I don’t have a specific memory of the moment when this photo was taken. I’d like to think it represents my overriding attitude toward my brother Michael. Mike shaped my life and although there were many years that I neglected him, his influence was always with me. Oh how I wish we could have had […]
I intended this portrait to express Mike’s other-worldliness. But we are brothers and I had a connection with him, if only in one direction. We share the same oddness – in different ways – just as we do the same genetic makeup. I painted this in 2015 (Final Transition).
Mike probably transitioned away from his family during the first few years of his life. I don’t mean that he did this on purpose, although that’s what Mom used to think, very bitterly. Mike was normal looking until he went to Willowbrook. My parents were duly notified when Mike got his front teeth knocked out, […]
I got to know some of Mikes housemates during my visits to his group home.
I am a visual person, so a lot of my memories are triggered by visual images. Journal entries provide another way to access memory, perhaps at a deeper level.
This is a page from Mike’s baby album. I have it in my book, My Brother Michael. I can only imagine the hopes and dreams of a glorious future that my parents must have had for their new baby.
This is a sketch for a future painting. I drew it shortly after Mike died. I got a call the day he died, from one of his caregivers, who told me, “Michael is transitioning.” I was fortunate enough to get to talk to him during his last hours. Mike was nonverbal and never gave me […]
