I generally believe the art should come before the artist, but you chose to click through.

At the risk of repeating myself (something I do more often than I like), I am complicated but fairly simple. I grew up in Oklahoma, where football was the main religion and I was a militant atheist. Much of my early life was spent running away from myself while keeping a foot in different worlds without belonging to any of them. I was a weirdo from the start; “white” but not really, lost but refusing directions from anyone, and determined that I knew everything better than anyone else. Gifted and talented turned out to be another name for ADHD with a side of crippling depression. Reckless hedonism and freelance pharmaceuticals became my best friends for many years.

I bounced around for most of the 90s, business to business, job to job, subculture to subculture. Some of it was creative, some of it was survival, none of it was good for me. In 1999, I found my way to sobriety. Positive change took a bit longer but sober was a good start.

While I navigated recovery, I connected with art and creativity