Pittsburgh Flash Fiction Gazette

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This is my second post for the day.  My first post, “Adult Education,” deals with the marriage of an ageing ballerina.  What background do I have in ballet?

I dropped out of a junior college in 1964 to join the army.  A junior college only had freshman and sophomore classes.  I was living at home and didn’t want to be at home because my father was a wife beater.  And although the beatings had stopped years before, I just didn’t want to be in that atmosphere.  So, when I became 18 I dropped out of Point Park Junior College and joined the army.  I did a tour in Vietnam and when I came back I had no ambition to work a job.  All I wanted to do was write.  Writing was an obssession.  It was probably my way of dealing with life.

I couldn’t keep a job and was often on welfare.  I moved into the downtown YMCA which was across the street from Point Park which had become a four-year institution.  It had a well-respected dance department.  It was known for its school of ballet.

I spent most of my time at the college, in the snack bar, in the library, hanging out with the students and going to the parties.  I fell in love with ballet.  I hung out with the ballet students and went to the ballet.

That is the background to the story “Adult Education.”  Point Park is now a university.

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Filed under: Commentaries Tagged: | adult education, ballerina, ballet, ballet students, flash fiction, junior college, life, marriage, Point Park Colleg