I woke up this morning to find two fantastic emails from old Kenyon friends in my inbox. The first was a final installment of Beth Roche’s cross-America letters, a series of missives dispatched by email from various stops in a drive from Massachusetts to Washington state. I remember the last time I drove across country and I absolutely loved it it tends to be a voyage of multiple discoveries. You discover more about America, more about yourself, and a whole hell of a lot more about the person you’re riding with. If you ever want to really and truly vet a new friend or S.O., take a long road trip with them. ‘Round about the 300-mile marker you start to find out what they’re really made of.
The second email was from Laura Marx, telling the story of her completing the Grand Rapids Marathon in 5 hours, 21 minutes, and 47 seconds. You go girl! Laura was taking pledges for the Michael J. Fox foundation if you’re interested in supporting her or the cause, pop over to michaeljfox.org, click on ‘donate’ in the upper right corner, and follow the instructions. Be sure to write “Laura Marx/Grand Rapids Marathon” in the comments field!
As for myself, I’ve been buried in catch-up work since getting home from the conference. No joke, I had about a thousand pages of reading to do, which I’ve managed to whittle down to about 300, but there’s still a long, long way to Tipperary. Belated “happy birthday!”s to SarahScott, Jessica and Ebo I miss you guys, and I hope we can catch up soon!
Right. Once more unto the breach…

Storyteller, scholar, consultant. Loving son, husband and father. Kindhearted mischief-maker.
I'm the Director of the Games and Simulation program at Miami University in Ohio, where I am also an Assistant Professor in the College of Creative Arts' Emerging Technology in Business and Design department. I'm also the director of Miami's Worldbuilding and Narrative Design Research Laboratory (WNDRLab). I have a Master's in Comparative Media Studies from MIT and a PhD in Media Arts and Practices from the University of Southern California.
In past lives I've been the lead Narrative Producer for Microsoft Studios and cofounder of its Narrative Design team, working on projects like Hololens, Quantum Break and new IP incubation; in a "future of media" think tank for Microsoft's CXO/CTO and its Chief Software Architect; the Creative Director for the University of Southern California's World Building Media Lab and the Technical Director, Creative Director and a Research Fellow for USC's Annenberg Innovation Lab; a Visiting Assistant Professor at Whittier College and director of its Whittier Other Worlds Laboratory (WOWLab); the Communications Director and a researcher for the Singapore-MIT GAMBIT Game Lab; a founding member of the Convergence Culture Consortium at MIT (now The Futures of Entertainment); a magazine editor; and a award-winning short film producer. more »
The opinions put forward in this blog are mine alone, and do not reflect the opinions of my employers.

