About Me
The search for origins is probably the single greatest curiosity in my life, and the one with the longest through line. I can trace this preoccupation to my early childhood when at age five I began my apostasy from Christianity. This might seem like a young age to be pursuing answers to such big questions as eternity, but I just wasn't satisfied with the set up being offered by my mother and the Lutherans. So, I stayed up at night creating my own interpretation, which has since been modified by experience and deeper and more philosophical scrutiny.
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But it's not just the big questions I'm curious about. The "why" of things has always been a particular fascination for me, and its pursuit has led me into some of my life's greatest and most fulfilling journeys. One of life's revelations has been that the answer isn't always the goal. It's the journey that matters, and the wisdom we glean along the way.
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I was born and raised in a remote Chicago suburb to a middle class family and ​
schooled in the Chicago public school system. In retrospect I was always going to live a life in art. My parents were both involved in music, couples' dancing and live theater as teenagers and much of my early youth was spent in the (older) company of Dixieland jazz music and musical theater.
I later earned bachelor's degrees in music and literature from the University of Denver. I embarked on a music career after college for ten years with a popular Denver-area band before moving to New York City to begin working on writing. While investing myself in literature, wholesale, I started to pick up a diverse skillset in theatrical theater and event staging, working as an event rigger, scenic carpenter, lighting and audio hand in New York City and later internationally, touring with Harley Davidson Motorcycles during part of its 100 year anniversary world tour.
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In 2005, I launched Gest Scenic Creations, a theatrical production company in Long Island City, NY, the same year I began my research into the history of Big Bang cosmology. Along the way I built sets and set pieces for Slava's Snowshow, Derek McLane and Michael Mayer (10 Million Miles), Eugene Lee (The Normal Heart), Bloomberg, NASCAR, Broadway musicals and television dating shows. I even rigged the largest ever (at the time) kabuki drop to reveal a Boeing 747 in a hangar at Newark International Airport in Newark, NJ.
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I later closed my business and went to work for a Fortune 5000 company working with front office personnel in the fashion and beauty industry while continuing my research toward writing my first book on the life and career of the astronomer Milton Humason. I published my first article on the history of astronomy in in the January 2012 issue ofAstronomy
That began my career as a writer and since then I've published numerous books and articles in history, science, sports, fiction and nonfiction. As much as I love working on my own projects, I enjoy coaching and writing for other people as much or more. It's enormously fulfilling seeing the lights switch on when someone gets a new idea or concept, and I love collaborating with my clients on their book projects.
Personal Core Values
Knowledge
There's the greater historical knowledge that in the West may have started with the Milesians in Ancient Greece, or in India or China around the same time in the sixth century B.C. But the type I value most is situational and deals with our daily lives. We can't always know a person's motives or reasons for the actions they take, but when we can we should try to acquire it. This can lead us to understanding, compassion and forgiveness and inspire hope.
Wisdom
Wisdom (from others) offers perspective that opens the mind and broadens the focus. A more open mind is a more tolerant and more patient one. The spirit of patience is peace, the sword and shield of a courageous soul.
Grace
Grace teaches virtue and virtue inspires kindness and generosity. Where there is kindness there is often gratitude, and the spirit of gratitude is joy, the eternal light of a radiant spirit.
Love
Primordial, instinctive love - as opposed to superficial, emotional love - is the cornerstone of all positive human interaction.
Spirit
The existential human spirit - as opposed to the holy one - is the most powerful, most important and least regarded force in human civilization and should be held above all other ideals. Your spirit is a reflection of your heart (your inner thoughts and perspectives) and your soul (the outward expression of your heart), and it looms large. Larger than you think!