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Hello, everyone I am new to the message board, but I've been watching the YouTube videos for several months. I decided to come to the community to get right to the source. I am not in a financial position to donate right now, though I hope that will change. Stefan has said on several podcasts that he'd rather get a nice letter than a 'stinking' one-dollar donation! So, I'm writing to extend my thanks for the dose of philosophy. Before I get into the personal information, I'd like to make a request or a wish. To the best of my knowledge, Stefan has never debated with Slavoj Zizek and I'd dearly love to see that debate. I think it would be 'spirited', to say the least. I watch Zizek's videos on YouTube occasionally, and I think he's fun to listen to, but I disagree with most of Zizek's thinking. Okay, on to me. I am American, living in the town of Willmar, Minnesota. I've been married to Nancy for 26 years now, and we have one child, our son Drake who's now 21. I work an overnight shift in a shipping warehouse, and my wife is a payroll accountant for the same company. Recently, I earned my bachelor's degree online, and I went on to graduate school, also online, a year ago. My major is Humanities, with a focus on Creative Writing. I've decided that I want to be a writer, an urge that I've been playing with for years, and I realize that I chose the hardest and most expensive way possible to learn to write. In grad school, though, I had an important encounter. My school is very big on philosophy, starting in the course "Introduction to Graduate Humanities". With every class and semester, the focus on philosophy has deepened. I found myself so interested in the subject that I started gathering information beyond that which was included in class. I have started a list of philosophers to look into and it includes such names as Foucault, Derrida, Hume, Hegel, Adorno, Kant and so on. What I feel is that I've brushed up against a subject that will be of huge value to me as I go on in my life and my pursuit of meaningful subjects to write about. During this time, I watched a Slavoj Zizek video where he posed a rhetorical question; "What philosophers do we have in our current time?". I found Free Domain Radio as a result of that question. Also, through the podcasts, I've learned that Stefan and I have some similar experiences and enthusiasms: music, Dungeons & Dragons (which I still play very occasionally), and of course, writing novels. I also grew up in a deeply dysfunctional home, with a 'batshit crazy' mother. I don't feel that I can tackle philosophical subjects quite yet, but in my fantasy world (for writing about, not that I'm living in a fantasy!) there are some comments that I feel that I can make on what Stefan calls "The Blind Photocopier of History" and the 'death of statism'. Once again, a big thanks to Stefan for what he does. I look forward to conversations on these boards! Sincerely, Brad