Luke Gherardi - Children of Violence: A Novella - 448

<p></p> <p></p> <p>Luke Gherardi talks with me about his novella Children of Violence. This is episode 448 of Teaching Learning Leading K12. </p> <p>Luke Gherardi is a writer of short stories. Children of Violence is his first novella. He writes what he knows, basing his fiction on real-life people and inspired by his observations or first-hand experience of actual events.</p> <p>He is a fighter. And a survivor.</p> <p>He overcame childhood cancer – lymphoma. That was the easy part. Being raised in dysfunction was not.</p> <p>Growing up in a suburb of St. Louis, Luke lived with his mother, a church-going, God-fearing woman from The Philippines, who provided anything but a sane childhood. To the outside world, everything seemed normal in this nice farm community. But in reality, he says his mom’s practice of her faith was more like a cult, where militaristic brainwashing went on. He grew up with survivalists.</p> <p>His parents were divorced when he was very young. He would visit his dad on the weekend in a crime-infested part of St. Louis, where the gang-ridden streets were filled with people who cared nothing about their lives and even less about yours. His dad was a bit of a hustler and gambler. He drank excessively, popped pills, and smoked marijuana. He lived in a condemned building and suffered from mental issues. He committed suicide a decade ago.</p> <p>As soon as Luke turned 18 and graduated from high school, he left home and never looked back. He moved to Denver, where he knew no one and had nothing. He made a life for himself, met a woman, and got married. They had a child together. A few years later, they divorced. For the past decade, he has worked for North Park Transportation, beginning as a dock supervisor and working his way up to fleet safety manager. He earned his A.A.S. in Avionics Engineering from Colorado Aero Tech. He lives just outside of Denver and enjoys raising his daughter, age 7.</p> <p>Thanks for listening.</p> <p>So much to learn!</p> <p>But wait...</p> <p>Com