Howdy

I grew up on a dairy farm in rural Arkansas. I asked my grandfather for a job at age 8, and I’ve worked nearly every day since—on the farm, in a warehouse, in data labs, in classrooms, in corporate America, and now, back on the farm. I’ve rounded up cattle, driven forklifts and conducted cutting edge medical research. I’ve shoveled stalls and taught data analytics to doctoral students. I raised a family while building a research career—and I walked away from academia after watching good science get buried for political reasons (both local and national) far too many times.

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I hold degrees in psychology, quantitative research, and health systems research, and I’ve worked inside hospitals, state governments, and public health systems. I’ve seen firsthand how systems work—and how they fail. I also know what it feels like to crash hard. A car wreck broke my back in three places. I survived, and can still walk, because of a statewide trauma system I helped build (honestly I mostly watched, but was lucky enough to help in small ways), so I also know how systems can shine.

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Now, I spend my days analyzing power structures, watching the course of AI, and deciphering political agendas on my site, PoliticoDivergent. I do it not because I have all the answers, but because I’ve been on all sides of the equation—and I’m tired of watching people get misled and misdirected by narratives designed to confuse rather than clarify.

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I have a trained eye for systems, and have spent my life half-in and half-out of both elite and working-class America. I don’t have an agenda, I have a perspective. At the end of the day, I’m just an overeducated farm boy trying to make sense of what the hell is going on—and hoping to help a few others do the same.

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(I also play around on YouTube and I like to write. If anyone is interested in any of that, here are those links)

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