History

Once upon a time...
(Click to see photos)
(Updated Fall 2010)

Most sociologists would argue that we are all, in large part, socially constructed. In other words, where we're from and what we've experienced really shape who we are. So, here's a brief summary on how I was constructed. I was born and raised in Jamestown, New York, a small city (@ 31,000 as of 2000 census) about 60 miles south of Buffalo. It's a nice place, especially if you like trees, bars, and chicken wings. Anyway, it's pretty blue-collar (or at least that's how I see it), although there's less factory work these days. What is Jamestown's claim to fame? Well, there's the 10,000 Maniacs, for starters, most of whom still reside there. Also, it's the birthlace of Lucille Ball, and every year people from around the U.S. come to the Lucyfest and the new Lucy museum...anything to help the local economy I suppose! Oh, I recently learned that the NFL comissioner Roger Goddell was born there too. Finally, Jamestown is the home of the Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History. He's a famous wildlife painter. I've run hundreds of miles in the woods around that place. Other than that...it's a fairly quiet town. There is one high school, a community college, a AA baseball team, and Chautauqua Lake is only a short drive away. I just visited there a few summers ago summer (June 2008) and it was great for a few days. Oh...important part of the story is that I loved to run...I still hold several of the best times in my high school. Not saying much, though, except that the talent pool must have not progressed over the past couple decades :)

After high school (graduated 1989), I attended the University of Tennessee, located in Knoxville. For the first three years, I was a member of the track and cross-country teams. I ran the 5,000 and 10,000 meters (31:15 PR) on the track--ever try concentrating for 25 laps or keeping your sanity running 90 miles/week? Anyway, my emphasis was in the Movement Science area, but my main emphasis, my first love in fact, was sport psychology. From the time I was 16, I was always interested in what made athletes (myself included) tick. After a nasty injury (plantar fascia tear) that effectively ended my career, I branched out into other areas of interest, most prominently environmental stuff. I was one of the early members of the campus organization Students Promoting Environmental Action in Knoxville (S.P.E.A.K.), which has gone on to do amazing things all across East Tennessee. For my senior project, I wrote a paper on the intersection between sport psychology and eco-psychology, and even got to interview 5-time Ironman Triathlon winner Mark Allen. Finally, during my last year or so I started writing poetry, playing guitar, and going to local open mike nights every weekend. As anyone who happened to be in attendance could tell you, I gained little fame in that arena, but writing and singing to my guitar still provide me with some serious stress relief. I still think everyone should play an instrument and keep a journal...So,what do you do when you graduate with a B.S. in Movement Science and Sport Psychology? Well, there wasn't much choice, so getting a masters degree was the next logical step. After a 3-month trip visiting 15 or so national parks (e.g. Arches, Sequoia, Crater Lake, Grand Tetons, Badlands, etc.), I moved to San Jose, California to attend San Jose State, in large part because the sport psych person there, David Furst, was a runner himself, and had done some research on endurance athletes. For my thesis, I looked at the relationship between women runners' thoughts and moods in park and urban settings. I also began to reconcile what I had framed as a dichotomy between nature and technology. Thinking through the relationship between the "natural" and the "artificial" would later lead to my work in cyborg theory and sport. Anyhow, on the advise of my former mentor Craig Wrisberg, I decided to go back to Tennessee and pursue my Ph.D in what was then the Cultural Studies department.

Back at UT, I dove into the intersection between sport psychology, sport sociology, and cultural studies, and in the subsequent two and a half years I probably read and learned more than I ever had before. For you students out there, grad school is a fundamentally cool deal. I also worked as a sport psychology consultant with several UT distance runners, and did my first ever qualitative study on college athletes with tattoos. I started conceptualizing what a critical sport psychology might look like, as well. Eventually, most of my time academically became geared towards my dissertation on the cyborg narratives of world-class track and field athletes. Then, in 2000, a job opened up in the Dept. of Kinesiology at San Jose State, and the rest...well, here I am over 10 years later! It's way too expensive, it rarely rains (which bums me out), and there are too many people for my liking, but it looks like I'll be here awhile. I mean, there are worse places to live, you can believe that. So, that's it, and probably more than you wanted to know!


Big Head	Dad biceps	Born Stressed!	Get him away!	OG Spiderman Fan	Me & Bro	Me & Nate


Bad luck?	This hairstyle was hip! (prom 1989)	Me & Uncle Cook	Me, dad, and Nate	10k (36:20) in 1999


Big fish	Atari time	Nice socks!	Football	High school meet	A'Cappella	4th at states: not happy


Tennessee X-Country(91)	OG Survivor	I Create Fire!	In a tree (Smoky Mts.)	Canyonlands	Petrified Forest	Me & Beck	Grand Tetons


My 75 Plymouth Scamp	Me and Dad (06')	Brother (Nate) & I in Boulder	Mom and I ('08)	In radiation suit (1993)