Sting-Ray Afternoons – Steve Rushin

100-Word (or Less) Synopsis: [from the dustjacket] Growing up within a '70s landscape populated with Bic pens, Mr. Clean and Scrubbing Bubbles, lightsabers and those oh-so-coveted Schwinn Sting-Ray bikes. “Sting-Ray Afternoons” paints an utterly fond, psychedelically vibrant, laugh-out-loud-funny portrait of an exuberant decade. With sidesplitting commentary, Steve Rushin creates a vivid picture of a decade of wild youth, cultural rebirth, and the meaning of parental, brotherly, sisterly, whole lotta love.

Expectation: A self-pretentious memoir about moving up and moving on from where you came from.

Reality: Laugh out loud funny nostalgia served with a side of pop culture and sports history.

Recommended For: Gen Xers and elder Millennials.

Why I Read It: I purchased a copy at The Salvation Army Thrift Store down the street from my home simply because the setting — Bloomington, Minn. — was a few miles from where I lived at the time.

My Take:

Have you seen the meme about growing up in the 1980s? If your first thought is “this was my childhood,” then you would relate — and likely find comfort — in much of Rushin’s breezy, sweet and nostalgic memoir about coming-of-age in the 1970s.

Rarely will I pick up a memoir, period, let alone for someone I don’t even know (Rushin is a sports journalist, FYI), but the setting of Bloomington, Minn., — now home to the Mall of America — and his father’s position at 3M in a bygone division (8-track magnetic-tape sales) intrigued me.

This book sat on my shelf for two years after it was snagged for a whopping $2 at The Salvation Army that used to be up the street from my condo in downtown Minneapolis, roughly 10-miles from the book’s setting.

The right time to dive-in presented itself the week of the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election, when whatever concentration I could muster needed to be focused on things that gave me hope. “Sting-Ray Afternoons” was the perfect fit.

The title is a homage to the Schwinn bicycle that was his constant companion for several too brief Minnesota summers. The Sting-Ray, his first taste of buying into marketing hype and participating in capitalism, is detailed with humor, familial history and actual product history that presents a perfect trifecta and cadence for tracing Rushin’s life through the “Me” decade.

This approach is replicated throughout as he shares memories of back-to-school shopping with the Sears catalog, watching The Mary Tyler Moore Show and rooting for, and continually being heartbroken by, the Minnesota Vikings that played a few miles from his home prior to relocating to Minneapolis in 1982.

Even though I’m a 1980s baby, there were many times I felt Rushin was telling the story of my life, because he unabashedly celebrates growing up Midwestern. From the ridiculousness of the Wisconsin Dells (if you’ve been, you know) to being packed into minivans to venture across interstates lined with farmland.

This memoir isn’t about reconciling a difficult past, it’s simply remembering where you came from and how that shapes who you become.

It’s about celebrating the moments of family lore that will be told at gatherings for decades and that will continue to bond you and your siblings long after you’ve moved out from under the same roof.

It’s about holding close the memory of the moments when you experienced “important” things for the first time and how that felt, and who was with you, because the older you get those traces of innocence can provide perspective.

Those with regional knowledge of the Upper Midwest, specifically the Twin Cities, will probably enjoy “Sting-Ray Afternoons” more than others, but I think all readers or listeners of a certain age and background will see themselves in the pages.

My only complaint that as a hybrid read/listen, Greg Bagalia butchered the pronunciation of some Minnesota towns, which temporarily pulled me out of the story. I can’t believe Rushin let this pass.

Rating (story): 4/5 stars

Rating (narration): 3/5 stars

Formats: Hardcover (personal library) and Audiobook (library loan)

Dates read: November 1 - 8, 2020

Multi-tasking: Okay.