Here are some things that you may or may not have known about me.
I was born in 1972 in St. Louis, MO to a loving mother and a disturbed sperm donor. He was verbally, emotionally, and physically abusive to both my Mom and myself. I have blocked much of this out. My Mom, brave soul that she is, took me and ran away. She met another brave, loving soul, my Dad, and they became fast friends. Several years passed and they wedded each other and went thru the hardships of officially adopting me. In those days the Roman Catholic diocese had the best schools, so they scrimped and saved so that I could get a decent education. I was even in the seminary for a year as hard as that is to believe.
St. Louis is probably the largest small town that you will find and more often than not the first question that someone will ask you is where you went to High School. I lived in North County and commuted to Creve Couer to attend Chaminade College Preparatory. I am still not quite sure what High School that I attended really means about me.
From there I moved to New Orleans and attended Tulane University and promptly became a member of the Sigma Phi Epsilon National Fraternity. I made some of the longest lasting friendships of my life there and do my best, which falls terribly short, on keeping in touch with my extended family. I spent some time in Los Angeles with a an organization called Teach For America. I am still not sure if that is the ultimate direction that I wish to take in life....teaching young minds.
I moved back to New Orleans and had a few jobs working for a bank and then working evenings in music clubs. I started off in the now defunct Muddy Waters Music Club. I have to give a big thank you to the Sullivans whether you are still here in the States or back in Australia for giving me the opportunity. I got to meet, interact, and even pay the artists which really helped me to get to know the ins and outs of the music business pretty well. Also, I have made some life-long relationships with some of the greatest artists of quite a few genres. When Muddy Waters closed their doors, I was asked to work at the Tipitina's Music Club. I have to admit that those were some heady days.
I moved back to St. Louis, MO and worked for 6+ years in the Brokerage Operations division of Edward Jones specializing in mortgage backed securities and government bonds. I learned a lot about big business, and I fell in love but it was for naught and life moved one.
The next chapter was as the Credit Manager for a chain of Hilton branded hotel properties in and around St. Louis. I also learned a lot about the hospitality business especially as how it applied to customer satisfaction and retention. I tried the love thing once again and crashed terribly. I also renewed my love affair with the water and kayaking this time for keepers. :-)
During those years, I was extremely plugged into the music scene. I don't recollect many vacations that were not built around some sort of music extravaganza or festival.
I got sick 5+ years ago and have been dealing with the health care system in all of its glory since then. I also decided that I wanted to explore about my Jewish roots and found a several great Rabbis to speak and learn from. Turns out that even though my Mom was a lapsed Jew, the orthodox belief is that your heritage is passed down via your mother. I have been striving to be a better person and decided the Jewish route was the one that I wished to pursue. During this years Days of Awe between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur have felt quite AWESOME indeed as have struggled and prayed for guidance and that I would have a good upcoming year.
Namaste,
Mati :-)
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