  The author has been fortunate to observe and participate in the rise of the
field of solar energetic particles (SEPs), from the early abundance studies, to
the contemporary paradigm of shock acceleration in large SEP events, and
element abundance enhancements that are power laws in mass-to-charge ratios
from H to Pb. Through painful evolution the "birdcage" model and the
"solar-flare myth" came and went, leaving us with shock waves and solar jets
that can interact as sources of SEPs.
