About Brent Schulkin

BIOGRAPHY

Brent Schulkin was born on November 16th, 1980, in Santa Monica, CA. For professional reasons, he relocated to Sunnyvale, CA at the age of one. After several years of schooling and the loss of a few teef, he moved up to Santa Rosa, in the heart of the California wine country. The main reason for this move was to stay close to his family, who moved into the same house on the same day.  As third grade began, Brent quickly adapted to the harsh ways of the NorCal wilderness along with his siblings, Sydney, Amy and Jonathan. Ma and Sydney and Amy ate bread and molasses in the wagon, and the horses ate corn from nose-bags, while Pa traded his furs for hickory bows and a new powder horn. Brent remained there over a decade until he finished high school. At the dawn of the new millenium, Brent began his 4 years at Stanford University. He grew into an incredibly wise and incredibly handsome man. And there was much rejoicing. After living in Chile, graduating, and spending a third straight summer working in Lake Tahoe, he embarked on an epic road trip which presaged the production of Brent's documentary film about criminal justice, Penal Dysfunction. During this same era Brent earned money by working at a small mom and pop operation called Google. He quit that job pre-IPO to engage in other activities which we are currently unable to divulge, so as not to compromise our agents in the field. For the next couple years Brent was based in San Francisco, living the life of a road warrior. He was employed by The Go Game as a mercenary of fun, traveling the world organizing and executing elaborate urban adventure games. In 2008 he launched a movement called Carrotmob and then co-founded a company called Virgance. Stay tuned. (alternative bio)

WHO IS HE?

That's a question without an answer. But we'll give you a starting point. In any description of a person, only the anomalous bits have any chance at being interesting. One anomalous thing about Brent is that many people have described him as a "Connector," as described in Malcolm Gladwell's book The Tipping Point. To plagiarize a summary, this means that he has ties in many different realms and acts as a conduit between them, helping to engender connections, relationships, and 'cross-fertilization' that otherwise might not ever occur. So there's that. Brent also sees a truth about himself in these words which the esteemed Calvin once uttered in an artful comic strip:

Some people are pragmatists, taking things as they come and making the best of the choices available. Some people are idealists, standing for principle and refusing to compromise. And some people just act on any whim that enters their heads. I pragmatically turn my whims into principles.

WWW.BRENTSCHULKIN.COM

This website will make all of your wildest dreams come true. As you read more of the Vital Node, you will find ephemera from Brent's day to day existence. You will find links. But you will also find yourself on a whirlwind educational journey! Hijinks will ensue as you explore some of the most pressing questions in the history of humanity! Have you ever wondered who would win in a battle of bus lines? Or what is the proper thing for men to do with loose change? Or what could the object in this rectal X-ray possibly be? Or what happens when a bearded man repeatedly tries to board airplanes wearing a T-shirt that, in Arabic, makes reference to terrorism? The truth will set you free on brentschulkin.com. You will feast on rich insights into the issues of the day, from general politics to some of Brent's pet issues, like global warming and the failures of our prison system. The unflinching pursuit of truth and justice occasionally require Brent to unleash tremendous verbal smackdowns on the incompetent. Weather.com, Las Vegas Limousines, the US Secret Service and the status quo of tipping are just a few of the entities who will probably never fully recover from Brent's withering critiques. But this site is not about destruction...oh no. We are here to build a community and enrich each other! So read often, leave comments like it's yer job, or write a letter to the editor, and maybe someday you'll get an award!

DRAMATIC WHITESPACE

VITAL STATS

Age: 28
Height: 6'1''
Sign: Scorpio
Eyes: Hazel
Hood: Mission
Girlfriend: Noor
Major: Communication
Minor: Latin-American Studies
Bus: 22-Fillmore
Car: None
Food: Kong Xin Cai
Burrito: Taco Loco
Beer: Spotted Cow
Movies: Yes
TV: No
Music: YES
Carbon: Neutral
Say: Hi