Harold Dozier: Who He Was Always Meant to be in Edinburgh

August 1, 2016

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Atop Arthur Seat – After my trip to Copenhagen I realised challenging myself was a big part of who I am. So I finally climbed Arthur Seat, the extinct volcano at the centre of my city, Edinburgh – March 2011

Childhood friend Harold Dozier left the states for Edinburgh for graduate school ten years ago. While there he fell in love with the beauty and history of the city. After ten years, he has made it home while pursuing a promising career as a writer. Today he officially became a citizen!

I moved to Edinburgh to study. I went to Edinburgh University to get my Master’s in poetry because I was told it was a creative and beautiful city. I stayed because I figured why not if I had a visa. Then I fell in love with the town and began building a life here.

I’ve been working in editing for the last eight years and working on publishing my own writing under the name Themo H Peel.

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On the rugby pitch – Discovering rugby changed my life for the better. I became a fitter, happier person because I found a sport I love and made friends for life. – November 2011
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Glasgow Awards –Becoming more involved in LGBTI campaigning has been a rewarding experience and I was asked to present an award at the first ever LGBTI Awards in Scotland – October 2015
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Edinburgh Marathon – One of my passions is singing and I combined that with charity with my choir who raise funds for Macmillan Cancer support. We also ran a marathon in support of the charity – May 2011

I’ve lived here over 10 years now and I’ve fallen in love, broken up, wanted to leave, been determined to stay, felt trapped by my decision and felt it’s been the best decision I’ve ever made. What I’ve discovered is that everyone goes through this no matter where they are. We all want to run away and be someone different at some point. But, changing your location doesn’t make you someone different. It can just help speed up becoming the person you were always meant to be. Uprooting yourself means you have to develop a self-reliance and trust, be comfortable with feeling like an alien and be resourceful because of profound external factors. But, we all face that in different ways. But, one thing living away from your home country can do is give you perspective on where you come from and learn to appreciate the things you leave behind. It also helps shed some of the preconceived notions you have, good or bad, about your own homeland. I’ve learned to appreciate my ‘Americanness’ and have realized some of the things that I thought of as ‘typically American’ that I wanted to escape are not unique. It’s all tribalism! We’re all human and have common flaws that just express themselves in different ways specific to our ‘tribe’.

I become a British Citizen this year so that means I can move anywhere in Europe if I want. I’m definitely considering it as I start to focus on my career and the where is less important than the place where the opportunities may be.

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