By way of explanation...

These are just a few short essays (for lack of a better term) i've written, mainly in response to questions that have come my way over the years. I myself don't find them all that interesting, but that may just be because they're about me. You may find them fascinating. Go figure.


	•	My professional history


	A description of my academic and professional history (since i'm in academia, those are pretty much the same thing, i guess). Of possible interest for the sort of people who might be interested in knowing how someone whose professional title is "linguist" could get away with working at a job that doesn't involve translation.


	•	My personal history


	A discussion of where i'm from and what i've done, including a bit about my family. (Of course, if you want to know more about my family, you can always follow the "my family" link to the Bowie family homepage to the left.)


	•	Why i don't capitalize "i"


	I've gotten enough e-mails castigating me for not capitalizing the word "i" that i figured i might as well put up an explanation. If you don't like the explanation, fine, just don't expect any further answers on the subject than this, no matter how many e-mails you send me. (And in return for your understanding, i promise to never yell at you for capitalizing the word.)


	•	My life as a Mormon


	This is a description of some of my personal religious history, for the sort of people who's interested in finding that sort of thing out about people who write this sort of thing.


	•	The fascinating power of religious language


	You may notice that i refer to myself rather consistently as a "Mormon", and the church i belong to as the "Mormon church", even though the official name of the church is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I've gotten enough e-mails asking about my use of the term "Mormon" that i wrote this short little essay on why i use the terminology i use.

Last updated 3 March 2002 v1.1