I was born and raised in Humboldt County, California. In 1969, I entered the Air Force, subsequently became a conscientious objector to the Vietnam War, and served time in a military prison for refusing to fight in the war. In my twenties, I roamed across the United States, went to Europe twice, and made one journey around the world. During that time, I worked as a millhand, construction laborer, stevedore, mailman, baker, saute cook, and oilrig steward.

I've lived and taught English in Japan since 1983. I'm the author of "Autumn Shadows in August," a mid-life crisis/adventure story and homage to Malcolm Lowry and Hermann Hesse; "Toraware," a novel about the obsessive relationship of three misfits from different cultural backgrounds in 1980s Kobe, Japan; "Looking for the Summer," the story of a Vietnam War conscientious objector's adventures and search for identity on the road from Paris to Calcutta in 1977; and "The Many Roads to Japan," a novella used as a textbook-reader in Japanese universities. I've also written several articles on teaching English as a foreign language. My wife and I live near Fukuoka, Japan, where I'm a professor at Fukuoka International University.