The Change Center
The Change Center is a historical memoir that takes place some 50 years ago. I began writing it while I was still confined on a closed psychiatric ward.
Trying to regain my memory, I had started to try and recall people, places, and things that I knew. I would write a word or two as I remembered something. This resulted in a few sentences here and there.
Later in the week, I “wrestled with the devil” and finally surfaced. It was a battle against the pain coming from inside my bones. Sweaty and exhausted, I felt the way one feels when a fever breaks in an illness. Not well, but on the road to recovery. One of my professors, a Clinical Psychologist, visited me and as I tried to tell him about my experiences, he suggested that I write about them. He said that with my background in psychology, he thought my story would be interesting and relevant.
I would work on the book for approximately six months after my release. Occasionally, over the years I would read and revise. I was going to publish it in the year 2000 but life got in the way and it was delayed until 2018 and revised and republished in 2021.
Read MoreABOUT THE AUTHOR
Howard Blazek
Born in Indiana, my mother, sister and I moved to Chicago while I was still an infant. My father was off to war. I was raised on the northwest side of Chicago.
I had a sickly childhood, including double-pneumonia and a year in bed with tuberculosis. I was able to return to public school when I became better. I was nine years old.
Through my teens I was religious and became interested in Eastern religions and philosophy while still in high school. I finished college with a degree in psychology (math minor) and a master’s in education. The 1960s brought such dramatic change that I decided to return to graduate school. I would be that great psychologist, teacher and researcher I had always dreamed of becoming. Instead, I would experience the Change Center. After recovering, I would obtain a doctorate in education and finish my career.
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