Wild Child, Decker Canyon, 1969

Who is this wild child, this wisp of a girl? Why is she here, in this canyon far from family, far from her beginnings? Where is she going? What star calls her, and what name does it call her by? Who does she think she is?

How can she believe the world will ever listen to her, that it is bound to recognize her intelligence, her constancy, her compassion, her integrity, her gifts?

How can she withstand the cruelly casual betrayals, the grinding devaluation of all that she is, the demeaning of her self, without losing all that is good within her, without succumbing to the instinct to strike back, or to go to ground, numb with despair, righteous anger turned to depression?

How can she slip the bonds, become herself, triumph over indignities and callous abuses?

Will she survive? Can she thrive? Did she?

Did I?

Decker Canyon, Topanga Canyon, Woodland Hills, Southern California, circa 1969.