My life has had three phases, each dominated by a different passion.

The Art Phase

In my younger years I was drawn to the arts: painting, photography, music, film. I remember in grade school a teacher coming once in a while to teach us about artists such as van Gogh and Picasso. Such as they were my early role models. I would continue painting seriously until the age of twenty or so. I enjoyed playing around with cameras as a kid and continue to do photography today (see my Instagram). Both of these I studied as a teenager at Libertyville High School, and I studied painting and drawing at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Later, I recall some pleasant afternoons learning from the photographer Daniel Kublank.

Also in grade school I began studying classical flute and would later take up guitar. I started to write my own music and songs as a teenager and recorded them at home. Music became my dominant interest after I graduated high school, although I also studied photography and film.

I worked a variety of odd jobs after high school, continuing to play music. A couple of friends eventually convinced me to try Evergreen State College (I was living in Olympia, Washington at the time), where I could get credit for pursuing my interests.

Starting at Evergreen at the ripe old age of 25, I did indeed study performance and composition. I worked mainly with the composer Arun Chandra. But I also studied ethnomusicology and Asian culture with Sean Williams. This led to the second phase.

The Ethnomusicology Phase

When I began at Evergreen I was thinking of studying music, literature, or some aspect of non-Western culture. I had gotten interested in Indian culture in my early 20s because of various work experiences. Through working with Sean Williams I decided to travel to India to research music. My first trip was in 2007–8. I stayed mainly in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, studying bansuri (Indian flute) with Mohini Mohan Patnaik. Patnaik is an exponent of the pan-North Indian Hindustani style. But I also became interested in the local style of music, sometimes called Odissi. I did some research on this while I was in India, and when I came back I wrote an article called “The Third Stream.” This was eventually published in the journal Asian Music. I believe it was the first article on Odissi music published in a Western journal.

I enjoyed the research life so much I decided to continue on to graduate school. At some point I was deciding between composition and ethnomusicology. However, academic music did not excite me much, and I went into ethnomusicology. I applied to various schools, but the best offer I got was from the University of California at Davis.

I started at UC-Davis in 2008. The two ethnomusicologists there at the time were Sandra Graham and Henry Spiller. I mainly studied with Henry Spiller, whose research area was closer to my own. But I also worked closely with professors in other departments, such as Vaidehi Ramanathan and Archana Venkatesan. In 2011–12 I went back to Odisha, India to do research for my dissertation on Odissi music. The dissertation ended up focusing on one particular song cycle—its history, cultural use, and performance practice. I also fully translated the song cycle, which was written in Odia and Sanskrit.

I received my PhD in 2014. When I started my college career I had wanted to be a teacher. However, at that time there were virtually no academic jobs in my area. Eventually, after moving to Taiwan with my wife, I got a job teaching English at Chihlee University of Technology. Being outside of a specialized department gave me a chance to reevaluate my passions. This led to the third phase.

The Philosophy Phase

I had gotten interested in philosophy and psychology as a teenager and had read books by Julian Jaynes and John Searle. This interest was enhanced at Evergreen, where, in addition to music, I studied critical theory with Arun Chandra. I continued in this vein at UC-Davis, taking classes by people like Neil Larsen, Gerhard Richter, and Aram Yengoyan. My dominant philosophical interests at this time were Theodor Adorno and Emmanuel Levinas.

However, in my last year of graduate school I, quite randomly, discovered the writings of cultural historian, literary critic, and semiotician Morse Peckham. Peckham set the stage for my current and, I suppose, final phase. Working through Peckham’s writings led me deep into the American traditions of pragmatism and behaviorism, as well as into the Romantic tradition that so affected me as a child. My current work explores and draws on these traditions.