The View From Out Back

The word “Essay” comes from the French, “Essai” which means a “try” or an “attempt”. The “attempts” contained in this collection are random tries at capturing a moment, an observation or an elusive thought. They're meant to be read individually and not as one single, beautifully flowing narrative. They're offered as they came to me, sometimes suddenly and sometimes over a number of years. I've tried to capture ideas and to demonstrate a remarkable phenomenon: That what is obvious to some is big news to everybody else.

The author was born and enjoyed an idyllic childhood in the wilderness of rural Connecticut. He looked for dinosaur footprints in the shale, fished and hunted as a reason to be outdoors and started a long career at the bar after graduating from UCONN and SUFFOLK LAW SCHOOL. His passion for language led him to become an essay writer, eventually expanding into memoirs and fiction. His writing draws upon a wide experience at the bar along with an even broader experience of people at home in Boston and abroad. His inspiration comes from all those who have suffered him over the years but mainly from a large family that has saved him from both cynicism and self-regard. Mr. Rowe's Swedish mother followed the custom of leaving something on her plate whenever she was a guest for dinner. That little tidbit told the hosts that her hunger was satisfied and that their hospitality appreciated. That custom informed his life once he was old enough to understand it.