W S Gibson

Self-Contained W S Gibson

The Journal, "Self-Contained" is a well-told, truthful, coming of age story about a young art major just out of college and a friend, who decides to spend a summer backpacking around Europe. All is well the summer of 1977 until the travelers meet a German con-man in Helsinki who convinces the naive lads to put all their combined money into a get-rich-quick scheme. The con, naturally, turns out to be too good to be true, and they have been robbed. All they have left is their return tickets home. One boy uses his ticket for just that. The other, now almost penniless, decides to take his chances on the road less traveled. At the end of his three-and-a-half month sojourn, our now streetwise vagabond marches back toward his pre-ticketed charter flight with a tattered ticket home and almost broke. What he has experienced, however, extends way beyond the norms of a typical European holiday. Here he has formed extraordinary memories of lofty alpine roads, hidden Greek beaches, newly formed international friendships, and indelibly learned life lessons which he is ready to utilize when he returns home.