To his surprise, John Hoffman makes his living playing with words. Although sometimes when they get a little too frolicsome, he has to give them a stern look and remind them there’s work to be done.
He:
- Has been a reporter and humor columnist for a daily paper that
- Taught him a passionate editor is worth their (or is it “his or her”) weight in gold
- Without his efforts, folded just a moment after he quit
- Considers himself a convalescing ex-political operative (or a former hack – you decide) who nevertheless still believes in the larger ideas of individual dignity and freedom to the point that he has
- Traveled thousands of miles to try sharing the message of democracy through a volunteer training program
- Earned his law license but hardly uses the thing. If he’d charged the few clients he ever did secure enough to repay the costs of law school, his price list would be:
- $27,345 per house closing
- $57,540 to talk a friend out of suing the seller of a cut-rate salad spinner
- Organizes an annual summer trip called Weekend With William which
- Is fundamentally a cover for cocktail infused sciolism, including a rather slipshod poetry slam.
- You should take part in some time.
- Quite nearly once won a Chicago Tribune caption contest.
- Loves his ex-dog Lenny and is happy to at least have visitation rights.
- Gets claustrophobic on planes so he doesn’t travel as much as he used to, which he misses, especially
- Runs his own communications consulting business and is always looking for folks so electrified by his body of work they will agree to pay him to write for them.
