Sermon From The Mount
“No man but a blockhead ever wrote,
except for money.”
Samuel Johnson, 1776
Author
About.
I was born in 1954 in Chattanooga, Tennessee and adopted right out of the chute by Lee and Louise Mount. Within a few years we migrated through Bristol, Tennessee, Atlanta, and finally Birmingham, Alabama, where I did most of my growing up.
In 1972 I headed to the University of Montevallo planning to major in Music. Four years later I emerged with a degree in Broadcasting and Communications, a minor in music, and an unhealthy enthusiasm for the advertising business.
That enthusiasm carried me through agencies including D’Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles, Tracy-Locke and Ogilvy & Mather, where I worked on brands including Budweiser, Taco Bell, Doritos, Red Lobster, AT&T, Compaq Computers, Pilot Brand Chicken feed and Little Debbie Snack Cakes.
In 1996 a couple of partners and I founded Brain Surgery, LLC, an Atlanta agency that arrived just in time for the internet boom and evolved into a technology branding and strategy consultancy. In 1997 Karla and I moved to Boston, where I gradually drifted from the creative side of advertising into research, messaging and new product development.
Around 2014 I retired. Sometimes I miss working but that always passes quickly. So I spend my time writing essays, overthinking culture, technology, media, gardening conspiracies and whatever else wanders into range, all for no money. According to Dr. Samuel Johnson, that makes me a blockhead.
Karla and I have been married since 1986. We have no children and two terriers, Russell and Farrah, who remain unconvinced by any of my arguments.
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