Tag: south oak park

• Memoir: One day in 1975

  

  When South Oak Park’s David Bowie passes us on the school playground, my friends smile and shake their heads in judgment. “Would you get a look at that fag? He’s wearing his mom’s makeup!”

  abendelow

  October 9, 2025

  memoir

  1975, am radio, consumerism, Creem magazine, david bowie, elton john, ginger baker, homophobia, homosexuality, john bonham, keith moon, oak park, pop culture, popular music, quadrophenia, sexuality, south oak park, the who

• Memoir: a road not taken (1968-72)

  

  My first physical fight with another male occurs shortly after we move to 1022 S. Scoville. I was five years old. In the backyard, under the cherry tree, one of my soon-to-be playmates, a couple of years older than I, had somehow provoked me. We fell to pushing and grappling, and pretty soon he got…

  abendelow

  May 22, 2025

  memoir

  chicago blackhawks, domestic violence, homophobia, irish-catholic, male violence, Marilyn, mysogyny, performative violence, Rhem Park, robert frost, school culture, Scoville, sgt. rock, Shotgun, south oak park, sports, status games, the road not taken, Washington Irving School