Who I Am
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My character defects include providing TMI and logorrhea. Both spring from mental health issues. Bear with me.
I am fascinated that individuals belong to multiple subcultures. We tend to identify people by two or three of them, typically sex, occupation, and ancestry or age. That simplifies our view of others to the detriment of finding common denominators.
My primary justification for providing TMI is a desire to offer ways to connect with others. My secondary justification is a desire to share enough that people will think I’m not hiding anything about myself.
I was 13 years old when I first had something I didn’t want anyone to know about. It isn’t something I am ashamed of or has been damaging to my psyche. I alluded to it in a flash fiction piece called “Tragically Hip.” If I make it to 83, I will write more about it.
The things I don’t talk or write about are part of who I am. Discussing them would provide a fuller picture but they aren’t necessary. I offer more than enough information to help people find ways to identify with me. See for yourself.
I am a gay, physically and mentally disabled, well-traveled, married, well-educated, former born again, Daoist, recovering, neo-retro-post-modern male of mongrel European descent transitioning from middle age to seniority who enjoys gardening, cooking, reading world history, and living with cats.
I am a writer in large part because I enjoy using the English language with its breadth, depth, and nuance. That and I was rendered unemployable in 2013 at the age of 52. I write stage plays and musicals, science fiction novels, short fiction, poems, essays, blogs, screenplays, television pilots, and a book on democracy meant to be the start of a group of books of political philosophy. Prior to becoming a writer, I was a political scientist, lawyer, and student success educator.
I am adamant about not using color to identify people’s ancestry. The colors used are inaccurate, were put in use by racists to create the idea of race and are used to identify only two or three ancestries. I prefer identifying people as being of European, African, Chinese, Indian, Indigenous, Arab, et cetera descent.
I am on a crusade to convince everyone that people who do not believe or are unsure if Joe Biden is the legitimate POTUS, people who believe that the 2020 election was rampant with fraud, and people who believe election rules must be changed to address fraud must be identified as delusional. The evidence and conclusions in sixty court cases, every state’s secretary of state, every ballot recount, the US Congress, the US Department of Justice, and every legitimate news organization demonstrate without question that Biden is the lawful POTUS, the election was the most secure election ever held in history, and the only changes needed to election rules is to make permanent the temporary ballot access procedures implemented because of concerns people wouldn’t vote during the pandemic. The people holding delusional beliefs are a growing danger to the representative democracy at the core of our political system.
The last two items reflect my devotion to accuracy and responsibility. I don’t get everything right. I come close because I generally limit what I say, write, or do to things about which I have substantial knowledge and experience. I am a firm believer in expertise. I do not have an opinion on matters that I have not studied, researched, or practiced. When I am wrong or make mistakes, I apologize, correct them, learn from them, and try to avoid the same ones in the future. Those delusional people think their opinions based on ignorance and lies ought to be valued the same as opinions based on critical analysis of verifiable evidence. They need to be disabused of that idea.
