Jim Heenehan
I woke up at 4:30 this morning to hit the head and noticed a beautiful, low crescent moon out our bathroom window, not even reaching the upper branches of the two large trees across the street. Then back to bed. But a nice start to Birthday Week. Tomorrow, I turn 72 – the same age as my biological father was when he died. So that’s a bit sobering. But my mom lived until almost 90, so I’m hoping I inherited most of my genes from her.
To kick off Birthday Week, my wife, Carolyn, and I went into Philly to visit the Museum of Illusions at 401 Market Street. I’ve been curious to see the museum since passing it last year and today was the day. The museum was a lot of fun. Above is one of the magical rooms I entered while below, Carolyn experiences some vertigo.
After playing in the illusion museum, we headed over to the Khyber Pass for lunch, just three blocks away. When I moved to Philly in 1978 to work for the US Environmental Protection Agency, I got an efficiency apartment on 37 Strawberry Street, right behind the Khyber. I spent a lot of time in the Khyber and like to get back there from time to time. I thought about having a beer for old times’ sake, but in my mid-60s, I cut back to 3 beers/day, and prefer to drink in the evenings. So, it was a burger and a coke. While there have been some changes, the Khyber still looks pretty close to how it did in the old days. I enjoyed being there again.
After lunch, we went around the corner to visit my old apartment on Strawberry Street. I lived here from 1978-1981 with my mythical half-man/half-bird roommate, Lop Lop (below), a good friend of Max Ernst. One time, I took Lop Lop to the Khyber for his birthday and the piano player played “Happy Birthday” for him. Lop Lop later moved with me to 1915 Green Street, but in 1983, he sailed off to France. I’ve gotten over 280 postcards from him since he left which I have uploaded onto my Lop Lop website, loploptravels.com.
We now retraced my walk to work from those early days. Back then, the EPA Region III office was in the Curtis Building at 6th & Walnut Streets. We rambled through Independence Mall, passing Carpenter’s Hall, Independence Hall, crossing 6th Street, and entered the Curtis Building with its magnificent Maxfield Parrish Dream Garden. This was a great way to start the workday.
Finally, it was time to head back to Bryn Mawr. We got home about 3:30 pm, where I found six birthday cards in our mailbox. Hooray! Since its Birthday Week, I head to my Toy Room and don my Button Jacket (Lop Lop gave it to me before he left for France; see earlier Lop Lop picture). I am wearing it now as I sit here and type this diary entry.
The maps on the rear wall trace Lop Lop’s journey (by postcard postmark) since he sailed to France in 1983. A large photo of Lop Lop rowing to France in 1983 is above the left map. Lower left is the edge of my Shiloh Civil War diorama. I have a lifelong interest in the Civil War, having taught classes on the conflict for several years at the Haverford Adult School, and had four articles published, including one on the Philadelphia Brigade in The Gettysburg Magazine. I did the diorama after friends of mine & I drove out to Shiloh last July.
My Toy Room has another diorama inspired by the trip Carolyn and I took to Brittany last fall. The stones represent the 2.5 miles of standing stones in Carnac where we spent a few days (I got the large megalith and the dolmen in Carnac). About 30 miles away is the enchanted Broceliande Forest where Merlin first met Viviane. The dragons are happy as it’s their “year” in 5 days.
It's now 5:15 pm. Time to do some exercises and finish my Jack Kerouac novel, The Town and the City. It’s my first novel of the year and was Jack’s first published novel. I ended last year with Jack’s first written novel, The Sea is my Brother, but it was not published until 40 year’s after Jack’s death as Jack thought it was a “crock.” Included with this novel are 200 pages of correspondence between Jack and his good friend, Sebastian Sampas, while they were away at college and during WWII. Sebastian was killed at Anzio in 1944 and Jack would later marry his sister, Stella. Jack mourned his friend’s death and included him as Alex Panos in The Town and the City. It has been fun reading the book just after reading their letters. Indeed, occasionally Jack lifts some of the Alex Panos dialogue right from Sebastian’s letters.
It's now 8:30pm. I have finished my exercises, the novel and dinner. So let’s get back to The Town and the City. Kerouac was a great admirer of Thomas Wolfe and this book is generally regarded as having been written in a Thomas Wolfe style, even down to the title which is compared to Wolfe’s, The Web and the Rock. Also, its length. The Town and the City is 500 pages while Kerouac’s next novel, On the Road, is just 254. And it’s very lyrical – a sprawling novel about the Martin family with young Peter Martin as its focal point (like the Gant family and Eugene in Look Homeward Angel). But instead of suffering from adopting a Wolfian writing style, it’s great literature. Also, I like Wolfe. Coming back from our Shiloh trip last summer, we stayed one night in Asheville, NC, and I was able to briefly visit Wolfe’s home (Carolyn and I toured it in 1990 when we were in Asheville). While the Town part concerns Galloway, MA (read Lowell, MA), the City is NYC. Among its characters are Will Dennison and Leon Levinsky who are really William Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg. And coincidentally, Carolyn was reading Patti Smith’s A Book of Days this evening and her entry for today has a 1975 photo of her and Burroughs taken by Ginsberg, as today is Burroughs birthday.
One last thing to note before I close is a passage from one of my old journals. I began keeping a journal in 1978 when I joined EPA. And in 2015, I began re-reading them when I retired from EPA. I am currently on Journal 150 and, in my journal re-read project, I am up to Journal 72 (July 2004). This evening, I read my journal entries for July 3 & 5, 2004, which focus on Marlon Brando who had just passed away. I like Brando a lot but had not seen On the Waterfront, prior to his death. So that night, I went out and rented it. “On the Waterfront just blew me away. Great role for Brando – tough guy with basic goodness, confused. Out of his element in talking to Eva Marie Saint. Words don’t come but he stumbles through to goodness.”
Birthday Week continues tomorrow with Birthday Day. More fun awaits. Now upstairs to watch some TV.
Jim is a retired EPA attorney now living in Bryn Mawr. His hobbies include journals, reading, the Civil War, playing in his Toy Room, and chronicling the 40+ year world travels of his friend Lop Lop. You can find his collected Lop Lop postcard correspondence on loploptravels.com.
