Home.
Intimate terrain:
mapping my early childhood memories
live cam

cam archive

cam archive 2

image blend

home

comments
weirdos have seen my most intimate memories in cartographic form. Wowzers.
Go home.
image blend                                    home                                    comments
This is my backyard when I was growing up.
This is my little universe.
Go home.
This is the house where I grew up.
This is Westminster, the neighborhood where I grew up.
I was a toddler, and Mom put me in the new baby bouncer here. It was one of those contraptions that hooked up to a door sill and allowed the baby to bounce below. She accidentally set mine up over some exposed carpet tacks. She left me there to play and came back to find me happily bouncing away in a small pool of scarlet blood. (Sadly, I was too young to call the authorities.)
This is where the maids used to sit and watch their "stories" (soap operas) on TV. After many viewing hours, we noticed a stain forming on the headrests of the sofa. They had accidentally left a large stain where their hair grease had saturated the fabric. I would nearly slide off the sofa, it was so greasy.
I was a bit of a firestarter when I was little. No arson, mind you, but plenty of burned toys and bugs. Once, I got a little carried away with the fuel and burnt off part of my eyebrows!
I'll never forget having to come home early from a summer vacation because our house was burglarized. The police found the footprints of the guys who stole my parent's family heirloom jewelry and my piggybank full of nickles, dimes and quarters. What kind of guy steals a children's bank?!? 
The door to the toy closet was painted white, but underneath that coat of paint was a lovely mint green color. When the paint started peeling, I decided to see if it tasted as good as it looked. After 2 or 3 square inches of paint, I decided that it definitely wasn't. (Of course, I sometimes wonder if the lead poisoning ever affected my ability mental.)
He was an exquisite little creature. Sadly, he was either sick or dying. I tried to nurse him back to health with en eye dropper full of fertilizer. (My 8-year old reasoning: "Birds eat worms and worms are mostly dirt. Dirt needs fertilizer, so birds must, too!") It was my first burial ceremony. But I looked good in black, so it wasn't so bad of an experience.
My brother's favorite hobby growing up was building domino rallies. They were great. We'd spend 4 or 5 hours meticulously putting together a show, all for 30 seconds of fun. Talk about questionable time management skills.
This was the best jungle gym. It had been painted over so many times that it was a rainbow of multi-colored rusty fun. We'd turn it upside-down and it was a space ship. On its side, it became a race car. I would sometimes stand on top and pretend to see to the end of time. It was THAT high up!
I can't remember how or why, but I got out of the habit of climbing trees. Is that when childhood really ends? I suspect so. Now, I'd probably pull a muscle just getting to the first limb. Age is kind of pitiful that way.
"The Doctor" next door had these evil bulldogs that would yelp at us nearly everytime we went out to play. I seriously considered poisoning them a few times. They were THAT mean. Who knew I'd grow up to be an animal rights advocate?
Dad and Christian, my brother, had just left for a weekend of camping. I was doing front flips with childish dare-devil glee. After a few flips, I misjudged my speed, over-rotated, then landed with a *THUD* on the trampoline rim. I landed on my FOREHEAD. My head swelled up and has never really returned to its original size.
What an amazing clubhouse we had. You know the nifty ones in movies and TV that have everything? Ours had MORE. We had furniture, curtains and even a tea set for informal entertaining. It was right out of Better Homes and Gardens.
Every animal lover has a "first pet" story. Mine's no different. I got Corki when I was ten. He was the sweetest thing. He was my best friend for many years. Sadly, I didn't play with him as much as I should have. But he had a huge backyard to enjoy. And he always did love to chase his soccer ball around. His natural herding instinct led him to championship soccer skill-building.
Didn't everyone have a house full of "bad boys" that terrorized the neighborhood kids? Well, we did. And I got bullied around by them, too. Good grief!  I was such a total Charlie Brown.
This was a really busy intersection that I wasn't allowed to cross until I was 15 or so. By then, I'd gotten a job at a nearby deli: Bagel Bayou. (This is Louisiana, after all!) I loved it there. It had great food, handsome Jewish guys for customers, and a pretty good paycheck every week.
The local Baptist Church's minister's parents lived here. They were ancient when I was little. But they were so sweet to us kids. They doled out candy rewards anytime we offered to help with chores. Great folks. Their son never got caught in a sex scandal like that Jimmy Swaggart guy, either.
I only lived in Koyasan for 3 years, but I did a lot of growing up there. It expanded my mind in so many healthy ways. I went there to discover a new country and got to find out a lot about myself in the process.
Didn't everyone have a house full of "bad boys" that terrorized the neighborhood kids? Well, we did. And I got bullied around by them, too. Good grief!  I was such a total Charlie Brown.
This is our quadrant of the galaxy. Right here, next to the worm hole, is where one of my favorite TV shows is set. It's called Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.  I love it so much, it's almost real to me, so that's why I included it in my universe.
One of my favorite shows is based here, in a distant section of the universe. Star Trek: Voyager is a great show that always keeps me entertained. That's why I included it here.
This is Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It's the center of the "cancer corridor" because of all the chemicals we dump into the air. And it's where I grew up. Can anyone say "epidemiologist's dream"?
I included New York simply because it's such a great city. I've only been there a few times.
One of my favorite cities of all that I've visited, London is where I would love to live one day.
As homage to ancient cartographers, I put this dragon here. But it signifies the dangers of pushing one's own ignorance on others. Having said that, please forget everything you've seen on my entire homepage.
There's a little town called Carnation, Washington. That's where my penpal lives. She and I have corresponded (more or less) since I was about 14 or so. She's a great girl and I think about her often... even if I don't write her as often as I should.
People often ask me, "Jeffrey, why are you so %$#!ed up?" Well, if we strap ourselves into the oppressive yoke of pop psychology, maybe it has something to do with my early childhood experiences.

I thought that I'd share a few of those places where I grew up. This intimate terrain is where I created the memories and moments that made me who I am today.

How much of an effect can a particular place have on a child? How do our early experiences shape our personalities? These are the questions I wanted to explore when I created these memory maps. They're explorations of my early experiences that made me who I am.

Optimized for Internet Explorer 4 or higher. Hover your mouse over the green dots for glimpses into my childhood.
How many hours did you spend playing outside when you were a child? I clocked many an hour in my backyard. Here are some points of interest and some highlighted vignettes:
Here's the 'hood where I grew up. Westminster was decidedly middle-class.
Finally, here are a few points of interest in my personal universe.
Ah, cruising down the Rhine River... That's one of my favorite vacation memories. I love Germany. Pity about the whole World War 2 thing, or it would be flawless.
Three words: food, food and food.
It's got to be the most charming country in the world.
"With astronauts creating a precise three dimensional map of the Earth and biologists mapping the human genome, technology is introducing new ways to chart human territory. But what about our personal territories, the ones we carry in our memories and curiosity?"

     - Karen Olsen
Cartographers like me love to get e-mail. You've just taken a tour of some of my childhood memories.  Feel free to share a few of yours with me. I always love hearing from my viewers. Why not take a minute and let me know what you think of my work?
Our House
Our backyard
The neighborhood
Go home.
Go home.
Go home.
My universe
My room. Where I first fell in love with those models in the Sears catalog. (With online personals, I still shop at home.)
The kitchen where we'd eat breakfast before school. Dad would come in after his daily walk. He would be so chipper! And the squirrels would stare and Christian and me as we ate.
We had a nice house. It was comfortable and roomy enough for a family of four.
Mapping out my world domination plans...
live cam

cam archive

cam archive 2

image blend
Hosted by www.Geocities.ws

1