A Brief History of John

This is a picture of me in kindergarten. For me, as for many children, school was a vital stabilizing force in my childhood development. This picture exemplifies this point.....it is the earliest available picture of me (and, not surprisingly, it was taken at school not at home). I don't really remember much about this time in my life other than my mother made this shirt....I loved that shirt. Related data: I was born October 29, 1961; youngest of five children; we lived in Clarksburg, California (a very small town south of Sacramento) at the time of this photo.

My family soon moved to an even smaller town in Minnesota (Belgrade....it actually appears on some maps!). The logic behind moving is unknown to me; I did, however, enjoy Minnesota. It gets very cold there, but Christmas felt right because of the snow. My mother use to cut my hair; she really got into the maverick spirit of the pioneering woman that she was (then). My innate fashion sense embraced the turtle-neck sweater that season....and this red one was a birthday gift. Related data: my family and I lived in Minnesota until the spring of 1971....the 1970-71 winter was so treacherous that we were snowed in our house for two full weeks.

In protest to my mother's haircuts, I grew my hair long in the late 60's and styled it in a pageboy flip (see picture of me, left). For some odd reason, the children at school started calling me Marlo when I began sporting this new dew....! I'm not sure what THAT was all about. Seriously, though, this is a picture of Marlo Thomas who played Ann Marie in That Girl....my favorite TV program in the last 60's. Related data: television was a significant source of entertainment and role-model rapprochement for me as a child.

This is me in third grade. We were still living in Minnesota.

Me in fifth grade. My family moved back to Clarksburg, California, because of the Minnesota weather.

Me in eleventh grade. My family had moved to Woodland, California, several years prior to this photo so my father could pursue some business opportunities. I went to Woodland High School.

I became active in drama. This was Woodland High School's production of Sound of Music. I was a dancer in that production (I'm in the center of this photo). Due to my dysfunctional family, I was quite capable of pretending I was someone else....hence, I had a natural flair for dramatics.

And speaking of being someone I'm not, I decided to rebuild a 1969 VW Beetle. It was quite an endeavor from which I learned a lot. I also had a somewhat decent car, when it was completed. I was 15 when I started this project, and the car was completed when I was 16.

I graduated from Woodland High School in 1979 at the age of 17 (left). It was around this same time that I told my family that I'm gay. I got very mixed reactions. In the long-run, however, everyone was supportive; and few were surprised.

I spent a lot of time in my late teens and early twenties with my friend Eric. We shared a very similar upbringing, and also came out to our families at a young age. We are still best friends (he lives just around the corner from me with his partner).

After working full-time and taking night classes at a community college....I matriculated to UC Davis to study full-time and graduated in 1989 (left). A few years after that (in September 1991), I met Dave, and we fell in love (below). Shortly thereafter, we began living together. We were together for 6 years, and we are still good friends.

I did my graduate studies at University of San Francisco and graduated in 1995 (right). Dave was very proud of me when I finished. I couldn't have done it without his support.

A picture of me taken this year (1998). I am fundamentally the same guy I was in kindergarten.

Return to the webpage chauffeur