My Short Story

My parents named me Jeff and I was born in 1981 in Whittier, California, now across the street from a Home Depot.


I have worn clothing for as long as i can remember...

I loved Tonka Trucks, G.I. Joes, Lincoln Logs, Cartoons and monsters...

And dressing up for Halloween...

I loved to be in pictures, this one features me with an oversized #2 pencil...

Here is me in a Lacoste shirt, or maybe back then it was Izod. Either way I was a stylin' kid thanks to my parents, because I didn't buy this shirt for myself...

My brother and I posing for a picture. I hope he doesn't mind me using the pictures he's in because I didn't get his permission. We wore T&C Surf shirts because I loved Thrilla Gorilla and his crew of anthropomorphic animal & human friends. I also loved their impossibly difficult Nintendo game. I wonder if I could beat it as an adult...

When I was a little older wax lips were popular in my life, so were those fake cigarettes that were gum that blew out a few puffs of some white powder. People have had some awful ideas in life and making gum cigarettes that appealed to children has to be among the worst. Pictured below I was a wax-mouthed vampire...

Then I wore a tie and a dress shirt for something and sat with my brother while he also wore a dress shirt...

After that, years and years later post high school, I got older and still wore clothing. This picture was of my family and I at my brother's graduation and I cut everyone else out of it...

At some point after that last picture I went to Magic Mountain with friends and had this picture taken and made into a keychain. I was in a shirt that looks too small for me and a messenger bag from Express, back then called Structure. My friends are cut out of this picture but that lady in the back that I don't know isn't...

Then years later my hair grew out and I got highlights put in and little more facial hair, and started regularly wearing glasses that I should have been wearing daily since 3rd grade. I still go to the same optometrist...

Years after that and years before today on a nondescript Saturday I grew a beard at the request of a then girlfriend and also decided to make a suit out of trash bags at my parents' house. It took me 10 hours to produce a hat, vest, jacket, pants and one fingerless glove...

And later my trash bag version of early 20th century men's swimwear was produced...

Later on a more sensuous note...

Fast forward to today and I'm still clothed and now choosing to produce the kind of clothes I believe in and excited to wear. Here I am in the monochrome room at the Exploratorium in San Francisco, 2019...

Lastly, which probably should have been firstly, I want to thank my parents because they provided me a childhood in an incredibly stable atmosphere; I felt loved and supported, I felt safe and I was allowed to be a child. I had a house to live in, a swing set, a beautiful German Shepherd named Macy, I played with numerous 3.75" G.I. Joes in a muddy hole, I played with Toy Biz X-Men figures, had a My Pet Monster and a Cabbage Patch doll named Miles Pete. I had a home cooked meal every night. I was gifted with a wonderful education. I thought these things were normal for every child back then. As I got older I understood that wasn't at all true and I was just incredibly fortunate by chance and was privileged to have been raised by these two outstanding individuals, and sometimes my extraordinary grandmother. 

Me being an adult without children and way past the age my parents had me I can appreciate the immense effort it took to raise my brother and I because it's a full time job just taking care of myself. I thank my Dad for the effort it took to work so hard to support us and my Mom for being there and providing us an amazing amount of care and attention. I love you both very much and won't ever be able to fully realize the amount effort and energy and life you've spent teaching, working, cooking, supporting, caring for, hugging, loving and anything else I forgot to mention. I appreciate you both. As I write this I am overwhelmed with so many unidentifiable emotions that tears have made their appearance. I'm so very grateful and appreciative...

My grandmother and I. I don't know what I'm looking at or why I have that expression. In fact I can't even tell what that expression indicates...

Dear reader,

I am grateful for your presence in the world and I deeply appreciate taking the limited time you have on this planet to be here on my site! Your time is important to me and I'd like to acknowledge that I care. 

I'd also like to connect with you so please reach out and start a conversation. I will talk exhaustively about health. I believe people are everything and believe greatly in human connection and would love the opportunity to get to know you.

Written 06-16-19