My start

From stone-bridge.blogspot.com credits to Jim Mcculloch, Austin TX.

The Texas Persimmon, Mexican Persimmon, Black Persimmon, Chapote, Diospyros texana as shown above in a picture I stole and modified, was the form from which I sought to further my striking power as a boy. Yokes, Ys, forks or bifurcations that fit my hand and provided support for “live” rubber and leather for sending rocks toward some imagined enemy or prey was what I sought in waking hours as well as dreams. This perfect creation, provided uniquely by the gray, slick-barked shrubby tree, became a symbol of goals set, the focus for found art I could sculpt further, the medium through which I could hone a grip and construction skills. I could, through this wild activity of making, grow toward becoming – an engineer, an artist, a biologist, a builder - to be what I do.

Thus, it is from this perspective I write - the perspective of the persimmon of my youth. It is the perspective of the search, but not the search for the answer – it is the search for the tool, the medium and/or the material from which I hew the object of art, of usefulness, and/or of innovation. All this to cleave toward hope and possibilities.

My topics will mostly focus on religion, politics, human industry and money with some diversions to talk about the glories of parenthood and of being an “observer of life” as my wife describes me.