Excerpt
If we owe a debt for what we are beyond mere circumstance, then mine
is owed to this meagre land and her people: gypsies, children of the street,
her ever-present weeds, who invited me to live with them on the Avenue of
Princes, who struck the match that caused the fire in my belly.
Ken’s childhood in Portugal is a story of a young boy growing up wild
in the streets – a boy adored by his father and encouraged by his mentor,
an old Portuguese fisherman, to become a painter and to explore the Arctic
wilds of Canada. Ken was dyslexic. At school, he was alternately called
a moron and a genius. He overcame ridicule and unwarranted praise and
grew strong, with a sense of self that no one could shatter. His inner sense
of assurance drew disparaging comments all his life, the most frequent
being, “Who the fuck do you think you are?”
Manolis Aligizakis 