I was one of only two people from my Jr High School to enter Uni in the Fall of 1965. I came in knowing no one (other than that one other person) and, then being very shy, I got to know fairly few others during my three years at Uni — and my shyness was exacerbated by my living outside the district throughout high school.
Thus, I didn't get to know many of you. My loss.
Special thanks to classmate Gale Roenfanz, who, during the 11th grade, introduced me to an extension class at UCLA where we both learned how to program computers. I put this knowledge to good use when I attended UCLA, where I worked half-time as a programmer (on those big machines with refrigerator-sized tape drives) until graduation (BA in Math), thus beginning a lifelong and highly enjoyed career.
Following graduation from UCLA, and then a year of full-time work, I quit my very delightful job there (I worked with three great guys named—I'm not making this up—Tom, Dick, and Harry!), sold my car, converted my funds to traveler's cheques (remember them?), and purchased a one-way ticket to Europe. I spent the next three months in beautiful Prague, and more generally around Czechoslovakia, which I had come to love. For one of those months I took a class in the Czech language at Prague's Charles University. A wonderful experience! Mluvím trochu Česky!
I spent two more months in Europe, then another six traveling across Asia: Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan (via the Kyber Pass), back across Afghanistan and Iran to the Persian Gulf, then on a freighter to Bombay (now Mumbai) with stops in Iraq, Kuwait, Dubai, and Oman. From India I continued to Nepal, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Burma (Myanmar), Thailand, Laos (I loved Vientiane), and a night in the Spring of 1972 under armed guard at Saigon's Tan San Nhut Air Force base (visa issues, a long story — ask me at the 50th reunion or the next day's picnic on campus!), then back to Laos and Bangkok and finally home to L.A. and the beginning of a new and wonderful chapter.
The 1970s were an amazing and joyful time for me, from that 1971-1972 11-month journey across Europe and Asia, then the rest of the decade working at UCLA on a cutting-edge project called the ARPANET, later released to the public as the Internet. (I sent my first e-mail in the mid-1970s!) During this period I also increasingly grew out of my shyness while becoming more psychologically aware. I volunteered, and later became a supervisor and trainer, at the Los Angeles Sex Information Helpline (a part of the L.A. Free Clinic) and ended the decade leaving the ARPANET project to attend Michigan State U where I earned a doctorate in, of all things, Clinical Psych. After a year's internship at a community mental health center back in L.A., and despite having enjoyed the study of psychology, I decided not to make psychotherapy my profession, and happily returned to computer programming, now as an independent programmer. I joyfully pulled this off for more than a quarter of a century.
As part of my doctoral studies, I had completed a dissertation on a topic that stemmed from my 1980s deep involvement with the human rights organization Amnesty International. My dissertation examined traumatic stress among refugee survivors of state torture, and as a result I became involved with the small, informally-organized circle of torture treatment specialists in town, and when they decided to incorporate as a non-profit, I was asked to join their Board of Directors. In 2000, when we won a grant, I became the first paid director of the Los Angeles Program for Torture Victims. They're still going strong.
After my year with the PTV I returned to my private programming practice. About six years ago I moved to Napa — lovely area, with its easy-going small-town quality and beautiful countryside. Three years later I moved west to Marin County, just above S.F., where I am now. The area has beautiful hills and hiking trails, and I enjoy eight- to ten-mile hikes in these mountains whenever I can.
I'm currently involved with a start-up that has created a Web-based tool for psychological assessment, complete with clinical decision support, for physicians working with chronic care patients who are having difficulty adhering to their medical regimen. (Adherence difficulties are often psychologically based, due to depression, anxiety, social isolation, etc. We assess these issues and provide guidance to physicians to help them help their patients get past these sources of non-adherence to treatment.)
I also tutor kids (and some adults) in math, usually at the high school level. I like kids and love math, so this is a wonderful combination. I greatly enjoy this “work”.
I feel very fortunate to have been able to take so many interesting paths, and to have drunk so deeply from some of them (a mixed metaphor—sorry, Ms. Sullivan!). Most of them were taken as a result of fortuitous relationships with wonderful people. Yes, I feel very fortunate.
