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One of Sid Dobrin's brothers once asked him, "Why do you read comic books? Your life is more exciting than most comic books." And while that may not be exactly true, Sid has tried to live by the words of Benjamin Franklin: "Either write the things worth reading, or do things worth the writing."
Sid (b. 1967) grew up in Norfolk, Virginia, and along with his two brothers showed an early propensity for "adventure." As he recounts in his first fishing book, Distance Casting, one summer his parents had to contend with the fact that during the course of a single week, one brother was running with the bulls in Pamplona, one was surfing a hurricane in Florida, and Sid was alone somewhere in Alaska with a kayak and a fishing rod. To make matters worse, all three were "respectable" professors by that time. His parents, also professors, remain unclear as to the Dobrin Boys' effect upon the value of the professional title.
Sid is an Associate Professor in the Department of English at the University of Florida, where for ten years he directed the writing program. Prior to that, he served as Assistant Professor at the University of Kansas. Sid teaches advanced writing, visual rhetoric, technical writing, and environmental rhetoric. He is a leading figure in the development of "ecocomposition," a branch of study that examines the ecology of writing. He has written and edited more than twelve books, with several more in processes, most about writing. His research and writing are known internationally, and he speaks often at conferences and by invitation around the world. His textbooks are used widely throughout the country, and he is currently working on three new textbooks for composition and technical writing students all to be published by Pearson Higher Education.
Sid is also a co-editor of and contributor to the on-line zine Digital Ink! a free resource for teachers of technical writing (www.pearsondigitalink.com). He maintains a video blog on Digital Ink! for teachers of technical writing. He is a board member for several academic journals, and contributes regularly to magazines and journals. He has served as a field editor for Florida's The Fisherman magazine.
In addition to his writing and academic work, Sid is a certified scuba instructor, licensed boat captain and guide, and avid saltwater fisherman. He is, by all accounts, a blue water bum.
Sid is a graduate of the Hebrew Academy of Tidewater, Norfolk Collegiate School (1985), Virginia Wesleyan College (BA, 1989), Old Dominion University (MA, 1991), and the University of South Florida (PhD, 1995). He resides on Flying Fish Farm in Alachua, Florida with his wife and best friend Teresa, their two boys Asher and Shaia, and a drooly 165 pound English Mastiff named Whiskey.
