About Me

So, for what it is worth, this is my story . . .

I grew up in Louisiana and Mississippi in a "working-class" family.  Though I experienced success in elementary school (e.g. I did very well on an IQ test and was placed in a gifted program), by the time I entered Jr. High, school was not the most pressing concern in my young life (my dad was working through alcohol and alcohol-related legal problems that he has since completely overcome--good job, Dad!). 

Somehow, religion became my primary interest.  During the worst of my father's problems (i.e. an extended incarceration), I immersed myself in Christianity.  I was extremely active in church and all the Christian activities I could find.

Though my lack-of-academic-success followed me throughout high school, I managed to score well enough on the ACT to be accepted at Mississippi State University.  My first semester, I majored in Church Music (yes, they actually had this as a concentration in 1992), but I quickly switched to Communication when I discovered how many semester-hours a major in music required. 

Somehow, during my time at MSU, I got wrapped up in a fundamentalist Christian group centered around Grace Community Church in Los Angeles.  After my sophomore year, I transferred to The Master's College (the Christian college associated with the church) and majored in Biblical Studies--though, looking back, I can't say that much good came out of my time there, I somehow managed to marry the greatest woman on the planet which, if for no other reason, made the experience worthwhile.

After graduation, I set about preparing myself to be both a Christian pastor and, eventually, a seminary professor.  I earned a master of arts in theology from Fuller Theological Seminary and a master of divinity from Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary.  I became an ordained pastor in the Southern Baptist Convention and was given a large grant by the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship to start a new church in Southern California.

Slowly, the faith that I had so easily maintained most of my life became increasingly elusive.  The harder I tried to hold onto it, the faster it seemed to slip through my fingers.  Though my desire to believe outlasted my ability to do so, eventually that desire also diminished. 

The consequence of all of this, of course, was the need to find a new career.  I found a program that placed professionals seeking to become teachers in "hard-to-staff" schools.  From 2003-2006, I taught special education at Washington Preparatory High School in "South Central," Los Angeles.  Though many of my experiences were every bit as "hairy" as one would expect (e.g. gang fights, drugs, on-campus prostitution, drive-by shootings, etc.), I doubt that I will ever love another job as much.

Because I felt that my religiously-biased education had somehow "robbed" me of the education I would have received elsewhere, I decided to pursue a master of arts in humanities from California State University, Dominguez Hills.  This was an excellent program that offered graduate seminars in literature, music, art, history, and philosophy.

I loved my philosophy classes, and (shortly before I finished my coursework) I applied to 10 different PhD programs in philosophy and was accepted by exactly 1!  [Now, this might be interesting to prospective students.  I applied to  Princeton, Cornell, Brown, Yale, Temple, UConn, UMass, SUNY Buffalo, SUNY Binghamton, and SUNY Albany.  While my undergraduate  grades were piss-poor (2.8), I did increasingly better in my graduate programs (3.65, 3.94, 3.96 respectively).  My GRE scores were decent (~87th percentile in each section).  I had five enthusiastic letters of recommendation (I threw in a couple extra for good measure).  After my numerous rejections, I asked a few people why I was not admitted.  The response was that I did not have a "significant philosophical background" and that only one of my recommendations was from a philosopher (the others consisted of two theologians, an education professor, and a literature professor).]

In spite of the disappointment about the rejections, I am extremely happy to be in the philosophy program here at the University at Albany.  My professors have been phenomenal; I've found my fellow grad students to be highly intelligent and friendly; and, in spite of the fact that I was pushed much harder in this program than in any of my previous ones, I have done extremely well so far.

Thanks for reading.

[You can also see my wife's and my blog or find me on Myspace & Facebook.]