Since I got invited to join Phazebook Progressive Social Networking Group and I accepted the invitation, I feel I should follow through and post a diary about myself. Especially since I think that this is a great idea. I hope this diary is the type of disclosure that Ramshield had in mind. If you want, head down under the squiggling squid and take a look at a wee bit of my life.
Quick Bio
I was born and raised in Tampa, Florida 50+ years ago. It was a cool place to grow up back then - fishing off of Gandy Bridge; sailing a Sunfish off the causeway; walking to school. My dad held me up so I could see President Kennedy come down Dale Mabry on the fateful trip that would end in Dallas. Unfortunately, I don't remember it. I had two older sisters both of whom developed Juvenile Diabetes. My older sister married a airman from Macdill Air Force Base. He was sent to Vietnam, and while he was away she died at an Air Force hospital of complications. My other sister is still alive but is battling a number of issues related to her diabetes. I have a half brother who I thought was my uncle until I was seventeen (it's a long story). My parents got a divorce in the 70's and engaged in much stone throwing . They're both still living. My father is the son of a country doctor from Kentucky and received a bronze star for his actions at the Battle of the Bulge. He has never really recovered from the war and suffers from depression and the effects of alcoholism (at 86 he has stopped drinking - go figure!). My mother was born very poor in northern Kentucky. She has always been smart with a strong and vibrant personality, but now, unfortunately, she's suffering from dementia.
I went to the University of Florida for two years than went to Farrier School and was a farrier for a few years before going back to college at the University of Georgia where I got my degree in education.
I taught high school for awhile then went to work for the City of Tallahassee. I worked with Neighborhood and Community services. I was mostly a liaison between neighborhood and homeowner associations and the city. I also have worked at writing and managing Title II and Title V community organizing federal grants. Finally, I've written scripts (one produced and several optioned) and worked on small films.
Things that influenced my politics:
Our family had an African-American maid when I was growing up. She would fix me lunch and take care of me when I came home from preschool. She was very kind to me, and I grow to think of her as part of my family. I realize now that I have no idea how she felt about us. She may have hated us. But I felt close to her, and can remember hearing her(this was probably the early 70's) talking to my sisters about a trip she was taking to Georgia to see her family and how scared she was because the trip was fraught with dangers for an African-American family. I was appalled to learn that there would be no public bathrooms or restaurants available to them, and that they would have to get to her family's home before dark or they might be arrested or worse. My parents also told us that the "N" word was not to be used in the house because it would hurt her feelings. I remember taking her home sometimes and meeting her children.
I spent many of my summers at my grandfather's house/office (he was a country doctor in northern Kentucky and his house doubled as his office - two nurses even lived in the house). He treated many poor people. He called, them, I think kindly, hillbillies. He had many patients who paid their bills in rabbits, produce, or services. He also had a number of people who couldn't pay anything. These where usually old people. Doctor, that's what we called him, worked seven days a week. His typical work day was as follows: up at 4 a.m and out of the house to make house calls; he made his hospital rounds at 8; and he would pick up his mail at the post office then be back at his house at 9:30 to sort through the mail, the big meal and I do mean big meal was at 10:30, by 11:30 he was down in the basement where his office was seeing patients - it was first come first served, he was usually done by 7:30. Often he would have to go out in the middle of the night to deliver a baby - he and his nurses delivered over 5000 babies during his 60 year practice. I sometimes went on house calls with him and saw how poor his patients were and understood that for my grandfather being a doctor had little to do with money and everything to do with helping people.
I'm bisexual. I think this influences the way I see politics. I don't understand how, women, ethnic minorities, or members of the LGBT community can be Republicans.
I worked for Jimmy Carter's reelection campaign and when Reagan won I got rid of my TV and haven't had broadcast or cable TV since. Neither my wife nor I miss it. And this makes a difference in how we see the world. When 9/11 happened we were able to limit how many times we saw the towers come down and all the other coverage. I think we were much better able to maintain a proper prospective on the events than friends of ours who were inundated with all those images and sounds.
Working for the City of Tallahassee I dealt with neighborhood and homeowner associations and learned how local politics works. Also, I saw how hard and earnestly state, city and county employees work. Yes, there are slackers, but overall government workers are great people doing a very difficult job.
Personal life:
I've been married to a wonderful woman for almost 18 years. We have a nearly perfect partnership. We live on 80+ acres in north Florida with our horses, many cats and one very large dog.
I spend my time writing, working on our property and taking care of my family (which includes the animals). My wife and I and our 185 lb Great Dane are pet therapists. We take our boy to the state mental hospital, hospice, assisted living facilities and into the courts. He is known and loved by many.
Halloween is our favorite holiday. We decorate up big time and go to Universal's Halloween Horror Nights as well as visiting local haunts.
I ride our horses and have taken up cycling (I did my first metric century, 62 miles, at the Gulf Coast Cyclefest this past November - yay for me).
Favorite Movies:
Universal Classic Monsters, All Mel Brooks (except possibly Men in Tights), Alien series, Halloween, all Alfred Hitchcock movies, most Tim Burton movies (I'm not a fan of his animation), John Candy films, Steve Martin films, the original and Peter Jackson's remake of King Kong, Lost In Space, Harry Potter movies, the new Star Trek, lots of small films particularly from the UK, all the Christopher Guest films, Harry Shearer's works and about a thousand other films. Like John Waters - it is the very rare film I can't find something to like about it.
Favorite Radio/Podcasts
Savage Love, KCRW's Le Show, Diane Rehms, Film Sack, Car Talk, Big Picture Science, History Extra, NPR's Fresh air, NPR's It's All Politics, NPR's Wait, Wait,...Don't Tell Me, It's Only A Game, and Dan Carlin's Hardcore History.
News Sources:
St. Petersburg Times, New York Times, CNN online, BBC online.
Books and Authors:
H.P. Lovecraft, William Faulkner, Flannery O'Conner, David Sedaris, Jules Verne, Jonathon Kellerman, Agatha Christie, Ray Bradbury, Edgar Allen Poe, history books, fortean and science books, etc. etc.
Magazines:
Oddly the only magazines I have a subscription to and that I read every month are Fortean Times and Consumer Reports.
Favorite TV shows: (since I don't have broadcast TV or Cable I get the shows through Netflix - which means I often get to see whole seasons in a couple days without commercials).
Deadwood, all the Star Treks, Ugly Betty, Big Love, Life on Mars (British version), Office (British version), Cracker, Black Books, Black Adder, Absolutely Fabulous, French and Saunders, Midsomer Murders, X-Files, Futurama, Simpsons, Dexter, Little Briton, League of Gentlemen, Breaking Bad etc. etc.
Favorite Music:
Pogues, Classic Rock, Sea Shanties, Folk music, John McCutcheon, Dropkick Murphys, Poxy Bogards, Warren Zevon, Jimmy Buffet etc. etc.
This is probably TMI, but it was fun to write. As you can see from my nickname, I try not to take myself too seriously. None of us have all the answers. Most of the time I'm quite sure that I don't have any of the answers. But I think the point is to keep bumbling along doing as much good as you can along the way.