Tag Archives: childhood

The Day the Magic Died

Posted on January 3, 2023 by mitchteemley

My Real Memoir One of my earliest movie memories is of The Wizard of Oz, which if you’re like me you’ve probably seen too many times to count. As a kid I’d prayed for a tornado, an admittedly rare event in … Continue reading →

Posted in Memoir, Movies | Tagged , , , , , , , | 44 Comments

I Was a Professional Class Clown

Posted on October 4, 2022 by mitchteemley

My Real Memoir I cracked me up. And by second grade I’d discovered I could crack other people up, too. Note the key word there: crack. As in that which produces a rush of pleasant feelings and is highly addictive. … Continue reading →

Posted in Humor, Memoir | Tagged , , , , , , , | 27 Comments

I Fell to My Death (But I’m Feeling Much Better Now)

Posted on September 6, 2022 by mitchteemley

My Real Memoir Getting a 10-speed bike for Christmas and being twelve years old meant (in my mind) that there were no longer any limits to how far I could go! I’d made it to Coyote Creek before. But it … Continue reading →

Posted in Humor, Memoir | Tagged , , , , , , , | 44 Comments

The Day the Movies Came to Me

Posted on August 23, 2022 by mitchteemley

My Real Memoir I was born loving movies–it’s in my DNA (Mom loved all kinds of movies, along with books about movies, Dad loved action flicks, especially sci-fi). I was even named after a movie character, “Mitch” in the long-forgotten … Continue reading →

Posted in Humor, Memoir, Movies, Popular Culture & Entertainment | Tagged , , , , , | 61 Comments

Duck and Cover!

Posted on August 9, 2022 by mitchteemley

My Real Memoir It was autumn, yet the thermometer was still climbing. And so was the economy—Dad’s income was booming. So to celebrate we’d decided to shoehorn a swimming pool into our miniature suburban Southern California backyard. I’d just started … Continue reading →

Posted in Humor, Memoir | Tagged , , , , , , , | 41 Comments

High Times in Junior High

Posted on August 2, 2022 by mitchteemley

My 7th Grade essay on The Quad, the asphalt-covered area between our school buildings. My Real Memoir Junior High Schools have pretty much gone the way of the mastodon (my kids attended middle school). But Los Coyotes Junior High was … Continue reading →

Posted in Humor, Memoir | Tagged , , , , , , , | 39 Comments

A Hidden Grief

Posted on July 30, 2022 by mitchteemley

Photo by K. Mitch Hodge The Wishing Map is a full-length fantasy that is being posted episodically at this site. To read the previous episode, click here. To read the entire novel, begin here. Gina had unwittingly adopted a dragon, making her its dragonmeer, … Continue reading →

Posted in Quips and Quotes, Story Power, The Wishing Map | Tagged , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Follow That Dream

Posted on July 26, 2022 by mitchteemley

My Real Memoir As this summer wears on, my feelings parallel those of a summer long ago when I was 12. True, I’m “ever so much more than twenty,” much less 12, but I find myself waiting just as I … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Humor, Memoir, Movies | Tagged , , , , , | 31 Comments

Goodbye, Marilyn

Posted on July 19, 2022 by mitchteemley

My Real Memoir It was August 4, 1962, and sweltering like it is now. I was only a kid, so you wouldn’t think it would have affected me much. But when I heard Marilyn Monroe had died while my buddy … Continue reading →

Posted in Memoir, Movies | Tagged , , , , , , , | 33 Comments

Bringing Grandpa Home

Posted on June 14, 2022 by mitchteemley

My Real Memoir Somewhere along the line Grandma and Grandpa McLaughlin had moved from Los Angeles to the foot of California’s San Gabriel Mountains. Dating back to the early 1900s, the town of Upland was full of half-timbered craftsman homes … Continue reading →

Posted in Humor, Memoir | Tagged , , , , , , , | 55 Comments