His days of wandering may just be over. CVHS is the best place he has worked, and he is proud and motivated to work with talented students who teach and challenge him every day.

The summer after his sophomore year in college, Mr. J ties the knot with his buddy Tracey. Born the child of wealth and privilege and used to a champagne jet-set existence, he spares no expense and takes his new bride to Cedar Point for a luxurious dream honeymoon. He even shells out some bucks to buy her a ticket, too, so she can ride the coasters and try the then-new Demon Drop with him.

He discovers poetry and his life finds direction. In particular, one great English teacher, Albert Glover, sees something in this uncommunicative, barely civilized, untutored Motowner and encourages him to write.

With long, flowing golden locks and a blinding megawatt smile, he was voted Most Beautiful, Most Likely to Save Humanity From a Major Bad Problem, Most Popular, and Best Smelling. Um, well, actually none of that is the least bit true. Not even close. He was perhaps most aptly described as a misfit, an outcast with a bad Mohawk haircut, a hard-headed, soft-hearted soul in search of...he didn't know.

Mr. J as a small boy with his father. The confused look on his face would soon become a permanent fixture. He is on the front porch of one of their homes in Detroit. Mr. J's father was a character, a blue collar dreamer who began working at Fords as a teenager, then became Operations Manager at the old Olympia Stadium downtown. He later took destiny in his own hands and moved the family to Ohio, where he bought a bar.