My career in writing and academics began when an influential high school English teacher encouraged him to journal about his mother’s life-threatening illness.  I published my first writing at West Los Angles Junior College, where he graduated with his A.A. degree. I then traveled extensively throughout Europe, while writing detailed accounts of his adventures for his family and friends back home. I relocated to Sonoma County and there began my career in journalism.  In 2006 I began teaching at Mendocino College.