Konnichiwa Zach

I was born and raised in Wyoming the second of two children from loving, caring and strangely disturbed hippies. (Fun fact-Wyoming is, strangely enough, the Navajo word for "state of denial" and, coincidentally the Italian word for NO STATE HERE.)I came to Denton, TX in the fall of ’99, and completed my coursework to receive a B.A. in the Drama program from Texas Woman’s University in August ’00. I've been a playwright, on-stage performer, and crew member for numerous stage productions including The Who’s Tommy, Chicago, & Twelfth Night. After countless hours of vocal lessons, dance instruction, and years of working in front of and and behind the curtain, I have the degree equivalent of "Would you like fries with that?" and spend a lot of free time avoiding my student loan officers. With my signature “KONNICHIWA!”, I served (ok, terrorized) as host for Thursday Open Mic Nights at The Brickhaus Café in Denton, TX (voted Best Open Mic 2 years consecutively) and hosted showcase events for that venue at arts festivals in Dallas and Fort Worth.I moved on to the slam poetry scene in Dallas, TX in 2004 and attained the title in 2005 of Dallas City Champion and attended my first National Poetry Slam as a member of that city's team. I am now co-host and co-slammaster of the Poetry Grind at Pugsley's Library in Dallas, TX with Bob "Whoopeecat" Stephenson every 1st, 3rd and occasionally 5th Friday of the month, and represented that team in its inaugural season of 2006 at NPS.I play harmonica. Well. Very well.The less said about my job, the better.I am also married to a lovely woman named Kasi. She's better than I deserve most days, but I couldn't have asked for a better soul than her to spend my days with. Except that the last time she saw snow, she saw it as a novelty. I saw it as 21 soul crushing years. Yay, Texas Heat!