Rick is a 62-year-old man who was diagnosed with ALS in January 2007. Currently a resident of Southwest Florida, he has lived in four other metropolitan areas, but greater Chicagoland will always be “home.” Rick is a degreed engineer, spending his career in the medical device industry. He’s had the good fortune of extensive travel throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, and the Caribbean. He writes, in part, to be an ALS advocate. Additionally, it is his hope that his output will help dispel the myth that technical folk and digestible prose aren’t mutually exclusive.
“And you know that you’re over the hill, When your mind makes a promise that your body can’t fill.” This refrain from the Little Feat song “Old Folks Boogie” could have been written with ALS sufferers in mind. It partly portrays our truncated existence. It humorously depicts making the…
“The book I’m not reading is riveting The book I’m not reading keeps me up at night The book I’m not reading is better than TV Giving me insight.” These lyrics from “The Book I’m Not Reading,” by singer and songwriter Patty Larkin, vaguely describe a literary quest of…
“Will you still need me, will you still feed me, When I’m sixty-four” Paul McCartney wrote the song “When I’m Sixty-Four” four decades before reaching that age himself. McCartney admitted that the number was chosen arbitrarily. He later quipped during an interview that 65 would have been a…
“Keep off the path, Beware of the gate, Watch out for signs that say ‘hidden driveways.’ Don’t let the chlorine in your eyes, Blind you to the awful surprise, That’s waitin’ for you at, The bottom of the bottomless, Blue, blue, blue pool, You’re livin’ in your own private Idaho.”…
“‘There must be some way out of here,’ said the joker to the thief, ‘There’s too much confusion, I can’t get no relief.'” When I first heard “All Along the Watchtower” by Bob Dylan, I thought, with my 9-year-old sensibility, that the song referred to a monolith of timepieces.
“Dear Sir or Madam, will you read my book? It took me years to write, will you take a look? … If you must return it, you can send it here, But I need a break, and I want to be a paperback writer.” A story in a London…
“Cellophane shrink-wrapped, so correct Red dogs under illegal legs … She is watching the detectives ‘Ooh, it’s so cute.'” Elvis Costello’s homage to film noir crime drama, “Watching the Detectives,” inadvertently became a musical tipping point as 2021 bled into 2022. On Dec. 30, my pastor — and dear…
“Mirror in the bathroom Please talk free The door is locked Just you and me.” The time for annual resolutions to be implemented has arrived. The most impactful betterment plans arise from an honestly objective self-review. What more appropriate figurative…
“Catch a Cannonball, now, to take me down the line My bag is sinkin’ low and I do believe it’s time To get back to Miss Fanny, you know she’s the only one Who sent me here with her regards for everyone Take a load off Fanny Take a load…
“And I hope when I get old I don’t sit around thinking about it But I probably will Yeah, just sitting back trying to recapture A little of the glory Well time slips away and leaves you with nothing, mister, but Boring stories of Glory days …” Bruce Springsteen’s…
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