Robert Joseph Greene

I always thought that Robert meant “farmer” in old English but I find out that Robert is an old German name that means “bright fame.” It’s taken from the old German name Hrodebert. The name is made up of two elements: “Hrod” which means fame and “Beraht” which means bright. My middle name is a typical name given to boys born Roman Catholic but it’s also my Grandfather’s first name.
The original last name was Green but my grandfather said that they added the “e” when he was in high school and refused to remove it.

Author
Wikipedia lists me as Canada’s only male romantic writer. So, I’m a romantic writer. They did have another by the name of Ronald Kirkbride but he also wrote westerns and he’s deceased.

Age: By the time this is published, I’ll be in my 50s

Provenance: I was born in Flushing, New York. My parents are Thomas Greene and Camilla (Church) Greene. I am their only son and their second and last child. I have an older sister named Kelli Anne.However, when I was 10 years old my parents moved us to the town of Trumbull in Fairfield County, Connecticut. For my Senior year in high school, I went to Private School Charles Péguy in Aix-en-Provence France. I returned to attend the University of San Francisco where I’m listed in the who’s who of famous alumni. The founders of Starbucks are also listed there.

How long have you lived in Vancouver? I moved here in 2008. I had lived in Montreal and Toronto. I thought I should give Vancouver a shot and I’ve lived here the longest.

Occupations: My first job was for Grand Union grocery store. I was 16 years old.
I worked for Gibraltar Savings and Loan while I attended the University of San Francisco.
Upon graduation, I interned at Warner Bros. But soon got into cable television which was an up and coming thing. I worked for Comcast cable in Seal Beach, CA From my window, I could see the surfer boys go past my street on the way to surf. I ended up working in the 4th largest cable system for the largest cable provider in the world which was TCI. It was there that I was recruited to work for The Sports Network (TSN) in Canada. They needed someone who was fluent in French and knew cable contracts. And, that is how I ended up in Canada.

Passions and Interests: I started writing short gay love stories with hidden messages. I wanted gay men to see that they could be valiant, chivalrous and loveable. I sold my short stories to various magazines and after a while, I had enough to put together an anthology.
The Gay Icon Classics of the World (ISBN 978-1927124437) is a collection of short gay love stories from different cultures around the World. This book has been translated into French, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, and German. I have a strong passion for human rights. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has taken up a lot of my time. I have also gotten into writing screenplays and stage plays.

What do people know you for? My friends would say that I’m gregarious, romantic, informative and funny.

Thoughts on Vancouver? I feel that Vancouver is being over built. I know that there is this theory of urban sprawl which they are trying to prevent but now with the issue of COVID and other communicable viruses, I think they need to rethink compacting people in condense high rises.

Tallulah’s Musings

I was introduced to Robert by another Robert who I met in Tokyo and who currently lives in Toronto. While we were having a chat and discussing the photoshoot Robert told me fascinating stories about his family and showed me photos, newspaper clippings and some vintage clothing. Robert’s grandmother Desaderal (Newton) Church who was a famous concert organist and pianist. One newspaper clipping took me back in time to the occasion of his grandmother getting married. The caption reported: “Miss Desaderal A. Newton Becomes Bride of Basil Church In Pretty Church Ceremony – exquisitely gowned in white satin, carried a bouquet of white roses”. As Anais Nin writes “Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.”

Conversation & Portrait by Tallulah
September 2020, Vancouver, Canada
Published September 2022