Interesting that the instructions say
Quote:Please do this in paragraph form (and leave out any items, except your name, you don't want to include)
yet so many respond in list form. Also, since our user names and real names are supposed to be the same, that's an item that could be left out.
* R(obert) O(rin) Despain. Back in 1976, I decided to go by my initials during a bike trip that had four or five other Bobs. It hasn't simplified things since most people on hearing it don't believe it and think I'm named "Arlo" or "Errol." When I explain it's just my initials, many forget or reverse them and start calling me OR.
* 67 (so, am I the oldest?).
* Male. R.O. sort of disguises that, doesn't it?
* Widowed (in 2002), although I have a wife by a previous marriage. No children.
* Salt Lake. Left at 18 and came back at 40.
* Sort of retired software engineer. I thought I could do it forever, but for some reason, I stopped being able to and I don't know it it's permanent or not. Getting to be.
* Connection. A loose one, really. I can't remember when or how or why I joined the old listserv.
Connection to literature. Voracious lifetime reader. It's why I temporarily got out of engineering and into English (B.S. from BYU (math and physics minors), M.A. ditto, longish and unproductive stint as a PhD student at UConn). Writer at times. A published book (non-fiction, 10-speed Press), some other stuff. Story in the old
Utah Holiday. Stopped writing in 1982 but I'm maybe coming back to it.
Connection to Mormonism. Born into it but it never really took. Went to non-member religion classes at BYU.
Connection to Mormon Literature. Tenuous. Can name some of the figures and may have even known some of the people from time to time. There are forms of it that repel me (I see them on the library shelves often enough). I have opinions on it.
