I was born 23 November 1948 in Palo Alto, California, and raised in nearby Woodside. In 1961 my father was awarded a Fullbright Scholarship to teach English for a year at the University of Damascus; my family toured southern Europe going over, northern coming back. I spent Eighth Grade at the American Community School in Beirut.

I attended San Francisco State College in 1966, majoring in how-to-get-out-of-the-house-without-having-to-get-a-job. I’d dropped out by 1967.

Hats I wore during the subsequent twelve years include: U.S. Postal clerk and mailman, uniformed security guard, handyman, Chicken Delight delivery driver, bicycle messenger, waiter, janitor, press assistant, printer, freelance commercial artist, typesetter, cartoonist, sign painter, carnival roustabout, truck driver, Emergency Medical Technician and ambulance driver, and bicycle mechanic.

In 1980, I re-entered San Francisco State (now) University majoring in Journalism. I wound up graduated from Fresno State with a B.A. in a Special Major (Journalism and Political Science). I then pressed on and studied philosophy at the University of California, Riverside, earning my Ph.D. in 1991.

While at Riverside (home of the Highlanders) I started competing in heavy events at the Highland Games, as well as learning the bagpipes.

Unfortunately, I entered the academic job market when the 1991 recession hit, and my teaching career was short-lived: my first course was a summer Intro to Philosophy, at Chaffey College in Rancho Cucamunga, California; the last was at Villanova University in Pennsylvania. In 1993 I came back to the San Francisco area and started up again in the sign business.

Now I’ve taken up driving a school bus for steady employment. I have the good fortune of driving the route out to the Point Reyes lighthouse. Here is an essay I wrote the local weekly about what it’s like driving kids every day.