Everything in my life always had a creative focus. As a young boy, my wanderlust led me to explore every inch of the mountains that surrounded our home in Asheville, North Carolina. Botany became my favorite subject. And books were an addiction - I read novels one after another, studied world history, and the arts. I loved to run and focused on running the mile in middle school through college, and became an accomplished fencer (my reflexes were sharp.) Fencing was a game of physical chess which required knowledge, quick reflexes and confidence.

 

Early in my life, I fell in love with girls. They were my friends and my joy. Innately reflective I was often isolated from the currents of culture. Even so, my friends played an important role in my life. I was very selective and sought friends who challenged me and were faithful in our relationship. My avid reading led in stages to my desire to be a creative writer. Yet, the arts, drawing and painting also became a creative outlet, which eventually led to my professional life as a painter with a studio in New York City and an Artist In Residence at the University of Georgia.

 

My parents and their extended families were stimulating people. They constantly encouraged me and taught me to have compassion for others. Joy in life depended on our mutual compassion. This understanding led me into the Peace Corps in the years after I finished my undergraduate degree, and a term in the Peace Corps led me into a lifetime of working with Non-Governmental Organizations and Private Voluntary Organizations who focused on enabling marginalized communities in Latin America. Creative program development and administration, then complimented writing and the arts as my life's focus.

 

Providence has given me a wonderful and encouraging wife, Bonnie, who is both my friend and my love. She, in a thousand ways, enables my novels, stories, and poems, as she brings wisdom and stability in my exploratory life.                   

                                      

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