I was born in Alaska, in a wilderness area on the southern coast. My dad was in the military during World War Two, stationed in the South Pacific. When the war ended, he went home to Grand Rapids, Michigan. Then he and my mom made the decision to fly up to Alaska to become homesteaders. They set out with a very few possessions for the far north.
They had a fantastic pioneer spirit. I'm amazed to this day at what they did, and accomplished. But they had no idea what they were doing, or getting themselves into. They flew up in a small plane that landed on a beach of the Cook Inlet, on the Kenai Peninsula, loaded their things off the plane onto the sand -- then scrambled to save their possessions (and the plane) as the tide came in. They saved what they could of their possessions, found their way up a cliff to the top and staked their claim to some land they found up there, then built a house and tried to figure out how to survive. There were no roads or telephones or power lines in the area at the time. They were on their own.
They tried farming, but that didn't work. They ended up starting a tiny general store, then setting up a commercial fishing site, then starting a salmon cannery, using century-old equipment. They had six kids. I was the youngest.
I lived in Alaska for my first sixteen years, growing up, going to school, helping out on the beach site, picking salmon out of the nets and working at the cannery during the summers. I loved the wilderness, though unlike some of my siblings*, I spent more time indoors. I grew up reading writers like Robert Heinlein, Robert Silverberg and Ursula Leguin (then later, James Thurber, Shirley Jackson, and Dashiell Hammett). When I was ten or eleven, I used to walk a mile through the woods to a tiny general store that had a book trade, where other homesteaders in the area brought used books when they were finished reading them. I'd swipe my mother's gothic novels and my dad's Louis L'Amore westerns, to trade for crime and mystery and science fiction stories. When I wasn't reading, I was usually writing or drawing something. I also loved comic books, and started collecting them, then drawing and writing my own, when I was young. I started writing, I think, when I was in grade school, and never stopped.
My family lived in Alaska till my sophomore year of high school. Then we (my parents, my brother Frank, and I) moved to Seattle, partly because my parents were hoping to find better schools. The first high school I attended in the Seattle area was Lincoln, where I had horrific experiences. I was lonely, uprooted, couldn't connect to living in a city. I spent a bad year at Lincoln, then transferred to Ballard High.
Transferring to Ballard was a good move. I'm not sure why, but it was a much better school. There were some genuinely amazing teachers at Ballard in those days, like Earl Kelly, the drama instructor (whom I later went on to study with after graduating), and Frances Erickson, who taught English literature, and valued and encouraged my writing. They had high standards, higher than some colleges. It was good, and challenging, to work with them, and had a major influence on my life.
After graduating from Ballard, I skipped a couple of years, trying to figure out ways to make a living as an artist and writer, then went to college, then went right back to writing, and drawing, and painting. I spent some time doing other things for a living, then finally started making a good living at it in the early 1980s. I drew portraits down at the Pike Place Market (I was one of those outdoor portrait artists), did some book and magazine illustration, wrote and published some articles, then started teaching, first non-credit classes through the ASUW Experimental College, then accredited courses through Antioch University's Heritage Institute and other schools. I love teaching non-credit classes because the students are so totally committed and interested in being there. (They're there for the love of learning, of creativity, of trying something new, not for a degree or diploma). I also teach team-building classes now and then for Microsoft and other corporations.
I'm still living in Seattle (or rather, I'm back here again after living elsewhere for a while), and have come to love it here. I still feel a connection with Alaska. I think for people who grew up there, and loved it, it'll always be their home on some level. But Seattle's good too. I'm still spending my time writing and drawing and teaching and making movies. It's all fun. Life goes on.
* A family claim to fame is that my brother Dean once won the Ititarod.
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ACTING CLASSES
CLASS 110: Beginning
Acting
CLASS 300: Let's
Make a Movie
CLASS 120: Actors
workshop: Auditioning
CLASS 140: Actors
Workshop: Character and emotion
ART CLASSES
CLASS 210: Drawing for
Absolute Beginners
CLASS 220: Figure
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CLASS 225: Drawing
clothing and drapery
CLASS 230: Drawing
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CLASS 240: Perspective
drawing for artists
CLASS 250: Acrylic
Painting for Beginners
CLASS 270: Cartooning
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FILM CLASSES
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CLASS 310: Filmmaking
101
CLASS 320: Documentary
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CLASS 550: Start
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CLASS 400: Photoshop
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WRITING CLASSES
CLASS 510 Writing
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CLASS 550: Start
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