This is one of the short stories in my Echoes of the Mind's Eye collection. For previews of most of my published books (novel, short fiction, poetry and non-fiction) please visit my Author's Page at Amazon where you will also find additional links to my blogs and YouTube videos.

I've taken some liberties with the narrative and introduced some fictional elements for dramatic effect. People and places are fictionalized. The core issues are not. The events leading up to this fragment actually happened, including the timeframe of Dan's interview cycle and his girlfriend's reaction--and wise counsel to exercise caution. At this point in the novel my own life and the protagonist's are almost perfectly aligned. My girlfriend's warning (now wife) was no more heeded than Linda's warning to Dan. Optimists always see the glass as half full until the very moment they die of dehydration. And people who have not had to face failure can develop an unrealistic level of confidence that can propel them to great heights or catastrophic crash landings. And sometimes, as in the case of the protagonist, both--all at once. Hire Lernin': An Idealist's Quest Through the Realm of for-Profit Education (c) 2021. 

As they say in the movies, this is fiction inspired by a true story that delve into the little known world of for-profit education. The book is available in hardcover, paperback and eBook versions from Amazon or your favorite bookseller where you will also be able to read a generous preview. I hope you enjoy it.

Este es uno de los poemas escritos originalmente en inglés en mi segundo libro de poesía recientemente publicado, "Echoes of Dawn at Dusk". El poema es uno de los que se incluirán en un próximo libro de mi poesía escrito en español o traducido por mí de mis originales en inglés. Espero les guste.

This podcast consists of my reading of one of the 13 short stories in my recently released Echoes of the Mind's Eye

collection. The story is also available as a stand-alone eBook as are 11 of the 13 short stories in the collection.

Amazon description: Human beings are not the only intelligent life forms on Earth and possibly not the most intelligent. Efforts at communicating with marine mammals such as whales and dolphins whose brains are larger than our own have had very limited success to date, less so than the success we've enjoyed in teaching some gorillas and chimpanzees to communicate using sign language although their brains have less capacity than our own. This short story explores the possible consequences of bridging the language barrier with dolphins whose larger brains may well provide them with intelligence that exceeds our own. When a dedicated marine biologist/linguist makes a breakthrough in the near future that allows true communication to take place, what rewards may we expect from her research, and what might our aquatic cousins learn about us and teach us about ourselves?

This is one of the 13 short stories in my new short story collection, Echoes of the Mind's Eye (and is also available as a two-short story eBook here). The short story posits one plausible solution to the enigma that is the Great Sphinx of Giza. Egyptologists have long debated the true nature of the sphinx and its original form. Traditional wisdom holds that it was originally a lion and that the lion's head was later carved into the likeness of a great pharaoh, though debate still rages as to which one as well. You can read my short story or listen to my reading of it, such as it is, to find out my take on its true origin and purpose. Without giving away too much, let us just say that it is best to let sleeping sphinxes lie. Feel free to share this post or the podcast link if you enjoy it. Better yet, I hope you'll consider asking your library to add my Echoes of the Mind's Eye to its eBook collection. (Libraries can get my recently published novel, short story collection and poetry collection at half price in any eBook format.) Thank you! 

Please note that this is my cold reading of the short story not to be confused with the professionally narrated and produced audiobook version from my earlier short story collection, Mindscapes: Ten Science Fiction and Speculative Fiction Short Stories read by Dale M. Wilcox and still distributed by Audible and Amazon.

Este podcast contiene mi lectura de la sexta parte de mi poema en verso libre más largo hasta la fecha, Unsung Heroes, y narra detalles sobre mi mamá que vivió una vida increíblemente difícil, incluso más que mi papá, llena de tragedia personal y potencial insatisfecho. Cuando dejó la escuela a la edad de 11 años para ayudar a su madre a poner comida en la mesa para sus 8 hermanos y hermanas al fallecer su padre poco después del final de la Guerra Civil Española trabajando a tiempo completo (ilegalmente) en la fábrica de conservas de un primo. Había faltado a la escuela durante más de un año antes de eso debido a la ceguera causada por una infección que su médico local finalmente curó mediante un procedimiento quirúrgico, devolviéndole su vista perfecta. Era una niña obstinada que siempre anteponía a los demás a sí misma y sacrificó su juventud y educación por el bien de su familia. Seguiría siendo una trabajadora durante toda su vida, poseyendo un don para la narración de cuentos y como escritora a pesar de que no aprendió a leer y escribir hasta después de emigrar a Argentina a la casa de su tía desde su Galicia natal a los 16 años, con una hermana menor a cuestas, trabajando allí (nuevamente ilegalmente, mintiendo sobre su edad) para pagar el pasaje de su madre y sus dos hermanos menores, trabajando como empleada doméstica en un hotel en Mar del Plata, como mucama y eventualmente como auxiliar de enfermería. operadora de máquina de embalaje para los productos de la empresa Ponds. No solo era una persona mucho mejor de lo que sería su único hijo, y una mejor escritora natural de ficción y poesía si hubiera tenido solo unos pocos años más de educación formal. Su prodigiosa memoria siempre me asombró ya que, a diferencia de mí, podía recordar los nombres de cada personas que conocía, y de todos sus familiares y podía relatar textualmente conversaciones que había tenido años antes con casi cualquier conocido. Podía cantar como un ángel y le ofrecieron un contrato de grabación cuando un productor la escuchó cantar en el hotel donde trabajaba mientras realizaba sus tareas domésticas, un contrato que rechazó, sin duda en parte debido a la inseguridad sobre su educación formal, aunque era una artista natural como cualquiera que la conociera lo atestiguará fácilmente. Ella y mi papá estaban casados ​​durante 61 años cuando él murió, y ella lo siguió dos años después, víctima de la demencia que le robó sus muchos dones naturales, incluida su prodigiosa memoria. Fui la última persona que olvidó. La extraño a ella y a mi padre todos los días.

This podcast contains my reading of the sixth part of my longest free verse poem to date, Unsung Heroes, and chronicles details about my mom who lived an incredibly difficult life--more so than even my dad--full of personal tragedy and unfulfilled potential as she left school at the age of 11 to help her mom put food on the table for her 8 brothers and sisters when her dad died shortly after the end of the Spanish Civil War by working full time (illegally) at an uncle's cannery. She had missed school for more than a year prior to that because of blindness caused by an infection that her local doctor eventually cured through a surgical procedure, returning her perfect vision. She was a willful child who always put others ahead of herself and sacrificed her youth and schooling for her family's sake. She would remain a hard worker throughout her life, possessing a gift for story-telling and as a writer despite the fact she did not learn to read and write until after emigrating to Argentina to her aunt's house from her native Galicia at the age of 16 with a younger sister in tow, working there (again illegally by lying about her age) to pay for passage for her mom and two younger brothers, working as a Maid in a hotel in Mar del Plata, as a nurse's aid and eventually as a packing machine operator for Ponds. She was not only a far better person than her only son would ever be, and a better natural writer of fiction and poetry had she had only a few more years of formal education. Her prodigious memory always astounded me as, unlike me, she could remember the names of everyone she ever met, as that of their own families and could recount verbatim conversations had years before with nearly anyone she met. She could sing like an angel and was offered a recording contract when a producer heard her singing in the hotel where she worked while going about her chores--a contract she turned down, no doubt in part because of insecurity about her formal education though she was a natural entertainer as anyone who knew her will readily attest. She and my dad were married 61 years when he died--and she followed him two years later, a victim of the dementia that robbed her of her many natural gifts, including her prodigious memory. I was the last person she forgot. I miss her and my dad every day. 

Este podcast es una lectura de la quinta parte de mi poema en verso libre de seis partes sobre mis héroes personales. Esta parte concierne a mi papá que vivió una vida difícil en tres continentes y logró tanto una relativa riqueza, sufrió la pobreza a pesar de trabajar largas jornadas con excelentes salarios, sin nunca quejarse, eludir sus responsabilidades, culpar a otros o comprometer sus principios. El mundo nunca necesitó a personas como mi padre más que hoy: hombres y mujeres que establecieron altos estándares para sí mismos y los cumplieron sin concesiones, sin importar el costo, no por los elogios, la fama o la fortuna, sino simplemente porque es lo correcto que se debe hacer.