mission statement

So... a little about me.

I grew up here in Southeastern CT, the youngest of four kids. Not the most athletic kid, I was from early on interested in art. I began my college career studying architecture, but left it to follow another path. I switched to philosophy, studying for a couple of years for the Catholic priesthood. It proved not to be my vocation, as I finally realized that I was still in love with the woman who would become my wife.

At this writing, I am 26 years old (now having to stop and do the math...), am married to my beautiful bride Patty, and have three little boys tearing up the house. I shouldn't say house; actually, it's the Incredible Shrinking Mobile Home. It's nice for now, we got it before the people here before us let the maintenance pass beyond the point of no return. A lot of work, and watch your step.

I call myself a graphic designer, but I think the term graphic mechanic fits better. I took the job at the printing company for graphic design experience, and ended up staying on, eventually becoming prepress/ production manager, juggling, putting out fires and fixing all the customers' print files. I like the work that I do, but what I really am interested in is a project I don't know how to start.

I want to launch a magazine for Catholic young adults. Arts, theology, culture, politics, all in the light of Christ. I haven't come up with a name yet, but I do have a mission statement: "To seek out that which is holy, right and good in the world today, and to use it, like all good things, in the service of Christ." I see it as part coffee house, part apologetics guide, part cultural review, part evangelization tool.

More on that later...

Das Boot part I

Well, the TV's broken, so I can't finish watching the latest movie in from Netflix. I had started watching Das Boot, about a German submarine in WWII, the officers' disillusionment with the Third Reich, and the cat-and-mouse games they played with the British. Very long, but so far so good. I pick up on visual homages in movies, and I believe a scene from Pixar's Finding Nemo was an homage to Das Boot. When the whale appears behind Marlin and Dori seemingly out of nowhere, filling the screen, it's just how the sub appeared in the beginning of the movie. Nice touch. I'll give more feedback when I finish the movie