Gathering Mushroom Clouds In Forecast

Growing up during the height of the Cold War made a dent in my childhood, but there were a series of personal disasters that made a larger dent. I nearly bought the farm from scarlet fever, a black window nearly killed me with it bite, then occurred a boat accident where I barely survived drowning, and our family house burned to the ground, all of this before I became fourteen.

At sixteen I was in a serious car accident which my father blamed on me, and I paced up and left home. I became foo...