Book excerpt: Always Up Against It will tell you who the author, Dean Vinka, is, who he was, and who he is becoming. Read closely, but you need not look far to know that he is you and me. Not only enjoying the simple things in life, he sucks the marrow out of them, and puts it on display for us all to see. His life is his art form, the people in it are his characters, his experiences the story. You can be a part of it. The walls of narrow-mindedness, complacency, and conformity are no longer. Unified are spirits afire, breaking through and shining magnificently, so that nothing save the light itself could possibly exist. The feeling is warm, the taste is like honey. Always Up Against It is a unique collection of poems. It is a chemical reaction of thoughts, emotions, and experiences from an individual who speaks on behalf of us all. In a world of struggles against society, conformity, and self, Always Up Against It delivers a refreshingly insightful perspective on the trials of life.