Piece Description

Finding My Kerouac: On the Road at Mid-Life chronicles the travels of two men, but capture the longing of so many others. Jack Kerouac's On the Road was, and still is, an inspiration for so many young people who are trying to discover who they are and what they want from life. But why should the novel only make a connection with the young? In the mid-life years, isn't it true, that we all struggle with our own destinies, mortality, and the substance in our lives? Don't we all ask ourselves, as we did when we were young - what is it all about? Why are we here? Certainly we did, and we do it again, with more urgency, at mid-life. On the Road fuels the fires of a long unanswered question: What do we want out of life? And at mid-life, that question may be even more poignant. Re-reading the novel, along with its direct non-fiction connections to Jack Kerouac and the Beat Generation, has become a catalyst for rediscovery at a time in life when meaning is most essential. Kerouac's character Sal Paradise says in the novel, "The road is life." In that short sentence there is so much meaning. On the road, you can find your life, your center, your authentic self. You can redefine your desires, reconnect with your dreams, sort out your sorrows, and come to the realization that life is a road; a winding one with many mileposts but few street signs, and a journey in the true sense of the word. Taking a road trip, has always been an affirmation of freedom and possibility. This road trip is exactly that, at a time in one's life when we long to find excitement, new challenges, new roads. (Note: All the audio, including narration, was done "on the road". There was no studio recording for this piece)