Bird From the Thicket

This story is to reach out with a hand of hope to the 2.3 million people suffering from Bi-Polar/Manic

Depression and those close to them. It is an autobiographical account that takes the reader through the

joys and sorrows of the author's life. For those dealing with depression or grieving from the loss of a

loved one this book guides you through with honesty, courage and faith. Gerry Bradley found his way back

from the highs and lows to the "light at the end of the tunnel". He now lives a rewarding and fulfiling

life and you can too.

Biography:

Places are important to Gerry Bradley. Like postcards from the edge of highs and lows unknown to

many, his perspective is unique. Bradley's experiences from Oklahoma to Seattle to Marin County and down

the central California coast are documented not only in his memory, but now in his memoirs. His debut

narrative, BIRDS FROM THE THICKET is available on the World Wide Web; and subsequent books, CHIT-CHAT

each of short stories and written in his Paul Harvey-commentary style will be available in the near

future.

Born in Enid, Oklahoma, 1941, Bradley was raised in Middle America in the post war era. Until age ten

Bradley grew up with the red clay of Oklahoma in his hands, a memory he holds to this day perhaps a

metaphor to a man molding his life using the gifts he's been given.

In his fifth grade year, Bradley moved with his mother and brother Seattle's Queen Anne Hill. From

the Sixth grade through his junior year in high school Bradley remained with his family in Seattle. John

Doty an English teacher at Queen Anne High asked Bradley to read his work to the sophomore class. At the

conclusion, Doty mused "You have just heard the work of a future American writer."

Just before his senior year, the family was uprooted again moving to Marin County's San Rafael,

California. Tumultuous in any erea, the move lent angst to an alchemy of emotion Bradley had yet to

recognize.

Reporting for duty in 1961 Bradley enlisted in the United States Air Force, stationed at Vandenberg

Air Force Base. Bradley was honorably discharged as an Air Police Officer in 1965. From there, he

earned a bachelor's degree in education and speech communication at Seattle Pacific College, for several

years he taught English, developmental reading and coached junior high sports in Washington State. In

1987 Bradley became a manufacture's rep for Inland Pacific, and since Cosco Marking Inc. today is a team

member of National Specialties - Promotional Marketing Products (Specialty Advertising). Bradley was the

host of "Chit-Chat" featured each Tuesday morning on talk radio, KLAY-AM from Tacoma, Washington. He has

written as a guest columnist for weekly newspapers in Washington and Oregon.

By all accounts Bradley's life looks like a pattern of the American dream. But within the folds are

glimpses into a nightmare that was unlocked within minutes when Bradley was diagnosed with bipolar

disorder, a chemical imbalance that plagues 2.3 million Americans. The malaise is characterized by

alternating mania and depression and the frenzy eclipsing the swings from euphoric, creative spurts of

sleeplessness to rock bottom depressions.

BIRDS FROM THE THICKET chronicles Bradley's life illustration how the disorder tips the scales from

normal behavior to a realization that things aren't quite right. More importantly, the narrative shows

how the disorder isolates those afflicted and the affect it has on family, friends, employers and co- workers,. In other words, if 2.3 million are directly afflicted, the disease conservatively affects ten

to twenty times that many by association.

Mr. Bradley lives with his wife, Sandra in Tacoma.

And the Foreword lends to the Bio with a certainty.

Gerry Bradley has told his story in BIRDS FROM THE THICKET.

Anyone who lived in those, precious mid-20th - century days in mid-America will recognize the joys and

heartaches that come with growing up. More than that, readers will find the ease of recollecting their

own early years, no matter where they lived.

Among his heartaches was the author's battle with a bipolar mood swing disorder that interrupted a

teaching career and forced him to seek ways to control it. The miracle he recognizes in maintaing that

control has also provided the impetus to express his self through words on paper. He wanted to show

others his story-in a book on the shelf,. And that he has done.

Gerry doesn't stop at writing his story. He shares the stories of those around him, beloved family

and everlasting friends. He looks to them to join in the tumultuous birdsong of memory, enriching their

lives as well as the story.

Birds has become an entwining of lives, from today and from yesterday, lives that grew from Gerry's

original story of self into an interlacing of friendships, happiness, sorrow, and all the exhilaration of

growing up with expectations of tomorrow, and all the time he expresses his gratitude for these friends

and his ultimate joy of life.