Gary Lucero Writer

Even at the dawn of personal computing, there was never a shortage of devices to choose from.

 

In the mid to late 1970s, there was the Apple I and II, the Commodore PET, the Radio Shack TRS-80, and the TI-99/4A. Before that there was the Altair 8800, but it didn't include a keyboard or monitor, so while it was technically a personal computer, it was only ever useful to hobbyists.

 

The Altair 8800

 

The selection grew in the 1980s and included the ever-popular Commodore 64, more Apple II variants, the IBM PC and its clones, the Apple Lisa and Macintosh, the Atari line of 8 and 16-bit personal computers, the Commodore Amiga, and more.

 

 

The Commodore Amiga

 

By the 1990s, the only personal computers left on the market were PCs and the Macintosh. All the others were dying out, and by the end of the decade, no real competition was left. A new breed of devices came on the scene, though, the Personal Digital Assistant (PDA). These included the Apple Newton and the Palm Pilot, but they didn't have the raw horsepower of a "real" personal computer. What they did was provide a handheld option to offload some of the work of the PC.

 

The Palm Pilot

 

The 2000s saw the advent of handheld devices with robust operating systems. Nokia built rudimentary smartphones, but towards the end of the decade, Apple introduced the iPhone, and Google began releasing Android phones with similar features and power.

 

Today we have a dizzying array of smart phones, tablets, desktop computers, laptops, and 2-in-1 computers of all shapes and sizes. Whereas Windows was the dominant operating system in previous decades, now Linux, ChromeOS, and MacOS provide much needed competition. And any of these personal computing devices are inexpensive, which means almost anyone can afford to buy one.

 

Computing has never been more ubiquitous than it is today, or more accessible. And while all personal computing devices aren't created equal, meaning not all can run the same applications, and some tasks are more easily completed on a "real" computer versus a tablet or phone with operating systems customized for those devices, most people can perform most tasks on any device they choose. This levels the landscape and empowers people so they can buy the device(s) they prefer and can afford and provides a vast market for software developers.

The following short story is a prose adaptation of my latest book of poetry, In Life There Is No Escape, which is about a person who has lost everything and is unable to find comfort even in death.

 

In Life There Is No Escape is available from Amazon.com in paperback and as an ebook. It's also part of Kindle Unlimited.

 

 

I was in my forties when my parents died, and I couldn't understand how the two people who loved me most in life were gone. As I grappled with this devastating event, my wife was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer and within months she passed away.

 

But life wasn't done with me yet.

 

The following year my son Jimmy died in a car accident. A few months later, my daughter Maria became sick with an infection and the doctors told me it was incurable. All I could do was make her comfortable until she passed.

 

It didn't end there. As the years passed, I suffered more loss. Friends, family, and neighbors all passed away. My world crumbled before me.

 

Falling into a deep depression, I barely functioned.

 

I was let go from my job and everywhere I turned, people looked at me as someone who was cursed. I was a pariah, and no one wanted to employ me, talk to me, much less touch me. I became homeless and wandered the streets.

 

I finally decided to end my life, but every attempt I made failed, which made me believe that even God had abandoned me. All those years I had prayed at his altar were for naught.

 

With absolutely nothing left, I fell into madness.

 

Now all I can do is bemoan my existence and pray that one day it comes to an end.

Shortly after hearing that Roberta Flack had died, I watched a YouTube video of her singing, The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face. Listening to this incredible song reminded me of all the amazing music I was fortunate to experience as a child, teen, and young adult.

 

I of course remember my favorites, which as a child were Cat Stevens, Elton John, and The Beatles. As a teen I embraced rock music by Neil Young, The Who, and Jethro Tull. As a young adult, I added the progressive rock music of Yes to the mix.

 

But there was so much more, first on AM radio, then FM.

 

Artists like Roberta Flack, Don McClean, The Jackson Five, The Supremes, Simon and Garfunkel, Donovan, The Byrds, Jose Feliciano, Gladys Knight & The Pips, Grand Funk Railroad, The Doobie Brothers, War, Santana, Chicago, Bob Marley, Steely Dan, Frank Zappa, The Marshall Tucker Band, and the list goes on and on.

 

Then there's Country Western and Spanish music by the greats of the time, people like Marty Robbins, Glen Campbell, Johnny Cash, Jose Alfredo Jimenez, Tony Aguilar, and Freddie Fender.

 

But why talk about some of the best pop and rock (as well as country and Spanish) music ever made in a newsletter about poetry? Because this was the poetry of my childhood. Songs from these musical artists and hundreds of others taught me both good and bad rhythm and rhyme.

 

And since I was never part of any poetry scene, I didn't know what poetry was except as the lyrical content of song. I was focused from a young age on words, and these artists created and/or sang the words I heard.

 

Nowadays I read poetry and try to understand what other poets are doing and why, but my first love will always be music. It's had an incredible impact on my life.

 

How about you? What music changed your life as a child, teen, or young adult?