Neil hails from New York City (Queens & Manhattan). At 25, he swapped his sound system for a brother's Oldsmobile and left NYC on the morning of winter's first snowstorm. He drove 11K miles (17,703 km) with his dog across the USA. He stopped on Northern California's redwood coast for a "weekend visit" (it's now been 49+ years) with a boyhood friend from his block in NYC. Neil established roots among the redwoods by inhabiting a forest cabin with an outhouse but no electricity or phone. He lives in Eureka with his artist wife and their rescued female dog. At age 31, Neil managed to quit alcohol and other drugs. He enjoys living sober and being an active, positive part of the vast worldwide recovery community.
His early jobs included unloading U.S. mail trucks, umpiring adult baseball and men's state & national champions' softball games. He then worked a combined 41 years: counseling individuals, groups & families with substance abuse problems; teaching addiction studies, counseling, psychology and social work at two colleges; and sports writing for daily and weekly newspapers. Neil earned two M.A. degrees--in Teaching Writing, and in Counseling Psychology--from Humboldt State University, and a B.A. in English from St. Bonaventure University. Flashes of Lightning, his collection of 52 short, short stories was published by Fithian Press in 2016.
Stilson Snow deserves credit and kudos for his two photos at Neil's performance at Booklegger in Old Town, Eureka. Robert Adams took the photo for the poem "Black Crow Visits While I Chop Wood." Judi Tarpey took the photo on this page of Neil by the River Garavogue in Sligo Town, Ireland, and the photo on the Contact Page of Neil at the Ink People Center show. Neil Tarpey shot the rest of the photos, except for three photos for the poems, "Raking the Pears," "A Lot on Her Plate," and "A Dog's Prayer" [the one of the boy and the hound dog], which were stock photos for free use.