Vernon (#450) 11-04-13

Post #450, a sort of round number. I should hit #500 before February 2014. I’ll have to think of something special for that.

On a cold Minneapolis day, Vernon was pacing the sidewalk of Nicolett Mall. Did I mention that it was cold? He was going from person to person, trying to sell his book, “Yesterday’s Coffee.” Vernon was born in Kansas City, Missouri. He earned a degree in Journalism from The University of Missouri, one of the top journalism schools in the country. After a tour in the Viet Nam War, Vernon worked for a newspaper.

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But as time went on, he made some bad choices and became a junkie. Now clean, he has written six books, the most recent being about his personal growth in kicking drugs. He calls coffee the “think drink”, and “Yesterday’s Coffee” contains poetry reflecting on the past – the good and the bad. Vernon is VERY well spoken and articulate. The last line of one of his poems sums up his philosophy: “As long as we live we can learn, as long as we can learn we can change, and as long as we can change we can grow.”

Bob