How To Read It

Using a series of parameters, this is a map of my passions over the years. The large circles at the bottom are passions that had influence over the course of my life. That means I made major life decisions based on going to Nepal, traveling, women, etc. The smaller circles each represent one relationship during the time that passion raged through my life. 

"What choice have I in the face of this wind but to put up sail and rest my oars?" 

- JEANNETTE WINTERSON
THE PASSION

I've spent quite a bit time on the back of a motorcycle riding through the electric green mountains of Nepal, camera in hand and guitar on back. We would drive about three hours to the next village where we would meet local people, smoke local weed, eat local food that had Kathmandu-reputation and then get back on the bike and drive 3 more hours through cold misty rolling hills and sticky hot dirt roads dotted with banana trees.  

I learned how to stop asking questions that didn’t matter. Questions like ‘where are we going’ (many places didn’t exist on a map), ‘what time will we get there’ (no one is actually on time in Nepal), ‘how long will it take’ (let‘s be honest, you haven’t had to be anywhere in months). I told myself, “I could love anyone, live anywhere and do anything if I could just be in a different country than the US.”

The Passion spoke to the extremes in me. From living a chaste Christian life to what I would call a pretty debaucherous one, from trying to love men to realizing loving women made more sense, from surviving in lower Alabama to thriving in South East Asia, I’ve cultivated extremely different passions over the years. When they come to me, I follow them and allow myself to put up my oars and see where they take me.