THE WORK STUFF
I am a versatile, Arizona-based professional with over 30 years of leadership experience in the government, nonprofit and higher education sectors. My work has produced measurable success for my employers and clients, especially in project management, communications, strategic planning, process development, system implementation, and fundraising. At bottom line: I get things done, efficiently and effectively.
I am a graduate of the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, the Naval Supply Corps School, and the University at Albany’s Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy. I served for ten years with the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program, first as an active duty Naval Supply Corps Officer, then as a civilian employee of the U.S. Department of Energy.
After leaving Federal service, I worked in salaried positions as a fundraising professional, communications and public relations director, operations manager and nonprofit CEO, while also successfully managing numerous freelance, contract, consulting, and board roles. In late 2019, I retired from full-time salaried work to focus exclusively on freelance writing and consulting engagements.
You may view my complete professional resume via my LinkedIn Profile.
THE FUN STUFF
I am a seasoned internet warrior, having maintained an active public online presence since 1993, launched a personal website in 1995, and blogged regularly since September 1999, earning a coveted WordPress “Freshly Pressed” nod in 2010.
The website you see here today is the fourth permutation of my online presence. The first served as a repository for over 750 reviews and feature articles I wrote in the ’90s for print clients, before most of them even had their own websites. The second version focused on creative writing projects, including a poem a day published in 2004; several articles went viral during this period, helping me to develop a very strong online brand. The third version of this website provided an archive of professional posts written for commercial and academic purposes.
This current version of my online home consolidates bits and pieces of all those earlier eras — professional and personal, entertainment and education, left brain and right brain, humorous and serious — dating back to 1995, and it also serves as my home for new writing of all flavors. There’s a lot of stuff here. Feel free to forage.
MEDIA
Head shot for press and media available here.
LEGAL NOTICE
All rights reserved, and all material on this website Copyright J. Eric Smith, 1995-2022, unless otherwise specifically noted or attributed. Unauthorized use or duplication of this material without express and written permission is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links are acceptable, provided that full and clear credit is given to J. Eric Smith with appropriate and specific direction via links to the original content.
J. ERIC SMITH 
I know it’s an old article but…
Why wasn’t Alice In Chains included in the tournament for worst rock band ever? They definitely belong in the selection of bands omitted for the tournament due to greatness but I was surprised to see STP, Pearl Jam, and Nirvana in the rankings but no AiC.
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Bands had to have been RIAA certified at the time of having sold a certain number of albums to “qualify” for the tournament. They must not have met the mark in 2004 when I did it, or I would have included them.
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Talk to me. We both were published today on Electoral-Vote.com. (I was, unfortunately and typically am, guilty of gallimaufery–I am D. M. from Burnsville, MN.)
And I also spent a good deal of time in the service (as a civilian) of the US Navy, and particularly with the Supply Corps. And the topper: I also have lived in Iowa! In my own home (in Muscatine) for at least 1419 days, approximately 40 years ago. And I married an Iowa girl about 48 years ago.
Yes, I easily recognized the Iowa twang in your writer’s voice, and the names of eight little towns in that noble state born by your characters. For anyone who unearths this trove in a future Star Trek episode: yes, it is true! Iowa is just like those four guys.
Fortunately for me and my family, we escaped to Minnesota in time.
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Fun! My wife grew up in Minneapolis. We met and married while both in the Navy in Washington, DC. (She out-ranked me, which was not a bad way to start a successful 30+ year marriage on the right foot!) After ~20 years in Upstate New York (my work with Naval Reactors took us there), we had a work opportunity to move to Des Moines in 2011. Hey, couldn’t be THAT much different from Minnesota (which we love), just one state over, right?? Wrong!!!
We were in DSM until 2015, then moved to Chicago until early 2019, then back to DSM for 18 more months, then retired out here to Arizona last fall. While I was in Iowa the first time, I was perversely fascinated by the weirdness and (often) WRONGNESS of the local culture, so being a creatively cranky sort, I created a website (anonymously, since I had to work with a lot of folks I semi-mocked in fictional form) called Des Mean. It got quite popular with some folks, and was quite annoying to others. There’s a litmus test there, I’m sure.
When I shut that site down around 2016, I moved about half of it over to my own regular website, including the cocktails piece and its related Drinking in Iowa articles. I’m tickled that you caught the source of the names . . . every character I wrote had first and last names taken from tiny towns around the state. If you’re up for other chuckles about your former home (I’ve definitely written about Muscatine along the way!), the public pieces I kept online are all categorized on my website under this label: https://jericsmith.com/category/des-mean/.
Thanks for checking in . . . pleased to meet you in virtual space!
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!!!
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Hey Dan!
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Hi Eric,
Just stumbled onto your page, its been far too long. I hope you’re doing well.
Mike
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Hey Mike!!
Great to hear from you . . . yes, it has been too long! All is good with me and mine: we have been living in Chicago since 2015, and I love it here. I get back to Albany a couple of times a year for business stuff, so nice to re-visit old haunts. Hope you’re doing well, too!! Making any music?
E
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… so when are you going to update the Blanga guide?!
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I think I did the first update 20 years after the initial posting, so if Steve and I hold to that schedule, next update would be 2035 . . . (though we might get ambitious and tackle it sooner . . . )
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