Thomas D.
Rush
About Thomas
I was born in Asheboro, NC, but I have lived in several states in the U.S. I have also lived in Germany for 2 years, while I was in the Army. I am a graduate of Haverford College just outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, obtaining my B.A. in History. I am the author of Reality's Pen: Reflections On Family, History & Culture. Before my book is anything else, it is a most telling dedication to the love, spirit, intelligence and special gifts bestowed upon me by my parents, Mr. Pearl & Mrs. Hortense Chrisco Rush, since everything in it is suffused with who they are. If pushed, I'd say the feature story in the book is a 1989 meeting with a guy in Chicago, who eventually became the first African-American President in History. One of the things that makes that story fascinating comes from the fact that I had two 45-minute, one-on-one conversations with President Obama in 1989. This was long before he was famous, so we were just two everyday guys having a conversation. He defined for me what he was looking for in a wife and this was long before he met Michelle. God's special gift to me is that he and I are the only ones who heard what was said.
Although the Obama story is the feature, the book is rich with other substantive stories. The Law Of Attraction has brought a good friend of Malcolm X's family, and a trusted personal friend of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s into my life, along with a whole host of notable people. This comes out in my book, since it is uncanny the number of famous people who have crossed my path, even for just brief seconds, adding another dimension to the intrigue of the book. My plan is to make sure that anything that I write in the future is rich as well. My writing is really fueled through my love of reading, since I really believe writing and reading are flip sides of the same coin. What I mean by this is, when one reads different authors in various subjects, one learns to hone one's voice, strategies for approaching subjects, different techniques of delivery. In a word, one learns a broad array of mechanics of how to write to communicate, and all of this comes through voracious reading. I am always in the middle of reading at least one good book. I am also a person who likes to review books that I read, so watch out for my reviews. My favorite writer is Toni Morrison and The Autobiography of Malcolm X stands as my all-time favorite book.
In regards to this whole issue of writing, I have often been asked, “Who taught you to write?” In answer to that question, I'd say that God and Life taught me to write, mainly through my voracious love of reading. Voracious reading is the one activity I'd suggest to any wanna-be author. Nothing beats it. As for “what?” to read, read as far and as wide as your interests take you. Other than Freshman English in college, I have never had any formal writing classes in how to write, so for better or worse, my writing flows out of my own self-education, combined with the classroom of Life.
I am a curious being, interested in almost any conceivable subject you might imagine. I refuse to limit myself in terms of genre as it relates to my writing. It's conceivable to see pieces of fiction, non-fiction, History, political commentary, biography, social commentary, literary analysis, poetry, sports, etc., coming from my pen. I am an extremely open-minded person who seeks to learn any and everything I can while I am here on this Earth. I invite readers to join me on this odyssey.
My Start
I grew up in Asheboro, NC, as the child of Mr. Pearl & Mrs. Hortense Chrisco Rush. I started kindergarten in the fall of 1967, attending the segregated, all-Black, Central Elementary School for kindergarten and first grade, before integration mandated that I attend a predominately White school. The one thing that I cherish from Central, more than all others, was that it was a Black and caring teacher, Mrs. Geraldine Siler, who taught me how to read, a gift that has had positive nuclear-bomb-like repercussions within my life.
I went through the 1970's as the first generation of Black children to attend integrated schools. In looking back through my life, I can now see that my generation of Asheboro Black students have the unique experience of attending school right on the line that demarcates segregation from integration, since we actually have the experience of having attended both types of schools. No other generation can make this claim. I was a decent student, but my interests rested in my Community and sports, a subject I was obsessed with. Since we were on the line that separates segregation/integration, I grew up in a nearly 100% African-American community. This Community was very tight-knit, to the point where we almost considered members of it as we do members of a family.
One can still see this dynamic at work even today when I bump into people from the Community. We did all kinds of things together, from attendance at First Congregational United Church of Christ, the semi-pro baseball games at The Ballpark, to the pick-up basketball games and parties at Central Gymnasium. There was an electric-like energy that embraced us, that, for lack of a better term, I'll simply refer to as the energy of Life. There was a vibrancy there that encapsulated our lives, a vibrancy that always captured our minds as a kind of magic.
Education & Career
I attended, and graduated from, Haverford College, a small liberal arts college located just outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I have a Bachelor of Arts degree in History, since that is a subject that embraces so much of my life. As a life-long, voracious reader, I have been naturally drawn to writing. Over time, in reading different genres, I've been blessed to be able to grasp what writers have been trying to accomplish, and that has fueled my ambitions and rationale in the things that I have written, and will write in the future. Although I do have a college degree, I think it's fair to say that reading has been my principle teacher of the craft of writing, since I have no formal classes in creative writing. I am totally self-educated as a writer, using every single experience in the classroom of Life as my guide. I have a preternatural love of reading and language that has made writing accessible to me as a craft. Since my mind works in narrative mode, that organizational ability makes it possible for me to speak publicly about this craft, and the ideas that flow from it. I am comfortable in front of the podium in giving public addresses.
I see myself as a Professional Student, though others have insisted that I am a Teacher. I have made the point that there is no contradiction between being a student as opposed to a teacher. One must first learn something as a student before one can teach it. When one says that one is a “Teacher,” one must also be a “Student.” As a writer and public speaker, I do not want to box myself in by limiting the subjects I can address. My interests normally lie within the fields of History, Human Interest, African-American History & Culture, psychology, sociology, philosophy, sports, politics, etc. I can address issues within multiple genres as a result of my diverse interests. In most instances, I am trying to accomplish 5 simultaneous tasks with my writings and public addresses: to educate, enlighten, inspire, entertain and enrich. Ultimately, I want to universally improve the quality of people's lives.
What's to Come ...
My future means getting more information out to the public to do the 5 tasks that I mention above, to educate, enlighten, inspire, entertain and enrich. I want to do these things through multiple media, including blogs, youtube videos, book reviews, public addresses, and books, just to name a few. My desire is to do this as long as my mind and health allows me to do these things.