I am a X generation ironworker. I am divorced with a very talented handsome 15 year old son whom I am very proud of and very involved in his life. I graduated from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale (GO Salukis) with a Bachelor of Arts in Radio/Television with an emphasis in Sales and Management and minors in English and Theater. I went to work in Radio and then the non-profit field eventually becoming the youngest Executive Director of a major Office of a National Economic Education Organization. I managed to burn myself out, so I left the business world and went through the Ironworker Apprenticeship and became a Journeyman Ironworker. This may seem like a stretch but I grew up in a family of union craftsmen and I am the son of a major Union Leader and Organizer for the Carpentersv(now retired). Immediately upon reaching Journeyman Status, I was invited to become an Apprentice Instructor and have done so since 1998. In August of 2004, I was working at an elevation of 45 feet when the decking gave way. I fell 4 stories onto concrete, breaking my leg, pelvis, all the ribs on the right side, sternum, 5 vertabrea in my back and 2 in my neck. I also pinned the nerves in both elbows and had to have cupital tunnel syndrome surgery. I was able to go back to work with my tools but the damage to my back eventually had to be repaired with rods. But luckily, because of my degree and experience in training, I was able to secure the Position of Training Coordinator with one of the top 5 steel erectors in the Country. Hopefully, I can keep one of my brother Iron workers from making the mistake I did. I spend my spare time with my son, my relationship partner Mary, my parents(as much as possible beforI lose them). I have also been researching my family history. Most of my Ancestry on my Dad's side, my Grandparents were from Quebec, I have traced back to France in 1630's. On my moms side I have them traced to the Massachusetts Bay Colony and New Amsterdam, but her Dad's family was from Denmark and Ireland and they came over in the early 1800's.. My ancestors mostly came here to Illinois for Bounty Lands after the was of 1812. I can't believe a lower middle class kid growing up in a tough neighborhood had that much blue-blood in him, makes me laugh. I am a life long Democrat and a strong advocate of the Union labor movement. I am also a devout Catholic, against both abortion and Capitol punishment, I believe the best way to stop both of these is through good paying jobs and benefits. I love music so check the updates to my play list from time to time. I am a staunch supporter of Barack Obama, I feel he can unite this country. Not because of any Kool-aid I drank, when he was running in the senate primary I got to meet him and we spoke for over a half hour over smokes before a labor day parade. He is brilliant and can talk the talk and walk the walk.

MIck Jones of the Clash/Big Audio Dynamite and I sould also like to meet once again when he is President

Shooting Darts and Sodahead
I love to shoot darts, have won the masters 2 person open cricket 2 years now. I love to hang out with my fellow members of the International Order of Vikings. I absolutely love Thai and Southeast Asian Food. The hotter the better. The greatest dish in the entire world is the beef noodle soup PHO, there is even a website dedicated to it called www.phofever.com.(CHECK IT OUT)

The Ironworkers Prayer

Monuments built by human hands;

Bridges, towers and buildings, too
By men who work for me and you.

Men with strong and callused hands
Who toil all day upon our lands.
They work in weather dark and dreary;
When day is done they come home weary.

They work in hottest heat of day
And earn every bit of their weekly pay.
They work in mud and sleet and snow
And go where others dare not go.

They work alone and with each other
And that is why they're called "Brother"
They climb where angels fear to tread
They never look down in fear or dread.

So, Don't wait till the bye and bye
To say a prayer to the one on high
For men on whom we all rely,
Bless the Ironworker in the sky.

Topping Off

Somewhere between groundbreaking and ribbon cutting comes a little ceremony in the construction of many modern buildings called "topping off." It occurs when the highest structural element of a high-rise is about to be swung into place. Flagpoles, spires, and ornaments don't count. But when the last important beam is cabled to the crane, the workers sign it. And after it is welded into position, a small pine tree is often anchored atop.

A building on my campus was recently topped off with what looks from down below like a midget Christmas tree. One of the beams several stories down echoes Terry Malloy in On the Waterfront, "I could have been a contender!" and the workers have left several other I-beam publications for posterity. But the tree is the key symbol and it is not, as many might suppose, a holiday touch. In the high-steel trade, it announces that the construction has reached the sky without loss of life or serious injury. And it is meant to auger well for the future inhabitants of the building.

Actually, the little tree appears to convey different meanings to different people. The folks who topped off the Laboure Center in South Boston explained that it symbolizes the workers' "respect for nature's contribution to building process." When Cincinnati's Freedom Center was topped off, an official noted that "the tree tradition was started by Norwegian ironworkers in 1898." Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network topped off its new construction saying the tree signifies "a job well done." Well, at least a job half done. In Cleveland, celebrants at the South Points Hospital claimed the pine symbolized "new growth."

No doubt there are still other explanations, generally of a positive cast even if they diverge on details. Among us anthropologists, these kinds of explanations are often called "exegetical meanings." They are what people say when they try to explain a custom; and often they miss a lot of the story.

The topping-off ceremony actually predates steel-frame skyscrapers by about 1200 years. The earliest references date from around 700 A.D., when Scandinavians topped off construction of new halls with sheathes of grain for Odin's horse, Slepnir. Odin, supposedly impressed with this consideration for his horse — and with the raucous good cheer of the crowd — bestowed good luck on the future occupants.

The Vikings spread their customs across the portions of the European world that they raided and colonized. Topping-off, however, was modified by some tree-worshipping pagan tribes. Britons and Germans substituted small trees for sheathes of grain, and German tribes made a particular point of using only evergreens. Some traditions also suggest that the Vikings themselves adopted the pine tree as the appropriate touch for a topping off. In any case, the claim that the tradition reached America via immigrant Norwegian iron workers is plausible. But Americans added their own twist to the ceremony, by hoisting an American flag beside the tree.

The ancient origin and long history of the "topping off" ceremony, however, doesn't really explain it. I doubt that many of those modern high-steel construction workers think that Slepnir is going to stop and graze on Douglas fir needles. Odin may be making a comeback with neo-pagans, but he is not big in the building trade.

What the topping-off ceremony is really about is the satisfaction we take in getting the hard part done. A great deal of labor may lie ahead, but in putting that last beam in place, we have pre-figured the whole. All the world can see how far we have reached. The little tree announces not just the workers' pride in their accomplishment, but also high spirits and sheer delight in the event.

And that, in turn, may be the connection with Christmas trees. When European Christians appropriated this old pagan symbol, they ornamented it with dozens of new meanings, perhaps most importantly associating the evergreen with the Gospel's promise of new life. But there is no mistaking that behind any sober explanation of what the tree symbolizes is exuberant joy in the object itself as a glittering rebuttal of the darkness of the year. We are topping something off.