The former CEO of AARP, Bill Novelli, a father of social marketing says this about Stan the Man:
"Stan is a man of faith, and teh key to his faith is his inner life of thoughts and dreams. He believes in being a good citizen who wishes nations could be more at peace.
He's an immigrant from Poland, proud to be an American (the land of the free where you can attain any goal) despite the ethnic prejudices his family has faced. Benjamin Franklin said about immigration that strangers are welcome, there is room for all. But that was back in 1782, and Stan stands tall in these years.
Above all else stand is a dreamer. He dreams well back into history, and his vivid dreams carry him incredible distances. Like explorers who got lost (and most of the great one got lost in their biggest discoveries in the new world) Stan wanders in this fine narrative around the globe.
He is not bogged down by physical laws. Stan is brave; he is not afraid of life but like most of us--there are lovely passages about the procession to death in this short tale.
Stan wants to defy death a little longer. What could be more human than that. As Mia Funk says in her fine Introduction on the joyful prose of Bruce Piasecki, Bruce has here interwove themes of morality, legacy, the the enduring significance of the human condition.
A parable, like this one about Stan the man, is a story that is told to illustrate moral and spiritual truth. And Bruce delivers. HE tells us that it's a free world and the choice is ours; we can let things fall apart or we can bring them together. We have the ability to create our own destiny. In America, you can be a janitor like Stan or a Harvard physician, and both can come from teh same family. But justice must be served. Stand is indeed a man of faith, and he believes that "God demands justice."
Bruce is a fantatic storyteller, which is among our oldest traditions. It brings us togther. This good story often hingges on change, and on both action and reflection. Stand the Man is a good story for the rest of this century, like a few other of Piasecki's books like Doing More with Less. He makes us really think about who we are, adn who we might be. I can not wait to see the move."
--Bill Novelli
The great American novelists and poet and film producers Jay Parini writes this about the vingettes from Piasecki's Memoir DOING MORE WITH ONE LIFE in this edition of Stan the Man, noting
"Doing More with One Life is a book about the absences that define our lives, the tears in the fabric that we spend a lifetime trying to repair. Piasecki reshapes his life, rediscovers lost family members and friends, and connects to literary ancestors--some of whom, like Walt Whitman, lend a layer of texture and allusion to Piasecki's prose that makes his work not only readable but re-readable.
Piasecki's inventive, like his parables STAN THE MAN and 2040: A Fable, include remarkably creative short vignettes--tiny nuggest of narration that nest within the larger narrative of his books, as the author describes his growing self awareness, a slowly widening sense of the world.
You migth do well by reading this full Memoir next to BACK TO BASICS. As these are gifts taht keep yielding, part Whitmanesque, part Shakespearean, and always Piasecki."
Jay Parini, author of the Last Station, and the forthcoming film BORGES AND ME.
STAN THE MAN consists of four related sequences that inform, persuade and delight you. The first is called "Stepping into History" and introduces the reader to Stan's dreamlife and day work. The second sequence is called "Skipping into Youth and Music" where the reader is watching the girls of his school run the bases during their morning wiffle ball game. Stan breaks thru to them by playing Van Morrisons' song "Cleaning Windows". The third sequence of vingettes is called "Stepping Back into Family and Friends. The fourth is called "Near the Threshold of Joy" and the last "Stepping into the Library that Lasts."
