The Maintenance Man's Dilemma: The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man

The life vignettes here reveal Bil to be a man born to a rowdy family, grown to be brash and outspoken, who sees humor everywhere. Almost athletic, very verbal, and good at mathematics, he skated through school and college without plans. Doubts of sexual adequacy and events of moral ambiguity were landmarks on his path to adulthood, during which he faced an ongoing dilemma -- his relation with women. He shared his life and her struggles with a woman abused as a child. Yet her love -- and that of his mother and grandmother -- tempered his rough edges and increased his compassion. On this journey, he experimented with drugs (a self-guided LSD trip crystalized a profound change in his perspective on women) and led to a Merry Prankster's inspired bus trip. Choice and serendipity, led to an academic career in which, by hard work, he became a scholar. Other experiences included backpacking the Pacific Crest Trail, bicycling from Canada to New Orleans, learning to love Spanish and Spain, the loss of loved ones, seeing a corrupt side of univeristy life, and working in a supermarket. Through moments big and small he traveled a path to moral development, meaning, and serenity, and with his wife's death understood that her light always illuminated his path.