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Okay, since you asked, I would be delighted to tell you a little about myself. My name is not Shongzah. It is Shannon. Shongzah is a phonetic spelling of Chuang Tzu. I was born on November the 7th, 1971 in Clovis, New Mexico. When I had reached the age of three my family moved to lovely, scenic Blue Mountain, Arkansas were I spent the rest of my young life. Blue Mountain is like the more rural looking parts of a Calvin and Hobbes cartoon (at least it was for me as a child). It was nestled in the Ouachita Mountains less than 5 miles from the top of Mount Magazine (the highest point in Arkansas: 2753 ft). Here I was raised by Baptist parents in a tiny community. In August of 1990 I moved to Jonesboro, Arkansas to go to Arkansas State University were I studied Psychology and Graphic Design officially. Unofficially,I studied Partying, Sex, Alternative Music, Philosophy, Anarchy, Alternative Religion, and Aethism. It was here that I had some great conversations with a group of people who changed and/or effected my life very profoundly. My tiny world view was broken wide open. I also discovered that I had no idea what the hell I wanted to do with the rest of my life. So, I dropped out. I began working at a Wal-Mart store doing everything from watering plants to helping maintain the UPC system. In February of 1995, I made the rather rash and sudden decision to move to Little Rock, Arkansas to move in with my pre-college girl friend. This turned out to be a mixed blessing. It got me out of the rut of Jonesboro. My relationship with the young woman started well but within the year turned quite sour. (It is worth noting here that we have since recovered and, I believe, forgiven one another. She now lives in the South East and is married to a genius architect.) I spent the next several years trying to figure out just who I really was/am. I eventually returned to school and received my B.A. in History from the University of Arkansas, Little Rock slightly before my 30th birthday.
In January of 2001 I moved to Springfield, MO and married Kelly Strawn. She was working on her Masters in Communications. I have enrolled in the Masters program in Library Science through the University of Missouri.
At 12:52 a.m., on July 11th, 2003 our son was born. Jacob Cole Wortham.
You can see more pictures of Jacob by following this link trail.
Any other questions, just ask.
Shongzah (shongzah@yahoo.com)
September 1, 2003