I come from a pretty diverse background as do most of us Americans when we pull back the covers on our family history. My mother is Jewish, my father is a Native American tribal member, both of them appear white so naturally I came up with views that reflected my parents complex backgrounds. I was, for the majority of my childhood, raised in Central Montana, but when you’re raised in a blue home where the foundation of the building resides within the confines of a red state, you inevitably find yourself painted with a grey brush. Who do you belong to?
That question has become the foundation of my work as a writer and I’m unsure if I will ever discover the answer.
When I left my small town I stayed in Montana for one year pursuing filmmaking at the University of Montana while I pursued my real passion for ballet in the evenings. I ended up writing a monologue for a playwriting program in New York and stayed in the city. Acting is what called me to Los Angeles to acquire a BFA at the University of Southern California. I stayed around when I graduated attempting to make it in an industry that was shut down by a virus. When covid-19 hit I became an LAPD officer. I was in the police academy when George Floyd was murdered and my academy class watched the body worn footage as the city burned outside. I completed my time in the academy and graduated to a city and country struggling to find its identity. I worked as an officer for several years until I injured by back and hip and was medically retired.
I started Excavation Comics an indie comic book publisher, mostly to produce and develop my own work. I produced several comics and ultimately ended up moving to Chicago to pursue writing and an MFA in Fiction at Northwestern University. I won an Associated Collegiate Press Award for a newspaper cartoon I write called Ducks Dan and Dave.
Now I’m moving again back to my old roots when I first got out of Montana to see the world, New York City. I’m pursuing my MFA in Fiction at Columbia University and working on a variety of literary projects while continuing to develop my other creative and publishing interests on the side.