Joey Fulco

The Dirt Man

My name is Joseph C. Hagin. The C stands for Charles, as that was my father’s name. I never knew my father as he had passed on my 7th birthday. Joseph was my mother’s father’s name, so I guess my mom won out when it came to picking my first name. For some reason, every time I would ask my mother about what had happened to my father she would be extremely vague and always changed the subject. I knew his death had some strange circumstances behind it, but I never really pressed the issue. She would usually just offer that he drank too much and so on. Being born in a small town just outside of the North Dakota plains made her story more plausible as there wasn’t much to do but to drink, especially for a poor and struggling dirt man. In short, dad dug holes for a living. To say we were dirt poor is certainly a pun intended!