JSB

I grew up mostly in Utah, though my family had brief stays in Japan, Finland, Arizona and California. We moved to Virginia when I was 16 and that has pretty much been home base for the rest of my life.

Attended BYU Provo (BA and MA), Penn State (PhD coursework, no dissertation) and George Washington University (second MA) for various degrees. Currently working on another BA through BYU-Idaho.

I work in something of a specialized form of lobbying. Generally, I think it doesn’t much matter what I do professionally, as the whole point of life is to learn how to love people and I could do that digging ditches, or doing public policy and advocacy, so long as I have other people to interact with. I think what I do as an employee is mostly to work on relationships and secondarily to produce a good product or result for my employer. I work from home, which I am extremely happy about, but because I do federal advocacy am tied to the DC area.

I was married in 1992, separated in 2015 and divorced in 2019. I have three children, ages 23, 20 and 15. I thoroughly enjoy them as people and am grateful to be a father. I take my role as a parent very seriously, nevertheless, am cognizant of being limited and in the process of growth myself. I have a joint custody arrangement and my youngest is with me every weekend. Their mom lives just a few minutes away, which makes things a bit easier for us all.

Personality wise, I suppose I tend to be pretty thoughtful and introspective. I like to talk about ideas and my answers to questions are typically rather long than short. I tend to grab onto a topic, do a lot of reading (or listening to podcasts) and really try to educate myself about it. I like learning and growth.

I really like exercise and for several years have ridden a bike and lifted weights 5 times per week. It's pretty important to me for a variety of reasons, and satisfies my personal vanity too, I suppose.

I like music, but only dabble and am not at all an accomplished player of any instrument.

I enjoy woodworking and have a large collection of high-quality power and hand tools that occupy my two-car garage. I can see myself making one piece of furniture after another over the years, mostly to give away to family members. I am though, very slow, as I enjoy the process and don’t mind dragging it out. I’ve also done a lot of home remodeling and get a good deal of satisfaction out of that.

I can say, without question, that the dissolution of my marriage was simultaneously the most excruciating thing I have ever gone through and also the engine of greatest personal growth. How I responded to that experience is the thing I am most proud of in myself. I continue, on a near daily basis, to read and listen to podcasts focused on relationships and marriage.