ello, my name is Dean Blehert, and here is a little bit about myself:

     If you were me,

     How nice you’d be!

     If I were you,

     I’d be me too!

     I was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1942. I now live in Reston, VA, with my wife, Pamela Coulter Blehert, a painter. I became a Scientologist in mid-1968.

     I’m a poet with several books available from Barnes & Noble stores and other outlets. Much (not all) of my work is humorous. I’ve written something like 40,000 poems, all forms, had a few thousand published (including five books, with another due out in early 1999), given hundreds of readings to audiences ranging from 1 to 800, and have occasionally been told by people who should know better that I’m good at what I do. (For example, SATIRE magazine called me the finest satirical poet in the United States.)

     Currently I’m working full-time at the writing and distribution of my work with occasional breaks to earn money by consulting with companies working on large government procurements of computer equipment. I help research the requirements, locate suitable products and write the procurement responses.

     In the past I’ve worked on a ship, been a New York Cab Driver, operated a courier service in L.A., run telephone technical support for a computer-software retailer, been a computer network consultant and worked as a professional Scientology counselor. (Also, once in grade school I sold more caramel-coated apples-on-a-stick than anyone else in the class, but my penciled notes showing the addresses of the purchasers had gotten smeared in the rain and were unreadable, so we had to eat several boxes of the things ourselves, since which I have not eaten caramel-coated apples nor done sales work.)

     When I got into Scientology, I was an Assistant Professor of English at Cornell University. I was also practicing Aikido once a week at a small gym near campus. There I met a guy who was looking into Scientology. I said, “Sounds interesting - let me know what you find out.” The next weekend, he called me from the Scientology Organization in New York City and said, “You’ve got to SEE this place! The girls who work here are beautiful!” (He later married one of them.) So I went to see, took my first course and loved it.

     I spent the summer taking a longer course (learning the basics of how to audit, that is deliver Scientology counseling, which is definitely something that must be LEARNED - it’s a technology, and there’s a definite right way to do it). When I returned to Cornell in the fall, I continued my training in New York on weekends. I also started a Scientology group on campus (I was the advisor) and gave talks on the subject. At the end of my 2nd year (June, 1969), I said goodbye to academia and spent the next 10 years devoting myself full-time to learning Scientology and working as a staff member for various Scientology organizations.

     In fact, working in a Scientology organization develops considerable toughness, responsibility and understanding of life and serves one well in any company or organization. For anyone who becomes interested in Scientology, I highly recommend staff experience: It teaches one a great deal about how to get on in life. (This apart from the fact that it gives one great opportunities to help others.)

     I like to take long walks, write poems, read mystery novels, do crossword puzzles, do poetry readings, jog, talk, eat...