Well, nowhere in my life story is the line, "Jed, move away from there, Beverly Hills is the place you oughta be." Haha. But I think I've had a pretty rich life anyway. (Just think how rich Jed would be with gas where it is right now!) I am fortunate to have had a rich childhood full of family and friends and for too brief of a time the fortune to know my wonderful grandparents. I grew up in Arkansas and still think of myself as an Arkansan, but I appreciate Oklahoma's beauty and what it has to offer. Still, Go Hogs! I am well educated (two graduate degrees) and contain an intellectual curiosity and a love for learning. I've been around the world in books and in physical reality, which I think gives me a broader outlook on things than if I had just stayed in my little hometown. I do still love things that I grew up loving. The outdoors, the Ouachita river, fishing, gravel backroads, a catfish dinner with all the trimmings, a walk in the woods with a dog, college football in the fall, and some of those old gospel songs get to me still even though I no longer consider myself religious. The jobs I've had so far in life have pretty much been dedicated to education in some form or another. I've done everything from handing out library cards to teaching English composition on an aircraft carrier. Right now I try to counsel students towards completing a four year degree.

If you want to get alliterative about it, I am patient, punctual, pondering, prudent, and progressive. Outside of that, I also have a good sense of humor, a good depth of character, and a great sense of loyalty to family and friends.

If this recently found quote (A.C. Grayling, British Philosopher) hits a chord with you as an approach to the world, we should talk. "Love well, seek the good in all things, harm no others, think for yourself, take responsibility, respect nature, do your upmost, be kind, be courageous: at least sincerely try." Beats the hell out of the ten commandments, if you ask me.

I think I touched on that above. I work as an academic counselor. I see majors in the College of Arts and Sciences. About seven years ago I introduced painting into my life, and I've enjoyed it as a hobby. I haven't sold any paintings, but I've enjoyed giving them to family and friends. I also enjoy photography, which sometimes inspires my paintings.

Listening, which you need to be in any counseling job. Pretty good at working my way towards understanding where somebody else is coming from. Writing emails and writing in general. I like to think that I am a pretty good conversationalist as well, but I am a true introvert at heart, so I do have to have my "down time" from people in order to recharge. I can cook a really good gumbo! I am pretty good at Jeopardy, and it makes my day when I get Final Jeopardy right, haha. I am too modest to outright declare that I am good at painting in terms of the wide field of other painters. But within my own ballpark, I've improved since I started out, and I hope to keep getting better. Found out over a 4th of July weekend that I am not too bad at throwing horseshoes, but I don't plan on giving up my day job for it. And dogs seem to like me. Can I list that as a skill? I am also very good at coming up with the thoughtful gesture at the right time. I do without doubt call that a skill.

Hmm, I guess outside of physical appearance I would say my sense of humor and kind nature.

BOOKS:

The Great Gatsby, Moby-Dick, The Sound and The Fury, Shiloh by Shelby Foote, The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann, Mark Twain's writings, White Teeth by Zadie Smith, Ian McEwan novels, George Saunders' short stories, and Eliot, Frost, Bishop, Thomas, in poetry. I should have consulted my reading journal before writing this section! For I know there are things I am leaving out. Such as non-fiction! Sarah Vowell's books! Morris Berman as of late. James Howard Kunstler too.

MOVIES:

My taste in movies stretches wide - everything from "Places in the Heart" to "Apocalypse Now." Independent movies, anything that makes you think, movies that haunt you e.g. "The Reflecting Skin" - very strange! I also got a kick out of those silly Naked Gun and Airplane movies that used to come out.

MUSIC:

Not into popular radio music. My musical tastes now run more back in time to old country, Americana, bluegrass, blues. But I also like groups that can take the old and give it a new twist, such as "The Be Good Tanyas" from Canada and Gillian Welch. I haven't moved over to the world of the IPOD yet. I am sorta going backwards. I am keeping my eye out for an affordable victrola that I can crank someday.

FOOD:

Southern soul food, seafood, Italian, Mexican, Indian, Chinese, Thai, well, really not a lot of restrictions here. I do like broccolli, but I don't like olives! Haha. Yeah, there's a restriction. Late night popsicles are great.

Hope - And that's before I started supporting Obama, haha.
Books - I try to read at least two a month, and I collect antiquarian books dating from the 19th and 18th centuries.
Beauty - We all need it around. And it takes all forms. Right now my 1929 Underwood Number 5 typewriter is one of my most beautiful prized possessions.
Perspective - It is a wonderful thing to have and keeps you from ever getting too down or too up.
A Mission - That is a sense that your life has meaning by serving a larger purpose. My job gives me some of this. But so does just being a good friend, son, and brother. And hopefully someday, husband and father.
Family and Friends - I wish I lived closer to more of them, but I know they are still out there, and that still means a lot.

The next move in my career. Should I get a Ph.D? Should I stay in SW? The state of the world and those rising tensions everywhere it seems. My next painting. The great novel that I still think about writing, but hardly do anything about, such as writing, haha. Urban planning and the horrible disease that is urban sprawl. My family. The person (I still believe you are out there) that I will fall in love with and marry. How will the Hogs do in SEC this year? What will I read next?

I think I've watched plenty of Bill Moyers, NOW, and Washington Week in Review on Friday nights. Yeah, things are in the need of spicing up! I now watch Alaskan reality shows about being a bush pilot and looking for gold, or I am at the local meetup for freethinkers. Or maybe starting a new painting. That too.

I was an Alex P. Keaten wannabe back in the 80's. From a Reagan childhood to a liberal adulthood. That's the journey I took.

The things I wrote strike a chord with you. Are you looking for a college football loving, poetry knowing, antique and bookstore browsing, bait casting, politically aware, Manet appreciating, oil and acyrlic painting, documentary watching, Southern accented, easy going, kind, witty, secular humanist? Well, if you are, you found him! Plus, I am truly a fun and pleasant person to be around. And I have references for that claim! : )