I remember the moment I learned to read.

I was 4 years old and the book was Pooh’s New Clothes. There was a very distinct moment where the letters on the page stopped looking like alien hieroglyphs and, right before my eyes, transformed into legible English. It was magic. Real magic. 

This moment sparked something in me that, in the short term, resulted in me reading everything I could get my tiny hands on — newspaper headlines, receipts, Jeopardy clues alongside Alex Trebek, you know, the usual. In the long term, it evolved into a love of stories. Reading, writing, filming and editing, no matter the media, I love finding the story in a moment and crafting it (like magic) for others to enjoy. 

BEFORE THERE WAS YOUTUBE, THERE WAS BALARKY.

Well, it wasn’t called Balarky then. Ever since 2003 my friends and I have built and maintained websites so that we could share our video projects among our circle of friends and local skate community. Balarky is the current iteration, created in 2008. Right now the project is on hiatus until graduation, but there are still some classics posted for nostalgia.

THEY SAY MONSTERS AREN'T REAL, BUT I FIGURED OUT HOW TO CREATE THEM.

I learned to sew when I was 5 years old. My grandmother taught me to cross stitch things like flowers and ducks. As I got older I realized you could also sew cool things like monsters and video game characters. Thanks, grandma.

I HAVE A THING FOR ANALOG. AND DOING THINGS THE HARD WAY.

DSLRs that take all the guesswork out of photography are great, but for me nothing beats the excitement of developing a roll of film and seeing, weeks later, if that one awesome shot came out as intended. Or if it’s an abstract interpretation. Either way, I totally meant to do it that way.