When I was in grade school, I wrote a paper on "the Founding Fathers" in the form of "science fiction." In Junior High School I wrote a "poem" on our class trip to the Franklin Museum that even got published... well, in our Junior High School newsletter. (I've been begging for free publication ever since.) I played a lot of Scrabble, in preparation for becoming a Scrabble tournament competitor in early adulthood. Oh, and I guess I should tell you that I wanted to be an actuary when I grew up. That was the kind of kid I was. Eventually, in the hopes of rescuing other children from a similar fate, I went into teaching. I was a preschool teacher for eight years, a preschool administrator for another eight, and then a teacher educator at the College level for twenty-six more. (Please stop doing the math.)But I was always a writer first. Unfortunately, once having entered the teaching profession I didn't seem to have the time or energy to write much other than essays and materials for my field. I did have a few pieces published, most notably an article in Education Digest called “The Misdirection of Modern American Education.” But a real writing career remained on the back burner for regrettably long. Back in College, I had somehow managed to get my own column in one of the school papers, with free rein to write political diatribes befitting those times (and sorely wanting in these). And after graduating with a major in Political Science (hey, it was the late sixties/early seventies) and a minor in English, I became a poet, even doing poetry readings around Greenwich Village... except I don't think I was a very good poet. And then we skip ahead forty-two years. (Damn it, I did the math!).I had toyed with the idea of writing a pseudo-autobiography for many years, because what else does a would-be author resort to in order to test his/her mettle as a book writer and clear out his/her cache? I even started one once, hauling my portable typewriter to the beach community in which I was spending a hedonistic summer. But at thirty-ish I simply hadn’t lived enough to have much to share other than a little self-depricating humor and metaphoric “etchings” with which to lure beach bunnies. But as I finally neared retirement, and now in the computer age, I picked up the challenge, and out poured INTEGRATING THE CHAPTERS OF A LIFE, a sort of multi-media memoir. What couldn’t pour with it, though, was my real name, since I was still teaching and preferred that my students not be reading about sex, drugs and rock and roll, at least in relation to me.My next venture brought together my two careers. Having taught Children’s Literature, I became aware of what sensitive subjects had been successfully addressed and which ones were still lacking. Several authors had attempted to write books for young children on the subject of war, including Dr. Seuss with The Butter Battle Book, but each was flawed. The way to do it, experientially rather than abstractly or preachingly, had come to me as I listened to the story one of my students had created as one of my assignments. So I had written the text, and put it into video form, but it had now become time to get an illustrator and get it published. NOT FOR HURTING, which delves into children’s perspectives and feelings about war, became the first book actually bearing my name. To this day, the most meaningful “review” I’ve ever received was from the mother of Samantha Smith, to whom, along with other child heroines for peace, I dedicated it.And now it was time to bring my background in political activism into the fold. My first real fiction book, THE WEDGE, inspired in part by the old Stephen Colbert show, was an awakening. I felt that I had really found my niche. It was my “great American novel,” following in the footsteps of “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” “The Manchurian Candidate,” etc. Unfortunately, Donald Trump stole my thunder. The book, in essence, foreshadowed the coming of “the Trump revolution,” but, rather than serving as a warning beforehand, to someone now reading it, its ideas would seem retrospectively to have been based on the scapegoating, bigotry, lies, divisions and corruption that characterized his campaign. But I had discovered my love, and I’d like to think my talent, for writing fiction.But I guess I’m still lacking in confidence. I feel like I need a big idea, that readers won’t follow my writing if I were to stray too far literarily from a strong plot line. One day while driving, such an idea hit me. But it was a little “out there,” which, coincidentally, is where I wanted to go anyway. So I began writing the story which is now titled “The Matter of Mind,” a sort of Twilight Zone-esque journey through mind and spirit. The story told itself short of novel length, so I left it as a short story/novella, and submitted it to various publications and contests, with no luck. So it sat. I started thinking that if I could write another good short story, I could combine them into a book, but I needed an idea that would be complementary. Finally, “The Force of Will” was born, and, together, they would be published as MIENS OF EXISTENCE: TWO MIND-BENDING JOURNEYS TO THE LIMITS OF POSSIBILITY. While Miens was still going through its promotional phase, another long-standing desire made its urgency felt. There was another children’s book subject that desperately needed address. Throughout my career in Education, I was frustrated by the way so many schools handle the period from Columbus Day to Thanksgiving, specifically the stereotyping, objectifying and misinformation regarding Indigenous Americans. But I was never able to find a children’s book that adequately stood up to the many racist ones. There was one called Small Wolf, but it wasn’t quite what was needed, and that was about it. I had done a lot of researching in hopes of finding something to use, first with the children I taught and later with the would-be teachers I was responsible for preparing. At an Indigenous Peoples Day commemoration, I discovered (no pun intended) a children’s book that deals more honestly with Columbus, Encounter, and it’s good. But there was also the non-historical, everyday aspect to the problem. But who was I to be the one to write that story, I had always asked myself. With continued failure in my attempts to reach out to those who might work with me to ensure the utmost accuracy and credibility, but with the encouragement of some friends I had made along the way, who believed in my ability to do it justice, I completed the text for WHAT KIMI DISCOVERED and found a brilliant and committed illustrated, Erica Arndt, to give the book life. Thus far it has made a small splash, being used in a number of schools around the country, including those in my home district, and having been "endorsed," if you will, by the Unkechaug tribe on Long Island, shelved by the Association on American Indian Affairs, and promoted by a Shinnecock friend and liaison with the Wampanoag nation and by Rev. Arvel Bird.I grappled for a while with what would be next. I started working on an homage to my career in early childhood education, and had nearly a hundred pages written from the voluminous notes I had compiled during my twenty six years of college teaching. But it quickly started to feel like work, and perhaps another thousand pages lay before me. It was a past chapter in my life, and I decided to leave it there. Fiction is just more fun. And humor had always been part of my writing. So I figured that the next challenge would be to write a novel of pure humor (or poor humor, depending upon perspective). At times during the pandemic it came slowly, but it was a way to stay busy and entertained. And out of that came THE MENSCH, which, as of this writing has just been released. I don't remember the comedian who said something to the effect that by a certain age all humorists become Jewish, but I certainly delved into my largely uncultivated Jewish roots for this book. It's the story of a young boy who fantasizes about (among other things) becoming the first Jewish superhero, and follows him and his descendants over three generations before coming full circle.While waiting its publication, I tried another genre, horror, and wrote a short story entitled "Or Face the Consequences." And then, keeping up the momentum motivated by my participation in a local writers' group and the need to feel that I did at least one consequential thing during each day of this "Groundhog's Day" existence many of us have found ourselves in, I've just begun what I hope will be the next book you find on here, an allegorical political-science-fiction piece tentatively titled "A House Divided." Oh, yeah, this is supposed to be a biography, right? Well, I’m remarried to a wonderful, supportive woman who was a former adult student of mine, my dog days far behind me now (although I now have one, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel named "Daniel.") My son, once considered “handicapped” by autism, is grown, an intellectually, socially and musically gifted genius, who is currently in law school and may run for office someday. I have finally made the move up to Woodstock, NY that I fantasized about in my very first book a decade ago. I have carried two childhood preoccupations, baseball and word games, into the modern era by playing fantasy baseball and competitive Scrabble nightly. And I’ve kept my long hair (despite its gruesome thinning and balding) and, I'd like to think, my values from the sixties through my sixties and into... dammit, I did the math again! Read more about this authorRead less about this author