My name is Ken Tucker. I’m a guy from Indiana.

I believe our political process is broken. So, I’m trying to fix it. One conversation at a time.

I’m asking all of you to take part in an experiment of mine.

My first ask is for your time.

My second is to educate yourself on who represents us.

I offer you me.

I want Indiana to be better.

Who represents us has always mattered.

And if you don’t know,

Now you know

Me now.

Accurate representation matters

Me before all of that.

I was born here. I was educated here. I have lived my entire life here in Indiana. I have lived in many different towns and cities of this fine state: Cedar Lake, Crown Point, Muncie, West Lafayette, Castleton, Fishers, and now Westfield. There are only a few points in extreme western and eastern Indiana that I haven’t at least driven through during my almost 42 years traveling through this Midwestern state and beyond.

The home I was brought to from the hospital was a trailer just off the tracks in Cedar Lake. My mom was married, divorced, and a working mother of 2 with only a high school diploma by the time she could legally drink.

Thanks to my younger siblings I learned at an early age that having kids was hard work and expensive. Seeing that I was 10 and 8 years older than both respectfully I was a live in baby sitter during my teenage years. Which definitely kept me out of trouble, close to home, and strengthened my belief that having a kid when you’re still a kid leads to a harder life. But, I was never looking for trouble, and I knew at a young age that I never wanted to be a parent until I was close to 30. I exceeded that modest goal by 5 years.

I’ve lived in every type of “home” a person in America could at this point in my life. Growing up we rented trailers, apartments, and homes. I grew up in single family, multi family, mixed family, and multi generational settings. Heck, I have even slept outside with nothing but the clothes on my back. I’ve slept in cars, on benches, under bleachers, the ground, and with my back against trees.

Currently, I’m living in my dream house. A modest little home with my wife and kids that allows us to live well within our means. My wife is the latest in a triumvirate of women who have had a tremendous impact on my life. Although, currently my two daughters hold the distinction of what motivates me in life.

Growing up my mom and my grandma were the center of our family. Each of whom are/were amazing women. Both divorced, remarried, and living the “mix family life” that has been made to look trendy now. Trust me. It wasn’t. But being a poor white kid surrounded and loved by a colorful tapestry of people you see the world differently than most.

Whenever you take a poor kid and put them around not poor and more traditional home environments it’s never easy. But my mom and grandmother are two strong ladies that created even stronger roots together and shared them with each other and with their kids.

I used sports as a distraction from my life and a place to focus my teenage and adolescent angst. Watching, playing, reading, and obsessing over them. I did better than most on the field of play. Sports gave me a path to a higher education that I truly never even considered before I started getting recruited to play at the college level. My body began breaking down before ever actually playing in college. But, because of sports and some sound advice from my guidance counselor and “Coach” I inadvertently had an opportunity to pursue a diploma.

After 12 years as a public educator my wife and I decided that my teaching career should come to an end. The decision was easy after crunching the numbers and weighing the pros and cons of being a stay at home parent. It was empathy meets economics.

My salary just slightly > the cost of child care for our daughters

After 12 years in education

Sad? Absolutely. But, this is Indiana.

A difficult decision? Yeah. But no.

I loved teaching. But I knew I’d love staying at home with my daughters even more. At least I really hoped I would.

Also, considering the state of Indiana’s public school environment after a little over a decade it was one of the easiest decisions I’ve ever made. My wife makes more money than me so essentially it was a moral/ethical decision. Did I want to continue helping other peoples kids or focus solely on molding the minds of our daughters. Truthfully, I hope to be back in the classroom someday.

So far in life I am 3 for 3 when it comes to big decisions. First, I married my best friend. Next, we bought a home that we could afford at that time. Most recently and most profoundly, quitting my job to be a stay at home parent. A stay at home father to a set of Irish twins and loving every moment of this amazing adventure. I think that’s enough about me personally.

As Stella and Geri creep closer to leaving the nest to join the rank and file within the Indiana Public School System. I plan on using this website to contemplate:

Where I have been,

What I would like to do,

What I have done as a dad,

and a person,

And how I can leave a positive mark on our Planet,

State and Nation

Please feel free to follow along with whatever is to come from “a guy from indiana”.

Thank you,

Ken