: About Me

I grew up in the Garden State (home of the Sopranos) and, after a few years out west serving God and country (as I understood them), I came back east to graduate in Psychology from institutions now known as The College of New Jersey, and with a Masters in Counseling from Rider University.

For the last quarter century, I have worked as a counselor in various sub-specialties of mental health -addiction, psychiatry, family therapy, with teenagers, and with adult couples in intimate relationships. If you're interested, a resume is on my website. (Since I offer services to the public, it seems only fair post it publicly.)

I am a Licensed Mental Health Counselor, a licensed School Counselor, and a Credentialed Alcoholism & Substance Abuse Counselor in New York State.

I am a co-founder (incorporator) of Habitat for Humanity of Sullivan County; past Worshipful Master in the Free & Accepted Masons of New York; have served as a disaster volunteer for the American Red Cross and on several non-profit boards of directors in the area where I live.

My wife, a native of Callao, Peru and a proud American of three decades, has been active in local politics since the eighties. Our three kids are grown. Two have made us grandparents thrice over.

For 15 years, I was contributing editor for an upstate community newspaper. I have had articles published in magazines of national circulation. Since 1996, I have written for and hosted websites. I maintain my own FreeBSD web-server, using Apache (also experienced with Win2k3), with Drupal, MySql, and flat HTML with Dreamweaver, Paint Shop Pro, and other applications; and develop dynamic interactive websites for private and governmental organizations. I have successfully marketed public- and private-sector human services online and in the real world.

My passion is ...

change: It's the stuff that life is made of.

I know too much about ...

how the sausages are made.

My parents always told me ...

"Hold onto your teeth" (actually, it was my father who told me that).

My childhood ambition ...

to be a printer/publisher and writer. Benjamin Franklin was an early role model.

My favorite memory ...

floating down the upper Delaware River in a tube.

Why I write ...

to capture ideas and feelings.

What I am reading/watching/listening to ...

The Passage, by Connie Willis.

My first job ...

at Princeton University, at 13, loading empty trash cans into trucks.

My best moment ...

when I married Carmen, the love of my life.

My inspiration ...

Prometheus, who questioned authority and spoke truth to power, whose defiant theft of fire from Mt. Olympus brought light and warmth to humanity.

• Helium Charter Member