My Wave
BIO / 2023
I have lived an extensive and unique existence. I was adopted in the early 1980’s during the US crack-cocaine epidemic. The era devastated my biological family and resulted in my transition to the foster care system. My youth was full of experiences which were meant to displace my biology and insert the ethos of a lower middle-class American.
I had an engaging and alternative childhood spent mainly in the rural vastness of upstate New York. As a result, I chose to apply to attend Lehman Alternative Community School (formerly Alternative Community School) of Ithaca, N.Y. I was accepted and graduated from the alternative high school with a developed and open-minded perspective on educational philosophy and life learning skill engagement prioritization.
Throughout my youth and secondary experiences, I was engaged in extracurricular activities and volunteer opportunities. I also maintained quality academic success and a full artistic and athletic life. Shortly before attending college following high school I became an engaged teenage Father. My academic and economic goals were placed as a secondary priority to engagingly raising my daughter. Once I was able to secure stability for the Mother of my children and my first daughter I enrolled in college.
My first degree was achieved in the “Early Childhood Education” A.A.S. program through Tompkins County Community College in South-Central NY. I was honored by the ‘Phi Theta Kappa’ for academic success throughout my community college experience. I was rewarded with acceptance into a four-year undergraduate program in “History: Social Studies” B.A. at Ithaca College in Ithaca, N.Y. Upon enrollment into Ithaca College I was blessed with the arrival of my second daughter. I balanced the challenges of rigorous academics, parenting and social engagement while attempting to complete my degree.
While overcoming the circumstances of parenting living in poverty, separating from my daughter’s Mother and becoming a single-Father, engaging as the PTA president of my daughter’s elementary school and completing 15-18 credit hours; I was able to graduate from Ithaca College in 2008.
I then entered the workforce and held positions in the social service and education sector over the next several years until moving to Colorado. Boulder, CO is a beautiful space which comes with its own social limitations. The main obstacles to sustaining life in Boulder were the high income of most residents and the mainly white-American complexion of its residents. I moved beyond the city’s limitations and my family began to thrive in Boulder. In time I enrolled in a master’s program in religious studies at Americas first Buddhist-inspired university. The program had significant value in my development.
Naropa and my studies of Ancient Kemetic spirituality provided me with a new outlet for my feelings of personal and emotional instability and loneliness. I utilized the ethical compass of Ancient Kemet and the supportive yet rigorous blending experience of contemplation, academics and action to bridge gaps in my own lapses. The introduction of meditation practices was also uplifting and freeing. I found empowerment in sitting and I was encouraged to research primary historical sources from various traditions. I was able to find solace in efforts to engage deeply with the duality of the spaciousness and limitations of studying from an insider- or outsider- experience.
I succeeded at Naropa and completed a 95-page thesis on the subject of religious ethics in Ancient Kemet (Egypt). Upon the completion of my master’s thesis I realized that I was not finished with my academic, personal and cultural research. I then was accepted into a PhD program at the California Institute of Integral Studies. I completed years of coursework in psychology at C.I.I.S. at the doctoral level mainly focused on Jungian, Indigenous and African scholarship. I am currently a PhD(c) of East/West Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies researching masculinity and fathering while teaching as a Visiting Instructor of Psychology at Naropa University.
Throughout life I have overcome a descent amount; I maintain a commitment to 'Goodness' and peace!
I had an engaging and alternative childhood spent mainly in the rural vastness of upstate New York. As a result, I chose to apply to attend Lehman Alternative Community School (formerly Alternative Community School) of Ithaca, N.Y. I was accepted and graduated from the alternative high school with a developed and open-minded perspective on educational philosophy and life learning skill engagement prioritization.
Throughout my youth and secondary experiences, I was engaged in extracurricular activities and volunteer opportunities. I also maintained quality academic success and a full artistic and athletic life. Shortly before attending college following high school I became an engaged teenage Father. My academic and economic goals were placed as a secondary priority to engagingly raising my daughter. Once I was able to secure stability for the Mother of my children and my first daughter I enrolled in college.
My first degree was achieved in the “Early Childhood Education” A.A.S. program through Tompkins County Community College in South-Central NY. I was honored by the ‘Phi Theta Kappa’ for academic success throughout my community college experience. I was rewarded with acceptance into a four-year undergraduate program in “History: Social Studies” B.A. at Ithaca College in Ithaca, N.Y. Upon enrollment into Ithaca College I was blessed with the arrival of my second daughter. I balanced the challenges of rigorous academics, parenting and social engagement while attempting to complete my degree.
While overcoming the circumstances of parenting living in poverty, separating from my daughter’s Mother and becoming a single-Father, engaging as the PTA president of my daughter’s elementary school and completing 15-18 credit hours; I was able to graduate from Ithaca College in 2008.
I then entered the workforce and held positions in the social service and education sector over the next several years until moving to Colorado. Boulder, CO is a beautiful space which comes with its own social limitations. The main obstacles to sustaining life in Boulder were the high income of most residents and the mainly white-American complexion of its residents. I moved beyond the city’s limitations and my family began to thrive in Boulder. In time I enrolled in a master’s program in religious studies at Americas first Buddhist-inspired university. The program had significant value in my development.
Naropa and my studies of Ancient Kemetic spirituality provided me with a new outlet for my feelings of personal and emotional instability and loneliness. I utilized the ethical compass of Ancient Kemet and the supportive yet rigorous blending experience of contemplation, academics and action to bridge gaps in my own lapses. The introduction of meditation practices was also uplifting and freeing. I found empowerment in sitting and I was encouraged to research primary historical sources from various traditions. I was able to find solace in efforts to engage deeply with the duality of the spaciousness and limitations of studying from an insider- or outsider- experience.
I succeeded at Naropa and completed a 95-page thesis on the subject of religious ethics in Ancient Kemet (Egypt). Upon the completion of my master’s thesis I realized that I was not finished with my academic, personal and cultural research. I then was accepted into a PhD program at the California Institute of Integral Studies. I completed years of coursework in psychology at C.I.I.S. at the doctoral level mainly focused on Jungian, Indigenous and African scholarship. I am currently a PhD(c) of East/West Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies researching masculinity and fathering while teaching as a Visiting Instructor of Psychology at Naropa University.
Throughout life I have overcome a descent amount; I maintain a commitment to 'Goodness' and peace!
In a linear sense the future is separate from the past; in this lens it is true that our actions will be observed not only by our contemporaries but also by our descendants. In short, the future is paying attention to the behaviors of today." (Anthony Gallucci)
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Remember, "All Matter Moves..." (Maj*k Be) |
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