David Senra

Soon my grandfather would be dead and my grandmother would be filled with cancer.

He describes the traits that he had as a child that he has for most of his life.

I would say he's disagreeable, defiant, nonconformist and independent.

And he was like that since he was a kid.

He says, I will not conform to the way things are.

I don't know shit nor care about the way things are.

And so he has two sides of his family.

He's primarily Italian and Irish.

The Irish side is full of these soft, kind of weak, demure men.

So when he starts spending time with the Italian side of his family, he sees a different way of being.

And so his Italian grandfather, this is very fascinating, says he was my grandfather.

And he's able to tell an entire story in a few words.

Describing his grandfather, he says he served three years in the Navy, had three wives, spent three years in Sing Sing prison.

And so he continues to talk about the influence of spending time with his grandfather when he was a very little kid.

Right.

He says something made him seem grand, important, not part of the passive, aggressive, wandering, lost male tribe that populated much of the rest of my life.

He was a force of nature.

So what if he got into a little trouble?

The real world was full of trouble.

And if you wanted, if you hungered, you'd better be ready for it.