I grew up in rural Maine in the 80s and 90s in a family of working class people who made things with their hands. I spent most of my childhood reading, exploring the woods, dancing, and drawing. I had my son Ezra in 1999 and came out in 2002, at the age of 23. I’ve worked in restaurants and catering, as a bartender, office assistant, medical and artists’ model, bookkeeper, college dean and instructor, personal care attendant, and more. Someone once told me I should write about all the different things I’ve done for money, and they weren’t wrong. I earned a PhD in American Studies at Yale in 2017, where I studied visual and material culture and racial formations. My dissertation, “Material Possessions: Race, Materiality, and the Limits of the Human in American Culture, 1820-1940” passed with Distinction. I miss academia sometimes, but not often! My day job is at Yale, where I run Learning & Development for IT staff. I taught myself to embroider in 2015, at the same time as I was getting sober. I make things under the handle @mutuallyassureddeconstruction, which started as a nerdy joke about postmodernism, growing up in the 80s, and queer relationality but has become a kind of alter ego. Lifting weights, biking, and otherwise staying active are important tools in my recovery wheelhouse. I host a monthly music program, Love & Communication, every third Friday from 10:30 pm to 2 am at WPKN 89.5fm, Bridgeport, CT. Most of my interests are driven by color, texture, sound, and movement. I’m a self-proclaimed maximalist who thrives on sensory experiences. I've never not been an artist. I live in Hamden with my wife Kate and our two cats, Attorney General Janet Reno and Steve.