Okay. I almost didn’t do this post today because I’m not feeling well at all. I went home sick with a blinding headache (and I’m not even kidding about that) and I am still fighting it. So this is gonna be short and sweet.
My current read is Dharma Punx by Noah Levine. It’s a memoir, written by a gen x punk (around my age). He writes about his harrowing fall to the brink of suicide and the crawl back to sobriety and spirituality. I’ve been interested in this book for a couple of years. I saw him speaking on the local Santa Cruz television channel when he was speaking at the (I think) Bookshop Santa Cruz. I really liked what he had to say. I thought his melding of punk and Buddhism was fascinating. I thought a Buddhist punk fascinating, actually.
I had kind of forgotten about the book and never did pick it up. A few weeks ago I was catching up on podcasts and I caught an edition of To the Best of Our Knowledge that featured American Buddhist authors and Noah Levine was one of the interviewees. Again, I was intrigued with his story so I interlibrary loaned the book and received last week.
It’s pretty good. His story is very compelling. I can’t put the book down, actually. His writing style is a little gritty, but that’s fine with me.
The surprising thing to me about the book was that it takes place in Santa Cruz. Levine was raised there and he writes extensively of his time growing up there. So it’s been really cool to read this book and know exactly the places he is writing about. It makes me really, really miss the place. But that’s a whole other blog post. I’ve been feeling very melancholic for Santa Cruz, lately.
Blatherskite 
Humm, might your last two posts give hint to at least one cause of your homesickness??? Coastal CA makes weather whimps of us.
I’ll have to see if my library has this book. We genXers have fallen off the radar as always. Not talking about the media co-opted genX, but the original one from Coupland’s book. Funny, I’ve not thought about that in a while and it still gets me annoyed. Our gen has always lived in the shadow (and with the sloppy seconds) of the boomers. God I hope that makes sense. This is one time where email, posting, etc is hard on me. I’m much better and talking this kind of amorphic crap.
Anyway, hope your head’s better now. That last stuff I had was pure headache and it just ruins your day! My sympathies.
I like the middle button on Greenjeans, but I’m partial to that coloring. I’m ripping my Greenjeans today. The shoulders are way too big and the waist way too tight. Finally admitted I’d never wear it and I love the yarn too much for that. Really hope yours blocks to your liking.
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