Memory Bank

At the age of seven, I had a chance run-in with Seattle’s first female newscaster and the first permanent female evening news anchor in the country, Jean Enersen. We met at Baskin-Robbins. I had just won an ongoing battle with my mother to buy me a clown cone, a monstrosity that looks something like this: 

Clown cones were consistently stale and tasted like the freezer case, yet I have fond memories of devouring the frozen frosting niblets and leaving the rest. My mother, neurotic and suspicious of freezer cases in general, suspected they were old and more often than not our conversation on the way to Baskin-Robbins would begin with her alerting me that there would be no clown cones.

But that particular day I was victorious, savoring my frozen niblets in the parking lot. That’s when I saw her. Jean Enersen. I had never seen someone from television in person before and it felt both odd and exciting to see her in public, carrying an ice cream cake. Not knowing what else to do and covered in frosting, I waved. She waved back, retrieving her sunglasses from her purse before driving off.

A year later, I met Michael J. Fox after eating striped ravioli at his restaurant on Martha’s Vineyard. The taste of squid ink still lingers in my mouth.