OrangeDriedBeefMirage

Introduction/Definition/etc

As close to published in Street Sense as possible

(wiki/works doesn't do columns and no photo,

layout, etc minimal...July 9 - July 22, 2008

Volume 5, Issue 18 on page 13, pre-

Will Write For Food: Writer's Group, in the

Editorals section with other stories

like The Best Thing Was Family by Mary R.,

Leroy's Story by Leroy which we discussed

and fussed over in WG...

Body

Orange Dried Beef Mirage

By Jerry W.

I was driving across the country to de-

liver my cousin's car.  He was dying of

AIDS, in hospice-like care in Northern

California, and we had traveled together to

visit relatives many times.  This was a nice ges-

ture towards me to enable traveling, as he was

a flight attendant and church organist.

  I had stopped a day in Colorado to ski the

Rockies for the first time in pre-season No-

vember, and then I drove through the desert,

arriving in southern California.

  There was a roadside produce stand that

had oranges fresh off the trees and a local

rancher's beef jerkey.  It was very refreshing,

and a minimalist fusion of watery citrus and

dried meat - the original American Indian

portable food.

  This rest stop followed Midwestern big sky

with tumbleweeds and lonely desert driving,

and having never been around citrus farms,

savoring oranges fresh at the farm was a

treat, with some beef to balance out the food

groups!

  It was also a natural oasis, following

car trouble in the mountains due to high

elevations, and the break helped me emo-

tionally shift gears for my last visit with my

cousin on his birthday.

  This snack was also one of my favorite

parts of a difficult trip.

  While I was away during my cross-country

trip, my uncle committed suicide when can-

cer spread into his brain after it became ter-

minal.  The oasis came before that traumatic

event.

  Jerry W. volunteers with the Street Sense

writers' group, dubbing the group 'Will Write

for Food,' and often donates treats from the

Virginia farmers' market he praised in his

first Street Sense article, 'Ode to a Farmers

Market.'

Conclusion

Summary of experience or similar:

Difficult to write about the losses,

combined with something that was

an exercise on your favorite foods.

The writing seemed choppy and circular

to me, but it was short and probably

my second writing published in

the paper, or I just referenced the

farmers market in the article bio

blurb, probably helped by editors,

and consulted family before publishing

my family's history...

Discussion

A place for feedback on the page presented

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