|
I definitely am a blue collar kind of guy. I grew up on the mean streets of Chicago's south side. I put myself through college and worked a variety of crummy jobs. I worked as a warehouseman, pizza delivery driver, bartender in Biker bars and strip joints. I did my duty on drill rigs in the oil fields, worked the Deep Tunnel Project in Chicago, ran cranes, scrapers, end loaders and bulldozers. I finally retired, worn out from all the dust, dynamite powder, smoky bar rooms and floozies at the age of 55. I would still be out there, if I didn't succumb to Emphysema, COPD, double aneurism surgery and bypasses on both legs, cancer of the vocal cords, scoliosis, degenerative spine disease, and arthritis...Other than that I'm in pretty damn good shape!
I go to the gym every day to pump iron and use the treadmill or elliptical. I have the VO2 max of a 35 year old man. Not too bad for a bad boy eh? My impetus for writing my first books was my disabling surgery on the legs. I started journaling my earliest memories and started writing "The Journey"...Memoirs of a South Side Chicago Kind of Guy". I read a chapter every day to my big brother Jim, who was dying with acute myloid leukemia. Jim was 13 years older than me, and more of a father to me than my alcoholic father. He prompted me to publish my cognitive meanderings. Unfortunately, he passed away before my book was published. "The Journey" is dedicated to him. He was a man of substance, and I still miss him. I wrote two more books. I guess the author bug bit me. The second is called: "A Spider in the Corner of My Mind". Short stories and poems about working class people and day to day agravations. I rant and rave pretty well. The third book published this year is called: "Chicago Stories"...more working class ravings.
|
Bookmarks
Share
Save
[