For thirty years, I had the best job in the world: reading great literature for a living! I also had one of the hardest jobs in the world: filling teenagers’ heads with that fine literature. British Literature, American Literature, World Literature, novel, poetry, short story, essay, historical non-fiction all filled the pores of my classroom walls.
When I wasn’t teaching literature, I was teaching writing, trying to stir students’ passion for the magic of laying down words like paint on a canvas. Or, at least communicating clearly for a job!
I love words! I consider myself a linguist, albeit amateur, who studies words as tools, weapons, signposts, arbiters, windows to the soul, keys to a kingdom.
My deepest, most silent dream was to one day have my own book on a shelf. To contribute to the larger, universal conversation. It was not a goal, because goals come with plans and strategies. This was a DREAM. Dreams float high above us, even beyond our sight, or in a deep, dark closet under layers of hope.
Then LIFE presented itself to me when and where I least expected it and, being influenced by Joseph Campbell, I was willing to say “Yes,” to my “hearty adventure.”
And now, after years and years of hard work and a bit of luck, I have two books on the shelf! I am part of two important conversations.
I hope you will explore my works so far: The Risk of Sorrow: Intimate Conversations with a Holocaust Survivor, and Dancing with a Demon.
I am forever the teacher, only now my classroom is much larger.
Enjoy!