i grew up in the small town of ennis montana located in the southwestern part of the state. i was surrounded by an amazing series of mountain ranges, and i was able to observe a great deal of wildlife that many people only see in zoos and dioramas. i was also able to observe and live the small town american life that is lauded by the american right.
after spending my adolescent years in the mountains i was inspired to study geology and so i moved to los angeles to with that intention. as my appreciation for the scientific thought process grew i began to exploring the philosophical underpinings of the natural sciences as well as political philosophy. my studies in political philosophy led me into things like marxism and feminism. it was really the first time i had been introduced to strong arguments against the status quo in the hyper capitalist/consumerist of contemporary america. and although i already considered myself to be on the political left i was highly influenced by the well articulated ideas from the past and the present day.
during my undergraduate school i was preparing myself for graduate school. in my last few semesters as an undergraduate i began to do actual scientific research as well as confront some of the problems that geologist and planetary scientists were dealing within. i came to the conclusion that the greatest challenge facing the scientific community was attracting and talent trough public education system.
i then moved to new york city where i completed a masters while teaching science to at risk students. i found it to be an incredibly rewarding and demanding job that helped me to understand the plight of the underclasses in an urban center. i also felt that i was not contributing to fixing the problem that i set out to solve. in fact i felt as though i was compounding the problem because i was a cog in a system that was tasked with implementing the politically fashionable ideas of the day. unfortunately the ideas that i was implementing were constructed by the ruling class and my students generally thought that these topics were being forced upon them. thus driving them away from the field rather than attracting them to it. even though this is true at some level for any adolescent student confronted with a power structure, it is exaggerated in the urban schools because of generations of unfair treatment.
throughout my entire life took photographs. i took the craft seriously and tried to develop my skills as a street photographer on the streets of los angeles and new york, but i was never happy with the results. while teaching i applied to the school of visual arts and made a career change away form science and education into the arts. i am now the primary care taker for my preschool aged daughter. my work as a photographer essentially an extension of my days a s a scientist. i am an observer and a learner first and foremost, but i am also attempting to influence social change and i intend form my work to be interpreted through a political and social paradigm.