Joseph E. Pluta

After working as a college professor nearly all of my adult life, I have recently begun writing fiction. More than one of my friends has reacted by asking: "What's the difference? You've been writing about Economics for over 40 years!"

My creative writing includes a memoir and over seventy published short stories. Written within the genre of historical fiction, the latter deal with Michigan small towns, the innocence of youth, growing up, racial conflict and harmony, crime, college life, family dynamics, dishonesty in academia, ethnic customs, romance, humor, life changing experiences, psychological trauma, and the loneliness of old age.

As a professional economist, I have published twenty-one books and over sixty articles in academic journals, was the Editor of Texas Business Review magazine, founded and directed a University wide Honors Program, served as Chair of an Economics Department, worked as a consultant to foreign governments and to American small businesses, and received five awards for teaching excellence. In addition to the U. S., my research has also been published in Canada, Britain, the Netherlands, Germany, India, and Jamaica.

Many years ago, I managed a restaurant, hosted a weekly radio program, analyzed bills for a state legislature, became a published poet, and presented research results to conferences at such places as the University of Chicago; the Economic and Social Research Institute in Dublin, Ireland; and the Ministry of Defense in Taipei, Taiwan. I also was a public address announcer for college basketball games.

Margo and I have been married for 40 years during which she has been a pre-school teacher, business owner, volunteer for numerous charitable causes, loving companion, and exceptional mother. Our son, Andy, is a music store manager and a creative artist while our daughter, Kate Simmons, is an accomplished writer and teacher. Her husband, Todd, designs video games, works in digital media, and directs a nonprofit art museum.

Things I love? My family, waterfalls, mountains, trains, history, poetry, music, movies, superb writing, dill pickles, radishes, shrimp lo mein, Polish sausage, beets, salsa, barbeque, sandwich shops, pizza joints, green olives marinated in Bombay, French cabernet sauvignon, Argentinian merlot.

Things I loathe? Neckties, mindless TV ads, cell phones, racism, fundamentalist thinking (excuse the oxymoron), fancy restaurants, celery, eggplant, white-collar criminals, bankers (excuse the redundancy), salt & pepper shakers that don't work, online college degrees, Pearl beer, Fox News, big cities.

Shortly after my birth in Chicago, my parents raised me on a farm in the southwest corner of Michigan. While attending grade school and high school in Indiana, I lived in two time zones every day. Perhaps that is why I am rarely late for anything, a fact that is often annoying to those around me.

My B. A. and M. A. degrees were earned at the University of Notre Dame, my Ph. D. from the University of Texas. Margo and I lived in Florida and California before returning to Austin where we have now resided for more than 35 years.

Our favorite travel destinations are British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, Michigan, Idaho, Colorado, and Montana. The waterfalls in every one of these places are magnificent.

For more information, see my web page: josephepluta.com

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St. Edward's University