About Me?

About Me?

Whenever we start a new blog, or register at a photo-sharing site, one of the first items in the form asks for a synopsis of your life, as you see it. I tend to cringe at this, because when you’ve been on this earth for over 50 years like me, this always seems a tall order to fill. The answers tend to change depending on the date, but here is that synopsis, a view of “me” by “me,” that I will use as a template from now on. Or at least, until I change it.

I live way outside the Beltway and over a few mountains to the northwest of DC. That hot breeze from Washington still manages to scale the peaks most of the time. I'm a conservative Republican amongst gaggles of bleeding-heart Democrats, most of whom I'm proud to call friends. I’m a small-town boy who lived in the city, and a city boy who moved to the small town.

I'm a husband, and a father of five. I love my wife, and she loves me. I'm a frustrated artist among a sea of frustrated blue-collars. I'm an underpaid design engineer. I'm a hillbilly, but I'm metropolitan. I'm a photographer with outrageously expensive equipment. I'm usually broke.

I'm a vegan at heart, but not in practice. I've bought the best food for my dog, with only enough money left for a box of cereal for myself. I have four cats and a large dog. I talk to the animals, and the animals love me back. I believe in hunting as sport for those who like it, but I don't hunt. I can't bring myself to kill anything.

I love our national traditions, yet I embrace change. I am stubborn as a mule, yet yielding as a sheep. I love our kids enough to dole out discipline, but not corporal discipline. I'm not touchy-feely, but my emotions run deep. I'm a geek. I'm a redneck. I'm a thinker when I don't feel like being shallow.

I’m a very private man who makes most of his thoughts public. I am a very public man who yearns for privacy. I am technically oriented, but yearn to get back to the basics.

I'm a sinner. I'm a forgiver. I am fascinated by Jewish history. My ancestors, however, were Celts. I am a man of contradictions and convictions—and maybe sometimes apathy. I talk to God, and I thank Jesus for saving me. I will meet him one day to thank him in person.

What does all this make me? It makes me human. Just like the rest of you.

--Dixon Marshall, October 2008

Please check out my pictures at www.flickr.com/photos/brokenlens