Profile
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| User: | funk_doctor (12018025) |
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| Name: | funk_doctor | ||||
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| Bio: | I will be a writer when I grow up. Stephen King's "Carrie" hooked me on reading. "Cujo" convinced me to write again after a brief absence. "A Drink Before the War" convinced me to genre-cast myself in Mystery/Crime. "Tell No One" convinced me to mess with people's heads in the process. I'm a stingy reader who actually throws books against walls if I feel the errors contained therein prove particularly egregious. I'm told I write in a neo-Noir fashion, which I dig. I feel my primary weakness is plotting; I feel my strengths are description and dialogue. Rewind to 1994-95: Listening more to those well-intentioned people around me than my own heart--and ignoring my successes in writing to that point--I decided to pursue a Bachelor of Arts in Pastoral Studies with a view toward shepherding a church. Circa 1998 whilst in my Junior year of said program at Moody Bible Institute, I'm hit with the realization that the pastorate is not for me, nor is God calling me to enter it. As it's too late in my program to change majors without tacking on another year or two of school, I decide to complete my B.A. and use my Master's degree as the basis for my future career (teaching and writing; more on that in a sec). I've been rapping since I was 11, have started 4 hip-hop groups and performed at church, youth events, local radio, high school and college. I'm currently compiling a body of work that I hope to release within the next year under my current moniker of Sean Smith. My LJ namesake comes from Redman, aka Reggie Noble, aka Funk Doctor. My fave line from his Muddy Waters album: "It gets mad real in the Bricks/ plus I roll thick/ you can quote this/ 'I'm the Moby Dick of dopeness!'" Dancing was a key component of hip-hop at the time of my introduction to it, hence I have been dancing for as long as I've been rapping. To add more complexity to my already varied repertoire, I also swing and blues dance. In case the userpic didn't inform you: Yes, I am white. You get interesting responses when you break people's made-to-order stereotypes. Nobody expects a guy like me to know emceeing or dancing or yadda-yadda-yadda. The only way I can explain my entrance into the hip-hop culture is by saying I've always preferred music with a strong, steady beat and frenetic vibe. Hip-hop did that for me starting back in the day, especially East Coast hip-hop. The most pristine example I can give of the type of rap I like is Black Sheep's "The Choice Is Yours" or GangStarr's "Just To Get a Rep." Other faves include Redman, Eminem, GangStarr, Big Daddy Kane, Grits, Wu-Tang, Biggie Smalls, Method Man, AZ, A Tribe Called Quest, Fugees (R.I.P.), Tunnel Rats and Nas. And yet, my favorite singer of all time is Billy Joel. Fave songs: Innocent Man and New York State of Mind. My fave albums of all time include Billy Joel's "Greatest Hits: Volume III" and Alana Davis' "Blame It On Me." I know, I'm complex. And maybe just a little weird. I was a radio DJ for three years with a Top 40 format. I love the city of Pittsburgh but can't move there because it's too close to where I grew up (Franklin, PA). Overcast days are my favorite (probably b/c of my childhood and teenage years growing up in West PA). I'm a Federalist Conservative and as such am stuck supporting the Republican party despite their inability and/or unwillingness to develop a Federalist platform. In this vein I'm a Classical Liberal. I was a Religious Conservative until my early 20's, at which time I converted to Modern Liberalism. Post-9/11 saw me return to Conservatism, this time with a proper understanding of Federalism. Thus I no longer support Conservatism on religious grounds but instead on Originalist ones, hence the Federalist bent. All this to say: I've been on both sides of the political aisle, and I feel satisfied with neither. Republican is my default party because it's the best of what's around. But this is like saying I prefer half-rotten oranges to full rotten oranges. In the end, both suck. I hate the Dallas Cowboys, Greyhound buses, the Cincinnati Bengals, uppity literary writers, biased media and injustice. I believe fiction doesn't need to be easy but it most certainly needs to be clear. I believe modern literary fiction is easy to write; genre, on the other hand, is hard. I like a challenge and a story with a clear voice and plot, thus I'm a genre writer. My utter disdain for injustice led me into crime fiction with the ability to develop worlds wherein justice is meted out appropriately and (sometimes) severely. I've made three movies with plans in the works to make a series of shorts. My third movie was one of the most painstaking things I have ever done, and yet one of the most rewarding in the end. My supreme #1 goal in life is to have a happy, healthy marriage. Number 2 is to raise relatively well-adjusted children. Number 3 is to write stories. Number 4 is to touch and help improve lives. Two principles guide my life: 1) Truth is not elite. While this notion has been true in most areas of my life, how-to books on writing have proven the perfect microcosm for it: I've improved my writing ten-fold by scouring books for fiction tips. Most often, however, the best advice has not come from the big names or the places you most expect; they've come more often from the tiny corners of the how-to market, the ones people glance over because they don't recognize the name, the publisher, etc. In short, truth is not necessarily at home in the mouth of the expert. 2) Grown-up life is high school on steroids. The popular kids still congregate, gossip is still spread and believed, bullies still terrorize the yard and romance is as fleeting and confusing as it ever was. Not that I think life HAS to be this way; I simply believe this is the life most grown-ups make for themselves. I distinguish between "grown-up" and "adult" in this regard. In my life I'm sad to report I've known very few adults and hordes upon hordes of grown-ups, kids who filled out their frames but never changed brains. Back to teaching and writing: I currently attend Seton Hill University's Master of Arts in Writing Popular Fiction program and love it. The people I've met there are some of the coolest people to walk the planet and I'm thrilled to be making the writer's journey with them. I'll graduate from the program in June 2008, so I've plenty of time to make the most of this community. That said, I'm studying with the hope of writing full-time and teaching creative writing part-time on the college level. Lofty goals, I know, but why shoot for good if you have a chance to be great? I will be a writer, no matter how long it takes. On this LJ you'll find mostly book and movie reviews, writing tips, thoughts on life, women, romance, music and sundry other pop-uppery. Mostly the first three. Enjoy, and let me know what you think. | ||||
| Interests: | 6: dancing, funk, movies, music, reading, writing | ||||
| Schools: | Moody Bible Institute - Chicago, IL (1996 - 2000) Seton Hill University - Greensburg, PA (2006 - present) | ||||
| Friends: | |||||
| Mutual Friends: | 18: _starlady_, ambasadora, authoressa, betsywhitt, blackhandgang, chicklitter, chuntastic, deannahoak, dohlman, glowinghope, guardian_vasya, jaguarpaddler, marysang, mike_brendan, redstargoddess, steelvictory, tcastleb, wpf_blogs | ||||
| Also Friend of: | 3: calico_reaction, jschmetzer, steellimani | ||||
| Member of: | 1: setonhillwpf | ||||
| Account type: | Plus Account | ||||
