Department of Philosophy, University Hall, Purdue

I attended Purdue University to pursue graduate study in philosophy. I chose a dissertation topic in a branch of mathematical logic.

Center Hall, Wabash College, Crawfordsville

Before finishing the dissertation, I was hired by Wabash College to teach philosophy. While there I received a journal in which someone else completed the dissertation project I had begun.

"Cessation of Desire," R. Crumb

This R. Crumb cartoon was given me by a starting linebacker for the Wabash football team, who was a student in my Buddhist philosophy class.

Ralph and Ginny, Jan 6, 1979

I met and married Ginny while working on a new dissertation project. This was taken on the day of our wedding in Battleground, Indiana.

The newlyweds in their first apartment

The Miller Building, 200 South Street, West Lafayette

Nyingma Institute, Berkeley, California

Before heading off to my first tenure-track teaching job, Ginny and I spent the summer at the Nyingma Institute, a Tibetan Buddhist center located north of the Berkeley campus. Ginny made maps and I performed editing for their publishing house.

University of Louisville

My first and last job as a credentialed academic

The Louisville sewer explosion

February 13, 1981

Odiyan Retreat Center

After Kentucky's bankruptcy cost us our jobs, we spent a year helping build the copper roofed building on the right.

Phillip Barry, Mgr, Shambhala Booksellers, Telegraph Avenue, Berkeley

My first paying job in Berkeley was with Shambhala Booksellers as bookseller and buyer for its Buddhism collections. Shambhala suffered the fate of many independent booksellers.

Cubicomp PictureMaker

My next job was with a maker of software and hardware for computer animation. The company is now defunct, but I still get together with my boss from those days.

UCB School of Library and Information Studies

I was convinced by my wife's boss, also my companion at SF Giants baseball games, to think about library work, which I did and earned my credentials here.