My new book conveys how I’ve been shaped by the challenges and rewards of Buddhism, Judaism, birdwatching, family life and writing. Odd jobs were also important:

• High school English teacher and girl’s basketball coach, U.S. Virgin Islands,
• Busboy
• Assistant editor, Paperboard Packaging Magazine
• Door-to-door Fuller Brush salesman
• Intern, the National Enquirer (“Ex-Astronaut Gordon Cooper Has Seen UFOs”)
• Professor of English, Western Michigan University
• Salesman, peddling data processing services to magazines
• PR consultant for clients that included the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, an Azerbaijani businessman, Bar-Ilan University and a troupe of bagpipers.

I also got a BA from Harvard and an MFA from the University of Iowa’s Writers Workshop. Click here for an assortment of my published poems, short stories and creative nonfiction.