Aging rocker with groupie

Backwards Bio

I'm on the tenure-track as Assistant Professor in the Philosophy Department at Cal Poly, which is located on California's beautiful Central Coast (halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles). Married to the lovely Sigrid Long (sometimes known as "Jeannie") and father to the precious Sophie Long and the young bruiser Dylan Long, I recently moved from San Luis Obispo--which was recently rated the third best place to live in America--to Arroyo Grande, which features slightly less expensive housing costs. Nestled among low mountains and ancient volcanic peaks, SLO is a fine small town of 44,000 folks (253,000 in SLO county). It features a perfect climate, a thriving downtown, 23 parks, a very fine performing arts center, a big farmer's market every Thursday night, an old Mission, and good restaurants and watering holes. Arroyo Grande (a town of about 16,000) has a near perfect climate, a charming downtown village, and, best of all, is a couple miles from the beach.

When I'm not doing philosophy these days, I enjoy hanging with the family at the beach, fishing, watching or playing ball sports (baseball, basketball, football, tennis, softball), listening to great music (mostly americana, power pop, jazz, and bluegrass), hosting, and attending dinner parties, reading fairy tales, participating at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, and managing the Chocolate Chimps (the finest fantasy baseball organization on our dear planet). In the last two years I've seen shows by Rodney Crowell, Lyle Lovett, Dwight Yoakam, Will Kimbrough, Richard Thompson, Ralph Stanley, and Emmylou Harris & Buddy Miller. If I had more time, I'd get back to writing and playing music, writing poetry and reviews of movies and albums, as well as acting and collecting fine cigars. But, time is short, philosophy is long, and my little blond and little bruiser need lots of attention. [California pics]

THE NOTRE DAME YEARS: In 2003-4, I worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow in The Center for Philosophy of Religion at the University of Notre Dame, and I also taught Ethics courses for Notre Dame's Philosophy Department. It was a good year as I got to meet regularly with Tom Flint, Michael Rea, Michael Murray, Carl Gillett, Ken Perszyck, Kevin Timpe, and Balazs Mezei, and occasionally with Big Al Plantinga, Nick Wolterstorff, Robert Audi, Ted Warfield, and Phil Quinn. I also sat-in on Jaegwon Kim's seminar on Action Explanation and a few sessions of Peter van Inwagen's seminar on Metaphysics. My research work in The Center was on epistemic justification and religious belief. However, much of my attention was focused on my daughter, Sophie, who was born during that year. Sigrid and I enjoyed Notre Dame and South Bend, Indiana (which isn't as bad as most people say; after all, Chicago and Lake Michigan--which has some surprisingly beautiful beaches--are short drives away). We also made some good friends there, and I was reacquainted with my ol' buddy from Arkansas, E.J. Coffman. The big highlights of that year, other than Sophie's birth and my new life as a daddy, were working at Notre Dame (very impressive), talking philosophy at Legends, seeing Merle Haggard and his band in a great performance at the Morris, and catching a Cubs' game at Wrigley Field. [Notre Dame pics]

ROCHESTER YEARS: From 1999-2003, Sigrid and I lived in Rochester, New York, while I pursued my Ph.D. in Philosophy at the University of Rochester, one of America's top research universities and a fine place to study analytic philosophy. The move turned out to be very good for me, although the first snow-packed winter was a serious shock for a Mississippi boy like me. Believe it or not, I learned to enjoy those 100 inches of snow each winter (it'll really make you appreciate spring). I did my dissertation in epistemology under the advisement of one of my philosophy heroes, Richard Feldman (extraordinary epistemologist and an all-around great guy). I also had formal studies with Earl Conee, Ed Wierenga, Ralf Meerbote, and Deborah Modrak, informal studies with David Braun and Gabriel Uzquaino (now at Ohio State), and I learned a lot from John Bennett, who frequently participated in the many reading groups in the department, as well as some of my fellow graduate students. The expert training in philosophy I received at Rochester, as well as the support and personal attention I received from my professors, was invaluable. And I got helpful experience by teaching courses in Reason & Argument, Moral Problems, and College Writing. The university is situated along a picturesque curve of the Genesee River a couple miles from downtown Rochester, a mid-size "All America City" with a metropolitan area of 1.1 million people. Rochester has many attractions, including an appealing downtown area, diverse restaurants (including very good Thai at The King & I, excellent Indian at India House, and the great British pub serving real ale, The Old Toad, long may it thrive), numerous festivals, many beautiful parks, the Erie Canal and Genessee River, Lake Ontario, the Eastman School of Music and Eastman Theatre (where there are free concerts or recitals almost every day of the year), and professional sports (most notably, the Rochester Redwings (AAA baseball), Rochester Americans (American League Hockey), and Rochester Rhinos (A-League Soccer). Within easy driving distance are the Finger Lakes (a range of glacier-cut mountains and valleys featuring a series of recreational lakes, dozens of vineyards, many charming villages and towns, and snow skiing), Letchworth State Park (the "Grand Canyon of the East"), Buffalo, Niagara Falls, Toronto and Cleveland. My wife Sigrid was Assistant Dean for Student Life at the Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester (the highest ranked music school in America). Sigrid also taught several fitness classes each week around town. After surviving the snowy upstate winters, Sigrid and I took full advantage of the glorious Rochester springs and summers, taking in a variety of festivals, sporting events (especially Redwings games), art museums, and concerts, picnicking and entertaining in our peaceful back yard, visiting beaches along Lake Ontario, eating lots of Abbott's custard, hiking, and sampling a variety of surprisingly good New York wines in the Finger Lakes region. [Rochester pics]

ARKANSAS YEARS: We spent 1998-99 in Fayetteville, Arkansas where I had begun Ph.D. work in Philosophy at the University of Arkansas. Fayetteville is a great town of about 50,000 located in northwest Arkansas in the Ozark Mountains. It's a surprisingly cool, arty community, and it had one of the best brew pubs anywhere: the Ozark Brewing Company. I went there to study with Tom Senor and Chris Hill (now at Brown University), and I also got to study with Ed Minar, all while teaching several sections of Introduction to Philosophy. It was at Arkansas that I realized that analytic philosophy was definitely for me. I really loved it there, made some good friends, and hated to leave, but in the interest of someday getting a job in the very competitive field of academic philosophy, I was talked into (by he who shall go unnamed) going to Rochester. So, we packed up the truck and we moved to upstate New York. Just before we moved, I got to spend a good chunk of the summer 1999 as a Pew Younger scholar studying with Nicholas Wolterstorff (one of my heroes) at St. Edwards' University in Austin. [Arkansas pics]

WALES YEARS: 1997-98 was another exciting time, as Sigrid and I stored all our stuff and headed across the big water to Swansea in Wales, where, as a Rotary Scholar, I did postgraduate work in Philosophy at the University of Wales. At that time, the Philosophy Department was virtually a Wittgensteinian school (with D.Z. Phillips as the dominating figure among the "Swansea Wittgensteinians"), and I went there to get to the bottom of Wittgensteinian philosophy of religion. I think I did so (at least, to my satisfaction). I studied with Catherine Osborne (who directed my M.A. dissertation but is now at UEA Norwich), Mario von der Ruhr, Ieuan Williams, and Howard Mounce. The year was not all about school, however. Wales is a gorgeous country filled with friendly people and great pub life (in which we happily immersed). We loved Wales so much that we spent most of our travel money seeing most of the country rather than seeing lots of England, as we had originally intended. However, we did have lengthy, enjoyable stays at London, Bath, and Oxford (where I visited the various haunts of my heroes C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien). The year was also good for me professionally, as I wrote two philosophy papers that were published. Sadly, the Philosophy Department at Wales Swansea was virtually destroyed a few years ago after some nasty political maneuvering. I hope I will make several more visits to what feels like my second country, if only to taste the Felinfoel Double Dragon again. [Wales pics]

HATTIESBURG YEARS: In 1992 I somehow convinced the former Sigrid Morrison, who was from Jackson, Mississippi, to marry me. From 1992-97 Sigrid and I lived in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. The first year or so I toured the deep South with Mission 66, a rock and roll band. Things were really starting to look up for us when our guitarist quit to go to college (who could blame him for that?), and soon after our drummer quit, too. After a period of trying unsuccessfully to find the right replacements, the exigencies of real life came knocking down my door, and I made a life-direction change by entering the M.A. program in Philosophy at the University of Southern Mississippi. There I studied with Forrest Wood, Jr., Michael DeArmey, Ron Burr, and David Holley. After getting my M.A. in 1995, I worked at William Carey College as Instructor (teaching Philosophy, Critical Thinking, and Study Skills) and as the campus Tutor Coordinator. Sigrid also worked at William Carey as Director of Student Activities. These years were special for many reasons: we had wonderful friends, we got to attend numerous Southern Miss Golden Eagles' football, basketball, and baseball games, and we got to eat a lot of great barbeque (especially at Rose's Quick Stop & Leatha's Bar-B-Que Inn). [Hattiesburg pics]

VICKSBURG YEARS: During 1987-92, I worked as Theater Director, Speech and Drama Teacher, and Director of Total Sound at Warren Central High School in Vicksburg, Mississippi. I directed successful productions of Anything Goes, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, and Guys and Dolls, a feat that was made actual by the hard work of several very talented people--including Johnny Ray Jones, Randy Jolly, Lee Ann Whitley, Jennifer Bentley, and Nancy Mitchell--as well as a lot of talented students. I also played several roles in Vicksburg Theater Guild productions, including King Arthur in Camelot. But, I spent most of my extra-work time getting into or out of several rock and roll bands (including Lone Star and Dead Elvis), eventually co-founding Mission 66 with my songwriting partner Chuck Bradford. From 1990-91 we played clubs mostly in central Mississippi and eastern Louisiana, slowly building a fan base and learning how to perform. I had enjoyed directing and teaching, but the lure of superstardom got the best of me, as I gave up my director's chair for a seat in the van of rock and roll hard knocks. You want to do something really difficult? Try holding a rock and roll band together. [Vicksburg pics] [Mission 66 pics]

COLLEGE YEARS: When I got out of high school, I wasn't so sure what I wanted to do, but it was pretty clear that I was going to college; so, I went for subjects I seemed most interested in: Acting and Philosophy. I ended up with a B.A. in Philosophy with an Emphasis in Religion from the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg. Although I enjoyed my philosophy studies, I spent most of my time in the Theatre Department (indeed, I came just shy of a B.F.A.), where I acted in several plays, winning several university acting awards. I was especially happy with my performances as Roy in Lone Star (for which I received an Irene Ryan Award nomination) and Scapin in That Scoundrel Scapin. At Southern Miss I got to work with some great directors and teachers, including R.B. Hill, Bob Funk, Larry Mullican, Blaine Quarnstrom, and Melva Hackbarth, and I worked with some talented actors (the most famous of which is Joel McCrary). For the summer of 1986 I was selected to perform in the Southern Arena Theatre (summer stock), where I received critical acclaim as Dromio of Syracuse in The Comedy of Errors, Nonno in Night of the Iguana, and Henry Lyppiat in Present Laughter. As an undergraduate at USM I was fortunate to have taken courses with acclaimed author (and the most hilarious teacher I ever had) Clayton Sullivan, Faulkner scholar Noel Polk, and renowned poet Angela Ball. Before Southern Miss, I spent some time at Hinds Junior College, where I was heavily involved in the Theatre Department, playing the roles of Joe in The Shadow Box and King Pellinore in Camelot, among others, all directed by the talented Denise Holbach. [College pics]

GROWING UP YEARS: I grew up in or around Vicksburg, Mississippi in Warren County, which is located in west central Mississippi. The "Red Carpet City" or "The River City", as it is known, is home to around 40,000 residents who live among the bluffs and hills that form the eastern shore of the Mississippi River. I was very fortunate to have two great parents (Ted and Emily) and a fine little brother (Chris). My dad, a multi-sport athlete in high school, played college basketball at Mississippi College. While I was growing up, he was a high-school basketball coach and science teacher, and later a school principal. He has more integrity than any man I know, and he's my biggest hero. My mom was a high-school business teacher and later a junior-college instructor. Whatever sweetness and kindness I have, I owe to her. I had a happy childhood, riding bikes (and later a motorcycle), playing cowboys and indians, playing lots of basketball, football, baseball, and whiffle ball (usually with my little brother Chris Long, who is now the Head Coach of the Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters), occasionally hunting and fishing with my dad, riding horses (I wish I had done more of this), swimming, and attending various services and functions at Bowmar Avenue Baptist Church. As a little fellow, I spent untold hours in the gym during my dad's basketball practices. There are stories of the amazing little three-year old dribbling all over the court after high-school games (if only I had my dad's height, quickness, and jumping ability to go along with all those fundamentals!), and I continued playing basketball into high-school and beyond (I still play, although ankle surgery in 2002 and old age have slowed me down a bit). Growing up I also played baseball every year until the age of eighteen, when they stop letting guys without scholarships onto the field (softball has been a poor substitute). I took up tennis late, but I managed to play myself onto the high school team when I was a senior, and I've continued to play off and on since then (but not very well). My biggest interest during my high-school years was acting (I played Jimmy in No, No Nannette and Pappy Yokum in L'il Abner, among others), and I was very fortunate to learn under the talented direction of Barbara Sizemore, who helped me gain a lot of self-confidence. I also played music in high school (I was a mediocre trumpet player in Big Blue, the school band, and I was a mediocre singer in Total Sound, the school song and dance group). I was also involved in school government and various clubs, and I was fortunate enough to be elected to Warren Central High School's Hall of Fame. [Growing Up pics]

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