Well, first, I suppose, the name. REVERAND (yes it's supposed to be spelled that way) has been a nom de guerre for about 13 years now... It came from one of my first roommates and original shooting partner / dive bro / wingman... Not sure HOW it came about, but one day I just remember being REVERAND. It's been stenciled on every paintball jersey / Tac Sim shirt / laptop since. So, we'll leave it at that.
15 years ago I entered college for the first time and after a year and a half (as well as some other mitigating factors) I decided I needed a break. Told Mom and Dad, "Don't worry I just need some time off, I'll be back in no time..." Hehe... Fast forward to 2010, I'm 30 years old, married and the father of six (yes six) beautiful children. A friend of mine heard me musing aloud about going back to college and she put the proverbial gun to my head and now I'm halfway through my junior year. It's actually a bit scary for me because the last time I was a junior at anything it was 1996..... A little scary...
When I first went to college I figured that I was destined to become the next Walter Cronkite or Dan Rather or Tom Brokaw... While kids my age were idolizing guys like Michael Jordan I was cutting out pictures and stories from Newsweek and taping them to my wall. I loved to watch old newsreels of Cronkite as he was walking down the battered streets of Vietnam wearing an old steel pot helmet and flak jacket, telling the stories that were so pertinent to the day. Hell I even remember watching Anderson Cooper when he was a teenage news correspondent on Channel 1 news that we watched in high school. That should date me. Cats like Serena Altchul (of MTV fame) and Lisa Ling (of Oprah fame) were just budding celebrities at that point.
So, after spending some time in the journalism gig and interviewing a few celebrities, myself, such as White Zombie and Carl Bernstein, I made a very tough decision that journalism wasn't my ball of wax. At least not in the direction that I was heading. However I never lost the passion for writing. I fancy myself as a "warrior poet" if I could borrow a phrase from Braveheart. I love the technicalities that are involved with firearms and being outside and that odd combination allows my mind to seriously wander off course. Maybe I can use this blog to post some of that.
Coming back to MSU, now, as a Sociology major, I realize that the importance of writing hasn't decreased, but rather increased, so I've chosen to focus on sharpening those writing skills and while I've made a decision that I won't ever set foot in a newsroom again, I still have the bug to track down stories and tell them. Mostly now it will be done from the scientific angle of Sociology.
This blog was created mostly because of the fact that it was a necessity for one of my classes however I'm thinking it might also serve as an online scrapbook for the ideas that I would like to see through. My wife gives me guff that I don't always see things through to completion but, at the very least, with college I'll get to prove her wrong. :) Also, if I have to start doing some major Cronkite-esqe traveling for my Capstone, I can always use the excuse, "It's for school! I HAVE to do this!" We'll see how long I can ride that scooter.....
