Ray Whiting — Starting Anew

How to Clean My Hat?

Long, long ago, like around 20 or 25 years ago, I bought myself a cool hat made of a sort of twill or denim fabric. It’s been in my closet since I moved here 18 years ago, and I just pulled it out this past week. I used to wear it semi-often when I lived in New Orleans. It looks really bad. Dusty and dirty. I am amazed it has mostly kept its shape, which gives me a little hope.

Write a Book?

School picture of the author in 5th Grade This is me, my class picture when I was in 5th grade. Big smile, but this was roughly the time when I was discovering Live wasn’t always fair or nice. This was also the beginning of troubles that would follow me for decades, not entirely of my own making but largely the impact on me of my parents’ alcoholism (mostly my mother).