About Douglas Thomas Wallace
Hi, my name is Doug and I’d like to thank you for stopping by my little corner of the world. I am an essayist, short-story writer, poet and painter. I love to write about people’s work or calling and consider myself a life long learner. I’m also a self-diagnosed Scanner or a Modern-Day Renaissance Man.
In case you don’t know what a Scanner is, some people call us: Jack-Of-All-Trades, Polymaths, Multi-potentialities or my favorite, Renaissance People. The fact that we can’t agree on a name of ourselves, seems fitting.
No matter what we call ourselves, the above names mean: a person who has many interests and creative pursuits. The world sometimes sees us as someone who can’t decide on just one thing to do with their life. They see us a jumping from interest-to-interest. But really, that’s not true. They just don’t get our obsession with learning new things. The good news for us is, they don’t have to get it.
I originally started this site back in 2009 as a channel for my curiosities. I like to write about things that catch my interest. One day I may write about art, the next day it could be about a person who started a business that specializes in yard gnomes. I never no where my muse will take me.
My main goal of this site is being able to inspire other’s to pursue their own ideas whether it’s for business or, “just because I want to.” You never know where those ideas will lead. Maybe it will be the next million dollar idea, maybe not? But you won’t know until you try to get it out to the world and find out.
I want people to be able to say, “Maybe my idea isn’t so weird,” after they read each of these quirky, bizarre, obscure ideas and see how people brought them to fruition.
Have you ever wondered onto a topic you knew nothing about, researched it and then thought, How long has this been going on and how come I didn’t know about it?
Here are three examples of what I’m talking about:
- Before the Winter Olympics, if you weren’t from Minnesota you probably had never heard of curling. Curling is a fascinating sport that is done on a giant ice-shuffleboard where guys with brooms feverish sweep the ice to make the rocks land closest to the center target. The team with the closest rock at the end gets a point.
2. These days you can’t throw a rock and not hit someone who hasn’t ran a marathon. But even the most hardcore runners have probably never heard of the Barkley Marathons? This is the super-secret ultra-marathon race that happens in Tennessee every year that is limited to 40 runners, although hundreds try to get in. The race never has advertised publicly and potential entrants must complete an essay on “Why I Should be Allowed to Run in the Barkley.” They also have to pay a $1.60 entry fee If accepted, bring whatever the Race Director needs that year (a white T-shirt, a pack of socks or underwear) and a license plate from where they are from.
3. Ever heard of the Ukulele Fight Club? Probably not, but you have to admit it’s an awesome name for a ukulele club. Want to see them battle? Click here.
So if you want to read about something you probably haven’t heard of before, please click on the Essays and Short Stories section. And if you read something you like, please comment on it or share it with your friends.
You can also sign-up and have these posts sent directly to your email box the day after I write them. You have my guarantee that I won’t sell or give out your email address. So please click on the Essays and Short Stories link and if you like what you read, sign up.
Thanks for reading,
Douglas Thomas Wallace