42-year-old native of North Carolina; I've lived in Charlotte, Boone, Chapel Hill and Carrboro. Alongside varied sporadic Wikipedia contributions, I've contributed to a handful of other publications and several online sites, with cultural studies, music, film and literature as key areas of focus.

Lemon-citrus limon seedling

Articles started:

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Articles worked on:

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Odds & Ends:

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The Work

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Jobs held have inculded writing film & music reviews, purchasing for a music distribution company, varied levels of retail, editing for publication, multi-tasking in a food co-op, and touring bassist for a rock/punk band. I began playing bass guitar when I was 17. I am listed as a contributor to the Senses Of Cinema film journal; varied bits of my writing appear on several not-especially prestigious websites.

The Hobbies

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  • Film

French, Italian, Iranian, Bengali, Chinese, Hong Kong, Japanese

  • Music

punk, post-punk, jazz, early fusion, 20th century classical, new wave, old-time, bluegrass, garage/psych, krautrock, classic rock, rock en Espanol, international garage, gamelan...On certain days I think Talking Heads and The Clash were perhaps, interchangeably, the greatest rock bands ever.

  • Literature & Art

primarily, but not limited to Latin-American (20th century) literature, Chinese (classical) literature, Japanese (20th century) literature, Russian, the history and evolution of certain literary and arts movements (surrealism, the Harlem renaissance, beat literature, magic realism, dada, pop art)

  • Meteorology

I'm a weather geek. A long-term project is collecting and documenting the history of severe weather events (hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards, ice storms) in the eastern U.S.

  • Botany

Citrus, solanaceae, annonaceae are a few particulars. I have container-cultivated lemon, guava, strawberry guava, red guava, yuzu, calamondin, pacay, and a few other things lurking about the apartment.

African-American history and civil rights, LGBT rights and issues, the 1960s, the 1970s social change & sociology, maps (I collect vintage street maps of American cities), Asian history, Buddhism, politics, nature and anthropology are but a few of many interests.

The Bio

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family

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My extended family is to be found in New York, New Jersey, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Wisconsin, and California; various extended family members have lived - at some point - in Jamaica, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, The Philippines, South Korea, and a handful of other notable spots. I love to travel though it doesn't happen nearly as often as I would like.

travels

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Thus far, I've visited 17 states in the U.S., 86 of the 100 counties in North Carolina, and 4 other countries. There are many, many places in the world I would love to see.

quirks

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I am a pisces, Meyers-Briggs INTP, and fall just below the Aspergers clinical threshold. I am a recent cancer survivor.

cred

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In 1998, the PBS series P.O.V. aired the documentary Family Name (directed by New York-based filmmaker Macky Alston), which investigated in depth the family history and genealogy of both the black and white sides of my paternal family lineage. I am a distant cousin to artists Romare Bearden and Charles Alston. I was once a neighbor to an individual who played a key role in the American Civil rights movement.

Favorite Things

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Books

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Jorge Luis Borges' Labyrinths
Vladimir Nabokov's Pale Fire
Bohumil Hrabal's I Served The King Of England
Peter Matthiessen's The Snow Leopard
Don DeLillo's White Noise
Pu Songling's Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio
Han Shaogong's A Dictionary of Maqiao
Julio Cortázar's Hopscotch
Felipe Alfau's Locos: A Comedy of Gestures
Jun'ichirō Tanizaki's Seven Japanese Tales

Music

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Television's Marquee Moon
Talking Heads' More Songs About Buildings and Food
Miles Davis' In A Silent Way
Pere Ubu's The Modern Dance
Pylon's Hits
Eric Dolphy's Stockholm Sessions
Mahavishnu Orchestra's Birds of Fire
Al Green's Greatest Hits
The Velvet Underground's V.U.
The Clash's London Calling

Films

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Sansho the Bailiff
Aparajito
Sunset Boulevard
Charulata
Cleo from 5 to 7
A Touch of Zen
Ugetsu
Being There
L'Avventura
Mysterious Object at Noon

The Geek Part Of The Page

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Affiliations

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 This user is a member of WikiProject Meteorology.
 This user lives in the U.S. State of North Carolina.


Beliefs

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  This user is a Buddhist.
This user firmly believes that this is a better world because of the presence of dogs. 
 This user supports the legalization of same-sex marriage.
  This user believes in logic.
 This user supports public transit.
 This user wants Puerto Rico to either be a U.S. state
or a sovereign country.
 
 This user supports the proletariat.


Consumption: Edibles, Not Tuberculosis

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 This user eats bananas.
 This user loves the delicious taste of the South American cherimoyas.
 This user eats chicken.
 This user would likely die without eating the occasional curry.
 This user loves lemons.
 This user enjoys muffins.
 This user loves oranges.
 This user loves pancakes.
 This user loves to eat pineapples.
 This user enjoys a little red pepper with their meals.
 This user eats raspberries.
 This user loves sausages.
 This user eats strawberries.


--Davidals (talk) 07:49, 19 January 2011 (UTC)

The Evening Has Been Proclaimed A Hootenanny

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80sThis user rocks out to totally rad 80s new wave music.
 This user plays the bass guitar.
bss-3This user is an advanced bass guitarist.
BÖCThis user says:
"Don't fear the reaper!"
TCThis user listens to The Clash.
 This user enjoys classical music.
 This user advocates the use of more cowbell.
DEVO"Q: Are we not men? A: "We are DEVO!"
 This user plays the guitar.
 This user enjoys indie rock.
 This user enjoys J-Rock.
 This user feels the synthetic pulse of Kraftwerk.
 This user enjoys klezmer.
 This user enjoys psychedelic rock.
 This user enjoys punk rock.
 This user appreciates real punk music.
fan-3This user loves Pylon (band).
 This user enjoys rock music.
  Sonic Youth has 100% of this user's love.
 This user got the Steely Dan t-shirt.
fan-3This user loves Talking Heads.
fan-3This user loves Shugo Tokumaru.


Habits & Vices

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 This user is a bibliophile.
 This user believes that caffeine is necessary in large doses daily.
 This user eats chocolate.
 This user is drug-free.


Hobbies & Interests

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 This user is interested in the
History of Africa.
 This user is interested in
ancient civilizations.
 
This user is a cat lover.
 This user is interested in Chinese history.
 這用戶對中華文化感興趣。
这用户对中华文化感兴趣。
This user is interested in Chinese culture.
 This user is interested in
ghost towns.
 This user is interested in history.
  This user is interested in Japan and Japanese culture.
 This user is interested in Japanese history.
This user is interested in the Modernist period.
...This user wishes to study more religions.
  This user is a roadgeek.
 This user is interested in Russia and is capable of speaking in a Russian accent.
 This user is interested in volcanoes.
 This user enjoys writing.
 
This user is interested in
Zen Buddhism.


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 This user identifies as gay.
gkThis user is a geek.
INTPThis user's MBTI type is INTP.
 This user thinks you aren't able to claim Southern heritage unless you know about Poke Salad and like grits.
This user was born in the year of the Rooster. 
 This user is single.
 This user loves the Summer.
 This user is a transplanted Appalachian.
 This user wishes he had a boyfriend.
 This user believes that userboxes do not divide the Wikipedia community, but rather emphasise its diversity.
 
This user has far too many userboxes.


C2H5OH-1This user drinks relatively infrequently. they are probably the better for it.
 This user enjoys gardening.
 This user loves thunderstorms.
South EnglishThis user is a native speaker of southern english Y'all!
 
This user is interested in maps and mapmaking.
 This user wants to be your friend.
 This user lives in or hails
from Charlotte.
 This user lives in the U.S. State of North Carolina.


You're Stepping On The Popcorn

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 This user contributes to the
Internet Movie Database.
 This victory belongs to the farmers, not to this user.
 This user ran into a bad streak of luck, in Chinatown.