Thos. K. Meyer, Walk, 2004
I was born in Los Angeles, and have lived here in LA County all my life, excepting college time in NYC.
I was identified as a writer early on. In high school, I warmed up to lit and journalism classes. At that time, I wanted to do two things in life: to write fiction and to write occasional op-eds. All these years later, this is still what I do, along with some teaching and some blogging.
After graduating from Hawthorne High School, I attended Columbia in the late seventies, and graduated from UCLA in the mid-eighties. I took my time matriculating. That remains true-to-form: I do things very slowly today.
At Columbia, I was sports editor of the Columbia Spectator in 1977; travelling with the teams commenced a lifelong affinity for New England and Quebec. At UCLA, I edited and published an economics publication, The Southern California Journal, in 1982 and 1983. I graduated from UCLA with a BA in Art History and a special emphasis in American Art; my interest in Winslow Homer et al. took me on many trips to New England, especially Maine but also Quebec, in the late eighties and early nineties.
I enjoy travel, and I've been to France, England, many Canadian provinces, and to the heart of Mexico, as well as to about forty states. I find that trains are far more convivial and restorative to me than air travel, so I take trains whenever I can.
What I've written: I've written four novels, including two that are available online only. I've also written a book's worth of short stories. I've written lots of op-eds. I've written for a lot of blogs: my first, joyrides without maps, no longer exists, but it was much like this place, dwelling on the personal. These days, I blog here at mainbrace and at the City's best local politics group blog, MayorSam.
I've also had many spells of traditional and non-traditional employment until mid-2001. I've been a vice president at a commercial bank, a litigation paralegal at a large law firm, a technical illustrator, a teacher, a library clerk, an arts manager for the City of Los Angeles, and I've worked in smallish media capacities in two presidential campaigns, Reagan in 1980 and Kerry in 2004.
Much of my childhood and early adult life was spent in Hawthorne, California, home of the Beach Boys. I was up until my early thirties quite a beach boy myself. I was an infant in Redondo Beach, baptized as a Roman Catholic in Manhattan Beach a few weeks after I was born, and was a toddler in Hermosa Beach, where I also spent many high school hours and still have a strong connection to. I've been a resident of Los Feliz since 1990, excepting a few months in West Adams and also Silver Lake in 1996.
I live with my longtime, loving, lovely partner, Lynn.
last update: february 29, 2008
email: joseph.mailander@gmail.com
