Home from rehab 30 years after the seed

[GregFL]

When I went back to Lauderdale at almost 17, I went to Boyd Anderson High for half of eleventh and all of twelve grade. Boyd anderson was not too far from The Mall on 441, right near the apartment complex where girls staff was and where my encounter with Art occured several years later. I lived for a while  on the other side of 441 from those apartments (the name escapes me right now). I lived in and around Lauderdale from 17 to almost 21. This is where my post seed problems worked themselves into a downward spiral and then back out into the light, where I eventually gained some real self awareness and put myself on a positive path. But damn, it sure took a while and I made a lot of mistakes that I wish I never had.

[Ft. Lauderdale]

Greg do you remember me? Was it only girl staff that lived in those apts or a bunch of apts with people on the program? Or was it a complex with about 4 girl apts?

[Ft. Lauderdale]

My sister graduated Boyd Anderson 1973
My brother graduated "      "     1976
Another brother "    "      "     1978
and another     "    "      "     1982 or 83?
I grad Plantation High            1972

It could have been Cranbrook Apts or maybe Waterbridge or another one?

[Anonymous]

or maybe Quiet Waters

[GregFL]

It was cranbrook apts where that dealeo occured with Art. I am in the 76 Boyd anderson yearbook. Tell your brother I had long blonde hair, used to ride a motorcycle, a red yamaha rd 350. I was fond of popping wheelies in the parking lot. What a jerk I was... :lol:

Twice I got in fights with black guys there that resulted in major bullshit.

Email me with your brother's last name. If he wasn't a seedling, I might have known him. I knew no seedlings at boyd.  76 was a tough year for race relations at that school...I remember it well.

[GregFL]

On 2004-12-09 10:43:00, Ft. Lauderdale wrote:

"Greg do you remember me? Was it only girl staff that lived in those apts or a bunch of apts with people on the program? Or was it a complex with about 4 girl apts?"

I really don't know. I only bumped into Art cavorting with girls staff in the pool. He was in the middle of the pool in his swimsuit and they were all around him giggling and talking. He was the absolute center of attention. I wonder if he was enjoying himself (hehe). Someone from that era has to remember. The closest I have come to someone else remember what happening. is someone emailed me that got on staff shortly after it happened and was told they weren't allowed to go to the pool anymore because it wasn't safe.

A couple years later I  ran into Suzie Connors at the Lauderhill mall right before I left town when I was twenty. I was working the christmas season at the record store and she came in. We recognized each other from St Pete and she wanted to buy a gift for someone..a disco album because "they like that shit and I no nothing about it". I steered her towards the saturday night live album.  She was polite but didn't really have much to say to me. I told her to say hi to Art for me and that was the last Ive heard of her.

I also ran into Maggie Ca....ld a couple years before that in the same mall and tried to talk to her. She told me she was working at the seed and wanted to know if I 'was straight'. That was all she would talk to me about. Before that we were close friends in St Pete, we used to go bowling together and talk all the time.  Now our communicating hinged soley on the answer to that question.

[Ft. Lauderdale]

He said he vaiguly remembers some jerk on a ...Just kidding.  He said he vaugely remembers. (probably not) He's my one brother that back then had a fro but he's not a person of color. Greg I'm a guy in case you thought differently.  He's going to look you up in the year book. (which he probably will sometime next year) Doesn't  your last name begin with S.?  You can get my last name actually my whole name in my email address that I had to put down when I registered "Ft. Lauderdale".  I assumed that that was how you knew I once worked at the Seed.  If not - did you just guess or what? Or from a conversation with someone else? My sister actually got bussed to Dillard High in 1971 which was no picnic. Where did you live in Lauderdale?

[Ft. Lauderdale]

I was close to Suzie and Maggie too.  Maggie was beautiful. Suzie was OK also. I have not seen Suzie since about 1990 and Maggie a few years before that.

[GregFL]

Yeah, Maggie was a hottie. Heard she got married. No, my last name does not begin with an S. I think I figured out you were a staffer from an old post.

I lived in Tamarac at first, then moved to the apartments across from Cranbrook, then moved all around lauderhill and Tamarac.

Was your brother in the Seed?  PM me I am interested now. Maybe I do know him.

[Ft. Lauderdale]

Sorry- what does PM me mean? No my brother was not in the Seed.  He was football Tennis & Auto Mechanics and actually Teaches at a Vocational School now and he's lost his fro- He still has a full head of hair unlike me loosing mine. Its kind of funny I probably have never fixed anything mechanical all those genes went to him.  I wonder if there's a correlation between hair and that ::bigmouth:: Probably from posting on this site.  just kidding.

[GregFL]

PM = private message. Over there on the left in red there is a tab to send anyone on this site a private message.

I am also trying to find my boyd anderson yearbook to see if I remember your brother.

[Jimmy Cusick]

I was in Ft. Lauderdale from July 1st, 1974 to August 17th, 1975, I lived with the *** family they had 2 kids in the program, Jim and Bert, they lived on a canal and had 4 boats. We spent lots of time fishing and water skiing, that was the highlight of my seed experience. I also lived with "Hank" who later became a staff member, His house was on Coolidge drive in Hollywood,Florida, I remember that like it was yesterday.

I went to my junior year at South Plantation high school and I also remember the race riots. The blacks really hated the whites for enslaving their grandparents but I stayed out of the whole thing because I didnt talk to anybody. A seedling friend of mine by the name of Mark Barton(he was from Kentucky) got punched in the face and Libby made a big deal of him being a hero for not fighting back, I always thought he was a "Pussy" for not fighting the blacks

 I graduated the night we left Ft. Lauderdale for Cleveland and stayed involved until I went in the Marines on February 28, 1977.  If you tell me your name it would be a big help. Remember Sue Liberatore? The good looking blonde from Bay Village who's dad was a racketeer and he got involved with Art Barker. Sue Died in a car crash while she was snorting cocaine(honest)

[cleveland]

Jimmy,

I lived in that little shack in Hollywood that was behind Hank's parents house...they had a little bulldog that was hyper, but they were very nice. The "shack" or cottage had probably been meant for seasonal use only and it was comically small. You had to walk thru the shower - in the front and out the back - to get into the back bedroom. The living room was so small we cut the legs off of our couch to get in in the door, we called it the "low rider." The kitchen was so tiny that when you opened the fridge door, it took up all the space - a one-person kitchen. I think the front "porch" was dirt. There was a crazy man who lived next door, who had buried a Volkswagen in his yard, which was surrounded by sand-bags - he'd hide all day but come out at night and scream racist madness. I lived there with four people, it was crazy. We had a good time there, and we were far enough away from other Seed kids that we felt a bit of freedom. Alas, it was too much of a good thing, and staff closed it down and we were all relocated to other houses. I remember staff actually saying that we were having too much fun there - I think they were concerned because we'd come in to raps and talk about what a blast we were having all the time! Those are actually my best Seed memories, crossing the track near the Winn-Dixie to go home and hang out with Mitch, and this southern kid - Mike? - and at least one other person. Funny how those memories have faded.

[Jimmy Cusick]

That is a cool memory. When I lived at Hanks house there was "The girls " house behind their house. We had a screened in pool and went swimming everynight. Do you remember the building on the other side of the yard? It was white and called "Rapid Rater" That was Hanks fathers business and we used to go in at night and emptied garbage cans,,,,,,,imagine that you were there to.

 bad  memory........... In 1981, I called John G*** and Scott to see if they could help me, they told me to call the seed, ::armed::  I called the Florida Seed to talk to Libby, Hank answered the phone after I asked to speak to a staff member and I asked for Libby (my favorite), Hank told me that "this isnt selective choose a staff, what do you want". I was really hurt because at one time Hank and I were close friends and he had become a "Parrot". I was having trouble with alcohol and drugs and in trouble with a motorcycle club but I hung up the phone and never called again.

[cleveland]

Yes, that whole chain of command thing...

Hank was staff in Cleveland when I came in. When the Cleveland Seed closed, hank came down too. But you know, I think he left soon after we moved out of the cottage, which must have been the 'girls' house' before. I thought he was gone by 1981, but I could be wrong.

A lot rode on who you happened to get as a staff member when you had a question. That made it pretty arbitrary. Remeber there was that whole rule about 'not playing one staff member against another'? That meant you were stuck with whatever you were told to do, and if you had a staff member who didn't understand or care about your issue, tough luck...

John G*** was one of the Cleveland guys who was around when I came in - he drove an old beat up sports car and always showed up at our house on Claque road with his own 6-pack of 'diets' - do you remember that? I lived there with Scott P., Wayne A., Jim A. and Mike, who had a Chevelle (these guys all drove big American cars, for 'the newcomers' - yeah, right!)

John moved to Florida too with his wife and child, one of the few 'Seed baby's' I ever knew of.

_________________
Wally Gator