1975



My first memories were in 1975. My family was living in a duplex on Lake Lansing Road in E. Lansing at the time. The first distinct memory was at the playground at Pinecrest Elementary School. I was playing on the merry go round in the playground. There were Disney Cartoons painted on the top of the merry go round, and I liked to be on the Mickey Mouse corner. I remember what was probably an older kid making fun of me because of my desire to be on Mickey Mouse. They say that the first time you do something you remember it for the rest of your life. I think that must have been the first time I ever felt humiliated by a peer.



Another very distict memory was when I fell asleep on the schoolbus coming home from kindergarden. I remember this mostly thru my parents telling the story of the events. My parents would normally wait for me to return from the school bus. This time they saw the other kids get off the bus but there was no Lee. They called the school and asked if I was there, and they said I wasn't. I woke up at the end of the line and was driven back home by the bus driver.



My parents, feeling nostalgic for their Graduate School life at Berkely, rented an appartment south of campus where my dad spent a few hours a day writing the first draft of "Political Attitudes of Black Americans". We had to stay in hotels that had refridgerators because I was getting alergy shots which needed to be kept cold. We drove out there in a big blue Oldsmobile. I remember singing songs in the car; original compositions, not your typical car songs. One song my dad wrote was "Good Morning Sun" the only part I remember is
"Good morning sun, Good morning sun
some people worship you
Good morning sun, Good morning sun
I can't 'cus I'm a Jew...
and another song called "Goodbye I-80" which we sang on our way back to Lansing. I don't remember the words to that one.



When we got there me and my sister, who was a toddler at the time, liked to take rides on the elevator. One day we went to the top of the building which was called a "penthouse" but what was really a poorly fenced roof with railings that kids our size could easily slip through. My mom found me with my legs dangling off the side of the building and freaked out saying "don't move" and warned us never to come up to the penthouse again.


I had dinner at a family style Italian restaurant with my family and my dad's father. I remeber being very fidgity and kicking my legs around a lot. I thought I was kicking one of the table legs, but I was really kicking my grandfather!

When we were on the Berkely campus, a big black guy accosted us and said very loudly so that other people around could hear "that's the way it's supposed to be, with the daddy!My mom's reaction was at first happy but then very sad, thinking what events in a person's life would lead to such a declaration.

Finally, we had an encounter with Berkely's "Crazy Dave" a homeless campus fixture who wore overcoats in summer and preached about healthy food. This is what happened when he and my mom met:
Crazy Dave: "what beautiful children you have!"
Mom: "thanks Dave"
Crazy Dave: "beautiful, healthy children!"
Mom: "yes Dave"
Crazy Dave: "It's because you give them healthy food, right?"
Mom: "yes I do Dave"
Crazy Dave (reaching into his overcoat to pull out an orange): "I have some healthy food for them"
I saw the orange and grabbed for it but my mom pulled me away and got us the heck away from there.



I remember when we moved from the Duplex to the house on Linden Drive. The only thing I remember from the move is that my mom offered to buy one of the movers a coke when we were at a gas station. I asked her if I could have a coke too and she said no.