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ach morning I wake up to the continu- ous hum of the


traffic on I-5, crawl out of my bed, and take one step into the bathroom. After I shower — the shower being only half a step from the toilet — I put on my robe, grab a key, and walk outside to my closet, unlock it, and choose my outfit. If no one is around, I change into my work clothes on the patio, grab my shoes out of a tote box, and toss my purse and lunch into the car before running back inside our house to say goodbye to my hus- band Ralph. “Have a good day,” I


whisper since he is half- asleep. “Enjoy the beach, but don’t forget to start the house.” He waves me on and


Sandy Shores RV Park used to have a view of the Oceanside harbor but now looks at the four-story Holiday Inn.


I drive out of the trailer park to the Nautical Bean Coffee Co. at Oceanside Har- bor or the Carlsbad Dove Library to work at one of my four writing gigs.


I never thought I would live in a trailer park, but I


am doing just that. And it’s not in a double-wide mobile home, which average around 1500 square feet, but in


30-foot Class C recre- ational vehicle (the kind you drive) with around 150 square feet of living space. It’s parked in an Oceanside neighborhood block situated between a 100-foot-tall neon Mobil gas sign and a 672-square- foot billboard advertising all-you-can-eat lobster feasts at Pala Casino. We weren’t born to


this gypsy life. I began life in San Diego and grew up in a middle-class house- hold. It was the same story for Ralph. My stepfather built my mother and me a three-story home on lower Mount Helix when I attended Grossmont High School, and I lived there until I met Ralph. The two of us found adorable and affordable houses and apartments to rent in Hill- crest, Scripps Ranch, and one in Del Mar that cost


us $400 a month. That was in 1980. Then he got the bright idea to follow the American Dream and buy a house, which doubled our house payments. I wasn’t onboard,


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So You Want to Be a Doctor One pre-med heard through a friend that a certain upper division biochemistry course might be a cinch A. None of her fellow pre- meds had mentioned this course - which seemed strange, because word of such


courses normally spreads fast. BY STEPHEN MEYER, MAY 9, 1985


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Mrs. Teeter Has Coded “We have to get loans — $80,000 to $100,000. And that’s without interest. You can imagine by the time you graduate how much interest has accumulated. The money you earn is not enough to be able to pay these loans off right away.” BY BILL MANSON, JUNE 23, 1995


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Finally — the 1,500 best stories from 44 years of the Reader — fully transcribed. An ongoing project through the end of 2016.


16 San Diego Reader March 30, 2017


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