Stick Your Head out the Window

This is a story of how a town can stand in for a family.

Overview

Few American towns played a more critical role in the counterculture of the 60s and 70s than Berkeley, California.

Freewheeling, free-thinking Berkeley was also Kingstone’s hometown and the place she turned to as an alternative to her tumultuous family. She was a resilient, free-range child, slipping into the arms of Berkeley, where she found support and nourishment. As she grew from a child who made herself invisible to avoid trouble at home into a woman with a voice and a sense of belonging, Berkeley was her handbook for living.

She drank the Kool-Aid of the Berkeley that broadcast its radical opinions on a megaphone. Even as she became aware that its ethical soul-searching could be performative and self-congratulatory, she saw that it had formed what was crucial in her character and ultimately saved her.

Completed manuscript. Read an excerpt →