Summary

Samson in the Temple – The author writes of both becoming active in, and finding a sanctuary in, the drama club at high school. He had this in common, he writes, with several others who proudly (and defiantly) called themselves “freaks.” He also writes of growing his hair so that it became long and uncontrolled (and “cool”); and of decorating his bedroom at home so that it became very much his own space, and something of a sanctuary.

The author also writes of deepening, intensifying tensions between his parents, fueled by his mother’s increasing drunkenness. He writes of how she developed a particular pattern of behavior – that is, getting drunk and lecturing her husband on his faults. Later, the author says, his father clipped back all the ivy from the front of the house, ivy that his mother loved. That, the author says...