My name is Jason O’Quinn. This is not my first blog, but it could be my last.

Age: 33

Location: Centennial, Colorado, USA (a suburb south of Denver) since July 2002. I was born in Decatur, Georgia and spent the first quarter-century of my life there in suburban Atlanta. I spent 16 months in Lafayette, Indiana during 2000-1, then briefly returned to Georgia before moving here to live with…

Marital/family status: On October 8, 2003, I married my best friend and love of my life, Maria. Thereupon I “inherited” her four children. The youngest three were fathered by her ex-husband, and so are my stepchildren, but I love them as my own.

The oldest, though, had been long ago abandoned by her biological father. On September 27, 2005, Dora became my daughter when I legally adopted her. It’s no small adventure to suddenly become the father of a teenage girl, with all the drama she entails. But I wouldn’t trade her for the world. She turns 14 in August.

My stepdaughter, Corin, is 10, and my stepsons, fraternal twins Jonah & Caleb, are 9.

Caleb is autistic. He is the most lovable– and loving– child you will ever meet, but so much that “normal” kids take for granted is such a challenge for him, and for us as his parents. He calls both me and his father “Daddy,” but I got the designation first. It’s still special to me every time I hear it. I’ve found that not many people understand what autism really is. It’s a pervasive developmental disorder that has a range of symptoms, most commonly including speech and cognitive delays and/or dysfunctions. To learn more about autism, visit The Autism Society of America.

Education: I’ve attended four schools, but only graduated from two:

Lithonia High School, Lithonia, GA, 1993

Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, 1998

After receiving my B.A. in English from the latter, I went on to graduate school at Purdue University in Indiana (see “Location” above). But I grew disillusioned with academia and didn’t finish my Master’s. Then I moved here and vacillated as to what to do insofar as continuing my education. I enjoyed teaching at Purdue, and I really saw myself as a secondary (grades 7-12) English teacher, a career that would affect real, positive change in people’s lives, far more than all the literary critical theorists could ever claim. It took long enough, but I finally found the right college to enroll in to complete my licensure.

That was Metropolitan State College of Denver, or simply Metro State. I spent the entirety of the calendar years 2004 and 2005 there– longer than I expected it would take, but you do have to devote the final full semester to student teaching. I completed that last December, jumped through all the hoops to get my license from the state, sweated through the torturous process of applying to local districts and then for individual positions, and ultimately landed four interviews, the last of which was the only one to result in a job offer, which I happily accepted.

Profession: So, now, I am a teacher. I work at an options middle school in Golden that typically draws high-achieving students and demands more of them academically. I am endorsed in English Language Arts, but I am “highly qualified” under the provisions of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act (ask me about that one sometime…) to teach Social Studies. So it was that I was hired to teach both. Year 1 was (3) 7th grade LA & (2) 7th grade SS (Geography). Then apparently I had some issues that I’m still not clear about, and I got scheduled for a full slate of five SS classes my 2nd year: (3) Geography and (2) American History, the 8th grade class. I labeled this my “Year in Purgatory” because although I can teach Social Studies, I am not a Social Studies teacher. Next year (2008-9) has me back with (2) LA classes and (2) Geography classes, plus an elective class called “Academic Focus.”

Interests: Many and varied. I’m quite the literate type and enjoy reading. I appreciate classic literature more than contemporary, generally speaking. I like poetry because it forces you to make every word meaningful. I’ve written some which you can find on this site, although it’s been years since the latest composition. On the topic of writing: I’ve always been talented and always wanted to make more of my talent, but my personality is such that I’m, well, lazy, and it’s difficult for me to get motivated unless I can experience tangible results. But I’m trying to produce more, and that is a primary purpose of this site.

I’m also a big sports fan, my favorite being baseball, and my favorite teams therein the Colorado Rockies and Atlanta Braves (my original and adopted hometowns– plus the Rockies have the best colors). Though I can quote Shakespeare and spout trivia only an accomplished liberal arts major could possess, I am perhaps most comfortable, outside of home, in a sports bar where I can watch the big game chugging Fat Tire and chowing loaded cheese fries. This justifies my fanciful perception of myself as “eclectic.”

I also like playing on the computer and stumbling around the Web in particular. I was the kid who read encyclopedias, looking up one thing and then following the cross-references to other articles and jumping here and there, absorbing it all; and so the WWW is like a mental playground for me. Sadly enough it’s also often my primary social outlet (another long story), so I often spend time chatting and playing games on Myspace, etc.

Most of all I enjoy spending time with my wonderful wife and family. I may not have come about them in the traditional way, but they are every bit my world.

In time, I will add more here…