Introducing myself

Hi, I'm a new member here, at the kind invitation of Mark Denny.

My name is Stephen Browne, I'm 61 years old. I am first and foremost a father to two children Jerzy Waszyngton Browne, age 11, and Judyta Ilona Browne, age 6. Unfortunately a single father trying to do best by my kids.

My son's name is Polish, he was born in Warsaw two weeks after 9/11, which is how he came to be named "George Washington Browne."

My daughter is named for Jerzy's godmother, and her namesake, Judith Hatton, now sadly deceased, and a dear friend in Lithuania, Ilona Daukene, who died in the mushroom poisoning epidemic that hit northern Europe some years back.

Judith Hatton was an Englishwoman, the wife of a KGB agent (from SMERSH no less) who defected to the UK after WWII.

Martial arts-wise, I am ranked Dai saam (3rd degree black sash) in Wu-Wei Gung Fu, Recognized Instructor in Pekiti Tirsia Kali, and intermediate to advanced ranking in about a half-dozen others.

In the years 1991-2004 I lived in Poland, Bulgaria, Serbia, and Saudi Arabia, and traveled throughout Eastern Europe quite a lot. I was elected Honorary Member of the Yugoslav Movement for the Protection of Human Rights in 1997.

I returned to the States to get formal training in journalism after getting some really great stories as an amateur. I interviewed the wife of a murdered dissident in Belarus, and covered the election that brought down Milosevic from the streets of Belgrade.

I'm now paying my dues, starting from the bottom again and a rural daily newspaper in Minnesota.

I love the martial arts, but have not had the opportunity to train as much as I'd like, nor am I 25 anymore, but determined to "walk as a warrior all my days."

Very pleased to meet you all