One High School in North Philly and Nam
Thomas Alva Edison High School Philly. It stood at 8th Street and Lehigh Avenue in North Philly. It sat in the neighborhood of Fairhill, which later went on to be Heroin Central, the infamous Badlands of North Philly, until most of it just blew up. Heroin was always a ways and means of life there.
I started to writing this and too many words spilled out.
After the storm
I walked those streets for 20 plus years of my life, friend and foe to more than a few faces memorialized here.
See those faces? I still can, a few of them. I can hear some of their voices. Crazy, eh?
Most of these kids never had a fucking chance. How I got the fuck out of there is a minor miracle.
I put this here now only because I sometimes walk back down those streets. Part of me never left it seems. It made me who I am. That’s open for discussion, and but for a special girl…
These boys never got back. One day I’ll tell you stories. With lessons. Some hard. Some good. Still got my comic books………
Edison High School 64
It’s Memorial Day weekend or something. And we will never be short of memorials.
Will we?
One High School.
Many others.
Mostly drafted.
And before the lottery you bet that table was crooked.
But some wanted out at any price.
Tip a glass.