Jon

My name is Jon Turbett, I am 24 years old. My Life in short has been as
normal as one can expect. Parents divorced at an early age. Friends and
family have come, and gone, some more peacefully than others. Through it
all I’ve learned one thing. Life is short, and I know that may sound
cliché, but there is truth in its simplicity. No amount of time on this
Earth will be deemed enough. When your time comes, you reach for the clock
to set it back, even just for a minute.

I learned at an early age to apply this “Life is short” motto to my life,
most of the time with damaging effects, after all being young is all about
making mistakes. Learning from those mistakes however is where knowledge
and wisdom are born. I spent most of my youth rebelling against my Mother’s
husband, or teachers, anyone and everyone except for my Father.

My Father I feared and respected, he showed me how to be the man I am
today, not through relentless lectures or the classic “do as I say, not as
I do” mentality. No, my father lived his life everyday they way he expected
his kids to live. And by no means is the man perfect, but He showed me
compassion, empathy, how to always be there for the ones you love, even
when they don’t always return that favor. He taught me family.

Another important thing in my life is music. I’ve had a love affair with
music for as long as I can remember. I am truly what you would call
eclectic in my music preferences as long as there is strong lyrical
content. In recent years this has translated to a love of spoken word, or
Slam Poetry. I was a member of the volunteer staff that organized the 2010
Nation Poetry Slam (NPS). The National Poetry slam, for those that don’t
know is the Olympics of poetry, over 500 poets from all over the world
descended on St. Paul Minnesota for a weeklong event.

Working for NPS only strengthened my resolve to follow my dream of opening
a youth center that focuses on teaching music/poetry to young people.
Starting school with UoP is the first step in that process, and I am
looking forward to this journey.

This bio may be unorthodox; I never have been good with writing about
myself, so I thought I would write about some of the things that make me
who I am.