About Jeff
Sometimes you just have to go up and talk with a stranger when they look this interesting.
Life Outtacontext has been my online playground since 1999. Before committing, I spent time thinking about an appropriate domain name, one that would convey just the right amount of irreverence with a hint to my worldview: I’m a 21st-century Meta-Narrator. Huh? According to the Cambridge Dictionary, Meta means “referring to itself or something of its own type.” So, a meta-joke is a joke about jokes. And a “Meta-Narrator” is a storyteller who tells stories about stories. I tell stories about people’s stories. Oh, and sometimes about myself.
To do that, I need to be observant—a voyeur in the best sense of the word. People-watching is the best participatory sport around (and it’s the only sport I’ve lettered in). If you look and listen closely, people tell you their stories: some out loud and others by context and nuance. It’s no coincidence I’ve been a photographer for over 40 years.
I’m also a graphic designer and a writer. For over a decade, I’ve been writing and making posters about the sorry state of American political discourse. My work has appeared in The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Smithsonian Magazine, and The Nation. And TIME recently featured my early interest in commercial space travel.
I grew up in the early days of the internet, and I’ve been following its progress for the last three decades. I’m particularly interested in how technology not only changes how we work but how these changes affect our relationships with our friends and coworkers. The net connects people. And our politics, the pandemic, and the challenges social justice and economic equality present continue to be our latest stress tests.
In 2018, I retired from Smithsonian American Art Museum, where I worked as a new media producer and technology strategist for 22 years. Previous to that, I taught college photography and computer graphics for 23 years. And early on, I was a mailman (but that’s another story).
But enough chit-chat. To know more about how my journey began, take a look at my early years. The rest of this site documents what I’ve done since. Take a look at an overview of my present for a good place to start.
Welcome to my world. I bet you’ll find something of interest around here.