http://dhisgood.blogspot.comhttp://dhisgood.blogspot.com

Alright, since I've started to have some visitors from outside my social circle, I figured it was time for me to write up a bio to share a little bit about myself and the blog.

The Basics:

My name is David Griffin Heiser. Griffin is my mother's maiden name and I try to go by my full name as much as I possibly can, because I am the only male on either side of my family who is likely to pass on the family name. I'm 21 years old and will be celebrating my 22nd birthday on the same day in November that America will be busy voting Barack Obama into the White House. I'm a transplanted Yankee and lived the first 18.5 years of my life in "beautiful" Northeast Ohio. I'm currently an intern at Leapfrog PR, a local public relations agency specializing in restaurant and other "lifestyle" clients. I'm a senior at the College of Charleston and a double major in sociology and communication studies. I'm also be the resident food and film critic for the College of Charleston's student newspaper, the George Street Observer, which has a circulation of 3,000 weekly. This past summer, I interned at the Charleston Food + Wine Festival, working with the executive director and marketing manager to gain more experience with event planning and non-profit public relations/marketing. After I graduate, I plan on pursuing a career in public relations with a focus on the culinary industry.

Interests (not including food and film):

Although 'DH' Is Good is a blog about food and film, my first love is and always will be sports. I have essentially been obsessed with everything sports related since I was five. Being from the Cleveland area, the teams which have my undying loyalty are the Browns, Indians, and LeBron (sorry, I mean the Cavs). In addition to my hometown teams, I have what I'm sure some would categorize as an unhealthy addiction to fantasy sports. I've been participating in fantasy baseball and football leagues with my friends since sometime in middle school.

As the child of a very liberal mother and a very conservative father I have always been exposed to both ends of the political spectrum. While this might have led some kids to be politically apathetic, it had the opposite affect on me. Anyone who knows me can vouch for the fact that I love to debate any and every topic imaginable, so my interest in the political arena seems like a logical extension of that. I've ended up with a much more left leaning set of beliefs and am always open to argue the merits of the Democratic point of view.

My third main interest, and what this blog would likely be about if I had never left Cleveland, is music. I listen to a somewhat unique mix of genres, which is a direct result of the two communities in which I grew up. Cleveland Heights, the city where I lived from pre-school through fifth grade was a very ethnically and culturally diverse environment. In my time there, I became a huge fan of rap/hip-hop. When I moved to Hudson, an overwhelmingly white suburb, I received a fair amount of flack for my love of rap. While I held out for a few years, I eventually gave in and started to listen to some more traditionally "white" music. In high school, I got into the whole indie/emo/punk scene, whatever you want to call it. It's important to note here that I never adopted any part of the "scenester" look. I was too chubby for girl jeans, my hair would have looked ridiculous if I dyed it black, and my father has threatened to rip out any piercing that I get, in my sleep. Toward the tail end of high school, and since I've been to college, I've rediscovered my interest in rap, particularly the underground/independent label variety. I think intelligently written rap lyrics performed over solid production can stand up to the very best of any other genre. I appreciate quality production so much that I've recently built a huge library of instrumental hip-hop and trip-hop music (artists like DJ Shadow, RJD2, and J Dilla).

How/Why This Blog Came To Be:

I mentioned earlier that I love sports, and it was my love of sports that got me started writing. For a brief time in elementary school, I wrote and printed a small sports magazine and sold it for 25 cents in the lunch room. I thought for the longest time that I would grow up and either be a sports columnist or commentator. In high school, I spent two years writing sports columns for our school newspaper. When I applied to colleges, I presented myself as a would-be journalism major. It wasn't until I thought about it realistically, and realized how exceptionally difficult it would be to make a decent living in such a demanding and competitive field, that I began to move away from journalism. Despite my change in career goal, I continued to love to write. As I developed an interest in public relations over the past year, I realized that, although the subject matter would be different, this field offered me an almost equally exciting chance to do what I love.

Any PR person will tell you that one of the most notable and exciting trends in the industry is the rising importance of social media like blogs, podcasts, etc. As an aspiring student of the field, I knew it would be important in the future to be able to demonstrate a proficiency in this format. So, while one of my original goals for the blog was to build my portfolio, diversify my skill set, and hopefully help me land an internship/job, I did have higher aspirations in mind.

In the larger scheme of things, I'd like to help broaden the culinary and film horizons of college students and young people in general. I believe that food is art and is truly something that, unlike a lot of modern or even classical art, everyone can appreciate. We live in a relatively small city compared to a lot of the other culinary Meccas and have three 2008 James Beard Award nominees. There are an astonishing amount of great restaurants in this city (not even just the expensive ones) and, still, I see the vast majority of people my age eating chain food trash like Applebee's and Outback. I think that experiencing and supporting the locally owned, non-chain restaurants in your home town is an important part of appreciating your community's identity.

An interesting comparison that I thought of recently, to try and show people why fine dining is worth spending money on, is to relate it to a concert. When you go to a concert you usually have a certain set of songs that you hope the band will play, but, apart from screaming out track names when they pause between songs, you have basically no influence over what you get to hear. But, what if you could pick exactly which songs you wanted the band to play? How awesome would that be? Great musicians and great chefs are similar in their skill level at their craft, but when you go out to eat at a top notch restaurant you can pick exactly what that person, who is so good at their job, will prepare specifically for you. Plus, when you go out to eat therr are none of the negative aspects of concerts like 6'5" guys standing in front of you or sweaty fat guys who make you an involuntary member of their mosh pit. The analogy goes even deeper. Just like concerts, there are plenty of different choices for different wallets. For $10, you can go see the local band that you think is great, but doesn't get much national respect, so tickets don't cost much (think of this like going to a great local barbecue place like Fiery Ron's Home Team BBQ in West Ashley). Or, if you want to go see that superstar national act, you might be willing to go out and drop $45 on tickets once every few months (which is similar to a decent meal at a place like McCrady's). There are, of course, a million options in between these two extremes, but my point is that young people should start treating eating out like they do any other event, because that's exactly what a great meal and dining experience is.

I have a similar, though less passionate opinion, toward the film industry as well. Another reason that I chose these two subjects for my blog is that many of my friends frequently ask me for restaurants to try or movies to rent. While I enjoy talking to people about food/film, I thought it would be a good idea to have a central place for my opinions/recommendations where people could go, look for a topic/genre that they are interested, and get some suggestions that way, as well. Plus, now that some people I don't know personally started reading my blog, I'd like to be able to direct you to some of the places that I support, and hopefully establish a two-way dialogue that will bring me some more recommendations of restaurants to try or movies to watch, myself.

So, enjoy the blog, leave me some comments so I know whether you agree or disagree, and tell a friend or two to check me out too.

Thanks,

DH