Tim Johnson

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I have been a special education teacher for 20 years. I am born and raised with the belief that labor creates all wealth. The best collars are blue and America was established based on honor or truth and respect for others. I attended community collge prior to graduating fromk Eastern Michigan University with a major in education and a minor in Language Arts, writing concentration. I have since attended various post-secondary institutions including Central Michigan, Campbell University --- GO CAMELS!! --- in Buies Creek, NC. I also completed the writing program at Narapa University in Boulder, CO---Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics. I have been an active participant in all things related to labor and unions. I was elected department union steward at the age of 18 after working in the local steel mill for just 6 months. I was instrumental in organizing my fellow employees at a Rider Truck plant in Romulus and authorizing union negotiations between the company and Iron Workers 25. I served as union steward for my work site while working for the State of Michigan, UAW Local 6000. It was during my stay in Madison, Wisconsin that I really experienced life for the first time. I became friends with a young man who was living with cerebral palsy--I was hired to be his live-in attendant. It was during this time that I became part of the disabled community of Madison. Here, I learned what it was like to be different, seriously different from the mainstream community. We were the small group that traveled State Street from the Capitol to the campus. We could be seen gathered near the corner of Gilman Street and State Street at Elizabeth Link Peace Park. Spend a year living with folks society has written off and your entire set of values is shaken and all sense of pride is stripped from your very soul.