Writing for me is the fruit of my love of reading. Born in New Orleans in a hospital called Hotel Dieu, translated from French as God's House, I've always been close to God. Mom's family were sharecroppers, raising cotton in southwest Louisiana. My Dad's uncle was college educated and a physician - very rare on both sides of my ancestry. So, I do have an opinion, a strong work ethic, and hope that I continue to live in "God's House". I am an avid and unabashed bibliophile, and as such write if only because of my exposure to great writers through 45 years of reading.

My academic training is as a scientist, having majored in Biology with a minor in Chemistry before attending LSU School of Dentistry. I also love music, first by being from New Orleans and second by playing clarinet and sax.

My greatest accomplishment in life: 29 years of marriage to my high school sweetheart. This is closely followed by having 4 sons, only 1 still at home.

I have had and continue to pursue a varied work history: dental assistant, shipfitter's assistant, Teamster's dock worker, US Army Dental Officer, private practice of dentistry, Dental Director for the Dept. of Corrections in Louisiana, and my current but soon to end gig, dentist with the Commissioned Corps of the US Public Health Service detailed to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Currently, I have a new vocation: living with Parkinson's disease as I enter medical retirement from active duty. And so I write, for pleasure, as a means of learning, and because something inside calls me to write.

My passion is ...

my family and my Lord who made me and moves me.

I know too much about ...

life in prison, being limited physically, and teeth.

My parents always told me ...

to be sure to always wear clean underwear when going to the doctor. My dad added to never volunteer for anything as I entered the Army.

My childhood ambition ...

was to play second base for the Yankees with Whitey Ford on the mound and Mickey Mantle in the lineup.

My favorite memory ...

the first Christmas I can remember, probably age 4.

Why I write ...

because I must. Because I have a story to tell. Because I can validate my life throough writing about it.

What I am reading/watching/listening to ...

Reading: The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the road to 9/11, Lawrence Wright.

My first job ...

dental assistant (our next door neighbor had his dental office on the first floor of his home.)

My best moment ...

Christmas eve 1973. I fell in love with the girl I would later marry.

My inspiration ...

working people, like my mother's mother who was a sharecropper's wife, had 13 kids, and had a sense of peace I've never personally encountered since.

Religion & Spirituality > Self-Awareness & Realization Advice on the journey of life

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A Return to Simplicity: Observations The best advice comes from someone with personal experiences to share. So one should look to someone who has lived to learn about life. The adviser that comes to mind is a man who taught simple living as a means of stripping life bare, to simplify life's day to day details in order to appreciate the essence of life. The ancients knew life stripped bare, no artifice, nothing extra. The Greeks, for example, had no computer and yet Pythagoras made his theorems. The Romans built roads, aqueducts, and had indoor plumbing without "texting" anyone. Vikings plo...

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