Category Archives: Memoir

My life and welcome to it.

Treats I Have Known and Loved

Posted on October 6, 2026 by mitchteemley

Classic kidtreats My Real Memoir: Treats I Have Known and Loved It was fall. I’d just started 4th grade, and already I couldn’t wait for the holidays: Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas. Because holidays meant treats! Of course, my idea of treats … Continue reading →

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Cats I Have Known and Loved

Posted on September 29, 2026 by mitchteemley

Cats I Have Known and Loved: Mr. B feared nothing, including the notorious Vacuum Cleaner. But Zipper was a lover, not a fighter… Continue reading →

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The Year I Invented Skateboarding

Posted on September 22, 2026 by mitchteemley

Above: homemade skateboard, metal shoe-skates, crate scooters, sidewalk surfboard, “Chicago” skateboard My Real Memoir: The Year I Invented Skateboarding Actually, untold thousands of other Stone Age kids did too. The idea was in the zit-geist, which is to say that … Continue reading →

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Forty-One Years Ago This Week

Posted on September 17, 2026 by mitchteemley

Photo by Ashwini Chaudhary Forty-One Years Ago This Week I love the way the sky is always changing, never exactly the same, sometimes subtly different, sometimes breathtakingly so. One night in particular, the moon was a shimmering crescent cradled by … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Inspiration and Motivation, Memoir, Photography | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 106 Comments

My Life as a Not-Really

Posted on September 15, 2026 by mitchteemley

Ben Hur (1957), Spartacus (1960), YMCA logo, Boy’s Camp My Real Memoir: My Life as a Not-Really We weren’t “Nones,” to use the modern term for people who claim no religious affiliation. We were “Not Reallys.” For my parents’ generation, … Continue reading →

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25 Years Ago This Week

Posted on September 10, 2026 by mitchteemley

The Tribute in Light, New York City 25 Years Ago This Week September, 2001 was a tumultuous month for my family. We’d sold our Orange County condo, the only home our children had ever known, and on Labor Day moved … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Inspiration and Motivation, Memoir, Photography, Quips and Quotes | Tagged , , , , , , , | 55 Comments

An Ode to Hamburgers and Dads

Posted on September 8, 2026 by mitchteemley

The oldest surviving McDonald’s, in Downey, California My Real Memoir: An Ode to Hamburgers and Dads Until I was seven, the longest walks I ever took were to a unique little burger joint called “McDonald’s.” Mommandad counted every penny in … Continue reading →

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I Was a Daredevil Paperboy!

Posted on September 1, 2026 by mitchteemley

Left to right: Schwinn Wasp “Newsboy Special” bicycle; 1950s Japanese transistor radio; Los Angeles Herald Express; authentic(ish) illustration of my paper route My Real Memoir: I Was a Daredevil Paperboy! As a result of my reckless adventuring and frequent self-disfigurements, … Continue reading →

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The Year I Became “The Clever Kid”

Posted on August 25, 2026 by mitchteemley

Left to right: My 3rd grade photo; Columbus Day art and (on the back) my rendering of a Viking ship, inspired by The Vikings, my favorite movie that year; doodles and bad spelling. My Real Memoir: The Year I Became … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Culture, Humor, Memoir, Storytelling, Writing and Blogging | Tagged , , , , , , | 40 Comments

Of Newspapers and Talking Birds

Posted on August 11, 2026 by mitchteemley

Left: ‘Welcome Dodgers’ headline, Los Angeles Evening Herald Express, 1958. Right: My 2nd Grade class photo My Real Memoir: Newspapers and Talking Birds Dad Was Ambitious to a Fault But he’d dropped out high school to shoot bad guys who … Continue reading →

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