By Shana Hammaker
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First tagged by Shana Hammaker "Shana"
Customer tags: cookies, teenage runaways, homelessness
Review & Description
At seventeen Shana Hammaker was a street kid named Denise.
By the time she landed in the gutter, Shana had been abandoned by her parents and subsequently spent the bulk of her teen years bouncing from one foster home or group home to the next. Her life up to that point had been far from satisfactory so Shana was determined to begin her new, untethered life completely fresh: no baggage, no memories, no Shana.
So Denise set out to conquer the homeless world. Or at least, to have a good time.
The months Denise spent living on the streets of Santa Cruz, California, were wild. She learned how to smoke speed off a light bulb, met a man named Rowdy who claimed to be a 1400-year-old vampire, almost found TV fame on the Jerry Springer Show, fell in love and got pregnant—all in less than a year. Denise was living it up, gutterpunk-style.
But Shana hadn’t gone anywhere. She was still there, buried deep within Denise—small and sad and longing for the love and comfort of home. And she found it in the unlikeliest place: the Pacific Cookie Company’s dumpster.
THE COOKIE DUMPSTER is part memoir, part journalistic exposition. In this essay-length piece, author Shana Hammaker returns to one of the most difficult periods of her life and reunites with her wild, seventeen-year-old alter-ego. She also reaches out to the owners of the Pacific Cookie Company—Mr. and Mrs. Pearson—and shares with them the role their dumpster played in her life.
THE COOKIE DUMPSTER is a poignant story of loneliness, struggle, and hope.
Approximately 8000 words/31 printed pagesAt seventeen Shana Hammaker was a street kid named Denise.
By the time she landed in the gutter, Shana had been abandoned by her parents and subsequently spent the bulk of her teen years bouncing from one foster home or group home to the next. Her life up to that point had been far from satisfactory so Shana was determined to begin her new, untethered life completely fresh: no baggage, no memories, no Shana.
So Denise set out to conquer the homeless world. Or at least, to have a good time.
The months Denise spent living on the streets of Santa Cruz, California, were wild. She learned how to smoke speed off a light bulb, met a man named Rowdy who claimed to be a 1400-year-old vampire, almost found TV fame on the Jerry Springer Show, fell in love and got pregnant—all in less than a year. Denise was living it up, gutterpunk-style.
But Shana hadn’t gone anywhere. She was still there, buried deep within Denise—small and sad and longing for the love and comfort of home. And she found it in the unlikeliest place: the Pacific Cookie Company’s dumpster.
THE COOKIE DUMPSTER is part memoir, part journalistic exposition. In this essay-length piece, author Shana Hammaker returns to one of the most difficult periods of her life and reunites with her wild, seventeen-year-old alter-ego. She also reaches out to the owners of the Pacific Cookie Company—Mr. and Mrs. Pearson—and shares with them the role their dumpster played in her life.
THE COOKIE DUMPSTER is a poignant story of loneliness, struggle, and hope.
Approximately 8000 words/31 printed pages Read more
