About Mark

I’m a writer and empathy farmer.

More specifically, I write narrative journalism and essays, and I’m working on a long-term project on empathy — both a blog and a book.

Or put another way: I talk to people and read a lot. I wander. I observe what’s happening around me, best I can ... Then I tell stories. I enjoy finding fitting words and a voice to meet the moment. As a teacher and mentor, I like helping others find their voice, too.

Or put another way: I have a lifelong preoccupation with trying to understand what it is in our experiences, our worldviews and religions, our biases - even in the electrical impulses running our brains - that enables us to grasp others' thoughts and feelings. Or else prevents us from doing so ... Because empathy is so critical to so many facets of life, even affecting where we choose to live and work and whether or not we get along and love one another. As an empathy farmer, I'm cultivating understanding, best I can, through empathic practices ... Ultimately, I write because I crave connection. I think we all do.

My people are from the midwestern United States - my parents and four brothers and the many generations who came before us, and now my two (amazing) young adult children. Five acres of wooded land near Xenia, Ohio, gave childhood-me idyllic playspace for adventuring and imagining, for getting to know himself a bit (self-knowledge is itself a kind of self-empathy) and exploring the nature of wilderness. I now spend most days in cities, and I write a lot about urban issues - from informal settlements in developing countries to gentrifying neighborhoods in Pittsburgh. I also write about nature in cities through my Sublimescapes micro-blog, including city parks, foraging, deer hunting, and urban chickens. Other writing interests have included religion, race, mental health, housing, and bad landlords.

But foremost, I write about empathy — always empathy. Of late, I’ve been doing this through my Empathy Farmer’s Almanac blog. I’m also writing a book. If you’d like chat about it, drop me a line.

My work has appeared in Anthony Bourdain’s Explore Parts Unknown on CNN, Creative Nonfiction, CityLab (The Atlantic), PublicSource, Pittsburgh Quarterly, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, The Truth About the Fact: An International Journal of Literary Nonfiction, Prism, geez, Vox Populi, Pennsylvania Magazine, and Blue Earth Review, among others. Several years ago, I wrote a book about urban "slums" (a complicated term, or course, but it's how the United Nations categorizes these peri-urban communities. To learn more, read the book.)

Now based in Pittsburgh, I’m a teaching professor in creative writing and civic engagement at the University of Pittsburgh. I also work in Native American studies. As an undergraduate, I studied visual art and fiction, then completed a graduate degree in journalism and communication, then an MFA in creative nonfiction.

Otherwise, I’m pretty engaged in my community. I march in street protests. I volunteer in city parks. Awhile back, I started a community arts center. Currently, I’m convening writers and artists to tell stories about the terrible ways people in my country are treating immigrants - and about the incredible ways immigrants and others are responding to preserve life and dignity. But mostly, I just try to love others and love myself.