My Story

've been thinking a lot about that phrase, "Jack of all trades, master of none." Over the years, I've taken on a lot of different challenges, and I've taken seriously endeavors that might have remained an uncomplicated hobby for a more sensible person. Needless to say, I've heard the phrase, "a jack of all trades," used as a friendly warning. I took music very serious when I was in my teens and into my early 20's, and had pretty decent success with a punk rock band - as far as that genre goes. When I wasn't on tour, I was a full-time house painter. After I left the band behind, I studied classical drawing in Italy, taught myself how to paint, and eventually became a full-time portrait painter and artist. I've always been an autodidact, but when I wanted to study writing and academics more formally, I went to grad school for an MFA. Shortly after graduating, for a very brief moment I taught at a different  MFA program.  Then, few years ago, I started a photography consulting and retouching company, which quickly gained some of the biggest fashion and consumer companies as clients.

To be fair, rather than putting my head down and pushing on indefinitely, I probably did sacrifice some level of success in any/all of those given fields and careers by challenging myself to pursue  other interests and skillsets.

But, a lot of the time, the skills I've learned began out of necessity, not having the resources to simply hire someone, and then later those skills evolved into opportunity. With the band, it was cheaper to learn photography and graphic design skills than to hire a designer; I picked up some skills from house painting that translated eventually into portrait painting; I learned carpentry, plumbing and electrical skills from my father when we renovated a house together. Necessity has been an excellent teacher to me. But curiosity has been the fuel that has outlasted need.

Engaging in all the pursuits that I have has only been possible because of interest, eagerness and the belief that curiosity is valuable, even when you have no sense of applicability for a career. My latest endeavor is in writing fiction, which, if the lamentations of the "end of publishing" are to be believed, is a great career decision! Most of what I do and have done over the years falls within what might be called "creative work," which tells you something about the expectations of the culture at large:  "a jack of all trades" is actually a pretty narrow definition. That being said, as I've been thinking about it, there really are not that many people who are or would consider themselves a jack of all trades under any circumstances. It might even be as rare as a master of any one thing... I think it would also be safe to say that it's more useful to know a jack of all trades than it is a master of one. Good luck having your friend, Sisyphus, help you with anything other than moving rocks...