About

Hi, I'm Ted at Common Reason. Come and join me on an exciting journey of discovery as a writer. In fact, I see myself as a Storyteller, Historian, and Philosopher. For me, this is one of those very unexpected surprises which sometimes bursts into one's life. I have been a "numbers guy" most of my life, having served as a finance director at several nonprofit organizations. But instead of finding meaning in numbers as my former self, I am now a new self in search of meaning with words.

My life journey has taken me from Hawaii to the West Coast of the U.S. to the African continent to southwestern Pennsylvania, and back to the West Coast, specifically the Pacific Northwest and the San Francisco Bay Area, where I currently call home. I love to travel and have visited many places around the U.S. and the world. I consider myself imaginative, reflective, intellectually curious, optimistic, and spiritual. I am the grandson of Japanese immigrants, and the son of a U.S. Army veteran of World War II. I am a husband and a father of four children.

I created the name Common Reason after being inspired by Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, published in January 1776 in Philadelphia, some five months before the Declaration of Independence was drafted. Common Sense helped launch the American Revolution at the end of the Age of Reason, and used plain, common language which moved its readers and spoke powerfully to common Americans about the central issue of their day -- whether to seek independence from British rule. In a similar way, I want Common Reason to speak to the central issue of our day, and perhaps of all time -- exploring the human condition and our common humanity.

I try to instill engaging elements of history and my personal life story in most of my writing. I hope you will enjoy this writing journey with me. I would love to spark dialogues with my Readers, and hold discussions about anything you read here.

To subscribe, please fill out your name and email address here. Thank you!