This is a story about a kid with a purple crayon, a rock named “HAMMER” and a dream… ​ As a child, I was very curious and always doing art projects. I would also take things apart and put them back together (with varying results). My mother, a writer, an artist and a single mother encouraged my "creativity" when it worked out positively, negative results, (like the death of a toaster) were voiced at the end of a wooden spoon. ​ As a latch-key kid I would come home from school to find many “projects” waiting for me. My mom provided the peel-and-stick floor tiles, the metal straight edge, linoleum knife, an encouraging note and her belief that I could do such a thing; I had serious doubts, being eleven. Many home improvement projects were assigned to me, paint the house, build this picket fence completed with my mother’s favorite tool: a large round rock with the word “Hammer” painted on it. ​ Mom remarried and I became the "Foreman" on my step-fathers seven acre gentleman’s horse farm. I was a large child and a high-school athlete, consequently, my step-father was unhappy with the amount of groceries I consumed. So to “earn my keep” I was tasked with building horse-proof fences, paddocks, a room addition and even a two-story pole barn with little more than my common sense, my “Barn Strength”, my enthusiasm and some old construction guides and a drafting table. I may not have realized it as a teenager, but these successful building experiences provided a hands-on education in construction and ultimately ignited my interest in architecture and design. ​ After high school I worked as a laborer on a road construction crew in Central Pennsylvania for my Uncle’s company Rogele. Jack hammering and shoveling aggregate for ten hours a day was an opportunity for self-discovery, particularly the life choices I had made thus far. Wanting a more satisfying construction experience, I became a frame carpenter on the West Mesa of Albuquerque, New Mexico. My Pop-Pop once told me that there were two kinds of jobs; one that you take a shower before work and one that you take a shower after work. Intense physical labor increased my desire for a formal education. ​ I attended architectural drafting school at TVI, the Technical Vocational Institute (now Central New Mexico Community College), which gave me the technical ability to work as a draftsman part time while I attended the University of New Mexico Architectural Program. I continued working as a frame carpenter on my semester breaks (the money was better). ​ I have been designing and building things since I was thirteen years old. I have many years of experience and have worked on hundreds of projects as a construction worker, a draftsman, a job captain, a project manager, a green building consultant and design principal for both large and small firms. I have solved a lot of design problems for a lot of people. I truly feel that I am best suited to be on my own and I feel that it is truly a privilege to have the design freedom and success that has come with being the President of Willisland. ​ I call my particular style of design “Enthusiastic Modernism”. ​ I refuse to believe that America is in decline, I am not here to help manage her demise. Americans are still the best innovators, inventors and designers in the world. I believe the best time for America is ahead, and in these exciting times I am actively seeking to further our growth and progression. I want to be a part of a new, bright future, I never want to stop learning. ​ Life is short, let’s do something responsible, innovative, and nice to look at and have some fun in the process. ​ Member American Mensa Ltd. Associate Member of the American Institute of Architects Architectural Registration Candidate (A.R.E.) in the State of California.