Daniel Mackay
We asked Daniel – who grew up in Detroit, Michigan and lived in New York City before relocating to the Southern Willamette Valley in January of 1998 – to contribute a column to Coburg Hills News after hearing about his hitchhiking across the United States in the 1990s. His adventures crisscrossing this country, though, were mere prelude to a life of encounters with persons both extraordinary and typical, coarse and refined. He was (amicably) kicked off the movie set (an actual Tibetan Buddhist Monastery) of Kundun by Martin Scorsese himself, had lunch with Allen Ginsberg, and shared an escalator ride with George Lucas, and that was just in the span of one year. He met Jack White before Jack White was “Jack White,” in a coffee shop named “Zoot's,” and he spent a night on a mountain top in Greece with Russian monks who could read people’s intentions. “Really, the most interesting people I have met have been either monks, nuns, independent artists, or truth-seekers,” he says.
Having a PhD in English and three other Master's degrees, we figured that he would be able to write reasonably well. Then, while sitting down with him after he submitted some sample writing, we learned that he is also an ordained priest, a firefighter, EMT, poet, teacher, athlete, and disc jockey, as well as a published author. He can read Ancient Greek (“not very well, don’t write that I can do that”) and plays guitar (“also, not very well, don’t mention that”). After pestering him to submit a bio, he finally wrote us, “Must I really write one of those again? How about you write it?”
We obliged, but not before he explained why he assented to our request for a column: “Well, I catch myself blathering on about my experiences with my colleagues at work – most of whom are in their twenties. I think in the last couple years, one of them has asked me my opinion on something precisely twice – wait, no, make that once. I can only imagine how I bore them. So, maybe having an outlet for my thoughts is a reasonably sound idea.” We agree, Daniel. He also added, “Tell everyone that I really like Coburg Hills News and I was flattered to be asked to contribute.”
Listen to Daniel on his weekly radio program, Hard Rain & Slow Trains: Bob Dylan & Fellow Travelers, every Thursday evening at 8 pm PST on KEPW (PeaceWorks Community Radio) on 97.3 FM or online here.
Order Daniel's book, The Fantasy Role-Playing Game: A New Performing Art (McFarland, 2001), here.
