Kenneth William Padgett Biography
Ken Padgett was born in California. His father was career Navy and his mother was a housewife.
Ken's parents were separated when he was only four years old and his mom
moved the family from Florida to a Washington DC area suburb in
Maryland. They were divorced soon after. His mom went to work at the
Census Bureau Publications Group and stayed there till she retired.
Ken's first job was working as a shoe shine boy at
"Frank's Barber Shop" at the tender age of 13. At 14 an
opportunity came up to take on a friend's paper route so he quit
Frank's.
A couple of months later he was offered an adjoining paper route and a
chance to work on a truck early Sunday mornings as a "jumper"
-- the kid who counts and tosses the bundles of papers out of the truck
on street corners to supply scores of individual paper
routes.
Kenneth William Padgett dropped out of high school at 15
and drifted through various minimum-wage jobs in the restaurant
business. He joined the Army as soon as he turned 17 years old. He got his GED
(high school diploma) while serving as a field radio mechanic and crypto
clerk in Germany. After a 3-year enlistment he
returned to Maryland and went to work for the Naval Oceanographic Office
as an electronics technician. Ken traveled aboard Oceanographic survey
ships for three years but after a port of call in San Diego, he decided
to move there.
Ken worked as an electronics technician for several defense contractors in the San Diego area.
Later he transitioned
into administrative work; first as an expeditor, then a scheduler, and
then a master scheduler. Meanwhile he began going to college at night to
earn an AA in Business Administration. It took him about 3 years to get
his AA degree while working a full-time job. During this period he was
reunited with a girl from Virginia he knew from his time living in
Maryland. JoAnn moved to San Diego and after a couple of
years they were married. Later they were blessed with the birth of a
daughter.
After graduating from junior college Ken Padgett became
a full-time student at the University of California at San Diego
majoring in Communications, with a specialty in video production. He
graduated with a BA in less than 18 months, going from 12 units per quarter to 32 units by his final quarter.
While studying at UCSD and planning his future, Ken believed he'd have no
problem getting a job in documentary film-making or television after
graduation because
of his education and extensive experience as an electronics technician.
But after graduation Kenneth W Padgett soon realized that those jobs
were few and far between. He'd have to start at the lowest level at
anything he could find that was even remotely related to media.
Ken Padgett took a job at an audio-visual staging
company doing mostly grunt work moving equipment around and setting it
up. It was hard work but he was getting some experience. Then one day he was injured while lifting a giant
television monitor. He lost his grip and as the monitor was about to
crash onto the floor he recovered enough to save the monitor but injured
the tendons in his shoulder in the process. Ken didn't want to say
anything to his employers but his shoulder wouldn't stop hurting. He
went to his doctor and he took time off without pay trying to recover. Nothing helped.
He had to file a worker's compensation claim to have the medical
expenses covered.
Ken's shoulder never fully recovered, but while on
worker's compensation he was retrained as an electronic draftsman. He
also spent considerable time on his own learning how to use a computer.
He was attracted to the new software for desktop publishing and graphics
and learned
all he could about it. Eventually he decided that rather than take a job
as a draftsman he'd do freelance work as a desktop publisher.
Kenneth W Padgett became a
freelance desktop publisher. His business thrived for about three years,
but as page formatting and other aspects of desktop publishing became
more accessible to less-skilled workers the market for freelancers
began to dry up. He saw the handwriting on the wall and began studying to earn
certification as a Network Engineer.
Ken Padgett studied on his
own to pass the tests required to earn certification as a Novell Netware
Engineer and a
Microsoft Certified Professional, as well as the A+ Technician and Network CompTIA certifications. Ken
began soliciting small business clients for computer and network repair,
and network engineering. Soon he had enough regular
clients to keep busy full time.
Ken was very successful as a freelance Network Engineer
for over six years and during that time he also began working as a freelance
writer. His biography and history articles have been published in
several history and trivia books.
Ken Padgett's interest in computers led him to begin studying web site design.
Ken created his first personal web site in 1997 and his first business web
site in 2000. Since then he has become an internet entrepreneur,
generating income through advertising on his many web sites. He also designed a No Soliciting Sign that
really works and it generates a steady monthly income through sales that are
fulfilled by Cafepress. Ken's successful internet businesses have
enabled him to quit doing freelance computer repair and networking. Now
he works full time at his home office.
Ken's interest in writing biography and history articles
led him to create several web sites devoted to publishing his work. His Agilewriter
website contains many of the articles he wrote as a freelancer. Ken has
written a Guide to Hopi Kachina Dolls
that also explores the origins and history of the Hopi
Kachina Cult. Ken has written a History
of Blackface and Minstrel
Shows that is very popular with college professors and high school
teachers. Blackface! is listed in many syllabi as a resource and/or required
reading for classes in a wide range of educational institutions. Ken is
currently working on a history of
racial and racist stereotypes in the media; including Blackface, Yellowface,
Redface, Brownface, Arabface and Jewface stereotypes:
Here are some other web sites owned by Ken Padgett:
aholi.com
aww-faq.org
awwa.aww-faq.org
deasucks.com
drug-war.us
eototo.com
ikachina.com
kachina.us
morningsinger.com
rxpill.com
secretcity.us
no-solicitors-sign.com
write-for-food.com
wupamo.com
yard-cam.com
Ken Padgett lives at 3134 Mercer Lane, San
Diego, CA 92122
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