My life has, on some level, always been a quest for meaning, wholeness, and connection with people. I am a white-bodied male settler born, raised, and currently residing on Shawnee and Miami land colonially known as Cincinnati. I am an educator, writer, organizer, son, brother, and most recently, father. My life’s current purpose is to accompany people as they discover authentic connection with themselves, others, and creation, for the sake of their own liberation and the world’s.

This was not always my main aspiration—in fact far from it. I grew up a hyper-active, rambunctious, even delinquent youth. But my teenage eagerness for fun and adventure eventually evolved into a globally-minded yearning for depth and understanding after living as an exchange student with a German host family for a year. I spent the next decade dedicated to my education, formally as a student of history and several languages, but more significantly as a human being connecting with others in an attempt to find purpose in life. The many years I spent living in Germany, Korea, Turkey, Italy, and Peru gave me a unique lens through which to objectively view and critique the cultural practices I grew up with. They also filled me with an awe at the patchwork quilt that is humanity: simultaneously wonderfully diverse and fascinating, while also containing a core thread of commonality that weaves us together.

I moved back to Cincinnati a decade ago, ready to lay down roots and share what I had picked up along the way. Since then I’ve worked as a high school social studies teacher, all the while deeply involved in various forms of local community organizing, from the movement against police brutality to the teachers’ union. I’m proud of the work I did in that capacity, and also have recognized that in order to engage in the work of systemic change, there is a profound need for spaces where we can practice compassionate nurturance with one another, where we embody the transformative changes that we want to midwife into the world. I’m fortunate to have benefited from several such spaces, and now see it as my life’s most sacred purpose to offer to hold them for others. Buried Wisdom is my small but hopefully meaningful contribution to that end.

You can find more detail about my story in my first blog post.