Education
From 2001 to 2005, John Huotari studied music, including jazz and classical percussion performance, at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee, and Roane State Community College in Harriman, Tennessee. While at UT, John also took journalism courses, including classes on feature writing, news reporting and writing, and media law and ethics.
John spends a lot of time educating himself about politics, public policy, government, business, and environmental and civil liberties issues. He is also teaching himself as much as he can about online jounalism, as well as Web design and development.
Before moving to East Tennessee, John lived in and around Denver for four years. While there, he took four semesters worth of classes at the University of Colorado, trying to determine whether he should become a molecular biologist or biochemist. He eventually decided that, while he enjoys learning about how cells and biological processes work, he does not want to be a scientist.
When he first began playing drums, back in 1993, John took lessons at the Seattle Drum School. He studied drum set, rhythmic patterns, Afro-Cuban percussion and ensemble playing until 1996. This, of course, was back in the heyday of the Seattle "grunge" music scene.
John graduated from Monroe High School in Washington in 1987 and went straight to college at the University of Washington in Seattle, where he took lots of general education courses. At the time, he didn't know what kind of career he wanted to have, and, although he thinks he has a better idea now, sometimes he's still not so sure.
John has also learned a lot about journalism, including reporting and writing, at SPJ conferences, training sessions, and panels during the last three years. You can read more about that on the SPJ page on this Web site.