Who is Dean?

Who Is Dean?

Over the last generation, people around the world have asked this question. Who is this person Dean, who fancies to own his own world? What makes him so special? Why do people around the universe know, respect, fear, or laugh at his name? We’ll let Dean tell it himself:

I was born in 1966, down in the west Texas town of El Paso. My parents divorced when I was 4 years old. We moved to Chicago when I was 7. But I still spent many of my summers back in El Paso, visiting my father. I also spent one lovely summer in southern Virginia, and have family in the Chessapeake area who I like to visit whenever I can. I also lived for most of a year in Shreveport, Louisiana. I now live in Michigan, smack dab between Detroit and Ann Arbor, not too far from Dearborn. I can thus reasonably claim to be a Texan, a Chicagoan, a Michigander, and a Southerner all at once.In my younger days, I studied Martial Arts–mostly Karate and Jiu Jitsu. I have been a Skydiver, and still miss it. I also love to ride horses, mostly English style, but haven’t ridden for some time since I’ve become too heavy–a situation I’m hoping to change by the end of 2003.

I am a liberal.

I am the proud owner of a dog, three cats, a wife, and a small boy named Jake, who I plan to sell to Gypsies once we’ve fattened him up enough. We used to have ferrets, but alas, tragedy struck and we don’t have them anymore. Still love the little furfers though. The wife was the best investment I ever made; I bought her over the internet from her parents from Poland, who put her on the block to help finance their retirement. I made the downpayment in 1995. I call her Rosemary, you can call her Rose. She hangs out around here sometimes. (In all seriousness, I love her more than life itself. We met on the internet. She is smarter than I am, rivals Helen for beauty, and rarely agrees with me politically. She’s the house Radical.)

As is well known, I have absolutely no sense of humor.

I can trace my Esmay lineage back to the 1700s. Apparently my ancestors unsettled New York, then moved slowly westward. Along the way, some of them fought for the Union in the 1860s and thus helped free the slaves. Despite this, my southern background makes me deeply resent people who view Southerners and Southern heritage with contempt.

I read a lot. I consider myself an autodidact. Since the world increasingly seems to believe you’re only smart if you have a degree, I am currently a full-time student, in addition to working full-time and trying to keep our family afloat financially.

Politically, I do not like labeling myself; I consider myself a conservative liberal. Rosemary and I are both former loyal Democrats who feel deeply alienated from our old party, but I’ll still consider voting for the right Democratic candidate. As I have said before, I am a liberal. I have voted in every Presidential election since 1984, and in that time have voted for two Democrats, two Republicans, and one third-party candidate. I am already pretty sure how I’ll vote in 2004, but only by about 90%. I voted in the Democratic primary this year, but the candidates I supported lost, and I will probably vote Republican in the general election since I don’t like where today’s Democratic Party is–class warfare, anti-gun paranoia, and religion and abortion extremists make me ill.

I believe the Indepundit’s First Post should be required reading in our nation’s classrooms.

I am a news and history junkie. My favorite TV shows are Special Report with Brit Hume and Greg The Bunny. I listen almost every day to National Public Radio and also listen to the BBC World Report most nights. My favorite magazine is the National Review, which I try to read from cover to cover every two weeks. But I also try to keep up with The New Republic. I occasionally browse through Salon, The Nation, and Front Page Magazine, just to see what the more rabid types are talking about–sometimes people are rabid for a reason. The New York Times, Time Magazine, the Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal occasionally pass under my eye. I also like to skim newspapers from around the world.

I am increasingly getting more of my information from the Blogosphere, and as a consequence have cut down substantially on TV news. I used to watch Chris Matthews, Tim Russert, News Hour on PBS and This Week on ABC, but because of the Blogosphere am down to Brit Hume and The McLaughlin Group for my television news and political analysis.

I read constantly. Mostly history and social science, but economics, hard science, religion, spirituality, and fiction are usually somewhere in the rotation. I am usually reading at least two books at one time. I maintain an Amazon Wish List, which may give you some insight into my interests.

I used to write music reviews for the now-defunct Online Digital Music Review. I am a huge fan of Hippie Jazz, some old-time jazz, blues, surf, some classical, some rap, some classic rock, and a highly selective assortment of old and new pop music. I own about 2,000 music CDs.

I am also the former editor of A2-Central On Disk and Studio City, two old Apple II-based computer and hypermedia publications. I was a systems operator on the old GEnie network for almost ten years. I have also been a technical writer, a computer applications, hardware, and networking instructor, and a repo man. I haven’t written professionally for many years, but with the opening of this weblog, I have rekindled my passion for writing.

I am proud to say that I have friends all over the United States and in some other parts of the world. I don’t care where you live, what your sex is, what your sexual preference is (as long as it doesn’t involve children or hurting people), what color your skin is, or what your religion is (unless you’re in some kind of death-cult or mind-control group). I am a member of no organized religion. I despise religious ideologues, including rabid Secularists.

I am moderately easy to irritate, difficult to offend, and very difficult to make angry. When I do become angry, however, I become very, very angry. On the other hand, things that would offend normal people usually just roll off me like water off a duck’s back.

I hope you like Dean’s World, my online journal and my new favorite hobby.

As you can see, Dean does tend to go on. Since he was given this weblog as a gift from his dear old friend Jerry Kindall, he says he’s never had more fun online. Dean looks kinda weird and smells kinda funny, but otherwise we sorta like him.