DIRTY WHITE BOY is an account of my difficult, and at times brutal life pathway, a dark and often desperate struggle to overcome my impulsive, self-destructive nature. My narrative covers many issues which increasingly threaten all classes of modern day society. Principle among these is the heartbreak of Addiction, and the collateral devastation it exacts in all its’ forms. Regrettably, true appreciation of addiction’s desperate landscape, too often requires one’s intimate personal involvement with its twisted and insidious nature. Despite this grim caveat, a powerfully descriptive account can nevertheless provide some measure of protective awareness. With this in mind, please consider some of the issues discussed in my story:
• Raised primarily by an abusive, unemployed, alcoholic step-father, and a mother more
concerned with maintaining her tenuous relationship than protecting her children.
• My gradual descent into the drug-culture of the 1960’s, culminating in Heroin use at 15,
and addiction by 16 years of age.
• Forcible eviction from my home by my stepfather at age 16; the grueling adaptation to
street-life and homelessness, while supporting a significant drug habit.
• Surviving as a frightened white teenager in Spanish Harlem; forced to live in
abandoned buildings (which doubled as “Shooting Galleries”), Central Park, the
Subways (during winter), stairwells or boiler-rooms.
• Ejection from High School after being caught shooting Heroin in the school bathroom.
• My criminal involvement and subsequent arrests, resulting in jail time, jumping parole,
and interstate flight to avoid prosecution.
• My decision to begin Methadone Maintenance.
• My mysterious “Epiphany”, providing incentive for my detox, and subsequent devotion
to Physical Fitness.
• Falsifying documents to enter College without ever achieving a GED or High School
Diploma.
• Gaining early admission to Medical School, with neither a College Degree nor High
School Diploma.
• Relapse into narcotic addiction following surgery during my 3rd year of Medical School.
• Completing Internship and gaining acceptance to an Anesthesiology Residency while
maintaining a narcotics habit.
• Entry into treatment following my 1st year of Residency; my re-entry into another
Anesthesia Residency.
• Relapse after completing Residency, while performing 3rd world medicine; taking a
position at a hospital in Penn.
• My arrest for narcotic diversion; my imprisonment which ultimately totaled 34 months,
and the loss of my Medical License.
• Becoming the subject of a 20/20 television broadcast which was intentionally twisted
and malevolently distorted through disingenuous editing.
• The years following the loss of my profession. My depression, anxiety, hopelessness,
and subsequent suicide attempts; my eventual acceptance of life’s disparate and
capricious, and how life, and our success within it, is defined simply by our own
perspective.
DIRTY WHITE BOY avidly supports and encourages the belief that no matter how desperate our current life appears, we all have the power to rise above it. Those currently struggling with personal demons need to realize their future is malleable by design, not immutable or cast in stone. It is also a cautionary tale warning that success comes hand-in-hand with inherent temptations. Arrogance and conceit are equally as addictive as any narcotic; to forget our past quite often means we are destined to repeat it.
• Raised primarily by an abusive, unemployed, alcoholic step-father, and a mother more
concerned with maintaining her tenuous relationship than protecting her children.
• My gradual descent into the drug-culture of the 1960’s, culminating in Heroin use at 15,
and addiction by 16 years of age.
• Forcible eviction from my home by my stepfather at age 16; the grueling adaptation to
street-life and homelessness, while supporting a significant drug habit.
• Surviving as a frightened white teenager in Spanish Harlem; forced to live in
abandoned buildings (which doubled as “Shooting Galleries”), Central Park, the
Subways (during winter), stairwells or boiler-rooms.
• Ejection from High School after being caught shooting Heroin in the school bathroom.
• My criminal involvement and subsequent arrests, resulting in jail time, jumping parole,
and interstate flight to avoid prosecution.
• My decision to begin Methadone Maintenance.
• My mysterious “Epiphany”, providing incentive for my detox, and subsequent devotion
to Physical Fitness.
• Falsifying documents to enter College without ever achieving a GED or High School
Diploma.
• Gaining early admission to Medical School, with neither a College Degree nor High
School Diploma.
• Relapse into narcotic addiction following surgery during my 3rd year of Medical School.
• Completing Internship and gaining acceptance to an Anesthesiology Residency while
maintaining a narcotics habit.
• Entry into treatment following my 1st year of Residency; my re-entry into another
Anesthesia Residency.
• Relapse after completing Residency, while performing 3rd world medicine; taking a
position at a hospital in Penn.
• My arrest for narcotic diversion; my imprisonment which ultimately totaled 34 months,
and the loss of my Medical License.
• Becoming the subject of a 20/20 television broadcast which was intentionally twisted
and malevolently distorted through disingenuous editing.
• The years following the loss of my profession. My depression, anxiety, hopelessness,
and subsequent suicide attempts; my eventual acceptance of life’s disparate and
capricious, and how life, and our success within it, is defined simply by our own
perspective.
DIRTY WHITE BOY avidly supports and encourages the belief that no matter how desperate our current life appears, we all have the power to rise above it. Those currently struggling with personal demons need to realize their future is malleable by design, not immutable or cast in stone. It is also a cautionary tale warning that success comes hand-in-hand with inherent temptations. Arrogance and conceit are equally as addictive as any narcotic; to forget our past quite often means we are destined to repeat it.
