SELF

About Me — Andrew J. DiMeo, Sr.

I am light and fire

In my natural state mouth breathing — Photo property of the author

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Hi, I’m Andrew. I’m the light radiating on me and the fire burning within. My enduring rays are strong, shy, and stoic. My blaze is infectious, imperfect, and impermanent. Together, we are curious and kind.

I grew up in Rutherford, New Jersey, and started working early. My first job was in grammar school. I delivered newspapers for the Bergen Record. I went on to do great things — a Parmesan cheese factory grater, summer school janitor, Mexican restaurant dishwasher, line cook, pizza shop manager, nuclear missile navigation system quality assurance technician, internet sports reporter, oh, and set dresser and prop on movies and TV shows. I am a DiMeo of the DiMeo Crime Family, at the top of the food chain of the Sopranos Crime Family. It’s a royalty-free arrangement.

I left that all behind on a Harley Davidson headed for North Carolina. I planned a simple life — be a high school teacher and spend summers motorcycling. Things got complicated when I was invited to teach physics labs at the university I was attending. Being in a powerful position and barely older than my students was too much responsibility. I found myself being offered indecent proposals. When I cracked, that turned into two children, a house…