Tom's story: 2002
28 pieces on this page. Click a picture or "See the whole card" to open the card.
2002 — Tom was 23 and 24
28 pieces on this year: 5 dated to this year · 21 from a range of years, shown here in the middle · 1 written by this year at the latest · 1 made this year or later.
DATED TO 2002
1881THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE or "The RYTHEMS OF Life"
March 17, 2002 (age 23) PROVED
ESSAYS AND OTHER WRITINGS (NOT LYRICS)
Tom's typed English paper THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE OR THE RHYTHMS OF LIFE (March 17, 2002), full of the professor's margin notes and a long handwritten closing comment with a B, kept with the title page of his NOAH RETURNS essay and a lined note about adding it to the circle theory.
the card says: made at age 23
See the whole card → 11 pictures
1831MY GENERATION
September 30, 2002 (age 24) PROVED
ESSAYS AND OTHER WRITINGS (NOT LYRICS)
Tom's typed Advanced Writing essay MY (DAD'S) GENERATION (September 30, 2002) on his rock heroes dying off - Beatles, Hendrix, Joplin, Marley - stapled, with teacher notes in the margins, stamped Scanned.
the card says: made at age 24
See the whole card → 7 pictures
1827NOAH RETURNS
October 21, 2002 (age 24)
ESSAYS AND OTHER WRITINGS (NOT LYRICS)
Tom's typed first-draft concept paper NOAH RETURNS (A.K.A. THE CIRCLE THEORY) for his Advanced Writing class, October 21, 2002 - a comic parable in which God tells Tom a flood of chickens is coming and he must choose whom to save.
the card says: written at age 24
See the whole card → 10 pictures
1545Boston Globe Letter
December 12, 2002 (age 24)
LETTERS, FLYERS, PRINTOUTS AND RECORDS
A typed letter to Tom on Boston Globe letterhead, dated December 12, 2002, from the paper's Sunday deputy managing editor, thanking him for his articles on Manny Ramirez and on Common Sense but turning them down.
the card says: written at age 24
See the whole card → 1 picture
325Shaefer is a poor man's beer
2002 (age 23 or 24) BEST GUESS
POEMS NOT YET RELEASED
Tom's previously unpublished handwritten lyric Shaefer is a poor man's beer, in black ink on an aged, torn and crumpled sheet, kept with a Dodge Street Bar and Grill February music calendar flyer.
See the whole card → 2 pictures
ABOUT 2002: FROM A RANGE OF YEARS, SHOWN HERE IN THE MIDDLE
1522Writers at Work
about 2002-2003 (age 24) PROVED
ESSAYS AND OTHER WRITINGS (NOT LYRICS)
A bound copy of Writers at Work, the best essays from Salem State College's Advanced Writing class, Fall 2002, with a glossy cover and Tom's essay The Corey Story listed in the table of contents.
the card says: made at age 24
See the whole card → 5 pictures
173There's no more secrets
about 2002-2003 (age 23 to 24) - yellow binder line W35: after the April 2002 count and by June 2003 (a sheet of line W35 is signed 6/28-29/2003) BEST GUESS
POEMS IN THE 34 ALBUMS
Tom's handwritten lyric for the song WATERING THE WEEDS (set list 4, track 2 of the 34 albums), beginning 'There's no more secrets', in black marker on the backs of two neon-yellow June 2003 music calendars from the Porthole Restaurant in Lynn, Massachusetts.
See the whole card → 6 pictures
180SNIPER
about 2002 (age 24) - yellow binder line S52: about October 2002: the sniper poem, written "while the killers were still out there" (Tom's own note in Poems By Tom) BEST GUESS
POEMS IN THE 34 ALBUMS
Tom's handwritten lyric SNIPER, a first-person look inside the mind of a gunman hiding in the crowd, in alternating blue and red ink on a spiral-torn sheet with the working title written in the margin, published in Poems By Tom (2007).
See the whole card → 3 pictures
415SNIPER + 2002 DC Sniper newspaper clipping
about 2002 (age 24) - yellow binder line S52: about October 2002: the sniper poem, written "while the killers were still out there" (Tom's own note in Poems By Tom) BEST GUESS
POEMS IN THE 34 ALBUMS
Tom's typed poem SNIPER printed out with a 2002 news clipping about the Washington-area sniper, both covered in his handwritten black and blue ink notes, published in the 34 albums.
See the whole card → 1 picture
530Change the substance not the shadow
about 2002 (age 23) - yellow binder line H25: about April 2002: the poem on line H25 says Tom has written 481 poems - the binder's own count of 5 April 2002 BEST GUESS
POEMS IN THE 34 ALBUMS
Tom's handwritten lyric Change the substance not the shadow (or else you'll find that change is hollow), with heavy edits, which went into the song BIRTHRIGHT (set list 10, track 9), with a hole-punched sheet beginning I've written four hundred and eighty one poems and songs.
See the whole card → 3 pictures
1551Bahamas Postcard To Tom Jensen And Spring 2003 Dean's List Clipping
about 2002-2003 (age 24) BEST GUESS
SCHOOL AND GROWING-UP KEEPSAKES
An Eco Bahamas postcard sent to Tom by a friend, hoping he is having a great break writing some poetry, kept with a Spring 2003 Salem State dean's list newspaper clipping.
the card says: dated at age 24
See the whole card → 3 pictures
1833THE COREY STORY
about 2002-2003 (age 24) - an estimate NOT PROVED
ESSAYS AND OTHER WRITINGS (NOT LYRICS)
A typed version of Tom's story THE COREY STORY by Tom Jensen, remembering a boyhood friendship from a mountain trail snapshot at age eleven to the school playground, on white paper.
the card says: written at about age 24
See the whole card → 6 pictures
1883JEFFERSONIAN AMERICA
about 2002-2003 (age 24) - an estimate NOT PROVED
ESSAYS AND OTHER WRITINGS (NOT LYRICS)
Tom's typed college history paper JEFFERSONIAN AMERICA on Thomas Jefferson's many-sided genius and the double-edged legacy of his presidency.
the card says: written at about age 24 - an estimate
See the whole card → 6 pictures
A WIDE GUESS: MORE THAN 10 YEARS, SHOWN HERE IN THE MIDDLE
286If it wasn't such crappa
about 1996-2008 (age 18 to 29) - an estimate - a wide guess NOT PROVED
POEMS NOT YET RELEASED
Tom's previously unpublished full-page comic rap poem If it wasn't such crappa (then I'd've been a rappa), in black ink on a torn spiral notebook sheet with syllable notes and revisions.
the card says: written at about age 18 to 29 - an estimate
See the whole card → 1 picture
574I am the captain of my mind
about 1996-2008 (age 18 to 29) - an estimate - a wide guess NOT PROVED
POEMS NOT YET RELEASED
Tom's previously unpublished handwritten short lyric I AM THE CAPTAIN OF MY MIND, eight lines on a torn sheet of lined loose-leaf, about steering through deep waters and hitting icebergs all the time.
the card says: written at about age 18 to 29 - an estimate
See the whole card → 2 pictures
716Just a second
about 1996-2008 (age 18 to 29) - an estimate - a wide guess NOT PROVED
POEMS IN THE 34 ALBUMS
Tom's handwritten three-line poem JUST A SECOND ("Just a second could change your life"), written on the torn half of a sheet of lined loose-leaf paper.
the card says: written at about age 18 to 29 - an estimate
See the whole card → 2 pictures
750Start digging a hole
about 1996-2008 (age 18 to 29) - an estimate - a wide guess NOT PROVED
POEMS NOT YET RELEASED
Tom's handwritten, never-published full poem START DIGGING A HOLE ("And the scenery never gets any better"), on a sheet of lined paper torn from a spiral notebook.
the card says: written at about age 18 to 29 - an estimate
See the whole card → 2 pictures
751f.vgly
about 1996-2008 (age 18 to 29) - an estimate - a wide guess NOT PROVED
POEMS NOT YET RELEASED
Tom's handwritten, never-published lyric titled F.VGLY (fugly), about not having looked in the mirror in three years, written on lined notebook paper with syllable counts jotted down the left margin.
the card says: written at about age 18 to 29 - an estimate
See the whole card → 2 pictures
887Not long ago
about 1996-2008 (age 18 to 29) - an estimate - a wide guess NOT PROVED
POEMS NOT YET RELEASED
Tom's handwritten short poem "Not long ago / In the grand scheme of it all / There was someone I once got to know," in faint writing on a torn sheet of lined notebook paper; previously unpublished.
the card says: written at about age 18 to 29 - an estimate
See the whole card → 1 picture
1070I don't want to be
about 1996-2008 (age 18 to 29) - an estimate - a wide guess NOT PROVED
POEMS NOT YET RELEASED
Tom's short poem I DON'T WANT TO BE, handwritten in pencil on a sheet of lined notebook paper with a torn edge - not the man who follows the legend, but the guy who follows the guy who followed the legend; never before published.
the card says: written at about age 18 to 29 - an estimate
See the whole card → 2 pictures
1073FIELD OF STONE
about 1996-2008 (age 18 to 29) - an estimate - a wide guess NOT PROVED
POEMS NOT YET RELEASED
Tom's pencil comic rap lyric IF IT WASN'T SUCH CRAPPA CRAPPA on a sheet of lined notebook paper, kept with a printed poem FIELD OF STONE and a notebook page noting that lyric was another writer's original that Tom edited.
the card says: written at about age 18 to 29 - an estimate
See the whole card → 6 pictures
1558THE PRETTY GOOD BOOK
about 1996-2008 (age 18 to 29) - an estimate - a wide guess NOT PROVED
PRINTED BOOKS, BINDERS AND NOTEBOOKS
Tom's white three-ring binder THE PRETTY GOOD BOOK - Songs and Poetry by Tom Jensen, holding a thick stack of his typed pages and dozens of yellow notepad sheets of his handwritten song titles, numbered and ticked off, including a tally of 481 poems as of April 5, 2002.
the card says: written at about age 18 to 29 - an estimate
See the whole card → 41 pictures
1814COMPOSITION
about 1996-2008 (age 18 to 29) - an estimate - a wide guess NOT PROVED
PRINTED BOOKS, BINDERS AND NOTEBOOKS
Two of Tom's small composition pocket notebooks, filled with his jottings from his San Francisco days - open mic nights at Hotel Utah, venues and bookings, printing costs, films to see and writers and teachers to read.
the card says: written at about age 18 to 29 - an estimate
See the whole card → 9 pictures
1826THE MINIVAN
about 1996-2008 (age 18 to 29) - an estimate - a wide guess NOT PROVED
ESSAYS AND OTHER WRITINGS (NOT LYRICS)
Tom's typed story THE MINIVAN, a later version of his account of surviving a drunken minivan crash and believing he was saved to live each day to the fullest, on four white sheets.
the card says: written at about age 18 to 29 - an estimate
See the whole card → 4 pictures
1844THE WHO PAPER
about 1996-2008 (age 18 to 29) - an estimate - a wide guess NOT PROVED
ESSAYS AND OTHER WRITINGS (NOT LYRICS)
Tom's typed essay THE WHO PAPER by Tom Jensen, beginning My heroes are dying and naming the rock legends he fears losing next, on white sheets.
the card says: written at about age 24 - the essay says 'I was here, a twenty-four year old kid'
See the whole card → 5 pictures
1944DISCIPLES OF DIRT
about 1996-2008 (age 18 to 29) - an estimate - a wide guess NOT PROVED
SET LISTS, SONG LISTS, TITLE LISTS AND INDEXES
Printed sheets and cards from Tom's album planning: the DISCIPLES OF DIRT track list with page numbers, an ALBUM POSSIBILITIES sheet, red printed CD inserts for SONGS FOR A LADY and A LIFETIME OF RHYME, two plain full-page SONGS FOR A LADY track sheets, and a torn notebook note in green ink (ADD to CD or Like item).
the card says: written at about age 18 to 29 - an estimate
See the whole card → 10 pictures
MADE IN 2002 OR LATER
These carry a first possible date (a print date, a date on the paper). They may be later.
1927SONG INDEX A1 TO W13
about 2002 or later (age 23 or older) NOT SURE
SET LISTS, SONG LISTS, TITLE LISTS AND INDEXES
A lined notebook sheet, written on both sides, on which Tom indexed his songs by letter code from A Perfect World (A1) and Alcohol (A2) through Park the Car to The Watcher (W13).
the card says: about 2002 or later (age 23 or older)
See the whole card → 2 pictures
WRITTEN BY 2002 AT THE LATEST
A book dated 2002 holds these words, so they were written by then. They may be much older.
1832THE COREY STORY
written by September 2002 at the latest (age 24) - it may be older
ESSAYS AND OTHER WRITINGS (NOT LYRICS)
Tom's typed Advanced Writing essay THE COREY STORY (September 17, 2002) about his boyhood best friend at Saint Joseph's School, with a poem of his set into the text and pencil notes on the back of a page.
the card says: written by 17 September 2002, at age 24
See the whole card → 8 pictures
MEMORABILIA FROM THIS STORY
Every card on this page is a real piece — 28 pieces.
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What the words mean: PROVED a date or a dated book proves it. BEST GUESS our best reading, not yet proved. TOM SAID Tom's own word. LIKELY strong clues, not yet proved. NOT PROVED an estimate from the pieces around it. NOT SURE the sources disagree. No word: the card gives none yet. "About 1996-2002" means somewhere in those years; the piece is shown once, in the middle year.