I'm a 48-year-old writer, editor, ex-musician, dreamer, reality catcher, ex-con, and father. I have three kids, five tattoos, a criminal record, a terminal disease, and an attitude. I was born in Alabama and spent the first 38 years of my life there and in Mississippi. In the 1970s and 1980s, I was a drummer in various hard rock bar bands in Alabama and Mississippi. Since 1985, I've worked for newspapers, ad agencies and magazines. I've also taken inventory, indulged in independent entrepreneurship, run a newspaper route and served time. I've been on the West Coast, L.A. or Seattle, since 1999.

His victory speech when he secured the Democratic nomination