In kindergarten, first and second grade, my reading buddies were fourth and fifth graders. I started reading to younger kids when I was in fourth, fifth. But starting in sixth grade, the assignments were made by OSIS and based on reading level and need. I read to kids all over the City. Young kids from […]
I’ve been the king of excuses and distractions. The expert of hiding behind work and business drama, family and online shopping. New ideas for books, novels and other businesses appear, get started but never finished… It’s no wonder the muse has stopped visiting. What about you? (6.100)
I studied piano ten years, played saxophone in a high school punk-jazz band, then composed electronic music for a class. I DJed Neue Deutsche Welle, punk, ambient, industrial and wrote and published reviews and interviews. Today, my guitar sits unplayed at the foot of my bed. (5.100)
In seventh grade my reading partners were ninth grade girls who were more developed than the girls in my grade. Getting close to them became my only mission. I let them turn me on to Edgar Rice Burroughs, Agatha Christie, and a slew of adult books which I read only so I could spend a […]
The 1979 Powell ad stuck to my 14-year-old self’s brain and still sticks the way a good song does. There’s Ray “Bones” Rodriguez, big grin on his face, holding his signature model skateboard in front of a burning car. “Is it functional or just another high-gloss, high-hype rip off…? Provocative question, isn’t it? “Now scrutinize […]
To make biotech a game, as suggested by Freeman Dyson‘s essay, Our Biotech Futures, requires a deep understanding of cellular processes and enough artificial intelligence to accurately translate DNA in real time. Even if faulty, inaccurate, or dangerous, the game must make it fun to play with a DNA sequence that is translated into amino […]
Sacramento-born to Panamanian parents from different sides of Volcan Barú.. Raised in Ventura. Educated in Riverside, and Boulder and Boston. Settled and built a family in Brooklyn, where I write science fiction about emerging biotechnologies, drugs and cures, the business of improving human health and engineering life. (1.100)
I was just in Panama for the unveiling of this monument.That’s my grandfather’s name, Karl Schmieder, right there on the plaque. And here’s the mass grave he’s buried in along with nine other victims of the 1941 massacre. It’s a complicated story that I’ve never written about but David Fishlow has. I’ll write about this […]
Q. What are the ways you can tell a good event from a great event? A. The people. The presentations. And the fact that no one wants to leave. Early in December, I attended the first Biofabricate conference at Microsoft’s NYC office. Organized by Biocouture’s Suzanne Lee, SynBioBeta’s John Cumbers, and Microsoft’s Tereza Nemessanyi, the event […]