Amazon www.todayiamamman.net Category:  Literary Fiction Publisher: Savant Books and Publishing ISBN-10:  0984117520 Type: Fiction Pages: 282 Copyright: Feb 11,2010 ISBN-13: 9780984117529 A 50 year old man goes to a high school and beats up a 15 year old boy, then goes home and waits to be arrested. The reason for his strange actions is revealed in flashbacks to his youth. The novel is partly autobiographical and deals with issues of racism, bullying, and coming-of-age from 2 points of view - from Steven Goldman as a 12 year old boy who faces these problems as a child and David, when he's an adult and his son faces the similar problems. How far would a boy go to be accepted by his friends? How far would a man go to protect his family? Excerpt I’m not going to say it was a fair fight because it wasn’t meant to be. You use whatever advantage you have because you never go into a fight hoping to lose. Still, the odds seemed pretty even: I was about one-hundred and sixty pounds to his one hundred and thirty, but he was taller – close to five-foot nine and I was only five-foot five. He had youth but I had experience. He was fifteen and I was fifty. I waited for him on the sidewalk by the schoolyard, wondering if he would have his buddies with him. This could go either way: when kids get a whiff of blood, anything can happen. Not that that was going to change my mind. At 3:20 P.M., the school bell rang right on schedule and my heart began to thump like the first time I took a drag from a cigarette, or unhooked a girl’s bra, or stole something from the corner store. To calm my nerves, I went over my plan in my head one more time, envisioning the outcome before it happened. I even rehearsed what I was going to say, something brief and to the point just before I put him down to make sure he’d have something to think about afterwards. There he was, coming through the main doors with his friends, some of whom had even been inside my house. But today they were hanging with the wrong kid. Just as well, maybe they’d learn a lesson too. Close in on him right off. Watch his feet. First shot to the nose. Then when he goes down, put the boots to the motherfucker. Advice that had been jangling around in my head since childhood. I moved in from the side using the outflow of students to cover my approach. Just a few more steps… “Todd Holloway? Do you know who I am?” ‘Yeah,” he answered, as if I barely mattered in his world. That would change in about two seconds. My right fist flew and I hit him hard in the nose. I chose this spot for two reasons: first, to cause the most immediate amount of pain, and second, because the first one to land a punch in a fight generally wins. Instinctively, the kid brought his hands up to stem the flow of blood gushing out of his nostrils, which left his mid section unprotected. That’s when I buried my other fist deep into his gut, knocking the wind out of him and sending him to the ground in tears. Not such a big man now, are you? His legs thrashed out at me,more to keep me away than to do any damage. Then I turned to his buddies and stared each of them in the eye to show them I wasn’t afraid. I heard one of them call me a “fuckin’ bully,” but instead of rushing me he knelt down to help his friend while another ran back into the school to report the assault. When I knew for sure that young Holloway wasn’t getting back up to fight again and the others weren’t in the mood for a swarming, I turned and walked the long way home. Two hours later I was having pasta and shrimp with my wife, Linda, and our three children, when there was a knock on the door. I opened it to find two police officers. “Steven Goldman?” I nodded yes, at which point the first cop informed me that I was under arrest. I heard my wife gasp and the kitchen chairs scrape the floor as the family came running, just in time to witness the second cop snap a pair of handcuffs on my wrists.

JEWISH TRIBUNE
First-time novelist takes on bullies
Contributed by Joanne Hill
Tuesday, 20 April 2010
Last Updated Wednesday, 21 April 2010
TORONTO – The situation is all too common: a child is bullied but does his best to live through it and put it behind
him, until years later when he learns that his own child is being bullied. The feelings of dread, terror and helplessness
come rushing back as he relives his victimization. He hears the echo of his own voice as his child pleads,
“Don’t say anything, Dad, it’ll only make it worse.”
The novel, Today I am a Man, begins as 50-year-old Steve Goldman methodically sets out to exact revenge on his
son’s bully. His subsequent arrest, and a night in jail, force Steve to deal with the emotional fallout from his past.
First-time novelist Larry Rodness joked to the attentive audience at his recent book launch at Indigo Yorkdale that
“83 per cent” of his novel is autobiographical; unlike his protagonist, Rodness did not resort to physical
violence to stop his son’s bully.
Most of the novel takes place in California, where Rodness and his family moved from Toronto in the early ’60s.
“Toronto was very mild,” Rodness told the Jewish Tribune. “We would have arguments with kids,
there would be a little bit of the bullying, but not to the extent to where it was down in LA.... I was taken from a nice little
wading pool into the deep end right away, without being acclimatized to the culture at all. So I found myself, you know,
what do I do here, how do I hold on, who do I cling to?”
The novel follows two timelines: one with the adult Steve dealing with the legal and social consequences of his actions
while coming to terms with his past, and the other with the teenaged Steve preparing for his Bar Mitzvah, making new
friends, trying to adjust to a violent gang culture and learning about girls. In both story lines, Steve must find his way
through difficult situations and, in the process, learn what it means to be a man.
The story is told in an easy-to-read style, with plenty of humour, that would suit both adults and teens. Since it is told from
Steve’s viewpoint, it includes some swearing and mild sex scenes. Steve is a likeable character and it
doesn’t take long before the reader genuinely cares about him.
Rodness has given a lot of thought to the phenomenon of bullying.
“Obviously there’s a hierarchy in the students’ society. Everybody’s looking to find out where
they’re placed. When a bully hits a kid, he’s really asking a question. He’s saying, ‘Where
am I standing, where are you standing?’ And if that kid doesn’t respond... or if he runs, the bully’s
not getting his answer. The bully has to get his answer one way or another; if it’s not from the kid, it’s from
a higher authority, to say, ‘This is where you stand, this is your line, you cannot cross it,’ and that’s
when it stops. Whether it’s a teacher, the police or a parent. But he’s looking for an answer: ‘How
far can I go, what do I do, who are you and who am I?’
“I’m not saying he’s right for doing it, I’m just trying to understand why he does what he
does. Because a bully will keep after you if you keep backing down: he won’t stop. He’ll keep going. And
then there’s a time when you actually have a fight. And even if the kid loses, there’s a respect
that’s gained, and they become friends after, because the younger kid, the smaller kid has answered the older kid
and said, ‘Okay, I know you can beat me up, but I stood up to you, now we know where we stand.’ And
quite often they become friends after. But it’s not until then that that happens.”
Today I am a Man is available at Israel’s Bookstore, The Batner Bookstore and Amazon.com. For more
information, visit www.TodayIAmAMan.net.
Jewish Tribune
http:/

CANADIAN JEWISH NEWS
Musician’s first book is ‘80 per cent biographical’
By ANDY LEVY-AJZENKOPF, Staff Reporter
Friday, 21 May 2010
Larry Rodness’ first book, Today I Am A Man (Savant Books), opens with an uncomfortable scene: a man in his 50s beating up on a teenager outside a high school to avenge his son.
After reading the book’s explosive opening chapter, you start to get glimpses into the psyche of Steven Goldman, the book’s protagonist.
both He’s a man haunted by his past; a victim of bullying and abuse – physical and mental – by the designs of his peers, and he’s a loving father and husband trying to come to terms with his demons.
In a recent interview with The CJN, Rodness explained that though the characters are fictional, the story is really “80 per cent biographical” and that the Goldman character is based on his own experiences as a youth.
In the book, Goldman recounts how his family moved from Toronto to Los Angeles for three years at the behest of his father in order to try to live the American dream.
Rodness’ family did the same thing in 1963.
“My family thought we were going to the land of opportunity,” Rodness said. Instead, his family eked out a meagre living before finally returning to Toronto “defeated, with our tails between our legs.”
In the book, young Goldman, the transplanted high schooler describes trying to fit into the surfer culture of 1960s Los Angeles. He befriends a gang of delinquent youths in high school to become one of the popular boys.
In the process, he discovers a love of music and more importantly, his own moral fibre.
Goldman’s newfound friends turn out to have their own agendas and revel at misleading and tormenting the naive Jewish kid from Canada, getting him into trouble as often as they can.
His one solace is the love of a girl who lives next door, who supports him through each new crisis of faith and friendship.
Rodness, a Toronto musician, said he originally wrote the story as a screenplay and has been shopping it around to gauge interest from filmmakers.
“One of the life lessons I learned [while living in L.A. as a youth] was how to deal with a bully,” he said, adding that readers of his book will find it’s all about “sexual awakenings, learning respect for women… [and] realizing that if you’re fortunate in life, you find the right person to grow with.”
He said he let family members read the manuscript before publishing it and that he was happy they were all “OK with it.”
The title comes from the often uttered phrase used by bar mitzvah boys in their thank-you speeches.
“Every kid says, ‘Today I am a man,’ but not every kid understands what this means as a bar mitzvah,” Rodness said, adding that his experiences at that age taught him that one doesn’t get something for nothing, and that you shouldn’t always look for the “easy way” in life.
He said that every child experiences some type of bullying in their formative years, parents need to face this fact and not run from it. It’s a lesson he hopes readers will take away from the book.
Today I Am A Man is available on Amazon.com and locally at Israel’s, The Judaica Centre, and Batner Bookstore.