User:Rglong
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[edit] RYAN GRANT LONG
Ryan Grant Long is an up-and-coming artist and philosopher living in Madison, Wisconsin.
[edit] History
Ryan was born in 1980 in the Northwoods of Wisconsin. His mother is an elementary school teacher and his father is a wildlife artist. He has one older brother. Ryan showed talent in art from a very early age and always knew he would strive to become an artist someday. In 1999 he graduated from his hometown high school but spent a year living in that same town, in an apartment with his friend. Afterward he was accepted to the Minneapolis College of Art and Design where he studied for an additional year before transferring to the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His reasons for doing so were primarily that he wanted a broader education and college experience than a private art school could offer; and that the state university was much less expensive.
In 2006 Ryan recieved a Bachelor of Science Degree in art, along with a Certificate in LGBT Studies. He is currently attending graduate school at UW-Madison, focusing in 2D art.
[edit] Organizations
Ryan is a member of the recently reinstated UW-Madison colony of Delta Lambda Phi, a fraternity for gay, bisexual and progressive men.
[edit] Vocation
Outside of grad school, Ryan currently works part time as a head cashier at Home Depot.
[edit] Sexual Orientation
Ryan came out as a gay man on his birthday in the year 2000. Since then he has been living openly, and freely lends his presence and voice to social justice causes. Ryan has been with his partner Gilbert for three years, and they recently bought their first home together. Gilbert has an undergraduate degree in art, but is now a graduate student in Counseling Psychology and plans on applying to get his Doctorate in the same field. Gilbert also models occasionally.
[edit] Political
Ryan does not follow any one party, but what is certain is that he would have to be extremely hard-pressed to vote for a Republican, since currently that party is very extreme, and consistently shows itself as a whole to be sexist, racist, homophobic, violent, xenophobic, and allying itself with the radical Christian Right (who are all of those things and more). Ryan's views are independent but have been described by his friends and colleagues as resembling those of socially liberal Libertarians.
Ryan is a staunch supporter of same-sex rights, including the right to legally marry and obtain legal custody for one's own children.
Most of all Ryan abhors hypocrisy. As an example, although he is pro-choice, Ryan could possibly come to respect the opinions of a pro-lifer, provided they actually practice what they preach. Instead, most pro-life people oppose not only abortion, but anything that could possibly reduce the number of abortions, such as contraceptives, gay adoption, comprehensive sexual education, the morning after pill (which does NOT cause abortions), and support for abused and battered women. Also, so-called "pro-lifers" typically do not oppose war, the death penalty, homophobia, or anything else that causes death. In Ryan's experience pro-lifers also constantly resort to demonizing all those who disagree with them by accusing them of having no respect for life, which is something Ryan resents very much.
Where Ryan parts most with the Democratic party is their stance on censoring video games and other media, and blaming them for violence in society. Ryan thinks this is absurd, and believes violence can easily be attributed to tangible social ills such as poverty and intolerance.
Ryan is against the drug war, and advocates the legalization and regulation of certain drugs, especially marijuana, which is quite clearly not as harmful as alcohol. Ryan is not an advocate for gun control, he believes guns are inanimate objects and people are responsible for whatever good or ill comes of them. He does however support mandatory gun safety classes for all gun owners (especially Dick Cheney).
[edit] Spirituality
Although technically, Ryan could probably be described as Agnostic, he often refers to himself as a Pagan. This is because Ryan has always had a strong interest in classical mythology and non-Abrahamic religions, and more often applies their lessons to his life. While he doesn't believe in magick in the "Harry Potter" sense, Ryan will freely participate in Pagan rituals if the moment seems right. He believes that ritual and religion are a part of being human and, channeled correctly, can be pscyhologically and spiritually beneficial. In fact, Ryan is of the belief that the only wrong way to approach any religion is in fact when people take it too seriously and believe in it literally. In Ryan's mind this not only defeats the purpose of mythology, it is also very dangerous for society and results in people believing and acting on fictitious things, such as the stories in the Bible, as well as putting their blind faith and wishful thinking above reason and the safety and rights of others.
[edit] Interests
Ryan is an avid video game player and a proud gaymer. However, Ryan is very disappointed at the outrageous price tag of the PS3, and plans instead on devoting himself to the Nintendo Wii.
