So, what I want to know is, WHY do you care?  Not why you like Jack’s music or what you like about it, but…..what is it about you, your background, your personality, whatever, but what has made you a person that cares about the things we are talking about here?

I’ve been thinking about this, and I think that partly, I was just born with a certain personality that makes me think about why things are the way they are, how they should be, etc.

But I also think that my upbringing and my family made a big difference.  Especially my grandfather, who was quite a character.  He was born in 1906.  He carried the genes of a very stubborn and independent streak that I know I inherited.  In eighth grade, he had some disagreement with a teacher, and was told he could come back to school if he apologized—but he knew he was right, so that was the end of formal schooling for him.  (Years later, my mom told her principal that she would stop teaching elementary school at the end of the school year, before I was even conceived, because she thought it was unfair to kids to have to switch teachers midyear).

So, my grandfather the carpenter was really into being self-sufficient—they bought an extra lot in the 40s, planted fruit trees, raised chickens, had an asparagus patch….he was into the Foxfire books.  As a kid I would sit with him and he would talk about different kinds of wood, identify plants, talk about nature.  I have a guitar that he made by hand. I don’t want to go on too long here, but I do think that my parents and grandparents example had a huge impact on why I care.  Not only what they said, but the fact that they lived it.

How about you?