That 's me, just below, at my peak. No, really! Those that have witnessed the decline all agree that I was at my best at the age of six. It has been pretty much downhill since then, but I trudge onward. One can't really go back no matter how nice that would be.
I'm just a guy who grew up in a town so small that people did not ask you your name. They already knew it. But if they didn't, they asked "Who's boy are you?"
Yes, a place where the phrase "he is one of the Browns" or some other surname, was the total measure of someone. The "Browns" were a group of related people with certain values. Those values spilled over to everyone in the family. Interestingly, good people were referred to individually, but references to shady, lazy, unhygienic types weren't about individuals. It included anyone with that surname or living with one of them. The negative attributes were generously extended to everyone in that bunch. And the stereotypes were often right. So goes life in a small town.
I am only child and loved living in that really, really small town called Smithville, Tennessee in DeKalb county until I was 15 years old or so. From that time on I yearned for a bigger world. I felt trapped even. Luckily, my extended family had lots of exchange students. And my mother's best friend was a Japanese woman who had emigrated to the US with her solider husband and close friend of my father. And so as I looked beyond the county line, I decided to be an exchange student and chose Japan.
And so at 18 I visited Japan for the first time. It was only for a summer but I had a fantastic time and met a wonderful, intellectual family who made my visit magical. I am still in contact with them even 28 years later.
I can say that my first time living in another culture changed my life and made it much richer. The experience fueled my interest in foreign lands and presented all the opportunities that existed beyond the county line. I returned to Tennessee and graduated from Vanderbilt University in Nashville in 1984. I then came to Japan for two years on a generous scholarship from the International Rotary Foundation. After two years I returned to the US and went on to Law School at the University of Michigan. In 1989, I was admitted to the Illinois bar and still am a registered attorney.
PROFESSIONAL ME AND UNPROFESSIONAL ME
I am not a big social networker. Hey! I'm 50 now so give me a break. I do have a LinkedIn Profile if you are interested in more of my professional career and educational background. You can write to me here.