"I think, therefore I write.
I feel, therefore it is poetry."

Sal passed away on November 18, 2008.
Here are messages left by family and friends.

Whether working or just plain schmoozing, SAL PARLATO JR sticks to what he knows best: English as a Second Language, Education of the Deaf, and writing about those disciplines--factually or poetically.

How did he get that way? Civilized (more or less) by the Grey Nuns of the Sacred Heart in Buffalo, he was handed over to the Jesuits of Canisius High School, and then underwent advanced Blackrobe indoctrination at their College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. Sal claims that after those 16 years of Catholic discipline, his overseas tour of duty as a Marine corporal during the Korean War was "a snap."

Then, civilian-armed with a Master's in Education from Syracuse University, he explored career domains at Encyclopaedia Britannica Films, the Rochester Institute of Technology, the World Health Organization in Geneva, and English as Second Language in Greece (um, NY).

While managing to hold on to those day jobs, on the side he somehow (thanks to his supportive wife) published eight reference/utilization books on Deafness and ESL, plus a reader/text on American life and language, lots of poetry, many articles, and (let's get numeric here) over 100 letters to various editors.

In his semi-retirement, with The Great American Novel languishing in his socks drawer, Sal challenged himself to self-publish a serio-comic expose about his experiences in the Marine Corps boot camp at notorious Parris Island in 1954.

Married for 40+ years ("If I knew it was going to last so long, I'd have tried to be a better husband"), Sal and wife Dolores Frates live just outside of Rochester, NY, where and from which they enjoy other people's children, cats, baseball, opera, reading, and travel.

Photo by Margaret Miyake.