Member Since: 1/15/2007
Band Website: wildwoodband.com/Blackberry/blackberry.htm
Band Members: So here's me: I graduated from UNT in 1999 with a BS in Mathematics. As soon as I escaped, I moved to the Alaskan bush with my wife and 7 year old daughter. We lived in Chevak, an Eskimo village in the Yukon-Kuskakwim delta area. We both worked at the village school (Kashunamiut in the Cup'ik language) teaching Eskimos. But of course they're the ones who did the teaching. Their culture is amazing. So honest and minimal. They never rush and they truly revere their older people. If an elder says something, they listen close. Very respectful. It was pretty cool. After two years, we left Alaska and bought a small RV in Seattle. We then toured the US for a year and a half looking for the perfect place to live. We home-schooled our daughter and along the way visited dozens of intentional communities (communes). At these communities, I always volunteered to do work in order to show my appreciation for their hospitality. At one in particular, the Alpha Farm in Oregon, I was sent out to remove some blackberry vines that had overgrown their cider shed. Even though I had heavy gloves and pruning tools, it soon became evident that I was facing an enemy way out of my league. Two hours into the job, I was covered with scratches and punctures. To make things worse, it was a very hot day, and I was literally salting my wounds with my own sweat. Very unpleasant. By four hours into the job, I started to envision an evil woodland spirit called "The Blackberry King" who found joy in the suffering of innocent humans such as myself. By the end of the day I had a general idea of the story and I started writing immediately. I worked on the novel for the rest of the trip and ended up finishing it up in the town we eventually settled down in - Fayetteville Arkansas. My next book is a memoir about my time as a math teacher in the Alaskan bush. Either that or a supernatural thriller about a man slowly going mad on the Tundra. I've started both stories, so we'll see which one gets finished first. I'll keep you posted!
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