Was There Friendship Before Facebook?

Thanks to the magic that is Facebook, I've recently gotten back in touch with an old friend from Idaho State, Jeremy P.

Back in the day, when I was a scrawny, pimply, angry, young, just-returned-missionary at Idaho State, I heard that Lawrence Ferlinghetti, the poet and publisher, was going to do a reading in Ketchum. I stood up in my poetry class and announced that I'd be making the drive and asked if anyone wanted to come along. One lone hand raised and it was a guy named Jeremy. He asked if he and his girlfriend, Katherine, could come. It meant company for me and a split bill for gas so I was all for it.

So Katherine, who was a music major, sat in the backseat looking at sheet music and Jeremy and I spent the whole drive over and the whole drive back jabbering. About what, I don't remember but I do remember thinking that he was a funny, smart, cool guy. So, in that magical way that is simple and undefinable, we became friends. We both belonged to the creative writer's group on campus, both worked on the literary magazine, both stayed up waaaaayyy too late in the computer working on papers that were due the next day, and we both read and wrote a lot of poetry.

Jeremy, Pat, Dorian, sometimes Andy, and I would meet pretty regularly at Main Street Coffee and news to read poems, be snarky, and laugh. A lot. Jeremy and I spearheaded a summer reading series at Main Street that brought in cool poets and pretty big audiences (for a poetry reading anyway.)

Jeremy got a spot at ISU's then-burgeoning radio station, KISU, with his show, In House. It was a couple of hours of cool, underground,independent music that wasn't like anything else you could hear on the airwaves anywhere around. For a brief time, I was In House's resident "poetologist" and I got to go on the air once a week and read a poem. I always thought J. was both generous and tolerant to allow that.

Anyway, life changes. Things happen. I got married and graduated. Jeremy shifted his major. He went one way, I went the other, and we fell out of touch. We communicated off and on but life always seemed to take over and we never stayed in contact for long.

The funny thing was that when I left ISU, it was to go to Boise for an MFA program in creative writing and, the whole time I was there with "serious" writers and published authors, I never felt for a moment that I had as good of a creative community as I had in Pocatello with Jeremy, Dorian, Pat, and a few others. All the advanced degrees and published books in the world couldn't compete with the combination of smarts, compassion, humor, and friendship that I encountered at ISU.

Years later, I was supposed to go to Jeremy's wedding. (He came to mine. He and Dorian are on my wedding video.) I didn't make it because I had to teach a class that day in Ketchum (that fateful place) and I had a blowout on the way out of town. Les Schwab's service was unusually slow that day and by the time I headed back out, it was too late to make it to the wedding. I've always regretted that. I still have the handmade book I was going to give J and his lovely bride that day. I guess now I can get his mailing address and sent it to him - although, rather than a blank book for two newlyweds to write love notes in, it can serve as a coloring book for Gracie, their beautiful and funny one year old. How time flies, eh?

Anyway, you will notice to the right under my list of regularly visited sites a new addition: OPB Music - Oregon Public Broadcasting Music. After ISU, Jeremy took his In House act on the road and has ended up as a regular feature on the airwaves in Portland. You can stream his show along with all the other music being played in Portland any time you like. If you like music that is new and unexpected, Jeremy is your guy and In House is your show. Give it a whirl.