Monday, October 27, 2008

What is it that you do exactly?

One of my favorite bloggers(Shu-Ju) asked me what I do for a living. It reminded me of a game that I used to have my students when when I teaching college courses in Sociology. Who Am I? is an exercise where the people list all of their roles in society. In so doing, you try to realize how people’s identities are shaped by and how they see themselves. So, in a moment of self-awareness (and since I will not be posting until I return to the US on Wednesday), I have decided to share my Who Am I? List:

  • I am a bookkeeper (for a talent broker and agent).
  • I am a college professor (Ph. D in Sociology—hence the name Dr. Russ).
  • I am an actor and standup comedian.
  • I am a brother (two other brothers—one older and one younger).
  • I am a Virgo (and very typical of one).
  • I am a book/paper artist.
  • I am adopted.
  • I am a singer.
  • I am a tour manager for The Duke Ellington Orchestra (hence, my international travel).
  • I am retail (online) store owner (hence, my interest in international craft trends).
  • I am a Gocco owner.
  • I am a craftsman (rather than a crafter—hence, my desire for perfect techniques).
  • I am a paper whore ( I live for paper and all things paper).
  • I am gay.
  • I am 48 (but still a child at heart).
  • I am a former enlisted Navy man.
  • I am a New Yorker (by way of Tampa, teaching at USF; West Lafayette, IN—Purdue University; born in Houston).

    So there you have it.

3 comments:

fingerstothebone said...

This is a good game. Maybe I'll do the same. Speaking of being 48 and still a child at heart -- I'm 48 too. And I saw my ob/gyn today for a regular checkup. She kept on asking me questions to which I had to answer, "oh yeah, such and such is happening." And she would say, "well, you're getting old, and that's what happens."

She did this a few times. Then at the end of the appt, she said, "you look really good, but you're still getting old."

margaret said...

Hi Dr. Russ (if I may), I read your informative post over at Shu-Ju's and got caught up in your blog. Thank you for documenting your Tokyo shopping. I ache to go there, but in the meantime am getting my chiyogami fix stateside at Flax in San Francisco. I'd probably go crazy in the Yuzen stores in Japan.

Dr. Russ said...

Margaret--Welcome