About Me
My creative work includes essays, memoir, songs, and plays, plus performing as a singer/songwriter and actor.
I fully retired in 2023, leaving a research faculty job at University of Maryland designing and writing the scenarios of strategic-level simulations for government and commercial clients. I’m also a retired soldier and diplomat. I served in the Army and the Foreign Service for a combined 25 years with tours in Rwanda, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq, Darfur and many other countries.
I grew up in Virginia, I spent most of my professional career out of the United States on assignment or deployment, and when I was back from overseas I was in Washington DC. In 2021 my wife and I escaped the gravitational pull of the beltway and moved to the mid-coast area of Maine.
I founded the Veterans Writing Project in 2011 and a year later launched the literary journal O-Dark-Thirty. We’ve presented our no-cost creative writing and songwriting workshops to more than 3600 people in 26 states.
I studied music (vocal performance) at Virginia Commonwealth University, English literature at Old Dominion University, and songwriting at Berklee College of Music. I did graduate work in Liberal Arts (MLA) and Writing (MA) at Johns Hopkins University. I’m enjoying an HW WIlson fellowship to study playwriting in the MFA program at Fairfield University. And I’m a trained recreational therapist and Registered Maine Guide.
Dogs like me and I serve a role in my cat’s life, too.
Image: March, 2020. Playing at the world-famous Threadgill’s in Austin, Texas. This was about a week before the venue died from COVID. Huge thanks for Jana Pochop and LIbby Koch for sharing their stage with me that night.