Everything Erik H. Erikson said in his classic Childhood and Society is dramatized in this short contemporary narrative set on Long Island, New York. Stan the Man is friendly, and at most times warm. Unlike the teachers that hound the children where he works, hounding them relentlessly for their rebellious behaviors, the kids are fond of Stan. They often find him playing his accordion by the playground where they play wiffleball, those keys of the janitor to all the rooms at the school swinging from his hips as he plays.

BACK TO BASICS also reprints five of the classic vingettes from Piasecki's memoir at the heart of a new PBS show, Doing More with One Life. In this edition, find his vingettes "The Art of Being a Dog", "Coastal Bliss Exists", and others like "The Wind in his Backyard". Some of these have been archived on the national NPR author's corner pages read by Bruce, others are available by video at www.brucepiasecki.com. Enter the name Bruce Piasecki on YOUTUBE for these performances.

The parable ends" "Stan did not want to be tethered to the ground. His dream-work was his real work, after all, and his fascination in people as people was the dirty truth.

"Vital lies versus simple truths," Stan thought, as he turned by his sister's favorite church, The Lady of Lourdes, off a small mall and past his high school..."

"When we get back to basics, we are no longer tied to the earth, but instead, swing, thanks to the remarkable length of the ropes of the imagination, in an open box, in the open air. We stay in teh common and commodious car of the imagination as we dream, and as we walk, if we want to. Be not afraid."