The folks in charge of the UC Berkeley Web site have asked me to put together a brief bio of myself to go along with the online journal of my project. On the one hand, this makes a lot of sense to me; it will provide a ready answer to what will undoubtedly be the reader's first question upon stumbling across my section of the site: "Who in god's name is this clown?"

On the other hand, as I sit down to write, I suspect that I am supposed to produce the classic, run-of-the-mill academic/professional life synopsis - "Mr. Griffiths was raised in Portland, Oregon. He attended Cleveland High School and went on to receive an undergraduate degree in Social Studies from Harvard College. After two years serving as the Associate at the Center for Justice and International Law, a small human rights organization in Washington, DC, Mr. Griffiths decided to pursue a law degree and is now attending Boalt Hall at the University of California at Berkeley." -- but that seems dreadfully boring. Moreover, it doesn't really provide a very satisfactory answer to the more fundamental question raised above, in other words, "No really. Who is this clown?"

For now, however, it will have to do.

-- Tim Griffiths