"I simply refuse to believe that a young man, pretty much removed from Russian political problems and more of a foreign cut I'd say, could prove capable of -- well, of a high deed, if you like." -- Glory, Vladimir Nabokov.

Since July 2007 I have been writing about crime for The Record, a daily newspaper in Stockton, CA. I also blog there.

I have been other things. In Oct. 1997 I enlisted in the U.S. Army, completed Basic Combat Training at Fort Leonardwood, MO, and then the 63-week Korean Basic Course at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey. I spent 18 months with the 102nd Military Intelligence Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division, at the now abandoned Camp Essayons in Uijeong-Bu, Republic of Korea. I was discharged honorably from active duty in Oct. 2001 and from the Individual Ready Reserve in 2005.

I am a graduate of the University of California, Davis, where I studied political science, and the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.