Linked Autobiography-Seattle

After that long three months I lingered at my parent’s house and considered returning to my childhood, but when the flowers started blooming I decided to leave Seattle for the gold country as hundreds of thousands had before me. Skagway, Alaska offered work as a hotel housekeeper, then a doorman/dealer/light technician for a small theater.
Back in Seattle I found another home, a job, and the desire to go back to school. I got my first apartment on Capitol Hill, a few blocks away from my classroom( at Seattle Central Community College), and I could walk down the hill to sell tickets & etc.. at the Pacific Science Center. I was taking classes to prove my worth to The Evergreen State College, where I had unsuccessfully applied.
After my first quarter my "studential quality" was proven. The next fall I started my three years back in college. I entered as a sophomore, again. At first I planned to pursue environmental studies courses, then I went on a study trip to Nepal with seven other students. We traveled through Thailand and India as well, but we stayed two months in Nepal studying its language and culture.
There my eyes began to open to Eastern culture and religion. We read The Snow Leopard as part of our study and I brought along a book on Buddhism from Dad’s library. The different way of relating to life I witnessed and was fascinated by. The relationships between men & women, children & parents, citizens & government, religion & society, and man & nature was a new wilderness for me. My area of study changed then, forever.
After coming back over the water I attempted to return to environmental stuff but I had seen too much. The second quarter after Nepal I switched part way through to writing about my trip.
The books on my shelves echoed the word, "Zen". At that time the mainstream books on Buddhism were on Japanese Zen. I knew that religion was the only thing that could give me the base by which to understand Eastern culture.
In between the precious time in school I returned to Alaska the first summer to work in an art gallery, and the next I spent in the "sunset elevator" on the Space Needle.
My last year I spent studying Japanese, falling in love with my girlfriend, and teaching as a substitute at a private English academy for foreign students.
I fell in love with Buddhism also, and decided to become a Christian/Buddhist. It was not really a choice. As I learned more about Buddhism I saw how much sense it made and could not keep it from becoming part of my "practice", and way of thinking. Buddhism commanded my attention and respect without making me leave Christianity. Christianity was the culture I grew up in. It is my base which defines me.
As I read more I found the magazine, "Tricycle: A Buddhist Review". I have every issue. It is the only completely non-sectarian Buddhist magazine.
In the fall after graduation I lived in Japan for two months with a host family, which I had found in Tokyo. I had hoped to find work, but due to a weak economy I returned home empty handed. After some time living with my sister in my parent’s house( they were in New York at the time), I worked for a short time at the paradise of Doe Bay Resort in the beautiful San Juans, before coming back and landing a job with METRO at their expanding West Point Treatment Plant in Discovery Park.
I found a "dharma house" to live in with a Jewish/Buddhist and his teacher/dog in West Seattle. There I earnestly began doing Zen mediation and enjoyed it.
After a year and a half I finally moved to Asia for the long-term. This time it was Pusan, South Korea, where jobs came more easily, and opportunities beckoned.
From my first weekend I regularly visited Pomosa Temple( actually monastery), where I made friends with the monks and began teaching some of the younger ones English in my free time( they insisted on paying me).
I enjoyed the expatriate life in Pusan, but teaching resistant students was draining my energy. After five months I convinced one of my good friends in the administration of the monastery to have Pomosa sponsor my visa for work as a "scholar of Buddhism".
I visited my parents and friends for two months then came back to live with the monks and study Korean language, culture, and Buddhism.
I continued to teach some of the monks , but spent most of my time studying Korean and the Chinese characters in which the Buddhist texts, and some Korean literature, are written. I also edited an English guide to the temple and gave tours to English speaking tourists.
About halfway through my year-long visa I started teaching part-time at an academy in the city. At "David English House" the students were almost all in elementary school and the teaching philosophy was using games. It was quite the opposite of the quiet life I came home to at the monastery. Pomosa, on the sides of Kumjongsan Mountain was the most peaceful and beautiful place I have ever lived.
After the year, since I truly realized I wasn’t cut out to be a monk, I came down the mountain to work half-time at the academy, continue my studies, and live in front of Pusan National University. Among the numerous coffee shops, restaurants, night clubs, singing rooms, video rooms, and bars I found interesting places to continue my study of Korean culture.
Fully immersed again in the foreign community I saw the need for better understanding of Korean culture and language, as well as better communication within the expatriate community. I also saw the need for more information on what to do and see in Korea when a foreign resident was not working. Along with some good friends and volunteers I started a paper for the foreign community called, "The Expatriate", that would be positive and helpful.
Most of my hours spent teaching were actually not at the academy but at an elementary school with which David English House had a contract. Yangjong Elementary School turned out to be the best experience I had teaching in Korea. Seeing the kids in an environment much more comfortable than the academy made it easier to see their individual personalities. After some initial wonder at seeing their first foreign teacher, and a giant, they warmed up to me and some would even insist on holding my hand as we walked to the classroom. Though I admit that some of them were frustrating discipline problems, as a whole I miss them greatly. I wish them the best of luck. In August I left the paper in the capable hands of Jon Marshall, wished everyone well, bowed to the monks, and went for a two week vacation in Japan for two weeks on my way home to the country I dearly missed.
Japan was great and you can read all about it the e-mails I sent to my friends in the section of this site called, "The Japan Trip".
When I returned to the land where I didn’t stand out like such a sore thumb, I spent a few months looking for work, and found a great job at Hagens Berman, a law firm in downtown Seattle. The firm does mostly class action suits such as the states’ suits against the tobacco companies, and the suit against Boeing on behalf of shareholders.
At the office I worked as the relief receptionist and a kind of office assistant. I thought of myself as a walking "wellness center". Besides answering the phones I was responsible for the day to day appearance of the office, and keeping the employees happy.
I spent my free time volunteering with the Asian Pacific Task Force and the Northwest Dharma Association.
The Asian Pacific Task Force works on justice issues for Asian Pacific Islanders and on a Pacific Theology. I mostly help them with events.
The Northwest Dharma Association is a non-sectarian group of Buddhists that work to support and disseminate Buddhist teachings in the NW. In the past much of its work has been organizing retreats and events for Buddhist teachers. NW Dharma Assoc. is now focusing its energies on publishing the "Northwest Dharma News". NWDN is a paper for the Buddhist community that annnounces a variety of Buddhist events and lists Buddhist groups/temples in the area, as well as providing some insightful articles and enlightening advertising. NW Dharma Assoc. will continue to sponsor community events and organizes events for teachers. It also has started a Seattle tradition of the "Change Your Mind" Day which I initially encouraged.
I was the managing editor of NWDN from December of 1997 to about April of 1999 . Almost exactly a year after I had started "The Expatriate". The paper gradually expanded its volunteer staff, hired some professional help, and is fast becoming the "voice" of NW Buddhists.
My parents are enjoying their retired life, though Dad worked for quite a while at Seattle University and Mom is volunteering with the Wing Luke Asian Museum, Virginia Mason Hospital, the Nordic Heritage Museum, and the ACLUoccasionally. My sister, Christi, worked at Cole & Weber, an advertising firm downtown, and gave birth in April of 1999 to twins(Grae & Will). We all found time to visit with my grandmother, Irene Malcomson, who gracefully turned ninety-five 1997. She moved up here to live in retirement home in Seattle about two years before.
My brother, Scott, is married, living in New York and continuing a very successful writing career. He has had two books published so far in addition to his many articles for a variety of publications including The Village Voice and the New Yorker.

I lived at the Companis House for a year (with David, Marisa, Pat, & Ingrid). Companis is an organization somewhat similar to AmeriCorps. I was provided with housing, food, health insurance, a bus pass, and a small monthly stipend(as long as I worked for a non-profit in Seattle). The Companis program lasted a year and during that time, which started in September of 1998, I worked at Asian Counseling & Referral Service as their volunteer coordinator. It was great to have my work blending with my area of study. At ACRS the staff speak a total of more than thirty languages. I got some chances to practice my Korean and Japanese. ACRS is especially unique because it is an pan-Asian agency. In August of 1998 August I had left Hagens Berman( a law firm downtown) to become a Companis volunteer and I was much happier. While at ACRS I went through the process of applying for the MA in Buddhist Studies (Contemplative Religion Track) program at The Naropa Institute.

From January to the end of April of 1999 I led a discussion group in Christianity & Buddhism at my church. It went great and I am now continiuing the discussion in a way on a Christian-Buddhist Listserve on Yahoo!Groups.

As to my family my niece Grace Tandy, and my nephew Will Loomis(my sister Christi's kids)continue to be happy and healthy. When I wrote the original version of this they were more than thirteen months old! Follow their linked names to see their pictures (from 8 months old) and this one to see the whole family. My parents are retired and lived at that time in a condo on Lake Washington. My brother Scott and his wife Becky, and my gorgeous niece Hannah Lacey, continue to live in NYC and even visited twice in 1998. They had a son in June of 1999. Grandma Irene Malcomson passed away in October at 97! She lived a great long life and decided it was her time to go.

9 Months living in Colorado:

As mentioned above, I worked at Asian Counseling & Referral Serviceas a service-learning volunteer from October of 1998 to August of 1997. I had been provided with housing, food, a bus pass, health insurance( which I luckily didn't need to use:o), and a monthly stipend by Companis. My "year" finished on August 20th. On the 21st I am flew to Boulder, Colorado where I started the MA in Buddhist Studies (Contemplative Religion concentration) program at Naropa University.

I really enjoyed working at ACRS. As their Volunteer Coordinator I had been able to meet some wonderful staff, interview many great volunteers, and interact with some of the clients. I even did some of the citizenship class teaching. I was glad to keep up my teaching skills. It was the first time that I had taught senior citizens and I loved it. I also had the chance to practice my Korean, and a little Japanese.

I was excited to be going back to school and finally starting my graduate study. I hoped to find a cheap room to rent! I had never been to Boulder, but I heard it was beautiful. I planned to live a fairly ascetic lifestyle. I hoped I could pull it off.


Forest MountainHOMECONTENTS 1