User:Joseph Vignos

This is an autobiography required by Citizendium to edit its articles. My youth was spent in Binghamton, NY, and Stamford, CT, where I graduated from Stamford Catholic High School. I enjoyed playing a wide variety of sports during that time. I studied at the business college of Villanova for two years and then transfered to the University of Arizona where I earned a BA in Anthropology. I also spent a lot of time at rock concerts and cross-country hitch-hiking during these years.

I joined the Peace Corps after college and spent two years in Senegal working on health and well projects. I lived with the Pular and learned to speak Peul and French well. I developed an interest in Linguistics and Islam from this experience. I later joined the Peace Corps for two more years in Ecuador where I helped construct water supply systems. There I developed an appreciation of the Amazon and its people, including the Huaorani, and learned to speak Spanish and Quichua.

I have since chosen English Language teaching as a profession. I earned an MA in English at Kent State University in Ohio, where my family is originally from. I first taught in ChiengMai,Thailand, and learned to speak the northern Thai language, as well as familiarizing myself with many aspects of Lanna Thai culture, including Theraveda Buddhism. I next taught in Cusco, Peru, where I developed an appreciation of the Andes and the Runa culture. Most of my teaching was done in Japan, where I taught for eight years and learned to speak Japanese. Finally, I taught EFL a few years at military bases in the Middle East.