Bio

Eugene has been home for almost 20 years. I have been living here at this location for eleven years, the longest time I have stayed in one place in my life.

Born in Poughkeepsie, New York, our family moved to suburban Dallas, Texas in 1958 when I was six. It was quite a change. My dad was a chemical engineer and my mom looked after us three boys, me the youngest.

It was a thoroughly middle class upbringing. Nothing fancy but we all had our own bedrooms, in a four bedroom single story, ranch style brick house in a neighborhood with hundreds of others. All White. The closest place to buy groceries was two miles away. We had an air conditioned dog house, but no dog. We took the occasional family vacation.

We moved 70 miles north in time for high school for me, a nice brick house overlooking Lake Texoma. It was a rural subdivision. The nearest groceries, six miles away in Denison. I drove my first car to high school where I was an undistiguished member of the tennis team untill my senior year when I was removed from the team for not complying with school policies concerning length of hair.

It was during these times questioning authority began.

After high school, I attended North Texas State Univeristy, just in time for the tail end of Viet Nam protests and free speach confrontations. I earned a degree in Geography. The college experience was formative. I never entered the career track.

Two years after graducation, I helped a friend set up his portable geodesic dome at a remote alternative community in the Arkansas Ozarks. I ended up staying for two years. Another formative experience. It was a remarkable chapter with zany people with much to share. I built my own small hand made house 40 minutes walking from the community house. It was the semi hermit period going for days without seeing anyone surrounded by phenomenal Ozark beauty.

And it came to a bizarre end, overrun by a collection of wimmin who hated men. I have a great deal of sympathy for them.

So I returned to Denton, had my own yard care business, painted houses and did light carpentry work, co habitated with a woman, and became involved in efforts to stop a nearby nuclear power plant.

Adventure and travel called.

I have visited 35 countries on 4 continents. Out of the country for neary 5 years. New Zealand, Central America, all over Europe including behind the "Iron Curtain", east, central and south Africa. This was all low budget, back pack travel. Highlights - surfing Raglan, New Zealand; hiking the Ruwenzori Mountains, Uganda; summer in West Berlin; first mural - Lisciano Nicconne, Italy; Inella in Italy; bike touring - Corsica, Sardegna, S France, Austria, Samos, Amalfi Coast; ,,,,,,,,,,,

I returned to Texas in 1986, lived in Galveston for 2 years, Houston for 2 years. It was during this time I became interested in Permaculture and took a design course in Austin in 199o. When my mom died in 1991, I moved to Eugene.

Travels in Europe and Africa lead me to the discovery of a latent artistic capacity for mural painting. This is the work I did to support myself after returning from Europe in 1986 untill I stopped in 2006 to put more time into advocacy for social and economic alternative to the mainstream.

I had always been into political social activism and Eugene was great for that. Involvements included opposing the construction of a large computer chip factory by multi national Hyundai. In 1997, that was a formative experience - it acquainted me with the realm of urban planning and urban land use and transportation and suburbia. I was also involved with vegetarian activism and safeguarding organic standards.

More recently, I bought a mid 50's suburban house on a quarter acre property in the River Road Neighborhood. The intention from the beginning was to transform this place into a permaculture shangri la. At this time, I rarely buy fruit and vegetables. Solar energy helps warm both the main house and the bungalow. There is a 6500 gallon rain water catchment system. With filtration for drinking water capacity if needed, I can be off the grid for water. The place is aesthetically beautiful. It is a small example of the much larger transformations in land use, culture and economics I would like to see.

The site has become a community resource for showing what a nothing special suburban property can become. I have hosted many tours and workshops here. Images of the place - Current fotos ,,,,,,, Before and now ,,,,,,, Innovative vertical land scaping.

Permaculture is a key element in my personal ethos. It is an invaluable tool for organizing thoughts and designing alternatives to mainstream culture and economics ranging in scale from a quarter acre property to the neighborhood and beyond.

Outreach and advocacy for economic and social alternatives to the mainstream has become the focus of my life. I cannot imagine the world we live in is the ultimate expression of human potential. The converging and deepening crisis of resources, economics, global relations, environment, culture and spirit offer us an historic opportunity to reasses what our lives are about and redefine our values, ideals and goals, as individuals and communities.

By great good luck, there are others in the neighborhood nearby also with the same perspectives and ideals and are aware of each other.. We are in the early going of cooperation and creativity to make visible many of the changes we would like to see.