There was the Oregon City Library in my youth, a Carnegie gem, tiny, with a wading pool and swing sets out front. I walked or bicycled or drove to that library hundreds of times. I was always alone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I did my reading and research there,\nand checked out double or triple albums by Stevie Wonder. The\nSecret Life of Plants<\/em> is still overdue. I probably owe $5000 on\nit, but I owe Stevie Wonder more, because there was something in his\nmusic (and in particular that mysterious album) that sowed a seed\nwithin me that would later grow into an explorer’s heart. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Oregon City Library was also the\nplace I explored sex. No, not actual physical contact or anything\nlike that! It’s where I researched how to have sex before I had sex!\nThe story goes something like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n On October 31, 1979, L wrote in my\nsophomore-year journal, the first one I ever kept: Today is the\nbest day ever!! I\u2019m so glad there is no school!! I love spending\ntime with Matt!! He means everything to me!! He\u2019s so special!! I\nhope we last forever!! I can\u2019t explain how I feel about him. It is\njust like all of me wants to devote myself totally to Matt.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n L was my first high school girlfriend.\nWe began going together at the beginning of our sophomore year at\nOregon City High School. I took her to the Homecoming Dance and my\nolder sister drove us and bought me some cheap champagne for the\noccasion. After several intense sessions of making out and light\npetting, L and I discussed losing our dual virginity. Neither set of\nour parents had said a word to us about sex and the required sexual\neducation course called Family Living was scheduled for next fall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \nThus, we discussed\nlosing our virginity rationally, as if it were talking through a\ngeometry proof or how to install a new kitchen sink. We knew\npractically nothing about the physical act of sex. It was 1979 and\nthe only place anyone could buy a condom in Oregon City was the\nbowling alley, in the restrooms, via a coin operated machine that\nworked about half the time. High school students were having a lot of\nsex back then, in cars, in trucks, on floors, in parks, in the woods,\nin the bleachers, but first sex was still largely about imagination\nprior to it actually happening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let me assure you, I had a\nnovelist\u2019s imagination about potential sex with L but a\njournalist\u2019s preoccupation for the facts to get it right for us.\nSo, I, a budding newspaperman, naturally assumed control of the\ninvestigation into proper intercourse and sought out literature on\nthe subject. L was all for this and told me to report my findings as\nsoon as I discovered them. This literature took the form of a little\nhardback red book about sex that I found in the Oregon City Library.\nThe book\u2019s title is long lost to me now, but I do recall a\npublishing date in the 1950s. You get the idea. It was more of a\nmanual why you shouldn\u2019t have sex before marriage than a guide how\ntwo teenagers could execute the best wholesome deflowering\nexperience. A date stamp inside proved the book hadn\u2019t been checked\nout in fifteen years. It was square, squarer and squarest, American\nsex before the Pill and feminist manifestos on the female orgasm.\nNevertheless, the book did contain some black and white photographs\nof a generic couple in various states of stiff coupling that were\nsomewhat educational although certainly not erotic, which I think was\nthe editorial point. I didn\u2019t dare check out the book and take it\nhome. Instead, I read it standing in the stacks and I think might\nhave even taken notes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \nSo at one point I\ndidn\u2019t know anything about how to physically have sex with L and\nthen I read the little red book and thought I did. I told her this on\nthe phone and we made a plan. A few days later, she dumped me for a\njock and I hated that she documented me as sucker in my journal with\nher girly handwriting. As for the sex, it had to wait. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Note\nto reader: It is my wish that the reader will support the idea that\nPioneer Pride<\/em> is a \u201cbook.\u201d It is also my wish that the\nreader consider \u201cbuying\u201d the book as it rolls out in\ninstallments. A purchase supports an author and future literary\nendeavors by Nestucca Spit Press. To purchase, look to the right on\nthe blog to use Paypal or contact me to make other arrangements.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There was the Oregon City Library in my youth, a Carnegie gem, tiny, with a wading pool and swing sets out front. I walked or bicycled or drove to that library hundreds of times. I was always alone. I did my reading and research there, and checked out double or triple albums by Stevie Wonder. 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