My lifelong dream has always been to be a writer. I earned a BA in English from Georgetown University in 1985, but knew I had not really lived and had little to say. Plus, all I cared about was getting a job. Since high school, I kept hearing from my father about a 100% employee-owned company called Allied Plywood Corporation and how much money truckdrivers and salespeople were making. Bob Shaw, the president of Allied Plywood was at our house at a meeting of the Center For Economic and Social Justice. I asked for the job. Nearly 16 years later, with an ESOP account balance of over $100,000, I handed in my keys and pager. Now I'm an educator.
Prior to the 2016 presidential election, I began to post on Twitter about my opinions about a person to whom I now only refer as the former guy (TFG). Having followed the Wall Street Journal's reporting on Russia's Invasion of Crimea, TFG's pro-Putin set off alarm bells for me. His hate rallies drew obvious parallels to Hitler. My posts alluded to Shakespearian tragedies such as MacBeth, Hamlet, and King Lear, plus Homer, Dante, and Milton, the Bible, and whatever other references popped into my imagine. My sarcasm and tragic vision of what was happening to America resonated with some people, who encouraged me by feeding me information about the extent of TFG's criminal enterprise. Since I considered TFG an existential threat, I viewed posting on Twitter and Resisting a moral obligation throughout TFG's regime.
Politics, something I had always hated, became a necessary evil. I supported Joe Biden as a viable opponent when he was down in the polls, and as many down ballot Democrats as my credit card could handle, particularly opponents of the most repulsive MAGAts. My guiding principle: the enemy of my enemy is my friend. That energy worked through the 2022 mid-terms, but I was exhausted, and felt I could relax a little.
After Elon moved on Twitter like a b!tch, I was done with Twitter, which really suck#d, because I was having nice conversations with Sports Talk Radio personalities. Matt Taibbi leaving Twitter brought me to Substack.
