About
A brief blurb about me, what I write about (assuming I keep this updated), and the like.
I’ve often thought of myself as a wannabe polymath. I don’t pretend to know what qualifies one for “polymath” status, and regardless, it doesn’t seem like the kind of thing that I should apply to myself. What I hope the reader will take away from this is instead that I’m interested in all the things. I don’t tend to stick with any one interest long enough to get good at it, and am a terminal Jack-of-all-trades (and master of none). This is often a source of frustration, but is just too ingrained in who I am to change without making the cure worse than the disease. I will say that things I tend to gravitate towards more are: languages, theology (I’m religious, more on this in a moment), history, how societies function (or don’t), and generally figuring out how to make myself comfortable in the world. I’ll let you know when I do.
On the religious side, I think it’s easiest to think of me as Christian-adjacent. I don’t hold to all the tenants that are typically associated with Christianity (e.g. the Trinity, Christ’s divinity, etc.), but I am monotheistic in my outlook and certainly culturally more Christian than anything else. I’ve found the closest thing to a home among the Quakers; I’ve taken a couple classes at a Quaker seminary (and am hoping to do another this upcoming semester), although I don’t regularly attend Meeting. With all that being said, I’m very much a “big tent” person when it comes to religious outlook (or lack thereof), and have also found great meaning among other faiths, including Islam (especially the Sufi), Zen, Daoism, and Gnosticism. Unsurprisingly, I tend to resonate with the mystics among these groups (where that distinction applies, at least). One of the reasons I want to write here is to be a little more open about this part of my life. It’s not something I actively hide, but I don’t bring it up in conversation as often as it may influence my thinking: an over-correction from a dislike of proseletyzing. But if nothing else, I’ve realized that we shouldn’t allow those who have turned their backs on God to speak for the rest of us.
In terms of the more prosaic, I spend my day working as a lawyer and bureaucrat for a large Agency within the United States federal government. It’s nothing politically fraught (opinion polls towards us are reliably favorable), and my work is not directly public-facing. You’re not going to see me on C-SPAN or anywhere else in the media unless things have taken a very strange turn indeed. I’m bored most of the time (hence writing a lot), but have so far been unable to figure out what would actually be better job-wise. I’ve been thinking more and more about the conflicts between government policy (of whatever form), ethics, and just basic humanity, so I’m sure this is something that will come up.
I have a very tumultuous relationship with current events (in both senses of the phrase). I used to be a news junkie, but have tried to cut back as much as possible after realizing that this information just made me feel bad but without any good outlet for it. In other words, knowing that Congress has done something terrible doesn’t somehow improve my ability to do something about it. I’m not cut out for lobbying, have no influence or decision-making authority at work, and so it’s not like being upset can somehow spur me into action. I do like thinking about using those skills I possess to undercut some of the worst actors, whenever I can find a way. This may be as simple as a pirate translation of something or coding an open-source alternative to an expensive product. The latter is very much a work in progress, as my coding knowledge is pretty rudimentary. With all of that being said, the news is impossible to avoid entirely, so I’m sure whatever’s happening on a broader scale will show up in my writing from time to time.
Sci-fi is probably my biggest fiction influence, although it’s not the only one. But it (and horror to a lesser extent) are where I tend to gravitate when I’m looking for something to read, either just for fun or to break my brain a little. Favorite authors include Frank Herbert, Gene Wolfe, Nick Harkaway, Michael Cisco, Arkady Martine, Stanisław Lem, Jorge Luis Borges, Jeff Vandermeer, and Ted Chiang. Most of my other cultural input is whatever YouTube video I have on in the background while I’m ostensibly working. I used to listen to music a lot more, something I’m trying to get back into. Growing up I was very into ‘90s industrial and its ilk (Trent Reznor remains my favorite musician of all time), but definitely branched out into synthpop, some more general rock, etc. These days I’m usually going to have some species of retrowave or dark ambient going.
Anyway, thank you for reading, and feel free to get in touch!