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I was born breech, July 30th, 1972 at Shadyside Hospital in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I came home to an apartment on (then) Collins Avenue in the East Liberty section of the city. We lived across the hall from Erica’s (my wife) grandmother. Erica’s grandmother was my neighbor for four years, yet I don’t believe Erica ever visited in those three years she (Erica) was living (born in 1973) and her grandmother lived there (across the hall). We’d meet some 15 years later.

Anyhow, the brat was alive and kicking… and punching everyone and everything around him. I like to say I came into the world “gently attacking” everything. It was the way I processed the world around me. I regret a good deal of it but it seems it had to be done.

I look fondly on those days of Collins Avenue. Even though I moved before I turned 5 years old, I do remember so many things about those times. The big wheel races, the games of “cowboys and Indians” or iterations of “us against them”. I also recall that I loved to draw. I’m not sure if any of my artwork from those days survived. I’ve kept a good deal of my children’s artwork during their lives, especially from that period and would love to compare.

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