Biography
A recent response to an interviewer: “My Chicago experience? Well, it was more rigorous than undergrad and more interesting than law school.”
After a Vietnam era stint learning trial skills as a Navy JAG officer, I spent several decades in a large, well-run law firm making a decent living representing businesses in skirmishes with other businesses. The “action” of the courtroom was a lot more fun than the “business” of lawyering. Luckily, my situation remained rewarding until I retired in 2012. In 2014, I discovered art museum docenting. As a docent, “Why did you stop to look at that picture/sculpture and not another?” has become something I’m comfortable asking anyone—particularly 4th graders.
In 2020, an online blurb about UChicago’s MLA program prompted a click to learn more. Then more clicks. Matriculating that Fall, I completed the 8 courses (no duds) and thesis by May 2022. I knew the faculty would be top tier. The students were just as good. Highlights? Two of many: Exploring the different views about organ transplantation held by contemporary Americans and Japanese, and parsing the short-story-within-the-short-story in Raymond Carver’s “Where I’m Calling From”.
I split time between Shaker Heights, OH and Indian Wells, CA. Also, on 6/30/24, I swam from Sicily to the Italian mainland, from Charybdis to Scylla.