Jamie Brisick

Aloha Bitches at the Cayucos Velodrome, never forget it: the Camaros in the parking lot, the sixer of tall boys stashed in the pockets of my down jacket, the watermelon Jolly Rancher I gave to Julie and the red smile she gave me when the first song kicked in… the swaying of the crowd like the push and pull of shorebreak, the tongue kiss I found myself locked in when the first bars of “Hang Ten or Die” trickled in, not with Julie, but with Julie’s friend, Vicki, a big surprise that led to me in the middle of a tug o war between the two hottest girls in 11th grade, a burst of confidence in my dreadful teens. It’s not often you lose your virginity in a slam dance pit. And even less often that you lose it twice. I thank the Bitches.

–Jamie Brisick