Page 30

By Jack Joseph Smith

And so I left. Making a fool out of myself reciting Children all the way down to Miami in a sports car ride with a guy namer Ron Burnner. I had bee crying all night before he picked me up in the morning; called a cab with what I think was my last fifteen dollars after saying goodby to Elivara Gerace. After about three weeks with the University of Miami football team and Bobby Stone, I think Reed Hawkery tood me down to the lower hightway; Headed out hitch hicking to El Paso as a first stop. When your at the end of your teens and make that first step, white, black, brown, yellow, or red; know that it could be the rest of your life. It is that huge. However if you choose my way, it is more possible to be a native son.

Original Scan

AI Interpretation

GPT

The narrator recalls a ride to Miami, a cab paid for with the last fifteen dollars and a departure toward El Paso, then warns that a first journey can determine a life.

The narrator ties departure to recitation and memories of the University of Miami football team. The writer revises the travel details by adding a cab and closes by addressing young people across racial categories. Some handwritten corrections remain uncertain.

Claude

The speaker recalls leaving, 'Making a fool out of myself / reciting Children all the way down to Miami / in a sports car ride with a guy namer Ron / Burnner', after 'crying all night' and taking a cab with 'my last fifteen / dollars'. After three weeks with the University of Miami football team, 'Reed Hawkery tood me down to the lower hightway' and he heads out 'hitch hicking to El Paso', then the page turns to advice: 'When your at the end of your teens and make that / first step', 'know that it could be the rest of your life.'

The first half is a plain, fast travel memory built on names, money and roads. The last paragraph shifts to direct address, 'white, black, brown, yellow, or red', and ends on the claim that the speaker's way makes it 'more possible to be a native son'. The tone moves from embarrassment to hard-won counsel.