Introductions
The first of order of business in any social interaction is always introductions. For those who are a bit socially awkward like myself this is often where the wheels come off. When in doubt, talk about something you know well and are comfortable with.
Therefore, I’m going to start with hello’s and a bit about myself (that’s me on the left there for those of you who are visual beings). I’m Dawson Schachter and, in the interests of not misleading anyone, I am actually not a professor of any kind. At least, not yet. My life story is quite enthralling, but, thankfully, is not one of the topics this blog is going to cover. I’m more interested in my present than my past and therefore plan to share as things happen as much as possible.
So, one may ask at this juncture, what topics will this blog be covering? I thought you’d never ask. My hobbies span a broad range and, as my faithful readers will no doubt discover as this saga continues, are not limited by any person or happenstance in my life. This is Tenet Number One, I’ve discovered, in an exceedingly unconventional life (short though it has been so far). So, in order to cover the areas I prefer to write about there will be four main topics to this blog: Unconventional Living, Gentlemanly Behavior, Steampunk, and Fitness and Sports.
So, let’s take a look at what each topic will cover:
Unconventional Living: Things took some wild turns in my life when I was young (the loss of one parent and absence of the other when I was sixteen moved me out into the world very young). These turns took me down a path not often trodden (at least in the US) in today’s world of safety and comfort. When the other kids my age were starting their senior year, I was looking for an apartment and job to start sustaining my powerful need to eat. The topic of unconventional living will cover a huge range of things that I learned along the path less taken, and things I’m still learning. This particular area of the blog will likely be the most serious and posts to it will probably be spaced out quite significantly. It took me years to learn some of the things that will be included in it and will no doubt take me quite some time to put each down on the page. It will also have some less abstract more useful things like how to budget, where to start looking for a job when you have no experience, dealing with people’s reaction to young people, and more.
Gentlemanly Behavior: In this world of t-shirts, ripped jeans, belching, slovenly, sometimes abusive men there is often little place for the gentleman to find companionship. However, for those of you who still hold doors for others, who believe that power and respect can’t exist without one another, who still pay some mind to their appearance before leaving the house, for those of you who refuse to accept the idea that chivalry is dead the section on Gentlemanly Behavior may suit you. It will cover all sorts of things in life, as a true gentleman behaves as such in all situations and is also where topics of gentlemanly fashion and style will fall. Anything from the best place to find a barber, to where to find well cut suits, to how to comport oneself in the company of ladies and other gentleman. As the companionship of other gentleman is so much a part of such a lifestyle, I will also refer readers to other places where gentleman congregate online and for those of you located nearby in St. Louis I will try to give ample notice of theatre, high teas, and other gentlemanly pursuits.
Steampunk: Don’t know what steampunk is? Don’t worry, most people don’t. Steampunk has been making quite an appearance lately in all branches of style, from fashion to interior decoration to film and music. For a great description of Steampunk and it’s origins check out Wikipedia: Steampunk. As a brief, basic description: Steampunk is the unique combination of the Victorian/Edwardian era of steam powered industrialization and a more science fiction-like world a la Jules Verne and H.G. Wells. It is sort of an intersection of the past and the future. All things steampunk, from the fashion side of it, to the interior decoration side of it, to the conceptual/literary side of it will fall in this section.
So, long winded though it may have been, there you have it, folks. I hope my faithful readers will indulge me in this initial entry, there was quite a lot of exposition to cover. Now, pick a topic from the left and dive in. Cheers!
-The Professor