James Bruce Lyttle
After retiring from a career in academia, I completed a Master of Education (just to keep the brain cells moving) and started wondering how wisdom might be disseminated. I'm pretty comfortable straddling the border between emotions and ideas on the one hand, and detailed technical specifications on the other.
"SHOW BIZ"
It all started far from the lecture hall. Born in North Bay, Ontario, I put off college to "play in a band." That meant a decade crisscrossing Canada in a van, studying music theory by correspondence through the Berklee College of Music, and writing charts for my own and other bands. Later, I designed lighting for more than three dozen Toronto theatre productions. I could never resist the challenge of translating artistic sentiments into detailed wiring diagrams or musical notation.
ACADEMIA
When disco came along, I left full-time performing to work on the Canadian government's Telidon project - a precursor to the Internet - playing music strictly as a "weekend warrior." I finally continued my education, earning a B.A. in Philosophy & Economics and then a case-method MBA. What really piqued my interest, though, was working at a DeVry Institute of Technology. The experience of teaching adults sent me back for a Ph.D., qualifying me to go and work at American universities. I spent the remainder of my working years teaching graduate and undergraduate courses and conducting humor research.
RETIREMENT
I have tried to put organizational theory into practice through civic and community work with groups like Minnesota Mensa, Lake Superior Freethinkers, and the Duluth Charter Commission. I occasionally teach night classes through the Duluth Public Schools (ISD 709). Thanks to Korean Zen master Samu Sunim, I hold the Dharma name Single Breath. I am the helicopter parent of a teenage daughter who likes to ski and skate and draw. I still write songs and sing them into computer software in the basement. But my long-term plan is just to leave some money for my dependents and become fertilizer for the local ecosystem.