In order to give people a firm sense of who one is, I think it best not to structure an introduction chronologically or categorically. Doing so would end up looking like a resume of bare facts, which invariably leaves others with only a vague sense of who they just met.  I also don't want to segment this introduction into categories such as "Personal" (which wouldn't be personal at all) or "Academics" (which would sound pompous) or "Accomplishments" (which would just be bragging) or offer some other rigid title. I think the best way to get to know someone is to talk to him or her about different matters in no real pattern. I get to know people best when I discover who they are through their actions, where they've been, what they've done in the past, where they're going, who they're friends with, and what they like and dislike. Therefore, this introduction will resemble an attempt at "freewriting" myself -- in condensed form of course -- so be prepared for associations that might not make much sense or personal anecdotes that might not speak to the point.

    One of the facts that people seem shocked about is that I've been married for 11 years, which is an oddity these days, to my wife Britta, whom I met in high school.  After our high school graduation we married and moved to Cheyenne WY where we were stationed while I served in the US Air Force.  It was a dismal town located on the high plains, where a tree or significant body of water couldn't be found unless you drove for at least an hour in any direction. However, once we started exploring that area, we found some picturesque spots. Fort Collins CO was a great little college town. What I admired about it was that it was clean and some how harmoniously built into the landscape -- at least the parts I saw.  Colorado State University built the Rams' football stadium in between some low foothills, and although that's not a very natural looking place for a stadium, I thought it was better than leveling the hills to accommodate the structure.  In Fort Collins there was also some water at Horsetooth Reservoir, which maintained an adequate beach area. Of course, it was nothing compared to Northern Michigan's beaches, but it sufficed. The reservoir was actually an odd sort of place in the sense that, having grown up in the Upper Peninsula (UP) of Michigan, I just assumed that water lay everywhere. But this place had a large lake right in the middle of some huge mountains, at least they seemed so to me. They were actually the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Another thing that I enjoyed tremendously was downhill skiing and real mountain biking. Every chance I got I went to Loveland CO, the home of skiing Colorado natives, because it was cheap and fairly close to Cheyenne. I also went to Laramie WY to ski, but Colorado had better runs. Compared to the slopes and chairlift views in Colorado, Michigan's skiing spots look pitiful.

    We left Cheyenne and the Air Force after four years to start college at Northern Michigan University (NMU), in Marquette MI. Britta graduated with a degree in Art Education and I have a Master's degree in English literature. Britta was hired about a week after she graduated and now works in Kincheloe MI teaching elementary children. Marquette coincidentally has a ski hill and mountain biking is a huge sport up there; however, with school, part time work, and family (my daughter Darrel was about 3 or 4 then), I didn't even have the weekends to ski or bike. College is a nuisance that way. At least a full-time job gives one some time to one's
self. On the other hand, we were closer to Britta's extended family, and her brother lived in Marquette.  So if we weren't busy we would get together with his family or we could take off to Drummond Island at the eastern part of the UP to spend the holidays and sometimes the summers with her parents.  (Their home shown left.)

    The summer before I started my master's program at NMU (and after my son Sawyer was born) I landed a job managing an Outfitters shop on Drummond Island. The shop rented kayak, canoes and mountain bikes to tourists who couldn't think of things to occupy themselves in the "wilderness." One would suspect that I participated in a fair amount of those respective sports, but I actually didn't.  To prove this wild assertion, I have proof in this picture.  That's not me helping my daughter paddle the kayak, but my brother-in-law Richard. Oftentimes I found myself working 10 to 12 hour days, six and seven days a week, so I spent my "free" time doing anything that didn't involve outdoor recreation equipment, like cutting and splitting fire wood for my in-laws or helping my father in-law with some construction project around the house.  This is not to say that I didn't get to sneak out for an hour or two when things were slow.  I just didn't get many opportunities for longer treks, like paddling around Drummond Island for a week.  However, I did actually get the opportunity to paddle around Pictured Rocks in Munising MI.  This is a stretch of shoreline that is nothing but sheer rock extending 200 to 300 feet straight up from the water.  In spots, there are waterfalls and sea caves that one can paddle around.  The reason it's called Pictured Rocks is because the runoff and its minerals color the rock face creating some of the most brilliant shades and hues east of the Grand Canyon.

To the left is one glimpse of the shoreline; the formation's called Miner's Castle.

    During graduate school, I taught college composition as a Teaching Assistant while taking two classes a semester myself. Britta was also finishing up her course work, senior art exhibit, and starting her student teaching. It was an insane and pretty hectic time for us, but we survived it.

    At the present moment, I'm teaching EN 256 Advanced Composition and Research at Bay Mills Community College as well as setting up their new Web-based composition course. (If you're reading this, then I'm done.) I'm also teaching EN 111 College Composition I at Northern Michigan University. This fall I'll be starting my course work for a Ph.D. in Literatures of the Americas at Michigan State University, East Lansing MI.

    I hope this "Reader's Digest" condensed version of an autobiography helped paint a picture for the person behind the web course and its lectures and assignments. I have some pictures below for a more visually aesthetic experience.

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