A Semester in Reno — UNLV pg71

Colorful companion to my memoir The Incompetent Psychic

Mernie Buchanan

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Stella in Reno 1976

A new adventure with a fully packed Pinto was fine with Stella, so north we headed across the great Nevada wasteland and nuclear test sites, fully fueled with enough amphetamine to make no-speed-limit seem slow. We found a tiny studio apartment with a kitchen and a bathtub across the street from the University of Nevada, Reno for $70 a month. During the day our mattresses got stacked as a couch. At night they pulled apart to become the bedroom. We signed up for classes — lots of art and English for me, drama for Stella and folk dance for the both of us. — From Chapter 3

This is another rare student drawing from the 70s that survived in a vintage folio. I was supposed to show up for a morning art class with something sketched on watercolor paper ready to paint. I often forgot. Those mornings Stella would get her covers ripped off her bed with instructions to, “Hold still… now turn over and don’t move… and one more,” before I ran out the door. From bottom to top the captions for these were likely Stella saying,

“Noooo.”

“Oh fuck, okay, but not my face.”

“Is that coffee? Go get me some.”

[note to Stella: Sorry not sorry for posting nudes of you on the interweb. Had you worn jammies 44 years ago this might not have happened, but hey… I did change your name.]

Signed copies of my memoir ship quick from https://www.etsy.com/listing/839838936

Unsigned copies can be ordered wherever books are sold.

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Mernie Buchanan

Originally from CA & Las Vegas, I now paint and write in Woodstock NY. All images are my original art & photos. Links to more at mernie.com