Papa Al was born in a clothing mill town near Boston, Massachusetts over five decades ago, as the paternal grandson of Sicilian Immigrants and the maternal grandson of Italian (Naples) Immigrants. He finished the sixth grade and turned eleven in the same year his parents would relocate to the West Coast, looking for a better life in California. (They found it in the beautiful Santa Clara Valley that was destined to later become the famous Silicon Valley. Settling in Saratoga, CA, they founded a business that was to serve the family for 35 years until their retirement.)

Papa Al is the proud father of two children, a grown son and daughter; grandfather to their seven children. And, stepfather of two which added another two grandchildren to the total, now nine beautiful grandkids!

Papa Al and Nana Dianna call Citrus Heights their home (it's close to Sacramento, CA). The winters are a bit colder and wetter, and the summers are a bit hotter than what they were accustomed to in the Bay Area, but they still love the place! At least the rivers (the Sacramento and the American Rivers) and streams have water in them, which is not customary in the Bay Area.

Looking back on that time in his life, he must have been a glutton for punishment! But he sure loved learning about stuff. There was so much catching up to do since he skated through high school, doodling in the margins of his books instead of paying attention! Here's a list of colleges and universities that he attended and/or graduated from:

His studies were in Business, Psychology, Philosophy, Education and Art, and covered a twelve year span from the beginning to the end; plus to make matters worse it completely spanned the sixties! It's amazing that he can remember all of it too, a lot of his friends still can't! The sixties were a kind of hazy time for most that lived through it. He was a moderate activist, card carrying liberal, who didn't buy the Domino Theory in Asia at all!

Prof. Al's teaching experience has been varied throughout the years. His first experience was as a Graduate Teaching Assistant for two years at Montana State, he taught 3 classes each quarter (painting, drawing and design) and took classes to complete his Masters Degree at the same time.

Returning to California upon graduation, teaching jobs were scarce for new people with Masters Degrees (but no experience). So he tried Substitute Teaching for a year in three school districts, Campbell, Santa Clara and Fremont in the Bay Area. They kept him busy every school day and after school let out, he went to work in a grocery store until midnight, it was a hard year. The next year he landed a plum job, he thought, in Pennsylvania as the town's Art Teacher / Supervisor of the department for two Elementary, one Junior and one Senior High School. He would be teaching Jr. High Art in the morning, Sr. High Art in the afternoon and on Fridays he would teach at one of the elementary schools. (Somebody had to be crazy here!) And, he did it for two years to boot!

His next teaching job came years later at Heald College in Sacramento for a stint. (Papa Al enjoyed a 17 year relationship with Cooporate America and Kraft Foods before returning to his first love, teaching.) And since then, Folsom Cordova Adult School, American River College plus Sierra College which all keep him very busy teaching, exactly what he loves to do!

Papa Al's taste in music is a little eclectic! When he was a youngster he ushered in rock 'n roll music, thought that Fats Domino was the coolest on his 'Blueberry Hill', and Chuck Berry got them all arockin'. The Beatles spoke for his generation and for some to come. During the Seventies he fell in love with the music of Peter Frampton as he came alive, Kenny Loggins & Jimmy Mesina, Dan Seals & Dash Croft, Hall & Oates, and The Little River Band come to Papa Al's mind immediately.

In the late Seventies he became interested in Country Music and has been a fan since. He has never been a fan of the 'older' Country & Western style of music, but thinks Garthzilla Brooks is the cream of the new crop, Clint Black, Vince Gill, Reba, The Judds, Brooks & Dunn, Alabama and so many more now, it would look like a glossary if he named all that he likes to listen to.

But, as an eclectic, sometimes he loves to listen to the Three Tenors in Concert. Pavarotti's Nessun dorma can bring up such emotion in him. Papa Al discovered his fondness of Opera from one of those horrible pledge driven PBS nights with the Three Tenors a couple of years ago. Then he discovered Yanni the same way--he really likes him too! In fact he likes a lot of the New Age Music. Craig Chaquico formerly of the Jefferson Starship (said to be a Sacramentan himself), has a great sound now and Papa Al owns a couple of his CDs too.

As an artist, Papa Al thinks he has a fairly broad approach to the subject, but of course at his age, he does have opinions and he can like what he wants to and it doesn't matter what others think! Papa Al has always been fond of the Impressionists, the look has never gone out of style for him. And, some of his more recent work has a direct link to that era. If he had lived during that period, he probably would be hanging out with the likes of Renoir, Degas, Monet, and Manet.

Papa Al's training is in the formal arts, drawing, painting (oil and acrylic), printmaking (lithograph and serigraph), calligraphy, really anything two- dimensional. He has never been very good at anything three- dimensional as in sculpture, pottery etc. His love of recent years has been in Prisma Color Pencil Painting, he loves it's ability to build layer upon layer, creating a luminosity much like the glazing techniques of oil painting or for that matter acrylic painting too.

Over the years Papa Al has had several one-man shows around the country, but I'm sorry to say that since he was introduced to his computer, he hasn't devoted any real time to his old love. Though the graphic possibility of computer art hasn't escaped his attention, he does love working with the Share Ware Paint Shop Pro software that he uses for this Web site. And brother does he have a lot to learn yet!

You can see some of his art on these pages, in particular, some early PhotoShop work here: Working with Fonts, this one demonstrates the differences between a GIF and JPG in a design. In this one, try to Light the Lantern by mousing over the image. And, some Flash Animation here, (but the main Web site is almost all done in Flash MX 2004): Flash Animation. I hope you like them!

I consider this award, the finest a graphic artist could ever earn! I truely admire (and remain in awe of) Rita Peitz outstanding Graphic Design work, and proudly refer my students to her site. This is what she had to say about my site in her award letter:

"Dear Professor Al Fichera,
Your works continue to be an inspiration to the internet community. I again reviewed your site and thank you for the great work you have done to teach others the working of html. Your Gold award shall be forthcoming in a few days. Again, thank you for your fine work.
Rita
Team Creations
Germany"

Al's Really Cool Page
Art, see above.
Balmy days and nights.
ABC's Charles Gibson, Diane Sawyer and Barbara Walters.
Ditto, Martha Stewart.
Christmas in California topless!
Color, any kind of blue you can imagine.
Computers, big powerful ones!
Education, there's so much to learn, and so little time!
FAMILY
   My Dad, Son and Grandson and me, 4 Generations
   My parents now in Cupertino, CA Married for 65 years in 2003
   My Dad Loves to Garden. Check out his Figs.
   My wonderful Aunt Emily 95 years old this year!
   Our Daughter Heather's daughter Tiffany, See Nana Dianna & Tiffany.
   Our Daughter Heather's son Caleb. See Caleb at his quietest and playing Soccer.
   Our Son Sean Serving his country in Afganistan.
   Our Son Chris and Family. Camping with Son Chris and his family.
     Chris' Daughter Annalisa. Now a college student in New Mexico.
     Chris' Son Christopher. Is quite an athlete.
     Chris' Daughter Malissa. Now in High School.
     Chris' Daughter Elena. Plays soccer.
   Our Daughter Victoria and Family. See Victoria and Daniel
     Victoria's son. See Nana Dianna & Daniel.
     Victoria's son Daniel's Web page made when 12 years old. Grandson Daniel's Home Page
     Victoria's daughters. See Radiance Little Star and Starla Dawn.
Food mostly in this order: Italian, Greek, Asian, Mexican. And, cooking once in a while.
Going to Big Cities, then leaving to go home.
Hawaii, California, British Columbia, New England.
Knowing both sides to a story.
Love of Cats, esp. my Toulee! who has passed away now.
Music, see above.
My New Chrysler Sebring Convertible! My Sebring is White w/ Tan top. Update: My car bit the dust, is no longer with us, pitty I sure loved it. I now have joined the ranks with a SUV crowd. It's big, nice and the wife loves it, (she hated the convertible).
My newest toy, Cross-over Sport SUV, the best one yet.
Nuts, any kind except chestnuts.
Optimistic people, pessimists are boring.
People, especially those willing to learn.
Starry skies free from the city lights.
Swimming in my pool.
Technology and where it's heading.
The Future excites me; the past is boring.
The World Wide Web.
TV, FOX Web site, all the News Magazine shows and most of the better sitcoms that make me laugh out loud.
Walter Cronkite, sure miss him on the air!
Warm towels after a shower.
Water that's warm, not like our frigid Pacific Coast water.
Wow California Cult Wines, but more realistic...Sutterhome Wines and Good Canadian Whiskey.
Working for Kraft Foods until early Retirement.
Working on my Web site.

Trying to think about what I don't like.
Let's start with over-priced goods in California.
Mushrooms, yah I know I'm Italian and I'm supposed to like them, tough!
Broccoli, ditto.
Shell fish, Squid, Mussels while I'm thinking about it.
Things overcooked.
Boring people.
Loud obnoxious music (noise), especially the boom-boom music you can hear for blocks. (You'd think that the kids that listen to that stuff would endanger their heartbeat rhythm.)
Making this list, I hate negative thinking people!
Pictures of Me,Taken by my home office Web cam (tho this is better than the last one I used)
(I like more things than I dislike!)

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