Stanley W. Shura About Me Page at Helium

About me - Stanley W. Shura

About me

I am very much enjoying writing again. I seem to gravitate toward the short form, which makes online writing a very good fit. I am primarily a poet and essayist, and dabble occasionally with the short story. I am verbose in my non-writing life as well, but tend to be less secure with my "in real time" voice. Music and writing are such important and healing outlets for me, but I hope they can help me grow in spontaneity and living "in the moment" as well.

My "day job" is working in special education. This is no accident. Having had a lifetime of hard-learned lessons borne out of my own learning and neurological impairments, and of struggling against OCD since I was 5, I know what it's like to be torn between giving up so the "grown-ups" can see how hard it really is - and working my tail off just so that I achieve a passable mediocrity, both a hell of an achievement, and a hell of a curse.

I love kids and tend to relate to the world in much the same way (albeit just a bit more cynically). I know what it's like to think "differently", and I just ache for the chance to connect with and guide those young ones who struggle to find out how to manage what so many of their peers (and elders!) take for granted.

I also play the piano and it, aside from writing, is the one thing from which I can always derive confidence and (oh here we go) "centeredness". It's true. I have a few students as well - and enjoy sharing it with them very much.

Okay - the typical bio stuff. I'm 36 yrs old - live in a Massachusetts suburb (zzzzzzz). I can't get enough of Boston and Cambridge, and plan to make my home in one of those cities *soon*!

Feel free to drop me a line at stanwshura@yahoo.com :)

Briefly me

My passion is ...

exploring a subject to it's ABSOLUTE, sometimes transcendant depths! (there's a pun in there for those who know me)...noooo!....not the obvious one.....I prefer Reisling, anyway...but prefer the other direction (caffeine) even more....

I know too much about ...

ulterior motives and the "game" played by most but your dearest and truest loved ones

My parents always told me ...

to answer my nonanswer to this question, see above

My childhood ambition ...

to not be a child ('cause I knew there was stuff out there that I didn't have the freedom to taste (like, in hindsight, playing chess in Harvard Square - 'til 4am) - and no good reason for that lack of access)

My favorite memory ...

Singing Shenandoah in Innsbruck one evening (in h.s.) with the Untd Sts Yth Chrl - in this huge cathedral with at least a 1.5 - second echo delay. Not before or since have I experienced or been part of such a spine-zapping harmonic perfection. When the piece ended, we just stood there thinking a collective "Oh, my *GOD*" - for literally 2 or 3 seconds of pure silence - then the audience erupted. I was near tears and decided on the plane ride back to study music in college.

Why I write ...

I have lots to say and it is one area where I can communicate EXACTLY what I am thinking and feeling. And, at higher levels, it's even kind of a fun puzzle.

What I am reading/watching/listening to ...

nonfiction (especially math and crime/psych drama); court dramas and talky "deep" stuff; feed my soul off of jazz and classic rock: (McCoy Tyner, Jacky Terrasson, Dave Brubeck, The BadPlus, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Tiddas, K.T. Tunstall, The Doors, ABBA, Rush, Bruce Hornsby, Norman Greenbaum, Journey, The Cranberries...)....I'll stop now

My first job ...

a dishwasher at Bickford's!

My best moment ...

hmmm.....for now, see above - "favorite memory"...

My inspiration ...

any time the "underdog" finds success and/or justice