Later I studied at the University of Rochester, where I earned a bachelor's degree in English, and studied foreign languages for my minor.

In 1973, I went into the gardening and landscaping business with my family. I was retail manager there for well over a decade, and later left to manage a 93-acre tree farm in the Western New York area as well.

In time, though, my original love of English and foreign languages, particularly Spanish, re-awoke, and I began a new career as a freelance writer and author.

My journalism's appeared in the Courier-Journal, Genesee Country, Finger Lakes Travel Guide, Grower, Country Folk, Hard Hat News, American Cemetery, Over The Back Fence, and The Phoenix.

I've also written and published short fiction in print publications like Dusty Bohemia and Western Digest, and in online literary journals like Unreal City, where I was recently interviewed by author Larry Belle.

And recently I completed my first novel, about the Mexican border-crossing situation in the American Southwest, tentatively entitled "Crossing Over".

Why Mexico and the American West? For some reason, Hispanic culture and the world of the American West has always fascinated me. I've loved Westerns as long as I can remember, and mastered Spanish the first chance I got.

That appreciation for other cultures led me to be something of a traveller. I spent two weeks on a Polish freighter sailing to Europe, where I spent five months visiting several countries. Above all I treasure my time in Sicily, my family's "old country" where my grandparents were born.

I've also been to Guatemala twice to assist in adoptions. And of course I regularly visit Mexico, Texas, and my beloved American West.

Starting up a new life as a writer can have its ups and downs, so early on I decided to supplement my income not just by writing but by teaching others how to write, and by proofreading, editing, and public speaking.

Since doing so, I've taught literally dozens of classes at Rochester's nationally renowned writing center, Writers & Books, as well as at Finger Lakes Community College in Canandaigua, Strong Childrens Museum, for Perinton Recreation, and for Cornell Cooperative Extension.

My Spanish-language skills, my visits to Spanish-speaking countries, and talks with my Spanish-speaking friends and acquaintances, eventually led me to translate Spanish professionally for business clients, and in time I developed a new method for teaching the subject, called "Spanish For Working People".

It's a practical method I developed for teaching job-specific English language basics to Spanish-speaking workers, and also for teaching English-speaking managers and co-workers job-oriented basic Spanish.

The method's allowed businesses with Spanish-speaking employees to run more smoothly, boost productivity and output, and improve both personal employee performance and workplace quality.

My main goal, though, is still writing -- to give voice to the history and people and thoughts surrounding me, Like my literary model, John Steinbeck, I want to record the struggles and experiences of our time, and particularly of those people in our time whose voices haven't been heard as clearly as they've deserved. I feel that the journalist's eye can catch things that the casual glance misses, and that the novelist's eye, the eye of the imagination, can discover insights the journalist's eye alone can overlook.

Writing is the greatest possible life experience, since it's a reflection on all life and all experience. And since teaching follows naturally upon reflection, I feel that my writing and my teaching have a fundamental wholeness which I've come to find very rewarding.

I hope that as you browse through my web site, and read a little of what I've written, you'll feel the same.