Jon Obermeyer

Briarcliff Jon Obermeyer

In this sequel to "It Happens That Fast" poet Jon Obermeyer explores the period 1985-1993, an eight year period of personal growth, global upheaval and technological change. Based on the street where he lived in Greensboro, North Carolina, Obermeyer call this period his "Briarcliff Era." I began the Briarcliff era as a 27-year-old engaged graduate student, almost broke, riding around town on a ten-speed bike. I ended it as a 35-year-old husband, parent, homeowner and vice president in a bank, with two cars in the driveway. My Briarcliff era spans the presidencies of Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, and concludes with former Arkansas governor William Jefferson Clinton taking the stage. It is a heady time globally. In the first year of Briarcliff, the Challenger shuttle explodes. About midway through Briarcliff, Chinese tanks roll over protesters in Tiananmen Square, the Berlin Wall falls and the U. S. S. R dissolves. Culturally, the Briarcliff begins with VHS tape and ends with the compact disk, while the number of cable channels proliferate. Bruce Springsteen sings of "...57 channels and nothing on'." Television programming evolves from Moonlighting and Miami Vice to Seinfeld and NYPD Blue. At the beginning of Briarcliff, I am writing my poems and short stories on my collegiate Smith Corona "Selectric" typewriter (replaceable ink and correction cartridge). When Briarcliff ends, I am composing short stories and book reviews on a 30mb Apple Macintosh personal computer. That technological progression/evolution is probably the most telling detail here, even more important and personally relevant than the transition from Reagan to Bush and then to Clinton.