(September 7, 2015 at 9:59 am)TheRocketSurgeon Wrote: Greetings from the Boot Heel of Misery (otherwise known as southeastern Missouri).
I've just come over here from "The Thinking Atheist" forum, after frustration with uncontrolled trolls there, after seeing that this forum seems to keep better control of the kind of spammers which so annoyed me, there. Glad to see a lot of names I recognize.
I'm a half-Cajun (on mother's side), from south Louisiana, though my father is an engineer which meant we moved all over the Deep South, where most of the USA's engineering plants are located, growing up. Attended the USAF Academy in Colorado Springs until illness knocked me out of the military, at which point I studied BioChem (with a minor in History) at McNeese State University in southwest Louisiana. Mom is a professor at LSU, dad still an engineer. I am engaged to be married to a fellow biologist, a genetics lab tech, who works with C. elegans, and we have a son who just turned nine. After college, I worked as an environmentalist and field biologist for a state regulatory agency (akin to federal EPA) for several years.
I grew up evangelical Christian, my parents being Southern Baptist and Biblical literalists/fundamentalists, so much so that our household TV was not plugged into anything but a VCR so my folks could "keep Satan out of our home", meaning they could make sure that we only watched Christian programs and approved movies. Unfortunately for their worldview, it meant I read a lot of books, including both science books and theological apologetics materials that taught me how to debunk other faiths, a practice I put to good use on my own faith after I learned enough about science to notice that my church was lying to me about what science's actual claims were, concerning the origins of the universe and the evolution of life on earth. At age 17, I realized I could no longer in good conscience continue to attend my parents' church, and was given the option to continue or to leave home... I took the latter course, and it took another decade before my folks and I were on good terms again. They really did love and care for us, but their worldview was just too narrow and bigoted to be tolerable to rational thinkers. Rather than anger, they could not understand why I felt so much pity for them, especially after my other two siblings became non-believers and fled the religious insanity as well. Once the final sibling cut ties, they finally realized it might be their religion and not the kids who were to blame, and have moderated many of their views, though they remain fundies.
Finally, I just got out of prison in April 2015, a victim of the Drug War, after almost a decade behind bars on false charges that were finally overturned when the high court allowed exonerating evidence that had been wrongfully blocked by the trial judge to be introduced on my behalf, and am trying to rebuild my life. Since I can no longer work in the field of science, realistically, without going back to school (still considering that option), I have taken up my old hobby as a custom motorcycle builder to earn a living, and am trying to rebuild my life. Being an open atheist in prison is a very lonely proposition, as there are very few nonbelievers in there, and even fewer people with decent educations or vocabularies, but I had learned enough law in my own self-defense attempt that I managed to do a lot of good fighting against a crooked system on behalf of other inmates, and thus survived and even thrived in that environment. I am happy that I am free at last, especially considering I'd have had at least another decade to serve, had I not won my appeal, but rebuilding is a lot harder than it might sound, and I have some difficulties socializing for long with "normal" people before I start wishing for isolation, so I appreciate the existence of forums like this one, where I can connect to a community without the unwritten social rules that govern interpersonal relationships in the real world to worry about. If I seem awkward or step on toes inadvertently, please be patient with me.
Though I am no longer a working scientist, I do enjoy the topics of ecology, evolutionary biology, and genetics, which are of course really just one thing. My apologies for the length of this post; as those who already know me from The Thinking Atheist forum know, I can be a bit verbose. For those who made it through the TL;dr of this post, my thanks!
-Rocket
A HUGE Welcome dude. Sorry i missed your intro. So glad to have you!
We are not made happy by what we acquire but by what we appreciate.
