A number of people have, oddly enough, asked me to include some biographical information about myself on this site.  Initially, I found this to be quite strange, but then I realized that anyone who spends time wandering around this site is likely a bit strange anyway (for what completely socially-adjusted person would find photos of notable people's gravesites to be interesting?), so I figured I might as well go with it.  So, for your diversion and to help fulfill my semi-subconscious need for self-aggrandizement, I give you the biography of Michael Reed, founder, director, photographer, webmaster, and janitor for The Cemetery Project.

My parents were married on August 3, 1974.  By Halloween, I was conceived.  Nine months later, my mother, Donna Reed (no, not the movie actress Donna Reed, though my mother would have given her a run for her money in the cooking department), woke up at 2:45 a.m. on Sunday, July 27, 1975, in her apartment in Canoga Park, California (in the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County), and realized the little guy inside was ready to come out.  By 3:20 a.m., she and my father David had left for the two-block trip to West Park Hospital, and after a marathon 47 minutes of labor, I was born at 4:07 a.m., delivered by the poetically-appellated Dr. Herman Sturman.  I was named Michael David Reed--"Michael" having no significance whatsoever and "David" selected in tribute to my mother's hospital-trip chauffeur that morning.  Oh, and in case you were wondering, had I been a girl, my name would be "Amelia Elizabeth."  However, if I had been a girl, this website would most likely not exist because I would probably have found something more productive to do with my life than wander around cemeteries.  Just a hunch.

I grew up in southern California until just about the time I was entering high school when, in one of their occasional moments of benevolent insanity, my parents decided to move to a place where snow fell from the sky, a suburb of Chicago called Streamwood, Illinois.  After all, what California-raised high school guy who lives 20 minutes from the beach and is about to get his driver's license would not want to move to a place where snow falls from the sky? Wow, do I sound bitter?  Actually, I was angry for a while, but in hindsight I guess my parents were smarter than I gave them credit for in my judicious mid-teenage appraisal of our family situation.   

In addition to numerous other life influences for which I am grateful beyond words (for which sake you should be grateful beyond words since it will keep this biography slightly more brief), it was while attending high school in the Chicagoland area that, unbeknownst to me, I started down the path that would lead ultimately to this penultimate zenith of my life, a website about dead people (I'm not certain what the actual high point of my life will be, but there's gotta be something, right? Now that I think about it, though, can you actually have a "penultimate zenith"? And how many who read this will even know or care what those words mean? But I digress....)

During my senior year of high school, my US government teacher gave out assignments for our final project, and the topic for my presentation was "Presidential Leadership Styles."  This was the first time in my life I had paid any attention to the men who have served in the office of United States President.  And, to my surprise, I was fascinated by the topic.  This quickly developed a love affair with presidential history which continues to this day.  I will avoid repetition as to how my fondness for presidential history relates to this website, but  you can read that under the "What is This?" link on the main page of the site (or if you are really clever, just click the link from this page).

Did you hear about the two elderly ladies who were comparing their old minister with his young, new replacement? As one lady recounted it, the former minister would say, "In conclusion..." and he would conclude.  However, the new minister would say, "Lastly...." and he would last.

So, in conclusion, I graduated from high school, attending college at a private school in northern Wisconsin where I completed bachelor's degrees in classical piano and in youth counseling, followed by a masters degree in theology.  During college, I began traveling internationally, spending a total of six months in Ghana and Togo, West Africa, over three different summers.  Then, when I finished my degrees, I moved to Europe.  I lived for two years in France and Belgium, studying French at the University of Mons-Hainaut in Mons, Belgium.  After all that, circumstances of life unexpectedly returned me to the US and its lovely snow-covered Midwest.  Progressing naturally and with perfect logical flow from my training in music, counseling, theology, and French, I was hired by a Los Angeles-based marketing company and now live in the city of Chicago working as that company's Midwest Regional Manager, overseeing the hiring, training, sales & servicing, and firing of about 100 people in 12 states.  And in 2005, I entered my 30's.  Happily.

My international travels in past years as well as my business travels today give me opportunity to visit many places where, rather than sitting in a hotel room watching TV alone, I inevitably pull out my camera and cemetery list and continue to hunt for gravesites.

So, that's me.  Anything else you want to know? What? You say you want more? My adoring fans cannot get enough.  They must have more information!  I'm more popular than Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie!  Or maybe I'm spending way too much time alone in my office here, typing this tome that nobody is actually going to read anyway.  Those voices can be so flattering sometimes.....

Ok, rapid-fire summary of me:

Likes - Travel that involves airplanes, new food experiences, cemeteries (duh), photography, fascinating people, being outdoors during the summer, Halo-Halo, matching wooden hangers in my closet, William Faulkner, William Shakespeare, William H. Macy, presidential history, laughter (always remember, you can't have manslaughter without laughter!), anything by Charles Dickens, The Power of One (best movie ever), Les Miserables, Ireland, Italy, piano music, all other types of music with one or two exceptions, The West Wing, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, dry wit

Dislikes - Actually traveling on airplanes, sweet potatoes, grumpy people, when my housemate hits the snooze button on his obnoxiously-loud alarm clock for the fifth time, mean people, constipation, Chicago parking tickets, Richard Gere (a curse on his house), crystal meth, Louisa May Alcott (don't ask, it's too painful to explain), chocolate (I'm serious...I just don't like it very much), cemeteries that have bad record-keeping or unhelpful staff, clarinets, Ativan, one or two US states that I won't name here because I'll get nasty e-mails from all the Pennsylvania and Wisconsin residents who read this, the stubborn excesses of politics, long-winded rambling self-promoting uninteresting autobiographical preference lists that incorporate pretentious supercilious vocabulary, gnats

May I stop now?  Will someone stop me.... please?

Lastly.....

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