From whence came you?

A couple of recent threads have made me think some might like to have an idea of the demographics of the board.
It's not outing. Share as much or as little as you like.
I'd think general age and geography would be ok for most.
I'll start.

 

Born 1971
Split time between East Tennessee and coastal North Carolina
Navy veteran
Worked in newspapers from 1994-2012 then became a high school teacher.

 

Born 1971 in Inglewood California not far from where the ponies and the Lakers ran.
Grew up in Long Beach, in the Pacific, in Ellay, nothing else existed.
Got a gig at the hometown rag at 18 and married the career.
Worked all over the country and overseas. Got myself fired at 40.
Drove up to Northern New England to manage an art gallery.

 

1981
Born in West Virginia, grew up in Chicago.
Started my first paid newspaper job on my 18th birthday.
I've lived everywhere, man.

 

Born 1958 in Royal Oak, Mich. (Same hospital as IJAG!)
Third generation Detroiter (but only second generation American on Mom's side, thanks to Canadian grandparents).
Dad worked for the space program and then IBM, so we moved quickly and often. I went to 13 schools in 12 years between Florida, Texas and California (and Florida and California and Florida).
Kept up my nomadic tendencies after college, even switching from radio to print to online.
Fresno. Gainesville. Fort Lauderdale. Contra Costa/Vallejo/Napa, Calif. Melbourne, Fla. Vacaville/Sacramento, Calif., Raleigh/Cary/Rocky Mount, N.C. Atlanta/Gwinnett County.
After being laid off twice by Turner Broadcasting, I'm officially retired (although former co-workers demand freelance work so I don't get jealous of them).
Cabin is in northeast Georgia Blue Ridge mountains. Motorhome is currently parked near Bradenton for the winter.

 

Born 1972, in Summit, Ill. (suburban Chicago). Grew up in Cook and DuPage counties, for you fellow Chicagoans out there.
University of Iowa graduate, got "the bug" covering sports and news (the "100-year flood," summer of 93) at the Daily Iowan, have worked in newspapers ever since:
Two chains of suburban Chicago weekly papers which no longer exist, a weekly in Michigan's U.P. which changed my life and career; small dailies in Michigan, Iowa and Illinois.
Have worked in the Pacific Northwest since 2009. Still hanging on in the newspaper business, assistant news editor at a small daily.
For health reasons, have left Coca-Cola, Potato Oles and Nutty Bars behind (but not dark chocolate!)

 

Born in Winnipeg, 1953.
Prairie kid my entire life. First newspaper job was delivering the Winnipeg Free Press in the early 60s then Red Deer Advocate in later 60s. Mostly I love reading them.
Stockbroker 79-03. retired to W coast. Back in Calgary. I need big wide open spaces and W Canada has it.
Healthy as a horse. Cycle a lot. V into music.
Am on SJ for the humour. Laugh out loud funny sometimes.

 

In 1905, my 16-year-old grandfather and two of his buddies left their farms in Durham, Ontario, and built houses in Calgary for two or three summers. Fifty years later, my mother went west with him and said he could still point out all the houses he worked on. I doubt many of those are there now, based on how much Calgary has grown.

 

Cali by way of Arizona and Colorado. Tours of duty on two ends of the state and happy to say I left on my terms both times. Both times it was a much needed change (granted one was precipitated by my getting married and neither of us wanted to continue being where I was working). Now I'm teaching the youth of America less than three miles from the statues in my Avatar. So much happier having kids tell me how much I suck to my face than people who say I suck by how little they pay me and how much work they expected.

 

Born 1973 in CT. Lived here on and off my whole life. College in Virginia and Tennessee. Lived in Colorado in a tent the summer after college graduation. A few years ago I spent a few months living with my dying father in Florida — after my mom died, my wife said she wanted a divorce and I got fired from a national outlet for reasons completely of my own doing. I don’t work in journalism anymore, have been working in comms and now website creation for last six years, and am about to get married again. Have 11 year old daughter. I hate olives.

 

Not many early 20th Century anything let in Calgary. Lots of people came to the West for a look see and many stayed in Calgary but many more moved on to Vancouver. Until recently, Calgary has always been a territory to come to and make money. It’s a work hard, play hard place. Fun town.