I was born in Hollywood during the baby boom years.

I grew up in the San Fernando Valley, when you could walk through orange groves and search for horny toads in vacant lots. Alas, the fruit groves and vacant lots are gone now. And little boys play Froggy on their Gameboys instead.

The scariest movie I ever saw as a child was Invaders from Mars, a film about a boy who sees a spaceship land in his backyard. He sends his parents out to investigate and as they as they walk across a vacant lot the ground opens up as a celestial chorus eerily sings. Later they return home "slightly altered."

I was so affected by this movie I never walked across a vacant lot again without thoroughly investigating the ground beneath me. Years later I made an art piece about it.

In an effort to avoid any open urban plots I found my way to the more densely populated East Coast. Like Klatuu from The Day the Earth Stood Still, another 1950s SciFi flick, I landed smack dab in the middle of the National Mall where I now work as both New Media Lead Producer for the Smithsonian American Art Museum and Managing Editor for its blog, Eye Level.

In my off hours I am a net-based artist and meta-narrator: a storyteller of universal localized narratives. Huh? Let me explain: my stories usually take place in my own world. They may involve my family, friends, or strangers I encounter. Yet the thread of each narrative always is woven around some universal truth taken directly from the tabloids of humanity. I am always looking for the "human" in every interaction I have.

In 1999 I auctioned my personal demographics on eBay and in response to 9/11 I created Dichotomy, It Was a Matter of Time and Place, a 9/11 storytelling project. I was Deputy Director for the U.S. Department of Art and Technology, the shadow cultural agency of the federal government from which I ran "We the Blog."

To find out more about my design inspirations for Life Outtacontext read A New Look! and Hollywood: My Hometown.