i have been a vegetarian and straightedge (not that i had much to give up) for over ten years now. i’m a romantic; i hope to one day get married and have one or two kids. i come from a family of teachers (my mother, her sister and brother, and my sister) but while i’m definitely interested in education so far i don’t think that my place is in the classroom. my father is an art dealer and is the one who took me to museums, galleries, flea markets, and garage sales as a small child, starting me down the path i am on now (running my own business buying and selling vintage toys, clothing etc.).

i own a small store in cleveland buying and selling vintage and modern toys, vintage clothing, and other collectibles. my business is definitely a reflection of my fascination with pop culture, art, and design but i continue to do it because i hope that as a culture we can learn to be less wasteful and reuse more.

i try to stay involved in diversity related work in my community. until it's recent cancellation i was working with the city of university heights' diversity program, the series of discoveries.

when i can find time to work on art projects i like to make toys and to design t-shirts. lately i haven't had the chance to do so but hopefully soon.

i don't know the real answer to this question.

in terms of appearance, i tend to get compliments on my vintage t-shirts and other clothing. otherwise i'm not sure but i guess that's what the pictures are for.

when i first meet someone they're likely to comment that i'm a nice guy, a good listener, and that they don't know anyone else who does what i do for a living.

places: algebra tea house, arabica university circle, the beachland ballroom, cafe tandoor, the cedar lee, the cleveland metro parks, the cleveland museum of art, the grog shop, grovewood, johnny mango, junkman’s daughter, kid robot, mad greek, moca cleveland, music saves, nate's deli, pacific east, the shaker lakes, shoparooni, tommy's, toy tokyo, the wolfsonian

artists: jean-michel basquiat, tim biskup, lee bontecou, alexander calder, christo & jeanne-claude, joseph cornell, marcel duchamp, keith haring, seonna hong, jasper johns, roy lichtenstein, louise nevelson, claes oldenburg, man ray, mark ryden, jean tinguley, andy warhol (this list is still very partial)

artists: laurie anderson, atmosphere, the aquabats, the avalanches, bauhaus, the beatles, bjork, the blow, david bowie, johnny cash, the clash, common, crass, dead kennedys, the decemberists, de la soul, depeche mode, devo, ani difranco, bob dylan, fishbone, kid koala, kingston trio, kraftwerk, krs-one, ladytron, le tigre, the misfits, moldy peaches, the muppets, muslimgauze, the pixies, the postal service, prefuse 73, dj q-bert, radiohead, lou reed, gil scott-heron, dj shadow, paul simon, skatalites, elliott smith, the smiths, the specials, dj spooky, subhumans, talking heads, they might be giants, frank zappa

radio: 88.7 wjcu, 89.3 wcsb, 91.1 wruw, 91.5 wkhr, pandora.com

venues: the beachland ballroom & tavern, the grog shop

tv now: cbs sunday morning, charlie rose, heroes, life on mars, pbs, tavis smiley

tv then: beetlejuice, duck tales, er, egg the arts show, fraggle rock, gummi bears, jem, kids in the hall, looney tunes, malcolm in the middle, m*a*s*h, masters of the universe, the maxx, the muppet show, my so called life, pee wee's playhouse, princess of power, rainbow brite, ren & stimpy, sam and friends, school house rock, sesame street, the simpsons, small wonder, thundercats, transformers, twilight zone, the wonder years, the wonderful world of disney

movies: alien, almost famous, amelie, basquiat, beat street, bowling for columbine, brokeback mountain, but i'm a cheerleader, chasing amy, cinema paradiso, cq, crash, dancer in the dark, dangerous lives of altar boys, dark crystal, do the right thing, donnie darko, edward scissorhands, eternal sunshine, fast cheap & out of control, forbidden planet, garden state, ghost world, goonies, high fidelity, hook, in america, labyrinth, life of brian, lilo & stitch, little shop of horrors (1960), lola rennt, lost in translation, metropolis (1927), millions, milk, monsters inc, neverending story, nightmare before christmas, pan's labyrinth, pollock, planet of the apes (1968), princess mononoke, repo man, requiem for a dream, saved, scratch, sid and nancy, the snowman, space balls, spirited away, stand by me, star wars (iv-vi), treasure island, virgin suicides, west side story, wild style

theaters: cedar-lee, cleveland cinematheque, cleveland museum of art, shaker square cinemas

books: 1984, a whole is to dig, alice in wonderland, building a company, calvin & hobbes, fahrenheit 451, james & the giant peach, the juniper tree and other tales from grimm, keith haring journals, the melancholy death of oyster boy, neverwhere, remaking eden, six myths of our time, toyland, varjak paw, where the wild things are

authors/illustrators: roald dahl, neil gaiman, crocket johnson, ruth krauss, richard scarry, maurice sendak, dr. seuss, shel silverstein, maria warner

wait i think we learned this in third grade or thereabouts. air, water, food, shelter, recess, and chocolate.

my friends and family
my business
art & music
toys & pop culture
equal rights
what comes next...

working at my store until at least 11pm. on a sunday night or monday though, ideally, i'm with friends or a date watching a movie, at a concert, having dinner, drinking hot chocolate at a coffee shop, etc.

ask away, i'm pretty open. as for a funny one liner about something personal, i'll have to get back to you later on that. nothing comes to mind.

you find my profile interesting and you think we might hit it off. i'd like to find someone to spend the rest of my life with and hopefully one day have children with. i don't expect that to happen after a few short conversation online or even a few months of dating but if you're not looking for those things it's probably not a good match. i am liberal and i am an agnostic (raised jewish). strict conservatives need not apply. if you think that i am damned to eternal hellfire because i do not believe in your god (as do many of my closest friends), dating me really won't work. otherwise, message away.