Gary Shell:  

my story. well... born in '52 in brooklyn... grew up on east 21st street between ave.o and kings highway where it crossed ave p... after p.s.197 i hit james madison h. s... began dating sharon, and "going steady" in '69... graduated madison h.s. in '70... sharon and i married in '73 while we both were undergrads at brooklyn college, cuny... i graduated brooklyn college, cum laude, with a b.a. in education in '74... nyc board of ed was laying teachers off at that time, including me as i was working for the nyc board of ed as instructor of adult education... i entered the biz world... sharon was diagnosed with cancer (hodgkin's disease) in '75... she underwent chemotherapy and radiation therapy at sloan kettering memorial hospital (one of the best places for this, 'they' said) from '75 to '77... doctors optimistically said the cancer was no longer noticable in '77... two months later she was dead, in '77... i then travelled a bit, literally and figuratively... lived in chicago, boston, colorado... worked a number of professions, mostly legal, for a while... i took up a few new hobbies, including heavy drinking and daily pot smoking when possible... been with a lot of women, mostly unmarried, for a while... married my second wife, lucy, in the '80s... we divorced after four years, still in the 80s... finally began teaching, working for nys omrdd as of '88... my "student...Expand for more