Essay

Bill Bryson is a competent writer. He is a father and husband. And his childhood was not one you would expect for an award winning author. He has done many things that have been less than honest but can now look back on and laugh at. He had experienced a world far removed from this one. And he has remembered the way he used to think, the way he and his friends were. And in many ways the fantastic, erratic childhood he lived was absolutely normal.

Bill Bryson was born in 1951. America was blooming into a new, consumer oriented nation. After the war its economic strength had increased considerably, allowing people to indulge in all of the consumer glory around them. Companies stopped making battleships and tanks and started making dishwashers and refrigerators for suburban America. No longer would poverty be an issue; people became frantically more interested in pleasing themselves with an income that allowed you to do a lot more than simply feed your family.

As a child, and particularly in his teenage years, Bill had done quite a few questionable things. In the local theatres they would sometimes host afternoon children’s matinees. A large dark room would quickly be filled with laughter and an assortment of candy and other sticky food items. Bills friend Doug Willoughby had been planning on breaking into one of the vending machines. They made an attempt with a group of other children and with some luck, and the help of an unsuspecting manager, managed to escape with its contents. Later, in his teenage years, Bill began to make fake identification cards for his friends so that they could buy alcohol. He was nearly caught. He had been called to the principal’s office and a detective was there to question him (he used his father’s checks because they had the same consistency as ID’s, but his father’s information and bank were still printed on the back) about some fake driver’s licenses he had found with his address, phone number and father’s name on the back.

People in the 1950’s were far happier. Although there was the constant threat of nuclear annihilation they indulged themselves in the idea and found entertainment in it. People did not think anything bad could happen to them. Injury and death were far away from the minds of economically content America. It was also far safer. You could wander the streets at night without worrying about being mugged or attacked. This allowed kids to be out and free enjoying the splendor of a world far simpler. In this world Bill had the freedom to do a lot.

Bill’s teachers disliked Bill. He had poor grades and wasn’t exactly a respectful student. He got through high school “by the skin of his teeth”. He was smart but no genius. And he’s been lucky to go relatively far in life. His friends were an interesting group to say the least. Doug Willoughby was smart and used his intelligence in ways that some would deem useless. Stephen Katz was a far gone drunkard. Jed Mattes was, flamboyant, and happened to later become Bill’s agent after not seeing each other for a very long time.

Bill has been luckily in acquiring memories and a life most of us would be happy to have. His childhood and adolescence were spectacular. Now, though, the place he knew is gone. He can write about it, but never physically revisit it. I would not have guessed that this man, this author of a considerable age, had led the life that he did so many years ago. Through this recounting of a time past, he has at least been able to reconstruct some of it.

Tenth Reading

-Most of the old Buildings and places that had symbolized the Iowa Bill knew have since been demolished and Built over. The people that resided there have also moved on.

Ninth Reading

-Doug Willoughby invited a large group of friends to join the A/V club which they later used to smoke in (Doug had altered the ventilation) and watch sexual education films. After finding a film splicing kit Doug would edit the films for his own amusement.
-Doug set a good portion of his rrom on fire after missing an ember that had lodged itself in a curtain fold after smoking cigarettes.
-Bill made mfake ID's for others to purchase alchohol and was nearly caught.
-Doug had a bomb explode in his room by setting the timer to the wrong time while preparing for a year end school prank.

Eighth Reading

-Friend "Doug Willoughby"(names of others were replaced by psuedonyms for privacy reasons)were the smartest person Bill had ever met. He had drawn sketches of the mechanisms to break into the vending machine and during a film went to attempt breaking in. He did and after getting his desired candy bad he asked Bill what he wanted. Bill asked for Red hots (then his favourite confectionary).
-While waiting in the car for his father to complete an errand Doug repositioned one of the windshield wipers to face the street and sprayed passerby.
-Befriended a boy with taste and money named Jed
-Went with Jed to movies and other places, experiencing a more exravagant lifestyle.
-At the Iowa State fair, the year Bill turned fourteen, heading to the strippers tent, he and Doug Willoughby shockingly discovered that the year of Admission had changed once again, this time from fourteen to sixteen.
-Bill went to the state fair again the following week with Jed. Jed spent a large bit of time in the farmwives section and, sort of in return for Bills patience, bribed the strippers tent doorman to let Bill in. Getting into the strippers tent was the "highlight" of Bills life.

Seventh Reading

-Broke his leg after playing in his friends jungle gym. No one helped him for hours. Apparantly people in the 50's were convinded everything was and would be fine.
-Parents took him to see manhattan and mistakingly booked a stay at a hotel in harlem because of its reasonable price. After police told them they should probably leave and stay somewhere nicer Bill's father decided to stay anyways because the price was really quite reasonable.
-Watching television a transmission came in from the presidency and kennedy began speaking in a grave tone. The russians were building missile silos in cuba and ordered Khrushchev to cease construction or face the might that is america (Conviently ignoring the fact that america had silos built near russia). The americans set up a naval blockade around a cuba and a soviet ship came to challenge it. If the soviet ship advanced to close kennedy would order fire upon it. If he had gone through with sinking the ship it may very well have been the beginning of world war three. From that moment onward he had never trusted adults.
-Parents sent their kids to a run-down theme park, that kids would beg not to go to, to keep them occupied. This place was dreaded and extremely dangerous to be in alone. The kids from the schools that were not as a priviliged had a deep hatred for those who were and so stole from them and abused them. The ride supervisors did not follow any sort of safety protocol and would often leave kids on rides for overly extended periods of time.

Sixth Reading

-Scariest moment of the first five years of his life was entering his elementary school for the first time.
-Was a newspaper boy that delivered to the higher class. They were also extremely cheap.
-Attacked by a dog owned by one of said higher class. They denied the dogs ability to commit such an act, but were later proven wrong as the owners mother was attacked by the same dog. Never recieved an apology.
-At home of grandparents him, his father and grandfather sat and watched a tornado decimate a nearby county without panic. They later drove by this area and several people had died, destruction was everywhere.

Fifth Reading

-Sister snuck him into a film
-Was forced to go on a trip with a family of repulsive people (which turned out to be rather enjoyable and generated the present best day of his life, previously it was when their teacher licked a urine soaked toy)
-Atomic bomb tests were occuring frequently
-America assures its grip over the world