My Abridged Autobiography

Someone recently told me that based on what he reads about me on Facebook I must be a pretty good guy, but he does not really know me. I told him that I would put a bio on this blog, but I started thinking that even if I did he would still not really know me. He would only know what I told him, but would have to assume that I am not lying. I also realized that a complete bio is not possible for two reasons. I am not finished living yet and I cannot remember all of what I have done so far. The best I can do is an abridged autobiography.

I was grew in a double community in Mississippi in 1960. Houses were and still are in little clusters. There was and still is two churches. There was back then one store and one juke joint. Blacks and whites would always rub shoulders at the store and once in a while at the juke joint. Now there is only one store. Our local school was the "separate but equal" black school and the whites traveled 6 miles away to the white school in Brandon. There is about 10 times as many houses in our area now and our local school (McLaurin)is now integrated. That is about the only major changes around here. There may have been some underlying bigotry back then but I did not notice it. I see a lot more of it now but not around our community.

Fast forward about 12 years. (I said it was abridged) That is the year our local school was integrated. There was no white girls in my sixth grade class and I was one of only three white boys. If I ever write a longer book about me, that year will have a chapter or two all on its own, but for now I will just say I got a valuable education that year.

McLaurin only went to the 9th grade back then so I finished High School at Florence. (My third school even though I lived in only one house) I had been the snow flake playing drums in the Jr. high band, so I continued in the band at Florence. I relearned a new way to play but am glad to have two skills. Academically I was way, way above average in Jr. high and just slightly above average in high school. I then went to Hinds Jr College. (please do not correct me by saying Hinds is a community college. It was a Jr. College back then) I studied pre-vet-med at Hinds and had respectable grades, and yes I did play in the band and was a student body senator.

After Hinds is when things went a little sideways. I had a summer job at the Jackson zoo but lost it because Jackson passed a law so that only Jackson residents could work for the city. I did not have enough money to go to Mississippi State University so I Joined the Air National Guard. I went off to Lackland for basic and tech school. I became an air force veterinary specialist which is a fancy word for food inspector. I went to Mississippi State in the spring of 81 but did not get into vet school. I changed my major to animal science but by that time I was wondering why I really wanted to do vet work. Politics was way more interesting to me but I had been told all my life that it is an evil occupation. Other than some independent study at the John Stennis library I never took a political course. Actually I did not take a lot of any courses. I just played in the band and drank whiskey. Eventually I changed my major to Agricultural Journalism but it was too late.

The air national guard was my only link to sanity. I had fallen into a not so good circle of friends in Starkville and even married one of my drinking budies, but my national guard friends were of a different caliber. I was tired to inspecting food one weekend a month but the rest of the job was good. I asked a recruiter which job takes the most interesting trips and he sent me to retraining to become an air cargo handler. I loved the air cargo job so much that I dropped out of college and went into the active duty air force. My wife spent one year with me at Travis AFB then left me. If I write a longer book my x-wife will get a few chapters of her own.

Serving on active duty even though my wife left turned out to be the best thing I ever did. (OK a few more chapters about the air force in the unabridged version of this story) I grew up in Fairfield, California. I was the son and grandson of Southern Baptist deacons and had been very devoted to the Christian way of life. When I got to Starkville I back slid. In California I found a very strong local church and this time I really got saved. (a chapter on that church too)

After 4 years active duty I was involved in a church building project so I stayed in a reserve unit for two more years. The first year I was in the reserve there was an earth quake so we spent some time building things other than our own church. The second year is when Iraq invaded Kuwait so reserve was kind of like active. Eventually we finished that church building and I had met a far better woman than my first wife. I even managed to work at a few interesting jobs that paid me for my work during those last two years. A chapter of urban reforestation and a chapter on the California schools will be in the longer story (if I actually write it). I worked for a city tree department for a while planting trees. I also was an instructional assistant in the public school system.

I returned to my old family stomping ground and got a maintenance job in a HUD supported apartment building. That is an education in it self. I patched fist shaped holes in sheet rock just long enough to land a state job at LeFleur's Bluff State Park. After settling down in a good job and fixing up a place for myself to live I went back to California and retrieved my girlfriend. We got married in Arizona on the way to Mississippi. Soon after we got home we started the business which we still run now. I am already trying to write the chapter about that store.

Like I said, this is the abridged version of my life story. Actually I should say life story in progress, because I intend for there to be more. Even if I never write a book I will still fill in a few more blanks using this blog. People often ask me why I got interested in politics so I will soon fill in those blanks too.