As a semi-retired – read time-rich and cash-poor – media junkie with an overabundance of opinions and indignance, I need a place to shout into the void, howl at the moon and stomp my feet. I want to interact with and engage with the mad and miraculous world but am unwilling to do so while facing the relentless enshittification of the internet perpetrated by the villainous bastards of Big Tech. I want to connect with friends and family without algorithms and the other attendant evils of social media. I want to share my passions without sacrificing my privacy and being assailed by advertising. I want to be part of what the internet once was and could be again so am building my own little self-indulgent corner of the web to pursue all those wants and invite you to join me.

But who am I? Born and raised in Southern California, I was a passionate high school band geek and volleyball player (weird combo, right?) who then went off to Penn State to pursue my volleyball dreams. Ended up with a BA in English from UCLA and an MS in Education from Cal State Hayward. I coached collegiate volleyball for 40 years, the last 28 at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY where I eventually became tenured, having sneaked into the rarefied air of academia through the gym. I am a casual geek in a variety of realms, but hard core in none: LotR, Star Wars and sci-fi. I love games of all kinds and consider myself an enlightened grognard (I once played with Gygax but know he was a dick). 

I am blessed with an amazing wife of almost 30 years with whom I was lucky to raise two wonderful children, both gifted theater makers chasing their dreams with passion and verve. They are our pride and joy. We have grown our family by one with a fabulous daughter-in-law and are soon to round out the ranks with a son-in-law to boot. Our nest may be empty but our hearts remain full. To say I am lucky is to say nothing.

My semi-retirement allows me to indulge my lifelong love of books, movies and music; to chase metaphorical rabbits down any hole I like; to pursue quixotic projects like building a website; and to throw myself wholeheartedly into my new found passion: Burning Man. I have pretensions of being a Renaissance man, desperately hope I never stop learning and want to grow up to be an iconoclast. All of which is to say I am quite full of shit. Selah.

*BTW, japers is a nickname that grew out of my time playing volleyball at Penn State. There was already a John on the team (I didn’t go by Jonathan back then) and I had been called JP by my neighbors in Santa Monica who also already had a John. One syllable nicknames are almost necessary on the volleyball court, so JP became Japes. I honestly don’t know the last step to Japers, but it stuck for a lot of people and I like it as a kind of other me, an alter-ego if you will. So there.