doppelgänger - Supermod (mystic, attend, myth, preach, church)

[doppelgänger]

Name: Brendan

Age: Subtract 1,970 years from today's date.

Location: I currently live in San Antonio, Texas, in the hill country of south central Texas. I was born and raised in Spokane, Washington and lived in Seattle from 1994-1997.

Occupation: Appellate attorney, autism advocate, and freelance philosopher and statesman. In the past I've earned money as a computer programmer/systems analyst and in the magical world of retail sales.

Interests: Playing with my family, cooking, philosophy (particularly epistemology and the philosophy of science), mythology, history, college basketball (Go Zags!).

Five Novels I Pompously Think Everyone Should Read: The Brothers Karamazov, Les Miserables, I Know This Much is True, Don Quixote and 1984.

Nine (seven) Movies I Pompously Think Everyone Should See: Apocalypse Now!, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Network, The Matrix, The Godfather I & II, Casablanca, Jean de Florette/Manon of the Spring.

Religion: Any/none. Pan-religious mystic. I attend services semi-regularly at an Episcopal Church, though mainly because a good friend of mine preaches there. I was raised loosely Roman Catholic, attended a Jesuit university (Gonzaga), and dabbled in evangelical Christianity for several years in my late-teens and early twenties.

Other Stuff: I am the youngest of six children. My parents both died of smoking related illnesses when I was in my late teens. I am married to the world's most beautiful school nurse, for whom I dropped everything and moved to Texas. We are parents to two wonderful children: a six-year old girl and a four-year old boy. My interest in autism started with my son's diagnosis with mild-moderate autism about three years ago.


Any questions? I'll try to answer as best as I can.

[Sunstone]

Is it true that while living in Austin Texas, you have secretly wished a volcano would erupt nearby out of nostalgia for Spokane Washington?

[Aqualung]

Appellate atourny? Cool. You have good tastes in books.

[doppelgänger]

Originally Posted by Sunstone

Is it true that while living in Austin Texas, you have secretly wished a volcano would erupt nearby out of nostalgia for Spokane Washington?

Oh, I could tell you stories! May 18, 1980. I'll never forget it. Darkest sky I've ever seen, before or since. We got about a foot or so of ash.

[Bishka]

How much do you think about autism and what sort of ideas do you have on improving the how the world views it?

[doppelgänger]

Originally Posted by beckysoup61

How much do you think about autism and what sort of ideas do you have on improving the how the world views it?

I think about it a great deal. My study of religious and symbolic thought is first and foremost about understanding the nature and development of language and social connection, which lies at the heart of understanding autism.

There are so many misconceptions about autism. Part of the problem is that it is diagnosed as a behavioral disorder under the DSM-IV, but may actually be a manifestation of a wide range of biomedical conditions.

[Willamena]

Congratulations, Brendan, on Mod-hood.

[kadzbiz]

Well done Brendan. Like your book and movie choices. What exactly is a freelance philosopher and statesman?