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About riseley
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Epinions.com ID:
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riseley
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Member Since:
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Oct 29 '05
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Homepage:
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Rizzo Cartoons
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Educator, novelist, screenwriter and syndicated political cartoonist...
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Activity Summary
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Reviews Written: 54
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Member Visits: 3,065
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Total Visits: 15,766
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About riseley
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SHOW THIS NOW
When I was in the ninth grade I wanted nothing to do with school or anything that was particularly thoughtful. I sought out of the way environs and under the radar activities. I cannot remember when I was not suspicious of authority. I was headed down a very dangerous road.
In the eleventh grade a friend put a book of short stories in my hand by Charles Bukowski.
I said, "Dude, I'm not interested. That's a book."
He replied, "No, dude, it's got the F-word in it."
I opened it up and my life changed. I found stories that I could relate to. Stories that would make the boring teachers at my school cringe and wince. I loved the thought of the uptight old bittie English teachers who were trying to destroy my love of literature finding this tome of truth that I hid in my backpack and toted with me everywhere. Their eyeballs would have leaped from their sockets if they had seen what I was reading.
But here's the fact: I turned from a non-reader into a reader because of one story: "The Most Beautiful Woman In Town." Put that title into Amazon and enjoy.
Since Bukowski I have fallen in love with dozens of writers. Pablo Neruda, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Milan Kundera, Joan Didion, Hemingway, Steinbeck... the list goes on and on. I'm not ashamed that it is packed with American writers. Perhaps it is that I love this country so much that makes me love its writers or perhaps it is that I am truly American that makes the writing of other Americans fill me with awe and excitement. It doesn't matter but I believe it has to be part of this short biography.
I published my first short story in 1990. A small press mag and I was elated. In 1994 I published a story in a thick mass market glossy and thought I was on my way. Started writing screenplays and I still have scripts floating around waiting for the stars to align. Published a novel with a small and disreputable outfit in 2004 (the book is good but the experience with the psychotic publisher was almost too much to bear).
I worked for a television network in the late 90s before retreating to a small rural college to teach, which allows me to raise my family at the base of beautiful mountains that reach upwards of eight thousand feet.
I am married to an artist, father of an artist and there is never a dull moment.
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