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Hey, it's me.
JEFF GROSSO
I was born in 1968 in Glendale, California. I'm a bull if
you follow astrology. My parents lived in Eagle Rock until
they were divorced around four years later. These 'goings
on' are memories I hardly remember. To trudge on, my
mother and I lived with my grandmother, a very extra-
ordinary lady is too mild a term to use. Anyway, she
basically raised me to tell the truth.
Spidey: Let's talk about first through fourth
grade. The sub-topics are: grandparents, school
and all that came with it, girls, frustration and
communication.
Grosso: They sent me to pre-school when I was
a baby. I didn't know zip. That was when my parents
were still married. I think it was called Happy Hour
Playschool. The school's logo was a clock with a
happy face on it. That's where I first came in con-
tact with other children.
I used to be accident prone and I used to get
sick on people. One time I got stiches in my
forehead. I was playing on the monkey bars with
cowboy boots on and I slipped. This was private
school with chapels in it; I had to sing the ABC's
with the rest of the class at the altar in front of all
the parents. I was wearing a turtleneck sweater and
I pulled it high around my head because I was shy.
Everybody thought it was hilarious, 'your son is
so cute,' that type of reaction. I believe I was hap-
py and embarassed at the same time.
Then I went through kindergarten. I stole a Bat-
man Hot Wheel one time, which was my first and
Interview by Spidey
last act of thievery. My dad beat my ass; it was one
of the only times my dad has really hit me hard
to make an impression. I think it'll stick with me
for the remainder of my life. I had to take it back.
bawling my eyes out, and tell the teacher that I had
stolen it. To me it was trauma, a soap opera.
In first grade there was this teacher named Miss
Pagan. She was Phillipino, and she could barely
speak English, but she was allowed to teach at this
private school. We had Bible hour once a day and
that's when Miss Pagan taught us our first cuss
words. She was the one who shed light on the im-
portance and insignificance of cussing, the way
it comes across, what it really is. She was telling
first graders that 'fuck' was just another word.
I bet it's hell being a parent, to have your kid
come up and say, "Yeah, I'm a skateboarder, when
as a parent you're saying 'violin lessons,' 'gym-
nastics,' and 'I don't know about skating. My
parents asked me to quit skateboarding when I first
started getting good at it. They were really
concerned. They said, 'What's
happening to our kid?'