"I played football. I played trumpet. I could draw. I could do everything half-a----. I had a history teacher there, McGill. He said I could write a little, but that I had no talent for attendance. He suggested I go see a guy he knew at the Long Island Press on 168th St. and Jamaica Ave. I was 16. I became a copy boy. Not for long. I started writing stories. They put them in the newspaper. You could go to bars and interview people. They paid you money. I liked it. I wish I was home right now writing my f------ fiction book instead of this awards bull----."