Tom Gribble

Heroes of the Bizarre Tom Gribble

Heroes of the Bizarre"The narratives in this collection are from my experiences teaching inner-city community college students. These accounts record challenges of those with chaotic and sometimes tragic lives who suffer through it all for a chance at a better life. They bring their mistuned instruments to the public stage of a classroom; it is a pure act of courage. I know few who enter the unknown so unprepared and with so few skills for success. These students touch me with their joy and sorrow, their innocence and larceny, and their harmony and chaos. They work one or more part-time jobs, have children, and are often on their own without resources to solve how to pay rent, buy food, or where to take their sick babies. I mean for these biographical vignettes to invoke the reader's moral intelligence. To me, these students are heroes of the bizarre world we share.