Stephan Helgesen
I've had the opportunity to 're-invent' myself many times over the past half century. I'm proud of being a business owner four times, working on an automobile assembly line and spending 20 years in the service of my country as a Foreign Service Officer/Diplomat. I've lived and/or worked in over 30 different countries since the 1970s. I'm proud to say that I've helped hundreds of American companies become successful in exporting their products and services in foreign markets. During my time overseas, I was fortunate to have met over 12,000 people from all walks of life from Russia to Singapore and all points in between. I've learned that work changes life just as life changes work, and if you have a curious mind, a zest for living and do not fear the unknown (and don't mind taking a few risks), you can accomplish much, no matter which skills or talents you possess.
I have many passions. Photography is one, but when I discovered that many of the photos I wanted to take had already been taken - some by better photographers than myself - so I put it aside. (This coincided with the introduction of digital photography which seemed to replace artistry with technology.) I've always been interested in the 'why' of things. The influence of politics on our society is one of those things. After leaving the restrictive environment of diplomacy, I began to express myself through writing - opinion editorials at first, then, later, longer essays on a variety of subjects. Today, I've written over 1,300 such essays and incorporated many of them into six books on politics, the latest book being, "American Detour: Finding and fighting our way back home." My four years in Munich and my seven years spent as Honorary German Consul in New Mexico gave me an opportunity to meet survivors of the 'Holocaust', and I have also written two books on two different Polish survivors of that terrible time. The books are: "My name is Aron" and "Living in the shadow of tyranny: The Isaac Kracier story." I even fulfilled a 40-year long ambition to write an autobiography about my childhood spent in rural Wisconsin. It's entitled: "Where the blacktop ends: Memories of a childhood in America's heartland."
The protection of our wildlife and our natural environment have always been something of great interest to me. When I moved to New Mexico and located to the mountains outside Albuquerque, I got the chance to observe nature in all its glory. That included animals like the Black Bear (New Mexico's State animal). Over the years, I've watched these marvelous creatures leave the protection of the national forest which is right outside my door and begin their journey in search of food and water until it was time to hibernate once more. I wanted to do something to help 'translate' and convey their needs to my fellow humans, so I set up a website called, "Black Bears Matter" - www.blackbearsmatter.org.
I'm deeply concerned about the direction our country is taking and am worried that we've lost our way. I grew up a Conservative and have been one all my life. To me, 'conservative' is a positive word and expresses a very proactive and hopeful ideology (def. conserve: to safeguard, to protect, to not waste). That's why I set up a conservative news aggregator website in which I bring ten or more news stories of the day, taken from the nation's top conservative-leaning websites, to an audience of like-minded people. To sign up for a daily email with links to those stories, contact me at: editor@projectpushback.com. The site itself is free and can be accessed at www.projectpushback.com.