Joyce 🐝 Bowen Brand Ambassador @ beBee
4 years ago · 3 min. reading time · visibility ~10 ·
Those Weren't the Days
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Youth was an interesting time. Do me a favor and play this while you read.
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Now you might think I was a real pothead because I loved this song. I wasn’t I just loved the damned song. I hated the feeling that marijuana gave me.
It was the era of, Sex, Drugs and Rock & Roll,” but my life was tied up in activism and putting a roof over my head. I was sixteen and felt utterly alone. I worked up to 80 hours a week; the owner of two donut shops shifting me from store to store to avoid paying me overtime.
A few years later, I traded those long hours to become a figurehead for a local drug rehab. I sucked at it but committed to performing various tasks for 18 months. I did speaking engagements and did my best to work with those in the drug world. I was old for 16 (when I first moved out of my parent’s house.) I had already gone through my own stint with drugs and had sworn them off. My salary? My rent was paid ($100.00 a month), and I lived off surplus food. At the time, surplus food was comprised of a spamlike meat, rice, peanut butter, tomato sauce, cheese, and a few other goodies. It was a boon when speaking engagements had buffets.
Working with those in the drug world put me in danger. But danger was familiar for me. Gangland figures were common at the time, and when two in the highest echelon walked into my apartment, I began to doubt the veracity of my position. I was not unhappy when the man who had threatened me ended up murdered. They identified him through his glass eye or so I was told.
I wrote a letter to the editor over my consternation in regards to Gangland’s grip on the area but was afraid to sign my name, so a friend did it for me.
White was the mayor of Boston. I attended an event at an office for the Chinese Embassy in Boston and harassed the mayor’s wife over White’s new drug policy. It was basically, “Throw them all in jail, then throw away the key.” It was my first encounter with a politician’s demeanor. I never failed to pick out a politician again, nor was I ever invited to another such event. And it suffices to say my protests against the policy fell on deaf ears. I’ve always seen Mayor White to be one of the architects of what became a nationwide policy.
Dreams of college had been quashed by my dilemma. I learned through experience that education was necessary. But I was not to experience that until much later. I became fast friends with a local newspaper figure, and he dubbed me, “Florence Night of the streets,” as he shadowed me in my efforts.
We were looking for volunteers, but I was up against a prominent local figure who had sexually assaulted me months earlier. It would be 20 years before I took him out.
Life was not kind in those days, and I found solace in dark music. It suited my mood.
Copyright 2017 Joyce Bowen
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About the Author: Joyce Bowen is a freelance writer and public speaker. Inquiries can be made at crwriter@comcast.net
Sobre el autor: Joyce Bowen es un escritor independiente y orador público. Las consultas pueden hacerse en crwriter@comcast.net
My Patron site. Please support my work.
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Comments
Bill Stankiewicz, 🐝 Brand Ambassador
4 years ago #11
Cool 😎
Joyce 🐝 Bowen Brand Ambassador @ beBee
4 years ago #10
#11
Wow--all these rants!! What great buzzes they would be! I look forward to reading your stuff, John Vaughan. I've got to get myself over to your blog and see what's there. I've read a few, but perhaps not enough.
Joyce 🐝 Bowen Brand Ambassador @ beBee
4 years ago #9
#10
Thanks Sara Jacobovici. Gusty? I felt pretty incompetent back them. I dissed powerful people simply because they were powerful. I should have learned more about cultivating relationships.
Joyce 🐝 Bowen Brand Ambassador @ beBee
4 years ago #8
#9
Kudos to your mother CityVP \ud83d\udc1d Manjit. I did the same with my sons. I was terrified at potential outcomes if I wasn't diligent. Nice to see others did the same. Motherhood is a crapshoot.
Sara Jacobovici
4 years ago #7
Dear Joyce \ud83d\udc1d Bowen Brand Ambassador @ beBee, nostalgia and music, quite the combination! Sounds like you've always been a gusty woman. Thanks for sharing.
CityVP Manjit
4 years ago #6
By the time Joplin and Hendrix died I was 9 and by the time Jim Morrison died I was 10. It is difficult to conceive that all three would be considered "boomers" today had they lived, which just goes to show how daft marketing categorizations really are. Last year we gave up a chance to make a tonne of money investing in an early round of Marijuana penny-stocks and by the time the Canadian government legalize pot, those family members on the West Coast are set to cash in big. No matter how beneficial medical marijuana might be and how profitable the investment offered to us eventually pans out, it just did not feel right to invest in pot but that has more to do with our upbringing. Ultimately it was my mothers will that she kept us out of reach of the drug gangs that ruled the town we lived in and made sure we did not associate with anyone who could possibly pass us a joint. Some people I knew were not so lucky with choosing to mix with that culture and they did not fare well but it is they who chose willingly to mix with that side of society. This is why I count my blessings that there was a strong person who defending and protected us. When I was young I would easily brought into life in the dark and dangerous side of town. Sometimes just one person can make a whole lot of difference. It is difficult to fight off this world alone unless one has a very strong constitution. Only a few are born with this constitution but that is also a blessing. Without that I would be living a totally different life and as a youngster I would be easy prey, and so that is why I respect people with a strong will and constitution, I was a beneficiary of such protection. That is why I use the word "blessings" a lot.
Joyce 🐝 Bowen Brand Ambassador @ beBee
4 years ago #5
#6
My opinions about pot have changed over the years. Time has mellowed me. I was so damned naive. I think we all are going to change the world in our younger years. I'm still trying, but I am far less hopeful about making any impacts.
Joyce 🐝 Bowen Brand Ambassador @ beBee
4 years ago #4
#5
I envy you your experiences.
Joyce 🐝 Bowen Brand Ambassador @ beBee
4 years ago #3
#2
Don't you just love snippets?
Joyce 🐝 Bowen Brand Ambassador @ beBee
4 years ago #2
#1
Probably the best is, https://www.bebee.com/producer/@joyce-bowen/my-story-of-abuse. When I got too big to beat, I guess I was not fun anymore, so I ended up on my own. I strove to make my parents proud at the time, but the more I succeeded, the more disappointed they seemed to get.
Pascal Derrien
4 years ago #1
A nice write up about a snippet of your life story :-)