William Shirley

Moved to New York after first divorce, stayed after second divorce and married happily for 25+ years to my sweety-pie, Margaret. Doing watercolors, woodcarving and ceramic sculpture. I'm branching into photography and setting up a web site. I've done some exhibitions, gotten into gardening, developed degenerative disc disease and fibromyalgia, disabled but still kicking. The last 8 years I've been advocating for my son Jon from my first marriage. He suffered a massive TBI and is "locked in" and cared for about 100 miles south of us. Life is a mixed bag.

Graffiti in the boys rest room: "Big Joe Roberts pissed here". The way the sprayed concrete surfaces on the buildings scraped your elbow raw. Surfers being lectured by the principal for their hair falling on their forehead while I slipped by with collar length hair, love beads and knee high leather boots. Coming to class on acid. Karen Wiechens standing up for me in English class when I objected to analyzing Robert's Frost's poetry line by line. Picking lemons from the trees on my walk to school and eating them at lunch so I could watch the faces around the table.