Enter Stage Left

"While there is a lower class, I am in it, while there is a criminal element, I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free."
--Eugene V. Debs

Hello, and welcome to my blog!  I'm setting this up until I can get a more permanent home established, but I wanted to give some background to help put past and future posts in context.

I grew up in a small city in Wisconsin on the shores of Lake Michigan, a very blue-collar area dominated by the manufacturing and tavern industry.  My family was deep into both, having had parents who served as elected officials in their unions.  All of them at some point tended, managed and/or owned a bar.

I went to good public schools during the '80s and had a lot of encouraging teachers.  Pretty typical of the time, I was into Star Wars, Transformers, GI JOE, pro wrestling, Atari, and MTV.  Despite all that, I still read young adult versions of writings by Twain, Poe, Melville, and pretty much anything with a story to tell, especially comic books.  By the end of the decade, I was a solid B student because I was playing Dungeons and Dragons multiple nights a week, working at a movie theater, watching movies for free when I wasn't working, playing hours of Nintendo, and reading/writing as much fantasy and sci-fi as I could.

I joined the Navy out of high school because I needed money for school and wanted to travel.  I served honorably for probably the bare minimum of active duty I had to do (a subject for another post) and got out to attend college.  That didn't go quite as planned, but it was all good.  I was doing lots of traveling, working on a novel, and whatever else I thought would expand my horizons.

During that time, the late '90s, I read everything from Kurt Vonnegut and his writings, in many ways, articulated a view and version of socialism that I would adopt, more or less.  Ralph Nader got me out to vote for the first time and I was able to participate in the anti-war movement after 9/11.  Since then, just trying to keep the Democratic Party anti-war and focused on workers.

In more recent years, things have been far less exciting.  Working full-time when my back doesn't go out on me.  Played disc golf competitively as an amateur and pro when my back didn't prevent it.  Working on a small business in my spare time, as well as trying to get back into writing.

Anyway, thanks for taking the time if you read this far and follow me for updates on this year's activities.