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The author as a young man.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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I am George Hiram Williston, named after my great grandfather who was a master craftsman in wood. Born into the Working Class, I was raised in my grandfather’s shadow using his finest American steel Buck Brothers and old Stanley tools. My up-
bringing was in the Anglo-Saxon craftsman tradition. My middle name is a Masonic secret identification. Hiram was the legendary master mason, master craftsman of all materials, and designers of Solomon’s Temple. |
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My father is a scholar of human behavior and our American history. He has graduate degrees in Social Psychology and Social Work. I was raised in the Midwest growing up in Michigan and Ohio during the time of the American Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War. Having educated parents who questioned our nation’s policies led to my own search for meaning. |
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Using a Buck paring chisel to carve
a ball and claw chair leg. |
Despite my attendance problems, I did well enough in high school in Jackson, Michigan to be invited into the Honors College at Western Michigan University in the fall of 1972. I was the only Industrial Arts major in the Honors College. I had trouble with the structure at the university so I dropped out after two years and went to work at my craft. I started my own business and worked at it for seven years before deciding to return and finish my undergraduate degree in 1980. I graduated with a Bachelors of Science in the spring of 1983. Unable to find a teaching job I went back to the woodworking industry in Indianapolis, Indiana. |
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In Indianapolis while seeking a job as a cabinetmaker, I was hired by a large construction company to be the Superintendent of their woodworking mill where I worked for five years. A teaching job came up back in Michigan so I returned and taught ten years for the State of Michigan at Michigan Career and Technical Institute as a cabinetmaking and millwork instructor. During this time, I obtained a Masters in Educational Leadership at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Currently, I am a high school shop teacher in a small farming community near my home in Michigan. That is my formal life to date. |
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Working on a trestle table.
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Informally, I constantly read non-fiction, generally ancient mysteries, history or human culture topics. I seek a greater understanding of what has been and is going on in this universe. I have always been interested in the history of Christianity, the nature of Jesus, esoteric Buddhism, Hinduism, Native American writers, and American History. |
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I feel a need to help in healing humanity and the Earth. We must stop the endless war. My belief is that all people are basically good. We must change the culture and what it is teaching to change individual behaviors. My book, This Tribe Of Mine is carrying on the work of the Levelers who took aim at the English aristocracy in the 1600s. Their goal was to level society so there would be no more class system. All human beings are created unique but equal. The idea that some are better than others needs to be forgotten and left to the Dark Ages. This Earth is a common treasury for all to share. All life is sacred. |
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The author in high school shop class with a student. |
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