When not speaking, I spend most of my time listening and learning. I think Bertrand Russell was right, “The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts.” You can judge for yourself if I am wise, but I can assure you that I am full of doubts and willing to put my certainties aside for a better answer.
My seemingly conventional background - just another suburban kid who is now raising suburban kids of his own - masks a unique collection of experiences and perspectives. Beginning with my parents, a pair of professional musicians who were always the oldest parents in any group, I rarely find myself in the statistical mean of the bell curve. I left for the army right out of high school, one week before Saddam invaded Kuwait, only to find my spine was too messed up to stay. Then I joined a CD-ROM startup, prior to the first wave of Internet startups, only to have the boss hire a couple of guys to shoot him, making his suicide look like a murder and leaving the rest of us with debts and unanswerable questions.
After living in Vegas and wandering through life for awhile, I went back to school in my home state of MN and then TX, becoming a documentarian and teacher of mass media, who has also managed my fellow teachers as the Program Chair at the Minneapolis Media Institute. Additionally, I was a key team member on a Sundance Award Winning feature and I have worked on some other interesting projects, including my microbudget, but highly informative film, Conspiracy Theorists Lie.
First and foremost, I have become recognized as a vocal and knowledgable critic of conspiracy nonsense and the wide acceptance of fake history. This is a topic that has only become more relevant in the post-1/6 Insurrection reality we now find ourselves in. But my inquisitive nature extends far beyond this to the entire spectrum of the human condition. I am fascinated by the ways in which people seek out and make meaning of their existence, as well as the ways in which they communicate with and attempt to control one another. I know a thing or two about group dynamics and how to promote positive change, and I am an expert in the field of media history and the unforeseen changes new technologies bring. I am also an advocate for the importance of the public domain and the rethinking of copyright laws in the Internet Age.
Currently working on a nonfiction book: The Fake History of America: from JFK's "Secret Society" Speech to the 1/6 Insurrection
