Early Life

I was, as previously stated, born and educated in the great state of Pennsylvania. Homeschooled in my former years, Mom took me and my younger brother William and my younger sister Kathryn on outings to science museums and historical sights, skating rinks and community parks, friends’ houses and 4-H. She let us set our own book work hours during the week, and encouraged us in whatever we wanted to do, as long as it was safe. My early education was dotted with achievements, such as a championship in a regional Future City competition, where we were asked to design every aspect of a future city, from energy to transportation to a building a city block model. At 12, I was running a multi-thousand dollar business selling beanie baby leashes, which saw my already extensive vocabulary grow to include words like ‘wholesale’ and ‘commission.’

Then the time came for me to re-enter the mainstream. With some prompting from a friend’s mom, I began 8^th grade at the local middle school.

My first day at public school I declared myself King Bob and walked backwards through the hallways. Shocked at the incapacity of the other students to play and humiliated that they found me so strange, I focused my attention on my unconscious, or rather, the surprising capacity to sleep in a desk. Marching band kept me engaged through high school, but mostly my creative energy was focused on a percussion group called United, an intense mostly college-age group that traveled the country performing and competing through complex musical narratives. The instructors were unforgiving, the music was mercilessly difficult and I cannot recall a time in my life where I was ever pushed harder, physically or mentally. I loved every moment.

I graduated high school a quarter early in 2006 under the pretense that I was going to march all summer in a drum corp. I never did.

Story of My Life (Part 3) – “College”