Friends,

I’m excited to have this opportunity to introduce myself to you.

When you become a public figure, you are treated to the strange experience of encountering a sort of alternate version of yourself. It’s the persona spontaneously created by the press and pundits and people you’ve never met in an attempt to describe or categorize or judge you. Sometimes it’s flattering, but not always. You find stories being told about you that have literally no basis in reality.

Over the years, I’ve heard a lot of crazy things about myself. Some of them, I wish were true. Some have an element of truth but are wildly exaggerated. And some have me scratching my head, wondering where people get these ideas! I love to meet new people, but I often wish I could do it without having to overcome some of the less accurate public perceptions about me.

It might be a stretch to say that I’m just your average Joe, but as you explore this site, I think you’ll come to find that my desires, dreams and disappointments aren’t terribly different from your own. I suppose the particulars of my life might seem remarkable, even unbelievable to some people. But that’s the reason for this website. Because if it hadn’t happened to me, I never would have believed it myself.