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Andy
Devitt, professor of English....from the book cover:
“Dick Friedrich is a writer. This may seem obvious, because his
name is on this book. But if you asked him to identify himself, Dick
Friedrich would say he is a teacher. What does Friedrich teach? A
casual glance at his resume would show he teaches writing. Has been
teaching writing, more than likely since before you were born. “Writing”
and “teaching” are just words. And words, as Friedrich would
be quick to point out, often fail. To say Dick Friedrich is “just”
a writing teacher would be grave understatement. If you want to know
what Friedrich is about, read this book. (It should be noted that
‘book’ itself is a word, and also fails. Because this is
a collection of memories, stories, poems, and prose than encapsulate
so many moments of a man’s life.)” Andrew Devitt, writer,
English Professor Nominally a collection of non-fiction, poetry, and
drama, Friedrich’s book reads as a memoir of fifty years of thought,
experience, and teaching. Pick it up on any page and read, or start
at the beginning and read straight through. You’ll find an engaging
and sometimes troubling look at teaching, at war, at family, and at
the reality of human mortality.”--
Taken from the Amazon bio:
Born lots of years ago in Chicago, Dick Friedrich graduated from
St Procopius College in Lisle, Illinois. He next spent, off and
on, time at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. After a few years
teaching at the four-year college level, he found his true home
in the “community college movement” as folks called it
then. He taught for 18 years at Forest Park Community College in
St Louis, took an eight-year sabbatical on the coast of Washington,
worked happily in publishing as a partner in C&D Publishing
of Portland, Oregon, then returned to teaching at a two-year college
in central New York from which he retired on his seventy-fifth birthday.
He says about his life/career: ‘I’ve always seen me as
a teacher who wrote occasionally...just a way to pull the messy
strings of a tangled cloth together for a moment.”
From left to right, pictured are Mena Cerone, Richard Friedrich and
David Malone |
