About vonSchmitt.com

Welcome to the Southwest- Welcome to vonSchmitt.com. Whether you are a resident of the picturesque American Southwest, a frequent visitor, or someone who has always dreamt of exploring our pristine beaches, snow-packed mountains, magnificent deserts, and multi-cultural communities, you have found an online magazine devoted to showcasing our signature Southwest lifestyles.

vonSchmitt.com is the culmination of a lifetime of travel, friendships and a devotion to one’s roots. Your host is Joseph (the ‘von’ is optional) Schmitt, known here simply as JVS. As a freelance travel writer based in Southern California, his writings continue to appear in numerous publications around the globe. A native of Phoenix, Arizona, Joseph grew up outdoors, with frequent family adventures taking him from national parks in Alaska to deep-sea fishing in Mexico. Beginning in his teens, Joseph started traveling the world, studying abroad, learning new languages, and making friends the world over.

He received his undergraduate degree in Brazilian Studies from the School for International Training in Vermont, studied German at Albert-ludwigs-universität in Germany and completed the full curriculum at Landmark Education in Los Angeles. A self-described “global citizen” – his personal and writing interests include GLBT issues, foreign languages, spiritual studies, tropical beaches, spa treatments, human rights and green technologies.

Along with friends and professional contributors, he created vonSchmitt.com to showcase his love for his native American Southwest and to share his other adventures and insights from around the globe.

Is it any wonder JVS went on to become a travel writer?

Who put the “von” in von Schmitt?

The real question is – “Who took the von out of von Schmitt?” As a kid I was told that our real family name was ‘von Schmitt’ – but due to “the war”, overtly German-sounding names weren’t really in fashion, so the von was dropped.

Hundreds of years before my family settled in the then-wild west of Arizona, my authentic German ancestors were the rulers of a small mountain region called, you guessed it – Schmitt, in what is today southern Germany. We were the kings of the hill, literally. Our hard-working subjects toiled in fields, sewed our clothes and shoes and most likely entertained the court with fanciful dances and stupid-human tricks.  Said subjects also assumed a version of my family’s name, as if to proclaim their devotion and loyality – calling themselves, Schmidt – with a ‘d’ in lieu of the royal double ‘t’. Certainly no von for these grateful minions.

Von, in the German, means “of” or “from” – making it easy to pinpoint the origins of my now-defunct royal status.  If you google Schmitt in Germany, your heart might sink a tad, either from the quaintness of the four-street town, or in pity for ‘yours truly’ whose only chance at a decent blood line  went awry some 500 years ago – I never stood a chance. A ‘von’ in front of one’s name won’t even get you a better table at a chic restaurant, unless of course it’s followed by Furstenberg.

Regardless, I have taken it upon myself to reclaim my family name, if only in the trivial world of the internet. My would-be subjects back in the kingdom formerly known as Schmitt, need not worry. Their emancipation will go unchallenged. Rather, the ‘von’ of today is a simple nod to the German meaning of, well… of. Or, from. As in – of Schmitt. My personal views into travel, life, style – all things fabulous, green and adventurous. For that reason, and the fact that Schmitt.com was already taken, I present you a deported-princely view of the world around us, that is uniquely “of” me – but created exclusively “for” you.

- JVS