Kevin Thornton doesn’t know where his parents are right now. He doesn’t know what state they live in or what their phone number is, and he doesn’t care. Thornton’s tumultuous childhood is the subject of the M.L.A. candidate’s memoir “Middle Man,” from which he read May 11 in Decker Auditorium.

“This is a journey,” the 47-year-old says. “I’ve carried these things with me for a lifetime, and finally writing about it has been a cathartic experience. I would want people who read my memoir to learn that you can walk away from a bad childhood and rebuild yourself. The message is that you don’t have to become what someone else tells you you are.”

Thornton’s chiseled features and laser-beam eyes lend him an air of intensity. His conversation is at once pointed, irreverent, and personal. He grew up as the middle child of a teenage mother in the Bronx, N.Y., feeling unwanted, unloved, and worse – abused.

“When you’re a kid, you accept your surroundings,” he says. “For all I knew, everyone was getting kicked in the face.”

That raw emotion was channeled into the book’s tidy 16 chapters, edited by Assistant English Professor Kate Dobson.

“I’m very excited about the work,” Dobson says. “It is funny, irreverent, and devastatingly sad. I certainly think we are lucky to have such talented students graduating from our M.L.A. program.”

Thornton has just picked up his cap and gown, and he won't let go of the bag. He marvels at the fact that he is about to earn a master's degree, since college was never in his plans. He graduated from high school in Dayton, Ohio, and was working as a clerk at an insurance company when his boss forced him to enroll in community college. He eventually earned a degree in Communication from Dayton, Ohio’s Wright State University in 1982 and went on to write for Ohio newspapers for nearly a decade. He now works in public relations for Constellation Energy in Baltimore. Ira Zepp, professor of Religious Studies emeritus, encouraged Thornton to earn his M.L.A. at McDaniel.

“He is one of the most authentically free spirits I have ever met,” Zepp says. “He’s a genuine transparent human being, and that is such a source of freedom for him.”

Thornton talks openly about overcoming alcohol addiction nearly two decades ago, and the smoking addiction that stuck with him. To fuel his memoir, Thornton traveled back to the Bronx, but the glimpse into his past did little to erase the pain of his childhood memories.

“There will never be a hugging, crying, strings-playing scene with my family,” he says matter-of-factly. “But that’s okay. I’ve made a long journey and writing ‘Middle Man’ has helped me see how far I’ve come and how much I’ve overcome. This has been the most energizing positive experience I’ve had in years.”

Thornton is, in every respect, a family man. Happily married for 25 years, he flips through the crinkled pictures in a plastic wallet frame. There’s his son Kevin, who looks so much like his father. Sixteen-year old Sean poses in wrestling gear, and daughter Shannon, who plans to attend college in West Virginia this fall, is captain of her cheerleading team.

“Inherently I knew I needed to be loved,” he says. “I decided to treat other people the way I wanted to be treated. I’m always telling my kids I love them. It’s all I wanted and it’s not that hard to do, especially with your own children.”

Thornton plans to teach a poetry course at Carroll Community College this summer, while he puts the finishing touches on his manuscript and looks for a publisher.

McDaniel College's Master of Liberal Arts program is an interdisciplinary graduate program for adults interested in crossing the boundaries of a traditional, career-oriented approach. Interested participants include those who seek to explore new disciplines in the liberal arts, those who hope to supplement their professional education by continued intellectual growth, or those who wish to satisfy their continuing intellectual curiosity and creativity. McDaniel College is an active member of the Association of Graduate Liberal Studies Programs.