NEWS & EVENTS

This page is dedicated to keeping you apprised of the goings-on in my life. I have been solely focused on writing for the past year or so, such that there is not much to report of on recent matters. Visit the site often for updates.

Academe Publishing & Co.

I began my publishing company after experiencing less than ideal responses from the traditional publishers. The vision that I had for my writings could only be best expressed through this medium which I have chosen in becoming an independent publisher. I am enthusiastic about the future of Academe Publishing and the talented writers we will come to represent in the near future.

The much anticipated release of LOVE, SUPREME: New and Selected Poems is here! Published in January 2017, find copies at your favorite bookseller. LOVE, SUPREME is the newest in the collections of my poems. The poems in the collection make no excuses for the heart. The language is both robust and imaginative.

Also new editions of previously released books are available:

Luminaria: New and Selected Poems is available in Hardcover.

Bon Temps: A Novel (Johnathan Crenshaw Series) is now in Large Print.

The Prose & Poetical Works is now available in Paperback.

National Association of Securities Professionals

I began the San Francisco chapter of the trade group after having been approached by someone in the industry in California who knew of the storied history of the many attempts at trying to get the chapter off the ground. I accepted the challange and hit the ground running by organizing professionals in many areas of the Bay Area around my vision for the local group. I am pleased that I was blessed to have found so many willingly available talents in order to make it happen. The group is in good hands and I hear that they are thriving.

Life As A Poet

I began writing poetry a little over twenty years ago while I was studying Chemistry as an undergraduate. I was in the midst of my very first romance. I had no real experience expressing myself about how much I was in love. The next best thing was to allow the emotions to flow through my pen. I wrote some of the most beautiful poetry I have ever written during that period. I have recently learned that there are two of the most beautiful people I have ever seen which came out of that romance. They are my children. They are twins. It has been a slow process in getting to know them.

I am fortunate to have, again, after so many years, to have found my Muse.

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My Life As A Teacher

I spent some of the best times of my life as a classroom teacher, teaching both college students and high school and elementary children. I took a part time job as an adjunct professor for a university which has regional campuses here where I live and in California where I started. The two main courses I taught were Ethics courses, both in business and in society. In the society course, I had ocassion to delve deeply into the theological training I have. The course could easily be renamed Theological Ethics. The class sessions would become so rowdy at times, students and other teachers would come from other parts of the building just to see what was going on. As you might imagine, any discussions using the Socratic method surrounding God can get quite heated and kinetic.

I taught in the high school in New Haven for a college preparatory program. I, with the help of a colleague, developed a curriculum for Environmental Science and Labaratory Research. This particular experience was both challenging and fulfilling. I developed a greater appreciation for teachers and for what it is that they do day after day, often times with no recognition and Lord knows, very little pay.

My sweetest time teaching was when I was a mentor at a middle school in New Haven. My challenge was to take the most challenged students and build them up both as young men and as students. We saw marked improvements in just a few months. Those kids I saw most frequently are the same age as my children I just recently found. I so loved my kids at that school. I now know that they were surrogates for the children I had but did not know existed.

Life As An Artist

I took an introductory course in painting with acrylics in 2011 while living in California. It was not until 2016 that I began to paint with purpose. The more I painted the better I became. Painting has now become such a passion, I can hardly imagine life without it. I am presently working on several concepts and series, which include CIgars, Noble Mothers, God's Commanders, and Historical and Jazz Icons. I have been using oils extensively, since last summer. It would seem that many people are afraid of oils because they require more finesse than acrylics and take much longer to dry. The difference in drying times is quite broad. Acrylics dry within several minutes to days, depending on how thick the paint is layered, while oils require serval days to several months to dry, also dependent upon the layers. One can generally varnish an acrylice painting the same day, whereas, it is recommended that one waits atleast 5-6 months before varnishing an oil painting to ensure that it has dried. There are qualities about both oils and acrylics that I love and use for particular projects.

Many of my grad student colleagues encouraged me to pursue art while I studied in New Haven. I had such a passion for art, but only celebrated other artists. I could not see what they saw in me at the time. I only saw my art as a past-time and nothing more. It is so ironic that art is such an integral part of my daily routine, nowadays.