I grew up in Bedford, Texas and graduated from Oklahoma Baptist University (OBU) with degrees in English and philosophy. After college I worked for 2 years with the Majority Leader of the United States House of Representatives. In addition, I worked for a United States Senator for almost two years. I attended the University of Texas at Austin’s LBJ School of Public Affairs where I concentrated my studies in international affairs. I’m currently in my third year of law school at Southern Methodist University’s (SMU) Dedman School of Law.
My interests: criminal, constitutional and international law; human rights and international development; social entrepreneurship; international security and foreign policy; philosophy and humanism; changing the world; good conversation that lasts into the early morning; philosophically I’m a pragmatic existentialist with shades of romantic transcendentalism who still desperately believes critical, contextual and creative thinking will help transform who we are and the world; I love Russian literature and philosophy; the politics and culture of the Middle East; anything written by Fyodor Dostoevsky or Walker Percy; and the poetry of Wendell Berry, Walt Whitman, and Pablo Neruda.
Top Three Questions I get Asked:
1. How tall are you? Easy question. How short are you? I’m actually 6′6″.
2. Did you play basketball. When I’m asked this question I usually inquire of the person asking if they were a jockey. I played basketball for fun growing up and played on a team in high school but I gave up my NBA dreams when I realized I could never be Larry Bird.
3. You must really love school? No, I’m a masochist and enjoy inflicting pain on myself by long hours in the library, sleep deprivation, and that nauseating caffeine-induced shaky feeling one gets between 4:30AM and 6:00AM after staying up straight for 30 hours. While those things are certainly not always enjoyable, I love the academic environment, writing and researching, learning new things everyday, challenging my mind and creative capacity by the opportunities presented in higher education, and I do yearn to one day graduate and apply the ideas and tools I’ve acquired in the academia by continuing to get my feet dirty in the field and help to change the world.
Colby,
Not sure if you remember me, but I worked with you at Congressman Armey’s office back in 2001. I interned there during the summer of 2001. I also interned with Senator Gramm’s office in the fall of 2001. I ended up attending law school at the University of Tulsa College of Law and graduated in May. About two years ago, I decided that I didn’t want to practice law and have decided to take my education and experience back into politics and public service. I thought about leaving law school, but I decided to stay and finish what I started and earn my law degree.
I truly enjoyed working in politics and public service, and the internships I had with Armey and Gramm were some of the most enjoyable experiences I’ve ever had. After taking some time off to be with my family, I have recently started calling congressional offices to inquire about staff positions. I recently contacted Senator Cornyn’s Dallas office and was told that they have a front desk position available. I sent in my resume last week.
I always remembered you and wondered how you were doing. I searched around and ended up finding your web page. Sounds like things are going well with you. Are you currently attending law school? If so, where?
I also wanted to ask if you had any advice / information you could give me regarding getting my foot in the door in a congressional office. My interest has always been to work in politics and government and I’m hoping to get my foot in the door somewhere.
Thanks for your time and I hope to hear from you soon,
Jason Simon
My e-mail is c1jason@aol.com.
Cell: 817-909-6667.
Thanks,
Jason