Years of Floundering
So why was I still in school? Other than to get a Ph.D. for the sake of getting a Ph.D. I had little idea why I was doing this. Yet I couldn't fault the Biomedical Sciences program at Wright State, which was extremely generous in terms of both academic choice and financial assistance.
It was during this time in the early Nineties that I started experimenting with marijuana. I had tried it a few times in college and it made less than a lasting impression. But now was different. Inspired by a favorite movie whose protagonist was like a mirror of myself, I set out to find greater direction and purpose in life with altered states of consciousness.
In 2000 we moved to Manitou Springs, Colorado and my learning curve went through the roof, a karmic quickening as one long-time resident put it, typical of Manitou. A year later my marriage split, painfully but amicably. With a newfound well of creative energy, also typical of Manitou, I found myself on a wild exploratory path where the learning was quick and costly. And, as in college before, I felt at home again.
I would be nuts to walk away from this chance was my first thought. But, despite my B+ average in classes on biophysics, molecular biology, and radioisotopes, that's exactly what I did.
With little idea what to do next, I headed back to UNC where I obtained teaching certification in secondary science.
Two years of substitute teaching later and with few prospects for desirable employment, I tried work in a variety of other fields, including a few fruitful years helping to manage my uncle's roofing business.
Yet lasting satisfaction and clarity in personal direction remained elusive. So, with support from a kind and patient wife, my floundering continued.
Though I was hardly aware of it back then, I can see now that this is when things really started to dovetail.
In 1993 I entered pharmacy school at the University of Colorado in Denver, and three years later I was graduated and gainfully, if not happily, employed making more than double, likely triple, what I would have made as a first-year teacher.
Throughout this time I continued to smoke pot on my days off, but NEVER in class or at work. Neither school nor work performance suffered because of this, but it sure eased the stress, and especially the boredom to which I've been prone.
A year later my son was born and we moved to the mountains in Florissant, Colorado. Another year later I was offered a management position from my employer, which I promptly declined, knowing my job in pharmacy was but a stopgap until I discovered what I really wanted to do with my life.
Inspired by the Diggers of Sixites Haight-Ashbury, the first thing I did was start a second-hand clothing exchange, "a free store." A consignment store for artists soon followed. Then I started campaigning to have a local blighted building torn down and have a town square build in its place. You might say I was searching for purpose in community service.
A year later I co-founded a local magazine called Manitou and became a publisher. I wrote over a dozen essays and articles, including an interview with a federal judge who discussed the discrimination-based origins of marijuana prohibition and the injustice of mandatory minimums.
Two years and six great issues later, Manitou magazine was over. Very popular and well-received, but too expensive to maintain in a small community.
A hard but rewarding lesson, I took inventory of the experience, the friends made, the wonderful creative vibe, and moved on. And pharmacy was still there to pay the bills. Continue here.
Pharmaceutical Science
Magazine Publishing and Writing
