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I was born in Tupelo, Mississippi, in 1943, the youngest of identical twins with four older siblings. Throughout their lives, our parents were known by the nicknames Chick and Toots. I grew up in Tupelo and Hattiesburg and later lived in Nashville, Tennessee and New York. In New York I worked for an organization called Everything for Everybody that provided housing, meals and clothing for the poor. There I met my wife, Gabi. We later moved back to my home state of Mississippi where we founded a similar organization called Persons Service. We also published an alternative weekly newspaper called Persons and a literary and arts magazine called Mississippi Arts & Letters — until we went bankrupt. In 1988 we moved to Olympia, Washington. We love it here. I am an artist and writer. My paintings are shown throughout the Pacific Northwest. I published my first novel, Until the Dawn, in 2000, my second novel, Imprudent Zeal, in 2004 and my third novel, The Wives of Marty Winters in 2007. I also published As if Art Matters, a book of art criticism in 2004. I am a regular freelance contributor to:
My wife, Gabi and I are proud PFLAG activists and for many years served on the planning committee for Capital City Pride in Olympia. |
The following are all personal stories, some published and some unpublished.
- 30+ Years in a Nutshell — life and love from graduate school to old age, with an emphasis on the development of my art
- Father and Son — a coming out story
- Tupelo of memory — a memoir of growing up in Tupelo, Mississippi
- A different room — a story about my son Bill's first week in school
- Twins — adventures growing up as an identical twin
- Survivors — music, suicide, healing broken spirits -- life and love on the Internet in the age of AIDS
- Forgiving — an essay on thoughts about the men who assaulted my son Bill
Justice Delayed — Commentary on the conviction of Edgar Ray Killen for manslaughter for the Killing of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner in 1964 and reminiscences of living in Mississippi at the time.
Everything for Everybody — life, love and marriage communal style in the 1970s.
Remembering New York — remembering my first days in New York
