Profile Update

I have been made aware that I can not make up a character to give a voice for my profile. I was extremely excited about writing in the first person for a soldier recently drafted and sent to fight in the Vietnam War. O well, I will have to save that for one of my personal writing adventures.

My new character has not been picked but I think that it is extremely important to give a voice to someone that would either be interesting to read about or has no way of expressing their voice. After a chat with Roger (http://professorrog.blogspot.com/), who was extremely helpful in getting the creative ideas flowing, I have identified a few options for the people I would like to write about.

The first possible character would be a Kalamazoo homeless person. There are so many homeless people in Kalamazoo relative to anywhere that I have ever been and I believe that all of them have an interesting story. Interviews would be easily obtained but the truth of such interviews would be extremely questionable. Having spoken with homeless people on numerous occasions, as they followed me to and from local parties, I, like so many others in Kalamazoo, have heard numerous interesting stories from homeless folks. Stories of past boxing careers that ended with a knock out punch from Mike Tyson or of honorary college degree bestowed for unbelievable accomplishments. I hope to wade through the interesting nonsense to find the true, "uncut," stories of what actually happened in their lives to bring them to where they are today. It is likely that many interviews would have to be done but each would be easily obtained in exchange for a few cigarettes and some attention.

The second possible character would be a Kalamazoo high school teacher. The Kalamazoo educational system has been given a unique opportunity with the Kalamazoo Promise to provide its youth with the highest levels of education beyond secondary school. I would like to discover if there has been a change in the drive of students and teachers to achieve more by utilizing the Kalamazoo Promise. The future of the United States’ economic system is a highly educated labor forces and the seedling for the tree of knowledge that will come to symbolize the new economic might of the United States is being planted in Kalamazoo.

The third possible character would be a specialized doctor. I would like to increase the knowledge the general population has about the changes in medicine. First, technological changes are abound as medicine reaches new heights increasingly more quickly. Second, the nature of the economic structure of medicine is changing and the general population should be aware of these changes when problems become apparent in health care issues and government intervention. Third, the general mentality of doctors has been shifting with each successive generation that graduates from medical school. Forth, the pandemic problem of health care in the United States has reached deplorable levels, despite, general economic prosperity, unsurpassed levels of technology and previously unimagined levels of efficiency.

All of these characters would provide interesting and educational stories. Please leave feedback of what would be most interesting and beneficial.