All content ©copyright (1991 - 2015) by Van Reed Branson
Van Reed Branson is.. a darling curmudgeon, a sweet little cynic, among other oxymorons befitting the enigmatic.
A child of the 60's, a sponge of intellect, a major inculcator of the times then and thereafter, Van Branson grew up in the Riverside-Brookfield
suburban area of Chicago. In his youth, Van received the thriving generational beat of music, literary and visual arts pulsing as a constant in the heart of Chicago.
Van Branson's young years were spent playing baseball and reading classic novels far ahead of his age, reared in a family of educators
and thinkers of their day. Ethics, history and humanity molded the young boy in most impressionable ways, refining the point and style
of his quill-pen to-date.
After obtaining his BA from the University of Illinois, Van took a job in journalism at City News Bureau, a direct wire service for the
Chicago News Tribune ~ his first real look at the grim and often gory interiors of any great metro. He covered quite a few dark stories
requiring quick timing and tight concision ~ not an easy thing to an extra-sensitive... stories from the likes of a bad fire, where he
witnessed a young fireman fall to his death, to the John Wayne Gacy murders, taking pen-to-paper notes as sheet-covered boys were
carried out from the basement in numbers. Van held fast to this writing/editing job, proving that he had the staying power, the timing,
and the finesse to keep this coveted, salaried post
Some may say, from a distant view, "oh, he writes, but he drinks!", a quote coming in many forms in describing poets and writing mad-hatters
not dissimilar to Mr. Branson. He's had his share of many a hair of the dog biting down on one's few tufts claiming cap feathers, but this one
seems to grown them in strongly, with frequency.. indicative, perhaps, to busy-ness beneath. Top on or off, tap on with froth, this son's sword
is his pen. We hope you enjoy his scripted pictures of synesthetic imagery quite beyond.