From somewhere in the early Fifties to 1966, singing folk songs was what I did in real life. Made a modest but thoroughly enjoyable living that way. In 1966 I hired on at the Boeing Airplane Company as a production illustrator (something like drafting) and among other things, I worked on some of the original drawings for the 747 Jumbo Jet. I got caught in the big lay-off in the early Seventies (when Boeing's workforce went down from 102,000 to about 35,000 and someone put up a sign on the Seattle city limits saying "Will the last person who leaves please turn out the lights?").

Fortunately, I had the voice, the knowledge, and the necessary licenses by then, so I got a job right away working as an announcer in a classical music radio station. Over the next eight years or so, I worked at several radio stations:— as a rush-hour traffic reporter, as a disc jockey (one short stint as a rock-jock), as a producer, newscaster, and news director, and my last broadcasting job was for about three years as a classical music announcer. I also produced and voice a lot of commercials (sorry about that).

Deciding that radio was too chancy and competitive, I went to work for Ma Bell as a telephone operator (from broadcasting to narrowcasting). The pay was pretty good, the bennies were good, the physical surroundings were pleasant, and most of the supervisors, both male and female, were descendants of Simon Legree. I hauled on the oar in that galley for eight years! Now that's endurance!

In 1988 I got a job working for an accounting firm under contract to provide services to the Bonneville Power Administration (so I was indirectly working for that same outfit that Woody Guthrie worked for). I didn't work as an accountant; I was a technical writer in the BPA's residential weatherization project. Instead of trying to promote the use of electrical power, we were trying to talk people into conserving it. I also kept track of a database of people who inquired about the Washington State home heating oil conservation program (a separate program from the BPA's) and answered questions on the phone. Kind of a fun job. When the contracts ran out, I decided to retire and devote myself to some serious writing.

All this time I've been singing, certainly not as much as I did in the Fifties and Sixties, but I've participated in folk festivals, sail and chantey festivals, song circles, a few small concerts here and there, and, of course, "hoots." I also read voraciously and I watch a fair amount of TV, selectively and without guilt.

Don Firth