30 or So Facts About Asher
- has more than one name – one for business only, one his friends & other artists know him by (Asher)
- lives a self-employed life style, doesn’t have just a single, clearly defined job title
- has a dog he calls his “baby boy” that he saved via an animal rescue
- is intense and energetic most of the time – slows down, gets softer when touched
- lives in the most diverse neighborhood in the US (101 ethnicities)
- is accepting of most things, except hurting people or a lack of acceptance
- carries a European shoulder bag, usually has gadgets
- has a neat, military style hair cut, but isn’t military
- writes horror fiction & magic realism – teaching himself to write a novel
- reads frequently, ponders a lot, thinks all the time, communicates continually
- doesn’t own a TV, does watch online, adores film
- doesn’t do drugs, enjoys wine and beer and occasional cigars and pipes, takes supplements
- is a situational vegetarian, doesn’t care if you’re not, sometimes eats sushi or shellfish
- has an error on his birth certificate
- gained weight in corporate life, lost most of it after starting his own business, working off the last bit
- was married 15 years, stayed friends
- is from everywhere (moved continually as a kid, traveled whenever he could after that), thinks globally
- enjoys walking for downtime, especially around city life, looking at and sampling things
- dark haired, hazel eyes, keen gaze, natural goatee, thoughtful smile
- wears a garnet stud and a silver ear cuff, and usually a muffler
- likes the subway, very glad to have sold his car, hopes to never own another one
- likes ballroom dancing, but is a beginner – is taking lessons
- is Eastern Orthodox with pagan sentiments – keeps the Fasts, venerates the Icons, listens to the Desert Fathers, otherwise not very good at it
- has a catholic worldview (sees deeper meaning in most things – beyond surface matter, sees individuals as absolutely unique, yet accountable to create peace, justice, compassion in the world)
- is apolitical – doesn’t like ideology and won’t debate social politics but cares deeply about personal ethics. As a Rational Anarchist, he identifies with both the skepticism of Noam Chomsky & the personalism of Ayn Rand, as well as the voluntary associations based on mutual accountability lauded by the poet of this attitude – Robert Heinlein.
- recently settled in New York, considered Chicago and Portland, always drawn back to NYC life where it feels like home
- is passionate and sensitive, but comes off as cold if he feels threatened, violated, judged, or attacked. Ranges from watchful to central in social situations – wallflower to spotlighted diva – depending on the undercurrents.
- has a speaker’s voice, been involved in internet TV, was on radio a lot as a kid, sometimes reads stories for colleagues
- has been a serial founder of organizations, publications, businesses and activities ranging from subversive to merely ambitious – tends to be a planner, & builder, & leads if it seems right – stopped launching things to focus on his art
- resists control, social pressure, and conventional expectations – tends to be most uncomfortable in parochial and institutional settings – responds to open, creative, tolerant environments – think TED rather than Walmart
Miscellaneous:
- Ponderous: speaks in order to discover what he really thinks / writes in order to learn what he really feels, is a human mood ring – experiences color change to his hair and eyes (from dark brown to very light hazel-green-grey) when his emotions change, is a builder / his primary form of creating is building
- Streamlines and customizes his life: has no hobbies / works all the time (everything he does, he takes seriously and so calls it ‘work’), owns as little as possible / digitizes whatever he can, has a treasure box of fetishes
- Creative: simultaneously creates fiction as storyteller and the storyteller as fiction – a trademark of Asher’s creative and design methods. He is at heart confabulist and fabulist, simultaneously. Storytelling is bound up with the quest for identity and meaning, for Asher.
- Fascinated: is interested in principle in the natural/rational aspects of NLP (neuro-linguistic programming), PWA (perception without awareness), and mentalism – not supernatural magic – but the super-capacity of the natural to inform our perception and enhance our abilities – Asher dubs this “ordinary wizardry” – feeds his interest in magic realism