I’m a artist from the Arizona desert just trying to survive the Midwest winters.

I have only come to call myself an artist in the last couple years. I thought the word was reserved for those who were classically trained or those who were able to make a living by selling their artwork. I know now that we all have an artist within us. I work with polymer clay and make jewelry and folk art. Since January of 2020, I have become obsessed with carving images in rubber stamp blocks and soft cut Lino. My studio’s name is Atomic Number 14.

As a writer,  I have reported on a wide range of topics–from the practice of Voodoo in Phoenix to the effort to sa

ve historic buildings in Chicago. In 2007, I co-wrote with Bruce E. Henderson the book, The Economic Tsunami: How and Why the US Sub-Prime Mortgage Storm Formed.

I was a staff writer for the Hyde Park Herald/ Lakefront Outlook covering Chicago’s South Side communities of Hyde Park and Kenwood, home of the University of Chicago and yes, President Barack Obama. Before moving to Chicago I wrote for the daily newspaper the Arizona Republic, and also hosted a monthly live- performance series called “Take Out: Emotional Leftovers” presented by a local art gallery. The series lasted over two years and featured many prominent Phoenix artists.