John E. Budzinski

Growing up in the Lordship section of Stratford, Connecticut, John E. Budzinski always had a penchant for reading and telling stories. The town library was a short four-mile walk or bike ride away. On Saturdays, he often disappeared without a trace to explore and read. It didn't take very long to rummage through everything of interest in the small library. Once he did, he took the bus to adjacent towns’ libraries – learning to be the explorer he would become.

John told stories about his cat Louie, baseball, events he experienced, the people he met, and the stories they told. Strangely though, he never talked about his family very often. He took particular joy in yammering about the weirdness of the world he saw around him and the characters he met along the way. And there were always stories of the dreams he wanted to come true and the wonders he wanted to experience. They were simple – totally uncomplicated stories about life’s strangeness and unpredictability.

His writing of those stories began from an ill-fainted attempt to impress a college girlfriend’s father. He was the News Editor of a local paper in Virginia. John never felt too comfortable with him, feeling like all guys do – the girlfriend’s father sees him as a jerk.

John wrote some op-ed pieces hoping to show the News Editor father that he may be a jerk, but at least he was an intelligent jerk. His well-thought-out ploy didn’t work, and said father still thought of John as a 25-watt bulb in a 100-watt world.

His misguided attempt to win the favor of his girlfriend’s father didn’t dissuade John. Instead, it begat his love of words and language. He formed a special appreciation for stories, both his and those of friends and strangers. Good stories are good stories, especially when they remind others of their stories.

Many of those stories found their way into a column he penned for a New Hampshire weekly. His writing has appeared in the Boston Globe, Quincy, (MA) Patriot Ledger, Worcester, (MA) Telegram & Gazette, Wyoming Tribune Eagle, Connecticut Post, and Waterbury (CT) Republican American, among others.

A graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, he has studied at Northeastern University in Boston, University of Bridgeport (CT), Fairfield University (CT), and Temple University in Philadelphia. A seasoned traveler and accomplished photographer, John E. Budzinski lives near the UNSECO Literary City of Iowa City, IA, where there is nothing he enjoys more than going out to a local haunt for some ribs and cold beer, to hear and tell stories of life.