Who am I?

Who are you?

That is a deep question.  My name is Scott Granberg-Rademacker.  If you are wondering about my job, I am a professor and department chair of the Department of Government at Minnesota State University in Mankato, MN (you can see more about my professional academic life here).  However, if you are wondering about me on a less superficial level, I am dad to my two great boys and I have a wonderful and loving partner, Sara, who somehow manages to put up with me.

I also strive to live a life that is well-balanced and in harmony with nature.  This is not always an easy thing to do in the 21st century, with all the demands that are placed on our attention and our time, but it is exactly for this reason that I think it is more important than ever to maintain a healthy and balanced life.

In some ways, this blog is a part of my plan to live a balanced life.  Working as a professor means that I have a very cerebral job.  This blog (and my guitar playing) are creative outlets that allow me to express emotions.  By expressing emotions in positive and constructive ways, it helps me to foster emotions without being controlled by them.

Some of your poems are kind of depressing.  Why don't you just write happy poems?

Life involves many emotions.  I don't think ignoring specific emotions is a good idea.  I write the way that I feel or I think back to times in my life when I felt certain emotions and try to capture those feelings with words.

Who is your favorite poet of all time?

That's easy--definitely Rumi.  However, among Western poets, I'd have to say Emily Dickinson is my favorite.

You seem to post poems just about every day.  Where on earth do you find time to write them all?

I have to make time to write them.  I see it as an essential part of working with my emotions.  I write my poems a day or two in advance of when they are actually posted.  My poems are either written in the evenings after the boys have gone to bed or during my lunch break.

I've read some of your posts with the "philosophy" label.  Are you a Buddhist?  You sound like one.

Actually, I am a philosophical Taoist, which means that I believe in keeping and maintaining balance in all things.  My outlook on life has been greatly influenced by the Tao Te Ching.  I believe that at our vital essence, all people are actually one.  I also believe that daily meditation is an important part of living a balanced life.


Thanks again for visiting The Plain House.  I hope that your day is full of wonder and fulfillment.

-Scott