I was born in Southern California in the outskirts of LA, grew up in a small, Spanish-speaking neighborhood. I still live in SC, closer to the Pacific coast now where the sea is often breathing in my ear. I am motivated by intense love for the Earth, all its creatures and elements, not only humans. Collaboration with other writers and artists nurtures me, while pursuing typical publishing industry goals does not. Over my lifetime, being a writer has become a more or less continual spiritual/intellectual/sensual practice, when I am making sentences and when I am silent—a way of discerning connections, of coming to know and being known.