First, I am a human being, a stalwart member of the only race on the planet, the human race. Second, I am a male. Third, I am a father. Fourth, I am a grandfather. Fifth, I am queer.

And beyond that, I am curious…about everything. I want to know about you, your life, your hardships and triumphs. I want to hear your story. In addition, I want to know how everything works, how everything interacts with everything else, how humans interact with each other, the world around them and themselves. How do humans come to believe what they believe about themselves, their families, their societies, their gods?

Those are my interests. Never go with me into a bookstore or library. Bad idea.

For my profession, I am a working investigative journalist, writer, author, photographer and editor.

I am also a storyteller. In conversation, I weave in stories, most of them mine, quite a few that have been told me. At breakfast a few months ago, a friend put his fork down and looked at me with this surprised awestruck look on is face. I had just finished telling another story.

“What?” I asked.

“I have never met anyone like you”

“Yeah, I know. A lot of people tell me that but is that good or bad?”

“You tell the most incredible stories. The first time we talked you started telling a story about growing up on the ranch and I thought, ‘What the hell does this have to do with what we are talking about?’ At that moment you tied it right back into our discussion and that changed my perspective and forced me to begin to question my views.”

He asked me my areas of expertise. I never thought about it. He asked if I would write those out. I did and he said I was a Renaissance man. Never thought of my life in those terms.

All of these are areas I have worked in directly and in which I have expertise. I’ll give you the profession areas first, the ones in which I am expert and a consultant, the ones you will pay me to perform. The second list is a few other things I know how to do expertly.

storyteller

public speaker

conflict resolution specialist

expert in negotiation, arbitration and mediation

political & legislation analyst

political & legislation strategist

legislation development – local and state

redistricting expert – local and state

addiction and mental health advocate

corporate and personal communications authority

corporate culture analyst and trainer

certified peer counselor

legislative reporter

investigative journalist

editorial writer

essayist

editor

street photographer

fashion, food, editorial photographer

organizational bylaws development, updates, rewrites

rancher

master gardener

arborist

 

That’s the formal list. Now this is other stuff:

animal husbandry

animal lover (tame or wild except feral hogs, it’s a mutual thing)

arc movie projector operator

avid reader

auto mechanic

calf birther

cow milker

colt birther

fisherman and fly fisherman

gas station operator

heavy machinery operator

horseman

hunter

insulation installer

jack hammer operator

kill floor worker

lawn mower

light store salesman

marksman

soda bottle gleaner (benny warden gave us 2 cents for everyone.)

stall mucker

treatment center worker

 

I’ve done all those things at one time or another and, I am sure, a couple of others I’ve forgotten. Each one has a story; each story leads to the next story. Each one was a turning point and sent my life in a new direction. If I unplugged any one of those, would that have collapsed today’s story and built an entirely different story? I don’t know. Perhaps. Perhaps not. Now, I get to write about them all… or just tell stories about them.