Bob Wick is much more than a media magnate and co-owner of Wick Communications, a chain of newspapers and radio stations across the country. He is also a renowned artist, the creator of monumental bronzes that bring together man and nature in compelling and insightful ways. He also taught art at Kent State University in the 1960s and knew well many of the leading figures from that tumultuous era.

He was close friends with Carl Oglesby, anti-war activist, author and president of the Students for a Democratic Society, and John de Groot, famed journalist who won the first of his two Pulitzer Prizes for coverage of the tragic events of May 4, 1970 in which the National Guard unleashed a hail of bullets at peaceful protestors, killing four bystanders. We talk about the tragic folly of Ohio's governor and Kent State's president, and how that event nearly tore about a country already deeply divided by war and injustice.

We also talk about Nixon's efforts to establish a guaranteed basic income, the advent of free agency in baseball and sports in general, and how art can unify a culture. Bob talks about his own art, in which he seeks to show the oneness of all things through huge bronzes which bring together man and nature. As Bob quotes Buddha: "What's inside is outside, what's outside is inside." 

We don't talk about how we've know each other for nearly 50 years, and how his compassion and kindness opened the golden doors for opportunity for me to achieve a career in journalism. You can check out Bob's amazing and insightful sculptures at http://robertwick.com/