Don Coppock was born and raised in San Diego, California. He has worked in ship yards, shovelled snow off roofs and owned a music store in Lake Tahoe, California, and was a commercial salmon fisherman in southeast Alaska in the 1980s where he worked with Observer publisher, John Murray. They recently re-connected on Facebook, and Don has agreed to write a monthly column examining issues facing America with a perspective gleaned from living as an ex-pat 8000 miles away in Thailand.