Thanks for the Influence

Meme Alert!
Meme Alert!
Meme Alert!
In the interest of self-preservation, please push and shove your way to the nearest exits!

I’ve been tagged.

Kami Huyse hit me with the following question:

“Who had a big influence on you and how did that affect the direction of your life or career?“

There are many people who had an influence on me. Most of them are people who underestimated me in one way or another – who applied a prejudice against me, counted me out before giving me a chance. Those sorts of challenges just become the next fuel for my flame.

There are several I could name as negative examples, who taught me how not to treat others or otherwise altered my life course:

• the manager who was secretly plotting to have me fired, but couldn’t keep a secret while getting drunk with college students at a convention.
• the NOW spokeswoman (Eleanor Smeal, to name a name) who outright lied to the news about a cause I was involved in, solely to advance her agenda.
• the 4th-grade teacher who told me I was a freak, and didn’t belong in her class.
• All those kids in high school who mocked the kid from Idaho who was smaller, talked funny, and wore different clothes. Thanks for spreading those rumors that I was gay. Thanks for giving me the chance to learn what it feels like to be ostracized by prejudice so I might be more wary of inflicting it on others.
• the geology professors who were so driven by their narrow specialties that they couldn’t have a conversation about anything.
• the reporters at my first television station who needed my help learning how to edit, even though they made more money than I did.
• the manager who – while I was suffering through a protracted and mysterious gastrointestinal ordeal – ordered me to postpone my colonoscopy appointment because it interfered with a coverage plan.

And my heartfelt thanks go to all of you, for my life wouldn’t be what it is now if you hadn’t given me such wonderful obstacles to overcome. But I am not just the product of negative influences. Aside from family influences (which by their proximity are extremely important, but rarely random and arbitrary), here are just a few of the positives who helped steer me along the way:

• Dr. Marilyn Wright. Marilyn founded and ran the Montessori-style school that took me in at a very tender age, knowing full well that my family could not afford it. She gave me the foundation to appreciate a free-ranging curiosity, and the unshakable belief that learning happens best when the learner is invested in the curriculum and the pace.
• Richard Smack. My junior high choir teacher who was great on many counts, but this was the clincher. He lent me a dollar one day for a get-out-of-class concert (I was the only on without money.) I paid him back on the last day of school, long after he’d forgotten. I’ll never forget the look on his face – the true reward for honesty and integrity.
• Galen Guess and Sandra Coley. Science teachers who would be locked up today – he for going above and beyond in the name of experimentation, she for giving bonus points for singing “The Impossible Dream” among other things that helped us learn.
• Dr. Joyce Sellers. Former school administrator who took extra time to bust my chops when they needed busting – and pushed me to not accept “acceptable” as a lazy standard.
• Dave Baird. Yes, Dave, I’m linking to you. One of the classiest people you will ever meet, period. For years, I couldn’t write news copy without reading it in my inner Dave voice. If it sounded like something Dave wouldn’t say, it wasn’t news.
• Dr. Daniel Pound. There’s a separate entry coming one day about the man who taught one of the most philosophically rigorous courses one could devise. Put a dozen or so of the top minds on campus in the same room every week, and let them drill each other for points. Then take potshots at the survivors.
• Sifu John Lewis. One of the most humble, gracious, and generous men you will ever meet. A true martial artist who inspires others to improve themselves in body, mind, and spirit.
• Laura Howe. A dear friend and co-worker, who called me just a few days after the rescheduled colonoscopy to see if I’d ever thought about doing PR for a non-profit…

I’m sure there will be others. And I hope that those I meet will tend to put me in the good list instead of the bad one, should they ever stop to think about it.

Geoff Livingston has a story about a good mentor, and Rob La Gesse has one about the boss-from-hell who kicked his butt to Paradise.

So let’s hear from some other people, and there’s no excuse – you’ve got time to get this done before the L-tryptophan high kicks in: Jason Falls, Sarah Wurrey, Cam Beck, Marianne Richmond, and David Armano. You can take the in-depth profile route, or you can catalogue a laundry list of psychological motivators like I have. It’s your turducken now, trim it to taste.

[tags]Ike Pigott, Occam’s RazR, memes, Thanksgiving, influence, Dave Baird, Marilyn Wright, Galen Guess, Sandra Coley, Richard Smack, Joyce Sellers, Daniel Pound, John Lewis, Laura Howe[/tags]