Working My Way Through Life

About the Book

Working My Way Through Life is my autobiographical memoir of my experiences in the working world. I have worked at 25 different jobs besides teaching English for 40 years (36 in high school and 4 in college). I hope the readers of my book enjoy my stories. Each job has its own drama. Beginning with my first account, shining shoes in taverns at the age of four, to my final years of teaching, the readers will observe a vast array of working experiences, some more exciting than others, but all sharing different insights into the working world. Hopefully, my book will dispel that old saying; “Those who can--do; Those who can’t--teach.” I know that most people in the working world have many experiences and stories of their own. It is a matter of remembering and writing them down. Maybe I’ll be reading your book someday.

About the Author

Allan Ede (rhymes with weed) was born in 1939 in Dubuque, Iowa. He attended St. Raphael’s Grade School and Loras Academy High School (R.O.T.C.). He received a B.A. and an M.A. in English from Loras College. He taught high school English, including creative writing (3 years at Don Bosco in Gilbertville, Iowa, and 33 years at Western Dubuque in Epworth, Iowa, and composition and literature 4 years at Northeastern Iowa Community College). He coached basketball for 6 years on a freshman-sophomore level. He is the father of five daughters and one son. His wife, Mary Jo, is the mother of one son and three daughters. Ede has had a variety of work experiences besides teaching, including jobs in factories, construction, railroad, landscaping, painting, and selling Fuller Brush products from door to door in California. His hobbies include reading, writing, dancing, camping, and playing and watching most sports. Ede has attended many writing conferences and workshops throughout the Midwest. He participated in a Novel Writing class, taught by a published author, John Tigges, for ten years. Ede’s credits include poems, articles, novels, and short stories. “Fireflies” won 1st place in the Sinipee Writers’ Short Story Contest (1993) and “Teach Them Yourself” won 1st place (2007). He has also co-authored The History of Epworth, Iowa. He has published Rosalund’s Raiders—a Young Adult novel about teen-age gangs, Blood Island an Adult Action/Adventure novel involving mayhem, murder, and vengeance in the Boundary Waters between the U.S. and Canada, and Fireflies: A Collection of Short Stories, Poems, and Essays. He is currently at work on his fifth book.