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 Rick Bayan was born and raised in New Brunswick, New Jersey, where he enjoyed an idyllic suburban childhood—
the perfect background for a lifetime of cynical disillusionment. He graduated with honors from Rutgers College, where he majored in history; then, finding himself unemployable, he added a master's in journalism from the University of Illinois. During the student upheavals of the late '60s he described himself as a 'radical moderate', quick to deride both extremes of the political spectrum. Rick has held a number of typical jobs for an idealistic liberal arts graduate, including assistant editor of 'Rubber Age' and managing editor of 'Container News'. At Time-Life Books he was assigned to write about plumbing fixtures. He survived seven years as chief copywriter at Barron's Educational Series, Inc., on Long Island, a proud achievement considering that the annual turnover rate sometimes topped 100%. His work as advertising copy chief for Day-Timers, Inc., the well-known personal organizer company, won six advertising industry awards, none of which ever dampened his cheerfully morose view of business and life. There he became one of the world's foremost experts at writing catalog descriptions of personal organizer page formats and supple leather binders. In 1999, after 14 years at Day-Timers, Rick called it quits and leaped into the perilous world of freelance writing. (Wish him luck!) Along with tons of junk mail, Mr. Bayan has authored three books over the years: 'Words That Sell', a top-selling thesaurus for folks who write advertising; 'The Best in Medical Advertising and Graphics', a collection of prizewinning examples with Rick's inimitable descriptions; and 'The Cynic's Dictionary', a bitingly satirical lexicon that sold about 23,000 copies before another book by the same title appeared on the market and started swiping its sales. In 1996 Rick created
The
Cynic's Sanctuary
('A website for the disgruntled idealist in all of us'), where he's been crafting dark-humored monthly tirades since 1996. The site also includes a Cynic's Hall of Fame, two message boards, a list of '714 Things to Be Cynical About' and several other cynically appealing features. Rick, who claims to be a 'kinder, gentler cynic', has been living in Allentown, Pennsylvania, since 1985. A full-blooded Armenian, he's one of the few people alive who can do a reasonably accurate impression of Teddy Roosevelt.
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Some
Cynical Guy