I'm an actual Ann Arbor native who went to the University of Michigan. (They have some of us here, you know!) My BA is in Communications. I keep insisting that it should have been a BS for all of it that I dished out when writing essays.

Some of you may know me by the name Smitty. When I got my Uniqname (a computer ID at Michigan) I decided on asmithee, to honor Allan Smithee, the pseudonym several directors have used if they'd rather not take credit (or more accurately, blame) for their films. When I started on the Meet-Students conference, I used Allan Smithee as my pseudonym. And several people there thought that was my real name. (Granted, whenever they'd look at a participant list, they'd see Allan Smithee, next to my login name, asmithee, so I looked like an actual person who had just gotten a boring Uniqname.)

When I first met a bunch of people from the conference, they started calling me Allan. Since I'm not used to responding to that, I didn't. And they thought I was giving them attitude. So, in the interest of fixing that, I truncated Allan Smithee to Smitty. The idea there was to have a name that nobody would think was actually my name. But now there's a fairly large handful of people who can't think of not calling me Smitty. It's never easy, is it?

I work for the Information Technology Division Marketing Group as a Graphic Designer II. Which sounds like a sequel. Which usually means a bad movie. Which again fits in with Allan Smithee. I design web pages, the InfoTech Channel (UMTV 26), and edit videotape.

Yeah, I know. Doesn't much sound like the job description of Graphic Designer, I know. I think my supervisor's intent was to give me a title that his supervisor would easily accept. Guy Who Handles A Bunch Of Little Stuff just d oesn't have the same cachet.

But I actually am a graphic designer. I've done freelance work with Hillel, Grosse Pointe Summer Stock, Ann Arbor Civic Theatre, and other groups. Last school year I was chair of the University Activities Center Graphic Design committee, working mostly in print, making posters, fliers, and programs. My last UAC job was the CD design for Amazin' Blue's newest release, Earidescence. I started with UAC as a cast m ember in Comedy Company, became that group's video producer, then the company producer.

I've just returned to the Ann Arbor Civic Theatre's stage after three years' absence. I'm playing Doug in Six Degrees of Separation. It's not so much a part as a particle. I float in on occasion, be absolutely horrid to my father, and then disapp ear. This is not a complaint! I LOVE the catharsis, and frankly, I don't think I could sustain the delicious awfulness of the character much longer than I currently have to.

I'm a Gemini with a questionably-usable degree, and... yess... well. Yes. I guess I'd have to say I'm not single anymore. Join me, kids, for a sappy great sigh. And I don't especially care for science fiction, gaming, anime or manga. (Heck, there had to b e someone on the web to say it!)