A collection of essays on life. Echoing Kerouac, Thompson and La Rochefoucauld with biting humor, incisive insight and a soupcon of sarcasm, Oropollo skewers modern mores and assumptions with his penetrating observations.

This book tells the story of five interventionists who work the streets of some of Los Angeles’ toughest neighborhoods. It articulates who they were and how they got to be who they are now. Each story has similarities and differences but each provides a close-up of a life most of us only see through the lens of Hollywood fantasy. This book is the reality behind that fantasy. It gives credit for the hard, dangerous and usually unsung work each of these individuals do.This book utili...

Beyond the Bars is the riveting story of how one man rose from the depths of “the hole” in prison, to the highs of the championship podium.As a young gang member Chris Luera was looking for a life of success and glory. He found near death experiences, and solitary confinement. In taut, dramatic prose he tells his story of life as a lost youth, who didn’t fit in, to finding his tribe on the gym floor, and becoming a champion.The family Chris Luera was born into was ...