I'm 33 years old and have been living with Type 1 diabetes since March 1984, when I was five years old. My mom is also a Type 1 diabetic, diagnosed at the same young age. Originally from Michigan, my wife and I have been living in the Indianapolis area for about eight years. Along with our black lab, Riley.
By trade, I'm a journalist and since graduating from college in 2001 there's been a line of different newspapers - weekly, large and small dailies, and a statewide specialty legal newspaper.
But then then there's my diabetes world as a patient-advocate, which truly began in about 2006 after finding what has become an ever-expanding Diabetes Online Community. Aside from my creative and journalistic writing, I've been periodically writing about diabetes for more than a decade - first offline in my own computer journal then gradually online through listservs, AOL message boards, community forums, and then a MySpace blog before eventually starting my own free blog in 2005. It was mostly personal journaling and writing that touched on diabetes periodically, but eventually after reading more D-focused blogs online and connecting with the online community that became my focus. The Corner Booth became my own little corner of the world online where I could tell my story of how diabetes has affected my life and how it's changed since I've learned I wasn’t alone.
That led to a new career path, working for DiabetesMine where I've been able to combine my passions for both journalism and diabetes advocacy full-time. So that's where you can find my D-stories and how I'm working to connect the dots. Here, at The Corner Booth, you'll find my personal tales of whatever fits the mood - politics, poetry, my life and family, or anything else that might come to mind!
As a Sigma Pi Fraternity man, I've learned to live by some basic ideals and these are what I strive to make real in my own daily life:
Advancing Truth and Justice
Promote Scholarship
Encourage Chivalry
Diffuse Culture
Develop Character, in the service of God and Man.
That is a part of everything I do, personally and professionally, online and offline. I believe that we're all a part of something bigger than ourselves, and this is just one snapshot of how I work to be a part of that broader human experiment and do my part in whatever small little way I can. In order to change the world, you just have to start in your own little corner of it.
"Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope... and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."
~ Robert F. Kennedy
