My mother saw education as an escape.
She taught me how to read and write as soon as I could speak.
She also bought me a typewriter, a rarity for a child in the 1950’s.
I pounded the keys, churned out bad poetry and thought of myself as a writer.
After apprenticing as a journalist, I actually learned how to write.
Thousands of articles, a book of poetry and a couple of pop histories later, I am the writer my mother envisioned.