My Funny Valentines

It's been a difficult one. Woke up to the news that a beloved college professor had died, which at 91 wouldn't have been surprising in and of itself. But in reading a tribute to her I learned that her husband and her daughter (Karin) -- to whom I was very close back in college -- had both "preceded her in death." 

I was stunned. I haven't seen Karin in ages so to me she's still a 21-year-old horse-riding beauty, full of promise with her entire life ahead. Memories of the four of us laughing at their dinner table in Tempe, Ariz., came rushing back to me: Karin (who is my age), so kind and thoughtful, always up for an adventure in my convertible VW; Profs. Dad (Gene, who'd been my sociolinguistics professor) and Mom (Kristin). so welcoming, the kind of parents an aspiring pseudointellectual like me dreamed of having. I remember I was nursing a broken heart when they first adopted me, providing a sounding board and sympathetic ear that I didn't feel I could get at home.

The details of the demise of the Valentine family only made the situation more heartbreaking. It seems my friend died of breast cancer a couple years ago; Kristin and Gene had moved to assisted living but were separated because Gene had Alzheimer's and needed a higher level of care. (He died in 2022 and of course was cremated by the Neptune Society -- so Prof. Valentine of him.) I'm told Dr. V -- as we called Kristin -- was still on her own, even camping, until till this summer before moving to hospice on Monday of the week she died in August. ("She was a force," as my friend Debra put it.) 

But those who saw her regularly said she was never the same after her daughter died, a prospect I can only imagine. 

I was happy to read that my friend has a scholarship named after her -- the Karin Valentine Science Communication Award. But right now I'm aching with regret that my attempt to reach her online a number of years ago failed was thwarted by that "other" folder on Facebook -- yet another reason to dislike Mark Zuckerberg. 

RIP to the Valentine family. I'm truly heartbroken to know that you're all gone. xo

Tennis Tuesday

 

Let's just say I might be lurking around my old college campus looking for this one next time I'm in Tempe. Lots more HERE.

Song of the Day: 'Walk Like an Egyptian' by the Bangles

From HERE.

My friends and I got so excited one time when this came on the radio in my VW Rabbit convertible back in college that I took my eyes off McClintock Road for a second and rear-ended someone -- which is almost as upsetting (it was my new car!) as what drummer Debbi Peterson went through recording the novelty smash.

'Panic' on the Streets of Tempe!

Every time I think I'm romanticizing my teenage years, someone from my past sends me photos (or video) to remind me it really was like a New Wave "90210," as evidenced by these unearthed pics from our old after-hours hangout. Panic City is where everyone would go to see and be seen -- and to inhale sliders after a night of dancing at Graffiti's, Tempe's hottest nightclub in the 1980s!

Owner Tom Frank, who went on to play a role in opening more than 84 restaurants including three in the Mill Avenue area, recalls:

"Panic City opened in 1986 for only about 2 years. When I am doing a speaking engagement, from time to time, I bring up the story about how my little (post-apocalyptic) restaurant, designed for college students who were either drunk or stoned, was badly impacted by the introduction of Ecstasy (MDMA) into the culture. Apparently, hunger is not one of the side effects of the drug. It certainly hurt my late-night sales coming over from Graffiti’s."

The night Andy Warhol died my friend Chantal and I were at Graffiti's -- which would be destroyed in 1990 by the fire next door at Stan's Metro Deli -- so it's kind of always been like hallowed ground for me.

Mr. Careless Whisper on the right here is Michael, who would be handpicked to be the face of The Gap in Europe a few years later!

Suffice to say, Old Town Tempe isn't what it used to be.

  

And here's a photo of my college boyfriend, Derek, in his Panic City T-shirt.

Exterior via Tempe History Museum

A Message to the Cronkite School Class of 2019

This popped up on my Twitter feed this afternoon and it made me realize something: I graduated from college 30 years ago this year. To my fellow Cronkite School graduates, I say this: We may not have attended the famed journalism schools at Missouri, Northwestern or Columbia, but we had some of the best professors in the world. And look at me: I’ve done pretty well for myself -- and so can you. Good luck to the Class of 2019! 

En route to my convocation in 1989 ...

With my friend Debra, who also graduated from what was known then as the School of Public Programs ...

Devil Worship

@realDonaldTrump #TheChalkening pic.twitter.com/27WMJ9bOtZ

— Puritan (@PatrioticAusten) April 1, 2016

As if I weren't already embarrassed enough about having gone there.

It's a Dry Humor

ASU Police Investigating Profoundly Strange Note Left on Student's Car 

The most exciting to happen at my alma mater since I wore jorts! Read HERE.

Arizona State Offensive Lineman Edward 'Chip' Sarafin Comes Out

David Mixner and I are especially proud of this one!

Via Deadspin:

In an interview with Compete Magazine, Arizona State [walk-on] offensive lineman Edward "Chip" Sarafin revealed that he is gay. Sarafin is currently a backup lineman on the Sun Devils football team, and is pursuing a master's degree in biomedical engineering. In the article, Sarafin explains that he has actually been out to his teammates since last spring: Of his own coming out, Sarafin began telling his teammates last spring. "It was really personal to me, and it benefited my peace of mind greatly. Sarafin says that he told his teammates mostly for himself and because he wanted them to hear it straight from him instead of the college rumor mill that all players find themselves subjected to at some point.

Congrats, Chip -- the bears'll love you!

Read the full interview HERE.

The Devil's in the Details

Sounds like I went to the wrong party school. From HERE.

Dammit, Janet

Outside the beloved Valley Art cinema, site of many of my earliest artsy film outings as well as my one and only "Rocky Horror" experience in high school. Sadly, this historic movie house is one of the few remaining establishments on Mill Avenue in Old Town Tempe from before it was decimated by (a revolving door of) chain stores (there's now a Hooters just a stone's throw away). It's bad enough that Roads to Moscow, Panic City!, the Q & Brew and Graffiti's -- the club I was at the night we found out Andy Warhol had died -- are long gone.

But even the longtime local favorite Coffee Plantation -- where I frequently did my homework while attending Arizona State University -- has closed (enter Five Guys).

Now I have a better idea of how Chrissie Hynde felt when she sang "My City Was Gone."

Circa 1985: Latch-key child outside Graffiti's, a few years before the fire at Stan's Metro Deli would destroy the place

Stan's Metro Deli

Fire at Chipman Petersen Building, 415 S. Mill Ave.

Even the beloved Changing Hands Bookstore has been forced out to the suburbs from downtown.

The second incarnation of Roads to Moscow

My friend Mary Byrne and I go in search of two tacos for 99 cents circa 1986

 The Q & Brew

Graffiti's after dark (1986)

Tom Frank, the owner of Panic City, tells me he'd like to write a book about that era. 

P.S. Who remembers that Graffiti's later became Club Bongo, where acts like the Gin Blossoms and Meat Puppets performed in 1988.

The Harvard of Date Rape

"Daily Show" correspondent Jason Jones discovers Barack Obama will have to work much harder to earn an honorary degree from my esteemed alma mater, Arizona State. The president will deliver the university's commencement address today.