FOLLOWING MY BLISS A Memoir
Sallie Hanna-Rhyne
978-1-58790-589-6 / paperback / 344 pages / 6” x 9” / 73 B&W photographs
$18.00
Memoir
ABOUT THE BOOK
In this coming of age memoir, Sallie Hanna-Rhyne traces her early life from the working class neighborhood of Park Slope in Brooklyn in the ‘40s to hippie and activist in San Francisco and Berkeley in the ‘60s and ‘70s. Following my Bliss chronicles her unwavering strength and resilience during an abusive 5-year marriage; an improbable but brief foray into smuggling drugs in the name of love; immersion in the sex-drugs-rock ‘n roll counter culture of Haight-Ashbury and Berkeley; a straighter life teaching young children in an alternative school; and then dealing marijuana for 11 years to support herself when she returned to her childhood love of the piano, changing from classical to rock and jazz. Her memorable friends and descriptions of legendary figures from the ‘60s, like Alan Ginsburg, Neal Cassady and Fritz Perls, the political protests in Berkeley and dancing to iconic bands of the era are evocative. This is an intimate portrait of a life well lived and a nostalgic visit back to a special time and place. What’s clear is that Hanna-Rhyne did very little that did not bring her bliss. — Diane Reed, co-author, Double Helix: a Memoir of Addiction, Recovery, and Jazz in Two Voicescontains thoughts, personalities, stories lessons collected over that experience.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sallie writes: I was born in Brooklyn in 1939. It was a happy childhood despite the War, I loved school and my friends in the neighborhood. I majored in Math at Brooklyn College and after graduation in 1960 worked for Bell Labs in Manhattan. In 1961 my best friend and I went to Europe and visited my family in Scotland and her family in Poland. Then Lynda went home. I found another American girlfriend and we hitchhiked to Spain and Morocco. We had many Moroccan adventures. We parted company and I met an American boy in the Casbah of Tangier. We smoked a lot of marijuana and fell in love. I followed him to London where he used heroin from the National Health Service. We got to San Francisco in 1963 and had hippie adventures with Neal Cassady. I left Ron in 1967 and pursued a teaching credential at San Francisco State College. In the Experimental College I met Bill Kenney, a professor and a founder of an alternative school in Contra Costa County, Pinel. I exulted in being the teacher of the young children for 8 years at that school. I joined a women’s rock band and played with them for 2 years. Then I started another band and we played for dancing at clubs in Berkeley and San Francisco. I supported myself as a small time pot dealer for many years. When I stopped smoking pot and dealing I worked in Nursery schools and pursued music. Eventually I became a piano teacher and still teach today. I play jazz with my friends and we have occasional gigs. My life has been exciting and I am grateful that the dangerous situations I fell into as a young adult resolved themselves and my mother’s positive outlook served me well.