I've been in construction for most of my career and knew there would be a time when I could no longer do the work. Construction is a job with an expiration date because of how hard it is on the body, your body just will not tolerate it forever. So, I decided to go back to school and get my degree before I crippled myself out of a job.

Imagine riding on the backs of dragons. My favorite book is Aragon, a kid from nowhere that steps into legends and hatches a dragons egg. He finds himself in the midst of a war that no one knew was brewing and both sides are clambering to get him on their side. This series of books tells the story that anyone can be somebody, a hero. It tells kids that magic does exist and that no odds are to great, no institution, no matter how evil or how entrenched is so big that it can't be fought. It ignites the imagination and takes us to a world where men can love elves and do the impossible. It tells about morality, and asks the question: if a man can do something, should he? At the end of the series, Aragon is literally the most powerful man in the world. He finds people agreeing with him just because he said something. He finds himself thinking, asking himself: is there such a thing as to much power? If a man can change the course of history at a whim, just by telling someone to go do a thing, or by deciding that he can do it himself, is there anyone who can stop him if he goes to far? If we delve into the background of the books, we find that the author was just a 16 year old kid when he wrote the first one. He couldn't find a publisher to take it until he took it to his parents publishing company. Now his books are well known around the country and sell millions of copies. True, it's no Harry Potter, but even J.K. Rowling had trouble getting her books to publishers at the start.

Art is a creative outlet, more than just a hobby. It is a tool for therapy when times are bad. A way to express myself when words fail me. My drawings are complex and realistic. I make intricate designs and scenery that inspire my friends and family to say that watching me create is like watching magic happen. To tell their friends to just wait and see what I do next, or with this picture that I'm studying. People have asked me where I learned my art, and how they can learn. People with a talent and a desire to learn have, in the past, and may continue, to take inspiration from me to take classes. My farming scenes bring awareness to people that food is not free. My designs show a balance in a world of chaos. Watching me draw has inspired peace and calm in stressful times for my family. I plan to pass this talent to my kids so they can enjoy it themselves when they grow up. There are many artists in my family, many of them teachers, that enjoy bringing the art of creation to others. I have several pieces that I plan to transfer from paper to glass or wood in order to enhance my home. To render into my hardwood floors in the kitchen. To install, in stained glass, into my interior doors. So generations can see and admire them. To continue the tradition of creation and artistry themselves. I plan to encourage my kids ideas of painting on the walls in order to nurture their creative talents and display their greatest works for friends to see. This encouragement, in the past, has inspired my uncle to enter a career in architecture. It inspired me to enter a career of building and construction. It inspired my grandfather to teach and to mold young minds. I want to pass this tradition to my kids, too. Art and creation is more than just a hobby. It is an inspiration that has, in the past, been used to teach religion. Consider the great artists and works of the renaissance, they were used to inspire faith. Art is a powerful tool, weather in music, paintings, performance, drawings, sculpture, architecture, or any other form. It delights and inspires, it teaches and entertains, it calms and reassures. Art and creation is, in a word, magic itself. It is life.

I'm working on a change in my career. I'm planning to start my own business, actually, so I'm going for a bachelors degree in business focusing on entrepreneurship. Most of my career, up to this point, has been in construction and I did a big part of my training in southern Georgia. I grew up in Utah and was raised to be color blind, meaning that race means absolutely nothing to me. In Georgia, it was a shock to find that people are still angry about the outcome of the Civil War, particularly many black folks are still angry about slavery and this became an issue for me, being a white student in a predominantly black student body. I found myself stating that I'm sorry that my ancestors, 200 to 300 years ago, did something horrible, but what does that have to do with me, personally? Then I noticed something interesting. It was those students and faculty that were raised in the south, those who grew up on stories of Great Great Great so many greats Ancestor being treated like a piece of furniture that were doing most of the shouting. Those who came to the school from other places, like Boston or Ohio, didn't care what color my skin was and I got along just fine with them. Then there were students that were angry with me because I knew tricks that they didn't know. We were from many different parts of the country, all come to this school for advanced training. We were taught by different instructors, previously, who knew a wide range of different tricks. It only makes sense that I would know things that others didn't, and vice versa. So, it was a shock that a few students hated that some of the things that I had learned were different, and sometimes better, than what they had learned. We were all there to further and enhance our education, so why fuss about not knowing every trick in the book all ready? I was there for a year and afterwards it was doubtful that I would see any of these people again, so I didn't sweat it. For the most part, it was a good experience and the people that we helped were appreciative, sometimes with cash. There were times that my instructors intentionally let concrete set to much before setting me, specifically, to the next step in the process of working on it. They were observant and had seen that I knew a thing or ten and wanted to see if I could work the concrete and fix things that had waited too long. At some of these points, they praised me by saying that not even they could have done done this, or done this as well as I did.