Posts tagged “New Hampshire”

I’ve been thinking a lot lately since it’s a new year (hello, 2019!) about all the crazy things that have happened to me in life so far. Some of them were good, some were bad – but all were interesting, at the very least. So, for a new installment of Top Ten – I figured I would list the TOP TEN STRANGEST THINGS TO HAPPEN TO ME. These are all completely true, and have happened to me over the years (and of course I will explain as best I can the circumstances around them). 1. I once spent two weeks in the hospital with a collapsed lung next to a guy who was attacked by a moose. Though I forget his…

Categories: Top Ten

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The Rundown

joecarro

Posted on December 11, 2018

When I was fifteen years old, the world was my enemy. And why shouldn’t it have been? It was 1996. Up until that point, the world had done its best to drag me, sometimes screaming, through metaphorical gutters of the worst kinds of waste. At that young age I had already been half-starved, covered in lice and fleas, abused in the worst kinds of ways. I was a victim, but also a survivor. The constant battling only made me harder, scooped out the soft spots in large chunks so what I was left with was a veritable chitinous exoskeleton, impervious to the outside world. As a result, when I moved to the middle-class neighborhood in New Hampshire, filled with anxious folks living in high-end…

Categories: Childhood Story, Creative Non-Fiction

Tagged: 15 Years Old, 1996, 2Pac, Adventure, Alternative, Alternative Rock, American, Anger, Away With Words, Beaker, Black Guy, Black Man, Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Boys, California Love, Childhood, City, CNF, Compassion, Conversation, Cop, Creative, Creative Non-Fiction, Creative Writing, Creativity, Crime, Cute, Dana, Drug Running, Drugs, Exeter, Family, Fifteen, Friend, Friends, Friendship, Fun, Geek, Guys, Hobo Jungle, Humanity, Inspiration, Internet, Joseph Carro, Life, Lifestyle, Maine, ME, Media, Metal, Middle Class, Muppets, Music, Neighborhood, New England, New England Writers, New Hampshire, Opinion, Portland, Post, Rap, Real Solution #9, Relationships, Rob Zombie, Rock, Running, School, Teen, Teenager, Teens, The Rundown, The World, Trouble, Tupak Shakur, White Guy, White Neighborhood, White Zombie, Wordpress, Write, Write Life, Writer, Writers, Writing, Writing Life

The Cranberries

joecarro

Posted on December 7, 2018

The Cranberries have always had a place in my rotating list of music. When I first discovered them, I was living in Exeter, New Hampshire and going to high school. When I first heard the song “Linger” – with Dolores O’Riordan’s ethereal voice singing the bittersweet lyrics – I immediately connected with it, being an emotional and disenfranchised teen boy. I had been infatuated with a girl in the neighborhood, and at the time, I was consumed by her. No matter what I did, however, it was not meant to be. We were really close in the long run, but it would only ever become a friendship and eventually not even that because time moves on and people change, including me and especially her.…

Categories: Opinion

Tagged: 1990's, 30's, 46, 90's, Adam Sandler, Alternative, Alternative Music, Alternative Rock, Art, Away With Words, Band, Beard, Beards, Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Childhood, Click, Cranberries, Death, Dolores, Dolores O'Riordan, Dreams, Entertainment, Exeter, Faith, Family, Geek, Girls, Happy, High School, Humanity, Ideas, Innocence, Inspiration, Internet, IRA, Ireland, Joseph Carro, Life, Lifestyle, Linger, Love, Lyrics, Maine, ME, Media, Mourning, Movie, Movies, Music, New England, New England Writer, New England Writers, New Hampshire, News, Ode To My Family, Opinion, Party, Poetry, Portland, Rant, RIP, Rock, Rock Music, Sad, Sadness, School, Song, Soundtrack, The Cranberries, Wordpress, Writing, Zombie

The Kancamagus Highway

joecarro

Posted on November 10, 2018

There’s a somewhat alarming sign that greets you as you approach the western end of the Kancamagus (pronounced “Kan-kuh-MOG-us” if you were wondering) Highway in Lincoln, New Hampshire. It reads “No gas for the next 32 miles”. As you pass the sign, you drive along a narrow stretch of road that winds itself through the White Mountains and through some extremely beautiful scenery. It’s a real treat in the fall, when the foliage is popping – but it can be a wonderful experience in the summer as well. Driving the Kancamagus in the fall is like rolling through a kaleidoscope of autumnal color. You lose yourself momentarily as hills give way to stoic mountains covered with shocks of reds, yellows, browns, and even the…

Categories: Travel

My First Girlfriend

joecarro

Posted on August 13, 2018

The first time I saw Becky Dearborn, I was very intrigued by her. She wore a school uniform, which consisted of a long, muted-in-color tartan or plaid skirt, knee-high stockings, shiny black shoes, and a clean white blouse. She wore an accompanying tie which sometimes varied in color during later times I would see her. Her hair was close-cropped and done up in a bob style, and to top things off she wore a black choker around her neck. She reminded me of Natalie Portman as Mathilda in the movie Leon: The Professional. I’d been swimming at the local pool with my best friend Tom when his girlfriend Sarah showed up. Sarah was gorgeous – with long, curly blonde hair and what I thought…

Categories: Childhood Story

The Fight To Be Ignored

joecarro

Posted on August 6, 2018

When my siblings and I moved from the slummy parts of Lewiston, here in Maine to a middle-class trailer park in Exeter, New Hampshire, it was the early 1990’s and we didn’t realize at the time how tough things would be for us when we arrived. We were excited and at the same time terrified to be leaving our home of all those years. We knew the streets, we knew the people. New Hampshire sounded so fancy to my ears when I said it out loud. I would often say it with an English accent, or at least as much of one as I could muster. “Nyew Hamp-sheer,” I would say, holding up a cup of imaginary tea and slurping it loudly. As the…

Categories: Childhood Story

Tagged: 1990's, Acceptance, Anger, Bigot, Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Brats, Bullies, Bully, Childhood, Children, Class War, CNF, Creative Non-Fiction, Creative Writing, Exeter, Faggot, Fear, Girl, Gym Class, Hardship, High School, Homophobia, Ignored, Internet, Joseph Carro, Kids, Lewiston, Life, Love, Maine, MFA Life, New England, New Hampshire, Non-Fiction, Passive, Poverty, Prejudice, Psychological, Rejection, Resistance, School, Skids, Skidz, Story, Teacher, Teens, True Story, Wordpress, Write, Write Life, Writer, Writers, Writing, Young

SUMMER 2018 UPDATE

joecarro

Posted on July 24, 2018

*Photo courtesy Peyton Carro It’s summer, and as most of you no doubt understand – Summer is a time for activity. My wife Peyton and I try to do something at least once a week which involves travel of some sort, and coupled with a full-time job in the retail world with a changing schedule, I rarely have time to finish my blog posts when I want to so I figured I’d at least drop in and let y’all know what I’ve been doing here in the wilds of Maine. First – the travel I mentioned. I’ve long come to terms with the fact that I will never be a globe-trotter. I do, however, travel extensively on a local level. Since Spring started, I’ve…

Categories: Update

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Friend Files #27: Peyton Carro

joecarro

Posted on March 7, 2018

Friend Files is a feature I added to my blog, Away With Words, a while back – this being the 27th installment. Past installments appear under the “Friend Files” tag on my blog. I will be interviewing a friend of mine (and in this case, she’s a friend who also happened to become my wife!) and showcasing why they are a friend to me and what I like about them, and also a mini-interview (five questions) that detail what they think of me. It’s a way to acknowledge my friends out there and what they’re up to and also to introduce them to my larger group of friends, acquaintances, and anyone else who might be interested in reading online. Today, I will be talking about my lovely wife, Peyton…

Categories: Friend Files

My Friend Erik

joecarro

Posted on February 13, 2016

When I first moved to Exeter, New Hampshire – it was a strange experience. My mother was friends with a lady neighbor, and this neighbor had a brother. He and my mom got together, eventually, and he whisked us all away to his home in a higher-end trailer park from our roach-infested apartment in Lewiston, Maine. At first, I was a little worried about not fitting in. My siblings and I were all from a poor household, and my mom’s new boyfriend was more middle class and so were the new neighbors. Most of them had decent cars (we hadn’t even had a car), the lady in one of the trailers next door was older and screamed at us if we encroached on her…

Categories: Childhood Story

Friend Files #20 – Alicia Dutremble

joecarro

Posted on October 11, 2015

Friend Files is a feature I’ve added to Away With Words, this being the twentieth installment. Past installments appear under the “Friend Files” tag on my blog. I will be interviewing a friend of mine and showcasing why they are a friend to me and what I like about them, and also a mini-interview (five questions) that detail what they think of me. It’s a way to acknowledge my friends out there and what they’re up to and also introduce them to my larger group of friends, acquaintances, and anyone else who might be interested in reading. Today, I will be talking about Alicia Dutremble. Before I get into what I think of her, here is my mini-interview with Alicia (exchanged over Facebook) where she jotted down just…

Categories: Friend Files

Posts tagged “New Hampshire”

Posted on January 8, 2019

Posted on December 11, 2018

Posted on December 7, 2018

Posted on November 10, 2018

Posted on August 13, 2018

Posted on August 6, 2018

Posted on July 24, 2018

Posted on March 7, 2018

Posted on February 13, 2016

Posted on October 11, 2015