> make tree forts and hang out in the woods
Does American youth still make tree forts anymore?
I'm 45 and when I was a kid in 5th or 6th grade, my buddies and me built a really cool tree fort located
in a patch of woods (probably 8-10 acres?) behind the post office in our neighborhood.
The floor and frame was made from 2"x12" wood scaffolding planks looted from a nearby commercial
construction site, (they're probably still wondering who took 'em) with the walls and roof made from
plywood election signs acquired on snatch & grab "commando raids" in the night (no doubt blamed
on the opposition candidate).
The fort was probably around 8'x8' square using four trees as corner posts, with the floor six feet
or so above the ground, as the woods would be boggy for a month or two with the spring thaw.
Thing lasted until I graduated high school (when some younger kids knocked it down like retards)
and my friends I get drunk (and puked) for the first time in it, after having scammed a case of Stroh's
from one of our dads. And while I have no confirmation of it, I strongly suspect my buddy got his bean
snapped in it with the neighbor girl he ended up marrying (who turned into a total bitch).
The patch of woods is still there but it's turned into the Mekong Delta, as I don't think kids nowadays
even set foot in it and all the paths we used as mini-bike trails have been completely overgrown.
They're all probably too busy playing vidya games...
