Jim McGinness Bio Sketch

Great grandparents

Edward McGinness

Looking for dates, still. I’m pretty sure he owned a furniture store (The Handy Furniture Company, perhaps [ https://www.historicevansville.com/site.php?id=handyfurniture ]) in Evansville, IN. I don’t remember his wife’s name - it might be Ida Moser. I think he may also have been clergy at the Methodist Temple.

Father to Don, grandfather to James D, great grandfather to me.

I don’t know Edward’s ethnic background; unlike everyone else in my family tree who came from German stock. Boys with Irish or Scottish names marrying German girls.

I joined Braver Angels in early April 2025.

Timeline (reversed):

—– future/past divide —–

January 2026

December 2025

• 2025-12-16 - BA AMB Monthly Meeting - ZEM
• 2025-12-15 - BA OFO National Field Call - ALL HANDS
• 2025-12-12 - SDB Workshop BRM
• 2025-12-12 - Dry run for Daphne Burt modified CCD
• 2025-12-10 - Dry run for event 5493 SDB Workshop
• 2025-12-09 - BA Red Caucus
• 2025-12-04 - BA Film Club I missed most of it due to a conflict

November 2025

• 2025-11-20 - NH Alliance Monthly Discussion ZEM
• 2025-11-18 - BA AMB Monthly Meeting
• 2025-11-17 - BA OFO Field Call
• 2025-11-11 - BA Red Caucus
• 2025-11-06 - NH Alliance Planning Call

October 2025

• 2025-10-30 - BA National tech team call
• 2025-10-29 - Listening evening with Maury Giles at St. Andrews in New London live event
• 2025-10-24 - Qualification session for BRM role qualified
• 2025-10-23 - BA National tech team call cancelled
• 2025-10-21 - BA AMB monthly meeting - acted as shadow PM and BRM
• 2025-10-20 - BA National Field Call
• 2025-10-18 - Crossing the Continental Divide - acted as PM and BRM
• 2025-10-15 - NH Alliance Monthly Discussion - acted as PM and BRM
• 2025-10-15 - BA National tech team call cancelled
• 2025-10-14 - BA Red Caucus acted as PM
• 2025-10-06 - BA Chatbot Sync
• 2025-10-02 - NH Alliance Planning Call

September 2025

• 2025-09-25 - BA Film Clube - Singapore
• 2025-09-25 - BA National Tech Team Call
• 2025-09-24 - BA Red Caucus - Charlie Kirk acted as PM
• 2025-09-22 - BA Chatbot Sync - did not attend
• 2025-09-18 - NH Alliance call - “Our digital lives” - acted as ZEM but only 6 partipants
• 2025-09-18 - BA National tech team call
• 2025-09-16 - BA AMB monthly meeting - acted as ZEM
• 2025-09-15 - BA National Field Call
• 2025-09-05 - Crossing the Continental Divide - acted as PM
• 2025-09-04 - NH Alliance planning call
• 2025-09-04 - BA National tech team call
• 2025-09-02 - BA AMB First Steps - acted as ZEM

August 2025

• 2025-08-27 - Red Caucus - scheduled to act as PM-could not attend because of conflict with robotics
• 2025-08-26 - National Debate - Nuclear Power & Climate Change - was PM observer
• 2025-08-21 - NH Alliance call - DEI, mostly - acted as ZEM
• 2025-08-21 - BA National tech team call
• 2025-08-19 - BA Amb Monthly - acted as ZEM
• 2025-08-18 - BA National Field Call
• 2025-08-16 - Reflect & Reimagine with Maury
• 2025-08-14 - BA National tech team call
• 2025-08-12 - Red Caucus - acted as PM
• 2025-08-07 - NH Alliance planning call
• 2025-08-07 - BA National tech team call
• 2025-08-03 - NH BA Alliance picnic - St. Andrews, New London
• 2025-08-02 - Crossing the Continental Divide - cancelled by Yvonne - was scheduled to act as ZEM

July 2025

• 2025-07-31 - Film Club - Executive power
• 2025-07-23 - Red Caucus - Trump admin and national debt
• 2025-07-21 - National Field Call
• 2025-07-19 - Common Ground workshop - Immigration - participated as Red
• 2025-07-17 - NH BA Alliance online meeting - parental rights in public education - I acted as ZEM
• 2025-07-17 - Common Ground workshop - Immigration - Dry run - applied to be shadow PM - didn’t get it
• 2025-07-15 - BA Ambassadors call - cancelled
• 2025-07-09 - ZEM PM training session - completed, turned into qualification session
• 2025-07-08 - completed Ambassador training - started 6 June, 33 days
• 2025-07-08 - Red Caucus - Big Beautiful Bill - did not attend due to a conflict
• 2025-07-03 - NH BA Alliance planning meeting

June 2025

• 2025-06-28 - Start ZEM training - completed PM training 9 July
• 2025-06-26 - BA National Film Club - declining birthrates - as observer and chat participant only
• 2025-06-25 - Red Caucus - Middle East situation - as observer and chat participant only
• 2025-06-19 - NH BA Alliance online meeting - about feelings of safety - started gathering support group for ambassador training
• 2025-06-10 - Red Caucus - Equality Caucus - Fishbowl - as observer and chat participant only
• 2025-06-06 - enrolled in volunteer training for ambassadors - completed 8 July

May 2025

• 2025-05-29 - 1:1 Conversation arising out of contacts from other meetings
• 2025-05-28 - Red Caucus - Sugar Bear and “Does America Need a Religious Revival?”
• 2025-05-21 - eCourse: BA skills for Social Media
• 2025-05-20 - Local Community Debate – School Funding (NH – State) - my first in-person BA event
• 2025-05-19 - National Field Call - invited by Joel Berman
• 2025-05-15 - NH BA Alliance online meeting
• 2025-05-13 - Red Caucus
• 2025-05-05 - 1:1 Conversations Red-Blue part 2
• 2025-05-03 - Anti-Fragile

April 2025

• 2025-04-26 - Tools for Disagreeing Better
• 2025-04-26 - 1:1 Conversations Red-Blue part 2 - scheduled, but did not happen
• 2025-04-23 - Red Caucus
• 2025-04-19 - Common Ground Workshop - Immigration - as observer
• 2025-04-08 - Red Caucus
• 2025-04-05 - Red in Blue Environment
• 2025-04-05 - 1:1 Conversations Red-Blue part 1

University of Chicago

When I was deciding where to go to college, I visited a few. I had been to science-oriented events at Northwestern in Evanston - [here’s where a fragmented memory occurs. I have thought I met Glenn Seaborg when he was doing a demonstration involving liquid nitrogen at one of these Northwestern science events. I had the idea that my ability to answer the question of how the electric light bulb filament was able to survive and glow when plunged into the liguid nitrogen - some analogy I made with how gases worked inside the sun - somehow impressed him. But looking at Seaborg’s biography, it isn’t plausible that this happened. Why would he be doing more physics than chemistry demonstrations for high school students when he did not have any particular institutional connection with Northwestern? So that’s just a jumble.]

Early childhood

I was born in 1951 in Evansville, Indiana. My parents were both chemistry students at Evansville College. Between me coming along and my father getting a job in Chicago, I’m afraid my mother’s education was cut short.

In time, I had a brother, John, and we were living in the Roseland neighborhood of Chicago. Soon after, they bought a house in Harvey, Illinois, and I had 3 more siblings.

The orange hat

Around town, I’m known as “that guy with the orange hat”. Much of the year, I wear a safety-orange bucket hat - some people are gracious enough to call it a ‘fedora’ - and it has become sort of my trademark, my brand. More about that later.

Here is my conversation with Claude.io (deformatted; it produced a much nicer-looking outline)

Can you give me an outline for a 1000-word biographical sketch (of myself). I want to cover topics like childhood, parent influences, schooling, work history, beliefs and politics.

I’d be happy to provide an outline for a 1000-word biographical sketch covering the key aspects of your life. Here’s a framework you can use:

Biographical Sketch Outline Introduction (100 words) Brief overview of who you are today A compelling hook or defining moment Thesis statement about central themes in your life Childhood (200 words) Place and date of birth Early environment and home life Formative childhood experiences Hobbies and interests as a child Key childhood friendships Parental Influences (150 words) Brief background on each parent Their values and how they shaped you Specific lessons or traditions they imparted How their career choices influenced your path Education (150 words) Primary and secondary education highlights College/university experience Important teachers or mentors Academic achievements and challenges How education shaped your worldview Work History (200 words) First job and early career path Major professional transitions Significant accomplishments Challenges overcome Current professional status Beliefs and Politics (150 words) Core values and how they developed Political evolution over time Key issues you care about How your beliefs influence your actions Changes in perspective over time Conclusion (50 words) Reflections on your journey so far Future aspirations Legacy you hope to leave Would you like me to expand on any particular section of this outline?