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About Me

As a young man I left the relative comfort of my Minnesota roots in search of solace in the Northwest, residing twice in Montana and living for nearly a decade in a remote cabin in Oregon. As an outdoor enthusiast who enjoys mountain climbing, kayaking, and backpacking, I've traveled extensively throughout the American west, where activism, the environment, and politics converged into a way of life. Alcoholism counselor, carpenter, and ranch hand are but a few of the many occupations I have employed in an adventurous life. Home again in Minnesota, my literary focus is on stories that stir—slightly dark, never easy, always meaningful. Waterfall Dance is my debut novel.

While most small children dream of becoming an astronaut or ballerina, I had it in my head that I would someday write. I don't know how a ten-year-old boy gets it in his head that he wants to write, but there it was and there it remained for twenty-five years. Yet because I was something of a vagabond for so long, it would take that long to get started. So enamored was I with life that I almost forgot my childhood dream to write about it—almost. At thirty-five, while on the road in a twenty-one foot trailer, the dream reemerged and took hold. I remember thinking, how hard can it be?

Location:
United States, Minneapolis, MN
Gender:
Male
My website links:
StoriesThatStir.com
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More About Me

I'm passionate about

Empathy

An idea worth spreading

When we change the way we look at things, the things we look at change. Wayne Dyer.

Comments

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  • A reply on Conversation: If you could talk to a chimpanzee, what would you ask? What would they say? and what would it change?

    Mar 29 2011: And you, my friend, would have a very interesting conversation, by the end of which I can imagine that you and that chimp would become good friends.

    I liked your thoughts on what acquiring language would change, though you forget that chimps do have their own language, just not human language, so it might be like you learning chimp, which would simply open the channels between you and another species. Back and forth communication between species is rare. As far as I know, it's been done only with great apes, and perhaps with horses by the horse whisperer, Monty Roberts. (the real horse whisperer-not the movie).

  • A reply on Conversation: If you could talk to a chimpanzee, what would you ask? What would they say? and what would it change?

    Mar 29 2011: Without knowing you, my assumption of your current sense of being human is based only on what I see humans generally express. Of course it's a wild generalization and you may be unique, but, on balance, humans tend to see other animals as being lesser. We tend to measure other beings by how closely they resemble us, the closer the resemblance, the more credibility we give them. And though chimpanzees share 98% of our DNA, we have used communication to draw a line between them and ourselves. I wrote Waterfall Dance to at least theorize what would change if that barrier broke down.

  • A reply on Conversation: If you could talk to a chimpanzee, what would you ask? What would they say? and what would it change?

    Mar 25 2011: So, what will you ask the chimp when that day arrives? Will it change your sense of what it means to be human?

  • A reply on Conversation: If you could talk to a chimpanzee, what would you ask? What would they say? and what would it change?

    Mar 25 2011: That would be on my list for the discussion. One of the most painful aspects of being human is the dichotomy, that one day we do something great and the next something disgusting. Do you suppose they would forgive us?

  • A reply on Talk: Isabel Behncke: Evolution's gift of play, from bonobo apes to humans

    Mar 23 2011: I enjoyed the drama and thought it was about right for the venue. Now, had she been doing a comprehensive thesis to a bunch of Cambridge PhDs, then sure. I actually thought she was quite sexy, which reinforced the point.
  • +5

    A comment on Talk: Isabel Behncke: Evolution's gift of play, from bonobo apes to humans

    Mar 22 2011: While the hippies may not have gotten everything right, they discovered a few ideas that are reinforced here. Sex and play are both stress relievers. Stress contriubutes to conflict. It's not a panecea, nor does Isabel claim it to be, but we shouldn't be so arrogant as to think we can't learn something from the Bonobos. I'm suprised to see so much negative reaction to the lecture here. Does anyone else find it ironic that a species on the brink of self-annilalation (humans) is so dismissive of an idea that might help save it?

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