A Lifetime Ago: Before the Death of Childhood: A Cautionary Memoir

Jerry Joyell was a teacher of English at both the high school and college level. He currently teaches a poetry course at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UConn/Waterbury. Born in Waterbury, CT (Brass Center of the World during WWII) in 1942, Joyell grew up in a ＂blue-collar＂ family but was heavily influenced by well-educated members of the extended family. Like so many other bllue-collar kids of his generation, higher learning became his goal. That led to a teaching position which gave him a front-row seat from which to observe the profound changes in American childhood.