Hi, I’m Marc,
I grew up in Chicago and spent most of my working life downtown.
My upbringing was somewhat chaotic. I honestly can’t tell you the name or even the number of grammar schools I attended. I spent a year as ward of the state, then was enrolled in three different high schools, before dropping out my senior year.
After that I floundered; working mostly construction and telemarketing gigs. Did drugs, drank too much, and went to parties I never enjoyed. In short I was a shit. I’d love to romanticize this, you know, “fuck the world” and all that, but the truth is I was confused, I don’t handle uncertainty well and not trying is the best excuse for failure.
Throughout this I loved to read. I would and still will read anything. And I love music. I also always wrote. I kept notebooks, crappy stuff. I thought of them as song lyrics at first. I wanted to create stuff like Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull, or Neil Peart from Rush. There was truth in there and I wanted to say those things, or things like that.
I lived close to Northwestern in Evanston so had access to a million great bookstores. I came across a book by Yvor Winters called, “In defense of Reason”. Heady stuff for me, but I loved his absolutism, and was introduced to the most wonderful poetry.
I started to take it seriously and finally got the nerve to submit stuff. Those you old enough will remember the days of no more than three poems and self addressed, stamped envelopes for the inevitable rejections. Somehow a few managed to get published. A couple I’m still proud of.
About this time I met my wife of 35 years, Lisa. This beautiful girl from a traditional family, who to this day has never smoked a cigarette, let alone a joint, and to my continuing delight can get drunk off a single wine cooler. All of a sudden the basement studio apartment where I share a bathroom with other tenets was not going to cut it.
We were married a year later and three years after that our first son Alex was born. We were struggling. I always been good with computers. I picked a used one up to write on and fell in love. Lisa suggested (strongly) that I try to get a job around them. I bought a cheap suite from TJ Maxx and started knocking on doors. And some wonderful people decided to take a chance and I’ve been in that industry for the last 30 years.
In that time we’ve magically accumulated 3 more awesome kids, Nicholas, Sarah, and Emily, and five grandkids. We now reside in Wakefield, a town of around 1,000 in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I have been blessed way beyond my deserts.
About 10 years ago, after a long dry spell. I felt the bug to write again. I came across some of you on MWC. I won’t mention names as I’ll mess up and miss one. But you guys welcomed me, encouraged me, and most important, taught me. Thank you. I’m selfish enough to want more, but I sincerely hope to give something back.
not just a voice behind an avatar.