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| Affiliation | Independent |
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| Name | Francisco J. "Frank" Gonzalez |
| Address |
Miami, Florida , United States |
| Email | None |
| Website | [Link] |
| Born |
February 04, 1972
(52 years)
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| Contributor | Barack O-blame-a |
| Last Modifed | RBH
Aug 06, 2007 03:02pm |
| Tags |
Cuban -
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| Info | My full name is Francisco Jose Gonzalez-Soldevilla, in typical Cuban tradition of long names. But in word-efficient America, I go by simply "Frank." I'm 32, born in February, 1972 in South Miami Hospital in South Miami. I am very true to my zodiac sign, Aquarius, and I am left-handed. When I was 6 years old, my grandfather, Pancho, taught me how to play chess, an interest I developed further later in my life. I was schooled in catholicism and even credit my solid academic foundation to catholic schooling from 4-11th grades, but I renounced the religious aspects long ago, soon after realizing that you don't need religion to lead an ethical life and/or to contribute to society. I speak fluent Spanish and even some basic French. I'm the oldest of four children, and I have three sisters. My parents are Cuban exiles who, fleeing Fidel Castro's tyranny, came to Miami in the early 1960s as teenagers. They divorced when I was 8 years old and my father took custody of us (see pictures of me with my family). Because I do not want to repeat my parents' mistakes, I have no children and have never been married as of yet. Speaking of mistakes, my mistrust of all governments, including our own, is fueled in part by another critical mistake made by my parents' or, more specifically, grandparents' generation of trusting their government (read the excerpt from Castro's "Armas Para Que?" speech). Like the Who said, "We won't get fooled again."
Education (and Evolution of a Rebel):
My parents enrolled me in mostly private schools and I graduated one year earlier than usual. As a result, I was the youngest student in my grade. As a young child, I attended nursery and kindergarten schools named Berkshire, Francisco Baldor and El Salvador (later renamed Wonderland).
In Loyola, where I attended 2nd & 3rd grade, I made the honor roll several times. From there, I attended Epiphany from 4th-8th grade. I was the 4th-grade spelling-bee runner-up--misspelling "rapping" as "raping." In 8th grade, despite grades that had been slipping for a couple of years, I won the gold medal in an academic olympics where I represented my school against 15 other private schools in a new category called "General Skills."
I continued on to Columbus (9th-3 quarters of 11th grade), a catholic high school for boys. Most notably, I took honors Biology and English. While my interest in Biology quickly disappeared, my interest in English remained steady. I scored an 1160 on my SAT. This was respectable considering my rebellious attitude and poor study habits had reached a climax at this point in my life. Never having done anything illegal, but not having a rich father who could make the religious brothers tolerate me any longer--as many other parents did whose sons were sactioned for fighting, stealing or dealing drugs on school property in this so-called "Godly" school--I was expelled for making trouble with teachers.
I finished my last 1& 1/4 years of high school in Coral Gables High in 1989, graduating with an unimpressive "C" average. I still remember my school counselor's kind words on the day I enrolled, "their loss is our gain." Thanks to my music teacher at Gables, Randall Dewitt, I learned how to play drums. He even asked me to march in the Orange Bowl parade in downtown Miami on New Year's Eve, 1988-89, the year that our high school band won straight superiors against all other high school bands in the region. He had faith that I would develop my skills and I proved him right. Throughout my school years, my strong subjects were English, Art and Philosophy. I look back as an adult and I still laugh when I remember how a priest-teacher rejected my attempt to take a philosophy class in my high school merely for not doing my homework.
I attended 3 semesters at Miami-Dade Community College South Campus before deciding, after lackluster interest and performance, that college and the conventional route just wasn't for me. At the same time, this made things hard because I considered it a slightly embarrassing image liability.
Since that time, I have observed doctors having trouble with spelling and writing; many 4-year college graduates who can't read--much less teach--or don't know the first thing about geography or politics; and I know that an unacceptably high number of high school students lack basic math skills and are graduating functionally illiterate. Lastly, it surprised and somewhat relieved me to learn that the average national college graduation rate is only in the high 20%s, indicating to me that quite a few successful people in our society have "made it" on their own.
Work Experience:
I chose instead to work in the hospitality industry where I have remained in one capacity or another. I lived in Chicago from 1998-2002 during which I worked for two different major airlines. While there, I earned 31 letters of commendation from customers; 1 employee-of-the-month recognition; and I won two inside-company contests. Chicago was also where I decided to run for Congress the first time. I have also just begun laying the foundation for what will hopefully turn out to be a successful real estate investment career. Your suggestions are welcome.
My interests:
I love music. In particular, I love classic rock. A few of my favorite bands include Pink Floyd, AC/DC, the Eagles, Rush (Drummer/lyricist, Neil Peart, has expressed libertarian sympathies), the Pet Shop Boys, Queensryche (Lead singer, Geoff Tate, has expressed libertarian sympathies), Enigma, Tool, Concrete Blonde (see my photos with some famous rock stars). I also like old "new wave" from the 80s; some alternative from the 90s; and I'm now very interested in the whole "gothic" scene (The Cure, Apoptygma Berzerk, Covenant, Wolfsheim). I'm a fairly talented drummer and singer and I have written some praiseworthy material. I never shy away from a good karaoke song. I have attended more concerts than I can count. I get nostalgic remembering the freer days of Bass Tickets concerts at places like the old Hollywood Sportatorium--are you with me here?--the Universe rest its concert soul when it died (was demolished) in 1988. Those were the days when you didn't have uniformed busybodies scolding you--can you believe that I was kicked out of a Doobie Brothers concert in 1989 at the Miami Arena just for dancing in the aisle!--while being nearly chained to your price-gouged Ticketmaster seat "for my own safety," dreaming for a return to the days when you could rush the stage and bask in concert glory. A ticket to an almost-3-hour concert by the Police at the Orange Bowl in October 1983 cost me $16. But 20 years later, in January 2004, a ticket to the Sting concert--former lead singer of the Police--at the James L. Knight Center, cost me $80, and the show probably won't last more than 1 & 1/2 hours! My, how we've grown accustomed to greedy middlemen and their "service" charges, eh? Just like politicians and their do-gooder programs! But I digress...(see how much I love music? By the way, I strongly recommend the movie, School Of Rock!)
Anyway, other interests include getting together with my friends; working out 4 times a week (going faithfully since mid-February 2003); watching offbeat movies; eating sushi (I know quite a few good sushi bars in Miami); playing chess (I won the 1996 USCF Florida Championship in my division...trying to find the right link to prove this claim); taking lots of pictures (can you tell?); traveling (see my pictures from all over the U.S. and abroad); and debating politics.
I've also always been interested in current events. I can remember, as a kid, sitting with my dad and watching the news. My interest grew as I matured and I realized that I had learned quite a lot during the years in my interaction with people both through my job as well as through what I saw in the news. This culminated in my taking a step toward political activism in late 2000 when I heard 2000 Libertarian Party Presidential candidate, Harry Browne, speak on National Public Radio (of all places!). "The rest," as they say, "is history."
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