I'm Jack and I Want More - Softcover

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Author of the sequel, I’m Jack & I’m Back: The Basement Pit, and of critically acclaimed, I’m Jack & I Want More, as well as an educational book on the history of the American Pit-bull Terrier titled Fighting for Life that helped change the Pit-bull world, turned 19 in 1969. As a gang member in the murder capitol of America, non-traditional morality imprinted residents of the Collinwood neighborhood, the author being an integral part of that. Collinwood, where the author lived for the first 26 years of his life, was an Italian-American community made famous by the Collinwood race riots of the 1960s and later by documentaries and Hollywood films, as well as novels and non-fiction books written about that very unique piece of 20th century American history. A 10th grade education and expulsion from Collinwood high school in 1968, then a GED at age 33, eventually became a BGS and Award for Academic Achievement from Kent State University in 2003 – earned Magna Cum Laude. Also by being a student of the martial arts, specifically judo, Shito-Ryu and Brazilian jiu-jitsu since age 12, provided some basic self-discipline tools much needed throughout a chaotic and reckless path of drugs and violence. Free-thinkers from the likes of Nietzsche, Sartre and Russell to Huxley and Frankl influenced the author throughout adolescence. Later, more existentialists such as the “Four Horsemen,” referring to Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Daniel Dennett and Sam Harris, helped to reinforce the difference between nihilism versus spirituality while floating in an existential dilemma of choice and consequence. Again, as with martial arts, that freedom of choice helped provide meaning for a retired gang member an ex-abuser turned conformation judge. That tenure resulted as induction into the American Dog Breeders Association’s Dog-man Hall of Fame, having judged in six countries for over 35 years to help fight against abuse by setting an example for the true value of gameness and respect for the loyalty and versatility of game-bred animals. Working for over a decade as an Internationally Certified Chemical Dependency Counselor, crisis interventionist, lecturer and primary counselor, plus as facilitator of a group titled “12-Steps for Non-traditional Believers,” provided the basis for an intense yet darkly humorous writing style from dealing with the murkier and vulnerable as well as more ominous sides of human nature. Currently, the author is researching his sixth book.