My printmaker mother said,
“an artist is a person who makes art.”

The Origin Story:
I was a pleaser in a house full of makers. I had every tool at my disposal. I was treated as a creative equal and whether I was born with an outsized confidence or developed it, is for someone else to determine. I was precocious and insufferable and wildly happy.

The First Draft:
Very cocky and with no marketable skills, I came to Brooklyn. I was told that sometimes you can make your own good luck, so I made it my business to get invited to join the first year of the United Scenic Artists Local 829 Apprentice Program. Painting scenery can be a lot of different things, but you are always creating worlds with no rules, except to make it beautiful and do it fast.

The Edit:
I continued to have an unrealized ambition and a nagging feeling that I was good at other things. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. I became a serial entrepreneur. I hit upon the relatively unique idea of helping Brooklyn families navigate the rocky waters of public school admission in NYC.
NYC School Help was my vocation for the next 18 years. It was very rewarding, but everything runs it course.

The Next Volume:
This is it. I am writing it in real time.