My Credentials

You are not likely to find my credentials very inspiring. I have a Master of Arts in English. Whoopdee. Fact is, I didn’t learn this material at the feet of the most with-it-now researchers in the field of whatever this science is called this year. I learned from teachers such as Shakespeare and Socrates and the Buddha. Sun Tzu and Confucius. Don’t expect lots of quotes from them now. They will come up on other pages in this website.

You clicked on this page to see a list of my credentials.

Bachelor of Arts in English, 1989
Benedictine College [Oh, my God, he’s a Christian!] Whatev.
Atchison, Kansas

Master of Arts in English, 1991
Emporia State University
Emporia, Kansas [Oh, my God, he’s a redneck!] Yeah, well. I don’t know.

Those are my degrees. I have taught literature and composition on the high school and college levels. But that’s not very impressive since my entire teaching career did not span more than five years. I quit every job, often in the middle of the academic session. Why? Because I didn’t know how to feel bad.

After teaching, I spent eight years in the cab of a truck. Yes, a big truck. I lived in it. Owned it. Paid for it. Loved it. Traveled to forty-five of the fifty states. Met all kinds of people in all kinds of situations and read many books. Good books. Not just westerns and Tom Clancy like all the other truckers. This is where I studied the Buddha and began to practice simple meditation.

After trucking, I returned to teaching but left again after two years. Then I became what I am now, a full-time, in-home caregiver. I continued my studies of the classic philosophers and also took up martial arts, specifically Okinawan Shorin-ryu. For what it’s worth, I’ve also returned to studying the classical sciences and mathematics. These disciplines provide immense intellectual enjoyment for me as well as opportunities for spiritual reflection.

If you would like to know anything else about me, just send me an e-mail at this link. Perhaps I’ve overlooked something that should be on this page.