About Dan Langendorf

OK. I screwed up. The previous incarnation of the site had this wonderful prose about my professional lives — 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0 — but when I, um, decided to Febreze and refresh, I lost the text. It’s around somewhere, but I’m not going to worry about it at the moment. For now, this is me:

I’m Dan Langendorf.

I’m married to the wonderful Laura. We have an almost-16-year old, who I have been referring to as The Kid on the Internet since her birth. She’s all over Facebook now, but old habits die hard. She’s still The Kid.

I’m a huge St. Louis Cardinals fan. I love all music, except for new country and stupid pop rap songs. Miles Davis is a hero. So is Neil Young. I read something everyday. I play with technology (who doesn’t?), and some tech musings can be found at another blog, Yesternow.

Enough of that.

Life 1.0 was spent as a professional journalist, mostly for the Dallas Times Herald, where I was an investigative reporter who covered the Southern Methodist University and Southwest Conference football scandals, among other things like Major League Baseball, the National Football League, the National Basketball Association, the NCAA, and professional boxing.

Life 2.0 was spent as a design researcher and design team member working in product design and development. This may look like a completely separate career with nothing to do with Life 1.0, but there was more carry-over than you’d think.

Life 2.5 was spent writing for last100.com, a digital lifestyle blog that was, at one time, a part of the Read Write Web network. While having loads of traditional media experience, I found myself floundering in social media because I wrote like a journalist, not like a blogger. My editor, the fabulous Steve O’Hear, taught me where I went wrong and made me a better blogger, always a sign of a great editor.

Life 3.0 is in education. I got a Master’s of Fine Art from the University of Texas at Dallas in Arts & Technology (ATEC) program. Not only was I a student, I taught as a TA and was a part of the development team when an offshoot program, Emerging Media and Communications (EMAC), was formed. I’ve taught for four years now, loving every minute, except when a student disagrees with a grade.

Unfortunately, because I graduated from the program, I missed the cutoff by one person — me — in getting hired as an assistant professor. Edict from the top: no more hires from people who graduated from the program. That sucks. So, for now, I am on staff as a visiting assistant professor in both the ATEC and EMAC programs.

As Vonnegut says, “So it goes.”

And thanks for making it this far. Much appreciated.