rlfj: Blog

In Chapter 9, I referred to Judy getting her Regents Diploma. At the time, New York had a two-tier high school diploma system. You had the regular New York High School Diploma, but then you had a higher-rated diploma, with special tests and grades, which gave you what was called a Regents Diploma. When I went to RPI and moved into the freshmen dorms (and it was all freshmen in the dorms then) we would talk about our lives back home. About half of us were New York residents, and they all bragged they had Regents Diplomas. The rest of us, from out of state, had no idea what they were talking about; we just had regular diplomas and that seemed to be good enough for our states. As far as I know, New York was the only state with this system, but I could be wrong on that. Since then, they have changed the New York rules several times, and now California has a two-tier system. Very odd to a Maryland boy.

When I wrote this story, I let my wife know that I had a new hero, one as great as Carl Buckman or the Grim Reaper. He was young, handsome, brave, hunky, and wonderful! He was…a snowplow driver! She was not amused. They are not her favorite people. They are either not doing a good enough job, getting in the way when she is driving, moving too slow, or not plowing when she wants them to. Endless complaints! She has obviously never met Hersch Caparelli.

Would NYSDOT have used Hersch for an employment campaign? Possibly. In 1983 there would have been a lot of World War II and Korean War vets retiring from blue collar jobs. A lot of employers would be looking to replace them, and it was also the case that high schools would have been telling kids to go to college, whether they liked it or not.

Enjoy!

A major rewrite was required related to driver’s licenses. One of my readers informed me that the current CDL, Commercial Driver’s License, system was created after the events of most of this story, following the passage of the federal Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1986. This changed the regulations on commercial trucking from a state-by-state system to a federal system. Before then, if a driver was caught with a DUI or multiple speeding tickets, he could go to another state and get a clean license; some drivers would have a wallet full of licenses. What is now considered a CDL B would have been considered a NYS Class 3 license. I am rewriting every section to make sure I get it correct.

I am reloading Chapters 6 and 9. At the end, I will be updating the bookapy versions.

Thank you, ronpea.

Lots of fun in Chapter 9 as Hersch and Judy keep fooling around. I remember finding books like the ones I describe in my own parents’ nightstands. Good Heavens! My parents had sex more than three times! Unbelievable!

Anybody else have a ‘77 Maverick? Worst POS car I ever owned!

Just like the Caparellis, my family went trick-or-treating in the snow, both in Ballston Spa and in Otsego County, NY. The only time anybody would see their costumes was when we took them to the volunteer fire house for the Halloween Party and Costume Awards. My youngest once went as a pregnant nun, but that was when she was a teenager, and we weren’t around to be embarrassed by her antics.

While I’m not completely sure of the costs of RPI in 1980, when I graduated in 1977 the tuition had just topped $4,000. That did not include room or board in the dorms, which could be another $1,200 or more. By 1980 tuition was probably $5k to $6k. Those figures seem ludicrously low now, but at the time it was a real scandal. Nowadays, it’s a lot more. The official tuition for 2025-2026 is $64,400 plus another $23,344 for room and board, fees, and everything else.

While doing the final editing of this chapter I discovered a timeline problem in the books. If you bought a copy, make sure to download the corrected versions when I finish the story. I will post a note.

Finally, while my books have been on Bookapy for years, I only learned that Bookapy had an email system earlier this week. When I went into it, I found about half-a-dozen emails, some going back a few years. Sorry about that! I responded to them, but don’t think badly of me, please. I just didn’t know.

Enjoy!

One interesting response to Chapter 7. Apparently, Tommy Caparelli pushing his son against a wall counts as assault and child abuse. Maybe nowadays it is, but not in 1979. Don’t go judging historical periods by modern standards. I’d hate to admit the shit my father did to me back in the 1960s and 1970s. Somehow, I survived.

On the other hand, several readers with personal knowledge of adoption or unwed motherhood commented I got it right. Thanks. It seems there are a lot of family trees with some odd branches grafted on. For those who say Tommy and Mary should have told Hersch when he was a child, I reply that’s not realistic. Certainly, in the 1960s the whole situation would have been one of deep shame and social disapproval. What would be the odds that a young child would blab about it to friends, and that his friends would tell their parents? I guarantee there would have been repercussions from telling Hersch too soon as well as too late.

A typo was found in Chapter 3. Fixed. Thanks.

Enjoy!

Not much to comment on in this chapter. We learn that the sins of the father, or in this case the mother, can come back to haunt you. I was curious about the origin of the saying, so I googled it. Exodus 20:5 – “Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;” Three and four generations? This is going to be a real problem for more than a few of us! My maternal grandfather was a real character, as was one of my paternal great-grandfathers. I have a sneaking suspicion I am not going to Heaven.

Enjoy!