it was Dave Overby that started it. And maybe Kevin Cobley. And then we all joined.
And the rest was history.
It was a stellar moment for us pre-geeks.
We had membership cards.
A special hand signal.
And caused great perplexity and cacophony during pep rallys by yelling "Loren Fiske...Loren Fiske...Loren Fiske..."
If we had been better organized I know we could have gotten him elected Homecoming Queen. Or at least Princess.
But that was a long time ago.
In a galaxy far, far away.
When I was young.
Can you spell N-O-S-T-A-L-G-I-A?
Posts
20 comments:
And I totally forgot about when we all went up to Maltby Cemetery at night and scared ourselves silly...
Inquiring readers want to know: where is Loren Fiske today? Loren -- are you out there?
Zoroaster's Dog
Interesting hand signal.
Hmmmm... that's not the letter L, is it??!!
Another time, another place, I too was in that fan club. I was a part of the drama club, the newspaper, the tall flag team. We stuck together.
If only I could remember the name of the guy who played the Fairy King in Midsummer Night Dream. Not enough time was allotted to finish his costume, so the brave lad went out in a skin tight, white body leotard and tights. It left nothing to the imagination. Bless his heart.
I'm hoping my spies will entice Loren to come out of hiding.
Loren are you out there?
And yes it IS the letter 'L'
That's such an endearing photo, though. Whoever took it captured many layers of the moment.
(speaking of nostalgia, Church Lady is back. and back to stay.)
:-)
He's quite handsome! He looks a bit like Harold in Harold and Maude.
I surround myself with 50's and 60's kitsch. It makes me feel safe. I bake a lot. It makes me feel safe. I clean things with old fashioned products like Glass Wax. It makes me feel safe. I still see my high school friends (party in Mass. on Friday after TG.) It makes me feel calmer to remember my young, carefree days and to know I have friends who remember me as a kid. It helps me know I existed then. Before "the stuff" of my adult life. Nostalgia to me = comfort.
I hope you find Loren.
1970 eh, humm. Left hubby in St.Paul. Piled what I could in my 68 Volkswagon, 2 small children, my cat, and what ever else would fit. Was on the road on Mother's Day, not my best one. Landed in Boston,Mass with about $15.00 on my Mother's doorstep. And then, well, that is another story.
Ha! I googled Loren Fiske just for the heck of it and was startled out of my mind to see my own blog on the first page of results. It had caught the little excerpt of your post that appeared in my blog list. How cool is that?
There was a Loren Fiske who was sailing the Great Barrier Reef with friends...
Ah! My fellow high school "anti-"
How about petitions? Lots of petitions!
Aloha from up da coast in Waikiki-
I've been feeling nostalgic too. I blame our recent foggy weather but that can't be so in Hawaii. How fun that you saved that photo. We artsy/bookish types did not have the easiest time in school but what wonderful material it is now for our novels!
That is a great photo, and I hope you find Loren.
Funny, some things don't change too much. I hung out with drama geeks, kids in rock bands, writers, poets, and lots of long haired hippy freaks...
But by the time my generation came along, dark and disturbing was cool... being a preppy or jock was dorky. The theatre geeks were the best - they changed altogether backstage so they were a little off beat from most.
I couldn't get into a figure drawing class that I wanted because it got cancelled, and I complained about it backstage - ten different people offered to pose naked for me... ah, those were the days :-) They also dragged me to my first gay bar... we had a very babyfaced friend and it was easier to get him past the bouncer dressed as a girl, so that worked out pretty well for us.
I just reread that - my nostalgia's not near as sweet as yours is.
ah nostalgia by any other name is still...well whatever that name is...lol
You guys sounded like fun. That's hilarious. Sorry it's taken me all week to get over here.
Anyway, where is Loren today?
Congrats on your book, Ms. Wood. My husband and I both listened to the audio book recently. Very enjoyable.
Loren J Fiske lives in Sammamish, WA with Sheila H Fiske on SE 19th St. You can get the exact address through King County records. Maybe this will help you to contact him. Good luck with this and all your future endeavors.
Is that Loren in the picture? He sure is pretty enough to be prom queen!
Yes, Loren lives with his wife Sheila somewhere east of Bellevue. I saw him at our 30th class of '72 reunion. Later, Loren, Jeff Groves, and myself attended his 50th birthday party. Sorta lost touch after that. Jeff Groves and I have stayed in contact over the years. I will never forget the Fiske Fan Club and ALL the fun we had. Being a drama geek was and still is the best. Kevin Cobley
Patricia,
I am in the middle of LOTTERY, and I am loving it more than any book I've read in YEARS- This has got to be made into a great movie- Perry reminds of the simple lessons we constantly need to be reminded of. THANK YOU for such a great book. I will be spreading the word of your book-
My late dad, Jim Overby, took the picture. One thing Patricia didn't mention was the "possession" that took place at Maltby Cemetery. I was standing on some graves, then stretched out my arms in a very possessed-like manner. Keep in mind, this was a January night, in the fog, in a cemetery. Pat almost started crying. Loren, yelling at me from his "56 Chev, Goddammtit Dave, what the hell is wrong with you. Randi was placing beads around my neck, trying to ward off whatever was overtaking my spirit. I was thinking, "Geeze, now how do I get out of this one?". I gradually became "unpossessed" by the time we got back to Bothell. A year later, I admitted to Pat that I had faked it. She quickly replied, "Uh....oh...well I was too!" One of my great memories.
-Dave Overby
Post a Comment