Gil Asakawa:  

Life Hi everyone, I've had a varied and interesting life. My family moved to Colorado at the start of my sophomore year at Broad Run High School in Virginia, and I graduated from Alameda High School in the Denver suburb of Lakewood. I got a BFA in Painting from Pratt Institute in NYC, and then became a writer instead of an artist. Spent 1979-1991 as a rock critic, music editor and reporter for Denver's weekly alternative paper, Westword. Since then, I've worked for the Gazette in Colorado Springs, and then dove into the Internet. I'm currently doing freelance consulting and writing, and I have a home page at gillers-dot-com and a blog at nikkeiview-dot-com. You can also visit gather-dot-com and search for my name; I'm posting a lot of articles on that site. I cherish my memories of Sterling Park and Broad Run High School. It's almost like a lost part of my life, yet I still remember so many names and faces when I look through old yearbooks. And my time at Alameda HS was my "Wonder Years." And, I wouldn't give up my college years at Pratt for anything -- just living in NYC during the punk and disco era was an invaluable education in itself. I co-authored "The Toy Book," a fun history of Baby-Boomer era toys, which was published by Alfred Knopf in 1991 (my co-author and I got to go on "The Today Show" the week of Christmas, and play with a bunch of toys that are featured in the book). I also authored "Being Japanese American," a book about my heritage and culture, which has done pretty well. I've done readings and signings at the Japanese American National Museum in LA, and also in Denver and in Chicago. UPDATE: Well, it's 2004, and last summer I got a job as executive producer of DenverPost-dot-com, the Website of Colorado's major daily newspaper. I love the gig! UPDATE: It's now January, 2007, and I had an interesting 2006. I left the Denver Post for a job in New Jersey, as managing editor for Advance Internet, the company that manages Web sites for newspapers such as the Newark Star-Ledger, Portland Oregonian, Cleveland Plain-Dealer and New Orleans Times-Picayune. I was there for six months, then the company reorganized and laid me off. So I'm now back in Colorado, looking fr my next Big Adventure! But also as part of the big "move" to New Jersey, I got married to my partner Erin. We've been together since 1999 and engaged since 2001. It's great being back in Denver; I appreciate Colorado much more than I did before! UPDATE PT. 2, JAN. 2007: I've accepted a position as Director of Content for Examiner.com, the online division of a company based in Denver that owns newspapers in SF, DC and Baltimore. I'll manage the online editors at those papers, plus be ...Expand for more