According to the online Dictionary.com, the word stanza [stan-zuh] means an arrangement of a certain number of lines, usually four or more, sometimes having a fixed length, meter or rhyme scheme, forming a division of a poem.
An example would be something like:
I once had a little car
that I tried to drive pretty far
and when It broke down in Magee,
On my heart, it left a scar.
If you know me, you know I like to rhyme words from time to time, but this is not the point of the story.
In the summer of 1998, I got my driver's license at the age of 15. In my hometown of Meridian, a lot of the kids would get their parents to vouch for them (saying they had a job) so they could get their hardship and start driving a year early.
BIG IN JAPAN
(A brief history of my family's affinity for Nissan)
When I was really young, my father was in the Navy and drove an old Datsun (Nissan) 280 Z. The color of it was of a copper shade. A color you never see anymore.
Later in life, my father got rid of the 280 Z and got a little blue Nissan pickup truck that had a manual transmission along with rack-and-pinion steering. He eventually gave that truck to my older brother.
After I got my driver's license, my mother and her second husband gifted me my first car, a red 1990 Nissan Stanza XE.
DA STANZA WAS BORN
In an episode of Seinfeld (S8E8 - "The Chicken Roaster"), George Costanza talks about jingles getting stuck in your head and references the catchy jingle, "By Mennen." In the episode, they say "Costanza," like the jingle. So, in this obscure context, I named my car "Da Stanza" (to be said like the jingle).
I drove this car all through high school. After my senior year at Meridian High, when most kids were taking trips to Cancun, a couple of friends of mine and I packed into "Da Stanza" and headed to Beckley, West Virginia.
At the time, my brother and my friend's sister were working for Theatre West Virginia located in Grandview State Park right by the New River Gorge (a beautiful place).
On the way up to West Virginia, my car started losing power along the interstate. First, the radio cut out. I thought, "Well this trip is about to get weird without a radio." Next, my clock started to get dimmer and dimmer. I told my friend, Kevin, "I think we're losing power."
Then, I decided to turn on my headlights, and when I did, my car literally started freaking out and slowing down. So, I pulled into the first exit I saw, and the car just died at the bottom of the exit.
WELCOME TO FORT PAYNE, ALA!
In a crazy turn of events and a short period of time, I was able to get my car towed to a shop there in Fort Payne. It was lunchtime and the mechanics were gone to lunch except for one.
We had concluded that my alternator had died, and I needed to get a new one. The mechanic yanked the alternator, gave me the keys to his truck and sent us up the street to Auto Zone to get a new one while he enjoyed his lunch.
Lucky for us, the part was inexpensive, and we were able to get back on the road in roughly an hour. Also, it was nice to have the radio back working.
When we got back from our trip to West Virginia, I moved to Hattiesburg.
I kept driving "Da Stanza." At one point, the air conditioner went out and I drove the car without A/C for a good while.
I don't think I could manage without air conditioning in the heat we're having nowadays.
I would always leave my windows down and in the summer, it rains so often, that I would constantly have to carry towels because my car would get rained in. The car also developed a nice mildewy smell.
Flash forward to May of 2008. On Memorial Day weekend that year, my brother got married. I drove my car up to Jackson, met up with some friends from New Orleans and rode the rest of the way up to Memphis with them.
It was a great ceremony and I had a great time visiting with family.
So, I was driving back from Jackson on that Monday, Memorial Day. When I was just about to get into Magee, "Da Stanza" bit the dust.
Everything was closed because of the holiday and I was stranded once again. Luckily, I was able to get the car towed and get dropped off at a gas station where a friend eventually came to get me.
In the following days, I had the car towed to Hattiesburg and found out that the car needed a new engine, which would have been way more than the car was worth.
"Da Stanza" was totaled.
Since that day, I have owned a couple of vehicles and recently found myself in a situation where my current vehicle was having trouble.
Through it all, I have learned that cars need love and attention like relationships. If you neglect them, things can get complicated.
When I worry about my car situation, I often take a step back, remind myself how blessed I am, and am thankful to even have a vehicle.
Also, I am very thankful for the hardworking mechanics out there working in this heat to keep us on the road. Kudos to those folks!
Jamie Massengale is a recent graduate of The University of Southern Mississippi and is thinking about buying a truck.
