Short

Growing up in The Bronx, I was shy, asthmatic, and light-skinned. It felt isolating. I didn't have friends. I wouldn’t go out much. Luckily, though, my dad had a lot of books. I read them most days most of the time and wrote stories. In my teen years, I searched for an identity; I failed at becoming a pro wrestler and then a vocalist in a heavy metal band. I went back to school and rediscovered my passion for writing and gained a new one: teaching - both of which I have dedicated my life to.

Long

Skinny, asthmatic, shy, no friends, light-skinned - it wasn’t easy growing up in The Bronx. Other kids went out. I didn’t. Mom would work for most of the day, and Dad didn't seem to care. At least, he had books. I read them. I liked the ones with pictures and about people who had done incredible things. I carried around black-and-white marbled notebooks with me to school and at home: jotting down ideas; sketching anime and video game characters; and conducting my first experiments with fiction, ghost stories and murder mysteries, blatant imitations of RL Stine, my childhood hero. The popularity of the Goosebumps series kept me from getting beat up as a kid for reading. That, and I ran.

Alas, the notebooks were lost to time. As a teenager, I wanted to become a professional wrestler, like the ones on TV - all 120 lbs of me. That was the plan until my dad’s car broke down in NJ, and he refused to drive me the nearly two hours to get to the wresting school. I also liked heavy metal and was in two bands; problem was, I had no talent. All the while, I had neglected school, something I'd thought I wouldn't need. But, in my time away, I educated myself on Poe, Shakespeare, science, and French. Learning for its own sake. Something was awoken in me, and I went back to school. Discourse in English class led to discover a career path I had not considered: teaching. And it was in my first creative writing class that my passion for writing was rediscovered. So, of course, I went to grad school and got an MFA in Creative Writing.

If you're interested in my work, click on the Bibliography link. I've published in such magazines as: The WiFiles, The World of Myth, SNReview, and The Piker Press. I've also self-published such works as Monsters (2016), a spy novella, and Remember Me like This (2013), my debut poetry chapbook. I also teach at Bronx Community College and host an interview-style podcast, Jim Nog Pod.