Born in 1942 in upstate New York, I grew up from the age of six in a town of 400 in southern New Hampshire. My parents were New Yorkers - outsiders - and I didn't fit easily into the two room school house. I had endless fights and I can't recall ever winning one. I want to thank Francis Pelton for saving my posterior. Without him, things would have been much worse. But things got better. At 10 I discovered a book written in about 1878 about the Goths. It was musty and long and stuffy - and I loved it. I realised I was a lousy fighter, but good at academics and went on to Columbia in New York where both my parents had gone. I majored in English Literature with minord in Art History and Comparative Religion.

I did a Masters in Education and went on to teach in higher education in the US and Australia until 1987. I then became a Harley importer, an educational consultant working in Aboriginal education, a Rosen method bodyworker and therapist, and a gold miner. Like my childhood fighting none of these enterprises were particularly successful - some failed completely - except the therapy which evidently has done some good according to my clients. To be fair, the consulting made money and improved my writing.

	On the way to the ball game My son Julian & I 2001 That is San Francisco in the background. We were on the Alameda ferry on our way to see the Giants, but we didn't get in. Julian works in the Internet advertising business and has since relocated to Florida. He grew up in Australia from the age of six but returned to the US at 16 to follow his dream of being sucessful in the business world and has worked in the US ever since. I never noticed it before but Julian and I seem to both like hats, beards and blue shirts. I think I'm definitely the winner in the beard contest.