SECOND THOUGHTS

Hello, I’m John G. Taylor.

Second Thoughts are my “reason to live” essays, encounters with real people and ideas designed to inspire and amuse, focusing on the positive.

Second Thoughts are born of more than 40 years of engaging with people.

—  For 30 years, as a reporter or editor at daily newspapers in five states and Washington, D.C.

—  Concluding my career with 15 years in executive communications and as public affairs director for a multi-billion-dollar, nonprofit health system in Fresno, CA.

—  Teaching editing at California State University, Fresno, and receiving fellowships on genetics and world religions from the University of Maryland.   

—  Serving as a volunteer on civic and nonprofit boards largely focusing on mental health, homelessness and healthcare disparities in Central and Northern California.

As a young reader in Brooklyn, NY, I soaked in the alien cultures wordsmithed by Truman Capote and John Updike. As a nascent writer, I was attracted to the pithy realism of John Steinbeck, Elie Wiesel and Ernie Pyle.

Second Thoughts follow my keen interests -- spirituality, healthcare, education, citizen empowerment and the curious ways people manage to surprise one another, often for the better.

I’m thankful for the power of prayer, the rejuvenation of whimsy and reminders of where we all fit in the universe as with this lyric from singer Judy Collins – “There is no one who can show you, the road you should be on. They only tell you they can show you, and then tomorrow they are gone.”

This is now my personal website operating under my former business monicker. I’m retired now, occasionally considering professional projects. I’ve stepped back but not stepped away.

Our California rescue learned to look at life differently during our time in St. George, Utah. (Photo by John G. Taylor)

I can be reached at jtcommunicates@comcast.net

Design by Daniel Taylor