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Name: Russell
Three words to describe yourself: ornery, autocratic, nice
I met Russell when I visited the Occupy Wall Street movement next to the UGA Arch. He was born in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, but is ethnically Portuguese. He came to the United States to attend the University of Toledo in Ohio in 1998 to study computer engineering, however he attended FSU to study art administration and has three Bachelor's degrees from UGA including: music composition and vocal performance. Russell is currently an opera singer, but he also composes music, and either owns or works for an international training company (I forgot to write down that detail). His fiancé and son are the most important people in his life. Russell met her on Dec. 16, 2009 and their wedding date is next year on Oct. 20, 2012. When I asked Russell what he ultimately wants to accomplish in his life, he said that he wanted to live past the age of fifty. I told him that he is limiting himself, but he said that about a year ago he was diagnosed with achalasia--a disease of the esophagus that affects the ability to move food to the stomach. Russell was literally dying of starvation and was given two weeks to live, but is still breathing today! He gives credit to Dr. Warring, a GI from Atlanta, who treated his case. He said that he has only been outside protesting for three hours but he has already had someone call him a "F**". He cooly replied, "only with you man". When I asked him what his reason was for being involved in the protest, he said that "Occupy Wall Street affects everyone including the middle class and the top 1% whether they want to believe it or not" and he likes playing the drum in front of the tent.