Richard C. Rodney
'THE MAN'
'THE MAN'
aka jelli
The nick "Jelli" is short for "Jellicle Cat", from T. S. Eliot (or more
correctly, from Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Cats"). I loved the musical. RL cats
I can take or leave, and would rather leave!
I was born in 1957 when Ike was President, Chevys were hot and Rock -n- Roll
was just starting to "tell Tchaikovski the news!" 'Course to me at that
point, current events meant "left breast or right?" The first book my
father read to me was "Green Eggs and Ham", by Dr. Seuss. Even today I
remember loving the way Dr. Seuss played with words - "I am Sam, Sam I Am".
In the second grade, my teacher Mrs. Hellier read "Charlotte's Web" to the
class. She read it aloud, a chapter at the end of each day. She did these
great voices for each character. Later, when I began reading to my
children, I remembered how great it was to do voices for all the characters.
(I do a mean Smeagol in "The Lord of the Rings!") Anyway, that's how I got
hooked on books.
In the third grade, I had stories published in our school newsletter. I did
a series about a lion who was afraid of mice. I got the idea from a
cartoon and ran with it. Even then, I knew how to plagiarize! My third
grade teacher, Mrs. Chesik, was really supportive. I loved that class!
Unfortunately, my parents were abusive. I began to have social problems and
learned to develop a quick sense of humor as a defense mechanism. As time
went on, I continued with my writing, getting published in school newspapers
and such. In college, I majored in Music Education (Vocal) for a year. I
got married at 19 and joined the Army. After seven years, I got out of the
army and went to school again, for about a year. This time I took a creative
writing course among other things. I had a poem "Secret Victory" and a
short story "The Teapot" published in my college literary magazine.
In 1985 I reenlisted in the Army. My Army job is computer repair and
anything else the Army tells me to do. I will retire in April 1998. Over
the past several years, I have written several "columns" having many
published in my local paper "The Ayer Public Spirit". I have still not seen
any *MONEY* from my efforts but I would like to get paid eventually.
I am currently in the midst of divorce from my wife of twenty years. It is
a painful time for me. Divorce does not just happen, but in spite of the
problems, I still love my wife. Life takes funny turns sometimes. My
oldest son, Chris, 19, (aka Arionor) is preparing to go on a mission to
Mexico City for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He works
designing web pages and writing diagnostic programs for circuit boards. He
plans to attend Brigham Young University when he returns in 2000. He writes
sci-fi and fantasy. My middle son, Robert, 17, (aka fuzzybagel2) is a
gay-rights activist. Life takes funny turns sometimes. He is an
accomplished musician listed in "Who's Who in American High Schools". He
has had a sonnet "Diamonds from Coal" published in the Ayer Public Spirit.
My oldest daughter, Amity, is a very talented poet whose poetry has been
included in an anthology of local high school poets. She, too, is listed in
"Who's Who". (I am listed in "Who's That?") My youngest son, Micah, at 9
is already aspiring to write the great intergalactic sci-fi novel! Finally,
my youngest daughter, Meghan, is 7 and showing signs of her own amazing
creativity in art and music. She hasn't really begun writing yet, but I
wouldn't be surprised . . .
I have entered the world of Internet publishing through the Writer's Club.
I hope that this will help me to continue to hone my writing skills and
encourage me to stretch my writing horizons. This is assuming, of course,
that I get off of IRC long enough to write ANYTHING!
I can be reached at jelli@bicnet.net
My URL is http://www.bicnet.net/~jelli.
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