"Choose not to succumb to the pressures of social conformity."
James JL Marshall(Jamie)
Born in Southern California.
Raised in South Eastern Utah. I, at only 19 years of age, have worked and played in many places around the united states, always doing different things. My Dad, as he likes to say, is a recovering engineer from California. Since leaving, he has found his real happiness away from the hustle and bustle, in Mother Natures back yard. I grew up living free range in the back yard, mountain biking, hiking, canyoneering, kayaking, and doing all the things any kid really should be doing. In our down time, my Dad has taught me as much of his knowlege in fabrication and engineering as he possibly could in fourteen very fast years. You see, he showed me how to change the turn signals in the family suburban when I was three, and the next day, after already have replaced all of the light bulbs on the suv, I removed all the lenses and bulbs by myself without my Dads knowlege, or my Moms for that matter. That was the day when it all started. Of course, my Mom has always been there for me to teach me the important things in life like how to cook, take care of myself, and most importantlly, how to read, study, and learn. I did not learn to read at a young age like many other kids of my age. My mom speant hours every day teaching me to read when I was in preschool and kindergarden. By the time I had started the first grade, I was at a third grade reading level, and from then on, I have always retained a high reading level. Although I can read well, I could never read a history lesson from a text book and retain the information. I had to learn ways of not only actively asking questions as I read, but I also had to use notecards or read out loud. These things I learned from my Mom. The way that teachers traditionally teach was never enough for me to effectively learn in primary and secondary schooling. So, for all of my classes, I have always had to find ways to help myself learn. Because of these types of study habits, I have maintained very strong grades all through school, including now as I am in College.
Backing up just a little bit, all through highschool, I was very involved in the theatre department. From my freshman year through my senior year, I was the student in charge of the lighting and sound for all of our performances, including school assemblies. Because of my fondness of working in the theatre in highschool and my extensive fabrication background, I thought studying something that combined those two fields would be perfect. I am currently studying Production Design and Technology in the Caine College of the Arts at Utah State University. I have taken on many engineering projects as well as sound designs as an undergraduate and plan to do many more. This upcoming year, I will the technical director for at least two of the six plays we do in a year, as well as a possible sound design. |
I first learned the basics about working on cars, like how to turn a wrench and finding the right tool for the job. Once i had done that until I was five years old, it was then time to learn how to weld. Of course my welding abilities werent nearly what they are now, but at five years old, I could stick two pieces of metal together. It might not have been pretty, but they stuck.
Every young boy will hit that ripe old age where his father teaches him to drive the family sedan. Commonly, it can be as young as twelve years old. Not my dad. He thought it would be a great idea to teach me how to drive a manual transmission Susuki Samurai at five years old while on an off-road trail. It is very safe to say that I wasnt very good at driving then either. However, it was fun none the less. I have built several vehicles growing up, including a heavily modified, formerly geo tracker, off-roading machine, a 1923 Dodge Businessmans Coupe, and a couple 1931 Ford Model A's. It has been while building these vehicles that I have learned much of my fabrication skills, but not all of it. I have also had the fortune of working several places around the country building off-road courses for companies like Jeep, and Ram. For these companies, I have built some interesting contraptions, like giant slides, articulation ramps stout enough to hold up a tank, and side-hill ramps which are like motor cross berms made out of steel designed for a jeep. |