I am 33, currently living and working in Phoenix, AZ. I am an artist, a writer, vegetarian and avid cyclist. I work in social work for Tumbleweed Center for Youth Development, am a vegan baker and soup chef at a worker-owned cafe and art boutique and performance space, Conspire, and also part time as a bartering bike mechanic. I am creating this blog, to further reach out to the universe, and to share my story. We all have a "story," right? We all have hopes and dreams, fears and flaws, passions and pet peeves. I've personally always dreamed of changing the world. The focus of my story, in many ways, has gotten in the way of that for the past several years. My story, is about how I hated brushing my teeth as a kid, and how the decay I was faced with during my teenage years living in poverty without proper care mutated into a huge irrational fear and general feeling of powerlessness with the lack of affordable health care in this country, and forced me to grow up in pain and isolation, living in fear of even my closest friends finding out my "secret," that I had those gross teeth that they all often mocked as "White Trash," never understanding the emotional damage over several years that it inflicted on me.
My story, however, I aim to make a happy one. I have learned the hard way over the years how isolating yourself from your community and circles of friends is unhealthy, and I have also learned the value of being open and sometimes brutally honest and how it can elevate us all to a higher level of communication and understanding and inspire us to face our fears together, all of us, knowing that we all have them, and I have tried to live my life for over a decade being as open and honest as possible with my feelings and opinions in a constant search for clarity in my own expression in hopes that it could inspire others to seek out their own truths and find their voices and do the same. We may never be able to fully understand what it is like to walk in another's shoes, but we will never even begin to if we do not attempt to even try them on. This blog, is my shoes, and I hope that you will walk with me for a little while. I hope we can all walk together by the end of it, fearless, smiling, and free of pain. Thank you in advance for reading along with me. It is going to be a long and painful walk through this recovery process! I know I cannot do it without all of your compassion and support.
Sincerely,
Paul Jones Jr.
P.S.- For those of you who wish to donate in support of my ongoing treatment, click on the Paypal "DONATE" link below, or when browsing other entries, always at the top righthand side of the blog. Thank you in advance, for reading, listening, sharing and reposting, donating, and above all, caring and taking the time to hear my story. Every day, you continue to shape its outcome. Thank you.
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