DeepBlueSouth

Salutations, mes amis! [I probably conjugated that wrong, sorry]. My name is Hank, my pronouns are "he/they", I was born in New Orleans in the 20th century, and I am quite unsure whether I am qualified to be here [I'll stick to my lanes like psychology, history, anthropology, music, language learning, communications, poli, earth sciences, etc. oh, the humanities] I tell people who inform me that I'm intelligent that "the best thing we can know about ourselves is that we know nothing. none of us will ever be fully educated, so we must face every day as a new learning experience.... even if we just veg out and watch something fun or meet up with friends or new folks!"

I started college at a very young age, waayyy too young, I went in for communications and my field has been decimated by Sincl- er... a big media company with deep pockets and lucrative government connections which swallowed the FCC whole shortly after I graduated. I have worked in various fields since school, but never lost my lust for learning about the world and everything in it. my biggest barriers were socioeconomic, [major, major] family issues, and serious problems with autism, dyslexia, and particularly with mathematics. word problems and geometry...? YES. Algebra.... er, please no. Trig.... wh-what is that, exactly...? [no seriously, I wanna know!!]

my flexes are being the inaugural president of my school's first communications honor's society, sigma cum laude, Eagle Scout [Boy Scouts of America], and I have lived through a LOT of stuff that gave me... heaps of survivor's remorse. think of me as an allegedly highly intelligent Acadian [Cajun] Creole who passes for a normal southerner when I have to. ANYWAY, I am caretaking for my mother at the moment, who was a registered nurse for over 40 years, retiring in the first wave of the SARS COV-2 pandemic in 2020.

because I am an american living in a region which enshrines anti-intellectualism, xenophobia, nondenominational small "c" christianity, unfounded conspiracy theories which would make Charles Fort blush, and good ol' white nationalism [weapons grade sarcasm]; it has always been difficult for me to be myself, and even moreso to engage the more academic leanings of my personality and interests. while I have worked a lot of white collar jobs in positions ranging from academia to media production to politics [but not for HIMself]; most of my life experience during and after college lies in blue collar work. if salaries were better around here for college grads, I would 10/10 find a way to go back to school but.... I can make just as much as a bartender than I could as a civil engineer. also madre has a nice home here, and the region is currently experiencing rapid growth, so even if I don't live here forever, my current plans mostly involve getting used to being in the 40 and older set in this exurbanish suburb. so far so good.

like most in my demographics, I have never married and have no children. I am pretty open minded [sometimes to a fault], and although I can be silly, I always attempt to remain serious when it comes to academia, tolerance, and mutual respect of my peers; whomever they are that day, be it somewhere like this among academics, a romantic date, or a music festival. I spent far too much time cloistered as a child [I... still do] but I love interacting with people.

in real life, one will usually find me working a counter, a bar, a front desk, a kitchen, the floor, the stage, or, well.... taking care of things here. on my rare sojourns out; expect me in a bohemian lounge or music venue somewhere between East Tennessee, North Georgia, or North 'bama; perhaps an authentic immigrant family owned foreign cuisine restaurant [or hookah joint]; I am a regular fixture at Dollywood, love me some rollercoasters and walking around in the shade; or just a hike in the woods. I come for the exercise, but stay for the botany, wildlife, and geology. I was born on an alluvial plain, the Delta... the geology around here, omg.... I literally find tiny fossils in my yard here, haha! 10 year old me would have loved that, the local mountains do not guard their secrets in this geologic age.

among other personal interests are acting, comedy [I am not above doing standup], light video gaming [I am NOT a gamer, the gamers would quite agree with this sentiment], culinary arts, rescuing pets, health/wellness/medical discoveries, psychology, music, and [fiction] writing. I am published, but my latest is gonna be a lot MORE fun to write! I'll stop now, but I am glad to be here!!