Joe Vigliano
why was I one of the people singled out as mia? I feel like one of those 60�s radicals finally found out by the cops. our generation doesn�t seem to have a lot of joiners, if you know what I mean. Anyway, after bhs, I went to penn state. Lots of kids. Lots of grass. Too many kids. Too much grass. But a great time to be in school. By the grace of god I pulled 292 in the draft lottery. A tragedy that so many of our classmates went and died there. I�ve travelled the entire country, more or less, hitting most of the lower 48. Mostly camping and depending on the hospitality of strangers. All in a �66 vw bug. Somehow I wound up in hawaii for a week. Pretty sure I didn�t drive the bug there. Checked out the volcano but nothing much was happening so I wound up in chicago, where the bug was waiting patiently in the cold wind blowing. Writing fiction the whole time. Borrowed a laptop from a police cruiser in philadelphia. Finishing up my 4th novel, so I still have it, even though the shift key doesn�t work. Microsoft Word thinks its so smart, it capitalizes words it thinks should be capitalized. Good old bill gates. But I digress. I did get married, tried to settle down. Two kids, house in the suburbs, two parakeets, a gerbil, a hamster and several stray cats. But the kids grew up, the animals died and my wife ran off to europe with a circus. She�d always been very good on the trapeze and was attracted to clowns. Obviously. One morning I woke up in the outdoor kennel at an spca. They made me take a dog for their trouble. That�s how bandit and I got together, back in �91. She�s been with me ever since. We split our time among homeless shelters, houses of friends, abandoned buildings, and, of course, the vw. I customized the back seat so there�s a sink, a toilet, a small shower and a dining nook. Almost all the comforts of home. We do miss cable tv when we�re on the road, though. Been to wilmington several times. Even ate at the charcoal pit. But I didn�t see anyone I knew, so we didn�t hang around. About five years ago I met the most wonderful woman�a true earth goddess. Beautiful, smart, full of love, and with a thing for clowns. Obviously. She knows all the secrets of natural, holistic, herbal healing; organic foods for energy and insight into the secrets of the universe; and some great sexual practices handed down from the far east from generation to generation of earth goddesses. Time I spend with her is a real blessing. There is a mountaintop somewhere in the country that I�ve seen in a recurring dream. Not really sure where it is, but we�ll know it when we see it. So we check out as many as we can. The vw doesn�t much like climbing the steep roads, but it humors us and does it anyway. On the way down, bandit and I stick our heads out the windows and we let the bug coast. We�re actually waiting for the 2nd coming of Christ. The signs are all there. But the real millennium isn�t until next year so we have some time to kill. Normally this time of the year we head south, like to new orleans. But with global warming, winters aren�t so bad any more. So if you see a blue �66 vw with a guy and a dog in it, wave. Just might be me and the pooch. Email address for the technologically advanced is jvigliano@excite.com hope I�m still around for the 50th reunion. It�ll be interesting to see who shows up after Jesus is done. I just hope He likes clowns�