Academic. Writer. Activist. Photographer.

When possible I combine my overlapping interests, but often I go off in different directions. In general I aim more for breadth - linking different things together - than for digging deeper and deeper into a narrower subject. I also have a related blog and photo site.

In 1998 I retired early from a job as professor of legal studies and psychology at the University of Illinois at Springfield (formerly called Sangamon State University, a much more interesting place). Much of my academic work addresses the interconnections among psychology, law, and justice. Using a perspective building on anarchism and critical psychology, I'm especially concerned about mainstream psychology's support for an unjust status quo. The second edition of my co-edited book Critical Psychology: An Introduction was published in 2009.

My academic credentials, complete publication details, and related information are listed in my curriculum vita (pdf file).

Formal Education

Public Schools, Brooklyn, NY
John Wilson Junior High School, Brooklyn, NY
Stuyvesant High School, New York, NY
Year-In-Israel Program, Jerusalem (college-level coursework during "Young Judaea Year Course")
Brooklyn College (BA psychology)
Michigan State University (MA & PhD social psychology)
Northeastern University (certificate, Emergency Medical Technician)
University of Nebraska-Lincoln (post-doc in psychology and law)
Sangamon State University (photography coursework)

Jobs and Other Gigs

Longest job: 1988-2005, legal studies and psychology professor, University of Illinois at Springfield

Others: Folk dance instructor/performer (a very long time ago), camp counselor, high school equivalency instructor, Social Security claims representative, unemployment advocate, temp worker (clerical and other jobs), coder, messenger, embossing press operator (I really liked this one), emergency medical technician (ambulance attendant), editorial writer, teaching assistant, community college adjunct instructor, disability examiner, postdoc student, newspaper columnist, writer, photographer, webmaster, editor

Political History

Young Judaea - Mid-1960s
- Brooklyn Region Administrative Vice-President. During my high school years, Young Judaea introduced me to social justice within a utopian socialist framework. I'm grateful for that, but my political views about Israel and Palestine have shifted pretty far since then.
Gar'in HaShachar 1968-1973
- Co-founder & initial coordinator of group of Americans planning to start a new kibbutz. I left Israel after five months with the group (my faction lost). Those who remained founded Kibbuz Ketura.
American Federation of Government Employees
- Union representative in the Social Security office where I worked, 1974-75
Boston-area anarchist/direct action/anti-nuclear groups, 1976-1981
- New Moon, Hard Rain, Boston Clamshell Alliance, Clams for Democracy, Coalition for Direct Action at Seabrook (CDAS) - Someday I'll try to write more about this.
Georgians Against Nuclear Energy & Atlanta Coalition Against Registration & the Draft, 1980
MSU Jews for Social Justice 1983-84
SEIU/AFSCME Alliance (Boston) 1985-86
University Professionals of Illinois 1988-1998
- UIS chapter past secretary/newsletter editor/webmaster
- My website's section on my time at UIS is out of date. UIS used to be called Sangamon State University; I've written about its mainstreaming and takeover by the University of Illinois.
Assorted food coops, ad-hoc environmental and anti-war groups.
- Activist at large
RadPsyNet : The Radical Psychology Network 1993-present
- co-founder, archivist, webmaster, former coordinator/treasurer/editor/....
Coalition for Authentic Reform of Education, BrooklineCARE, other efforts to oppose corporate-sponsored high-stakes testing 2000 -
Boston-Area Psychologists for Peace and Justice 2001 -
Brookline Peaceworks 2002 -
Visions of Peace with Justice in Israel/Palestine (briefly the Boston chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace and now part of the new group American Jews for a Just Peace) 2003 -
Center for Democracy and the Constitution Advisory Board 2004 -
Israel/Palestine Political/Personal/Academic Visits (2004/05, 2006, 2008)
Network for a New Culture - checking it out - 2010-
Occupy!

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Miscellaneous Personal

I was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1949 and now live in Boston, Massachusetts. I've lived other places for school, jobs, politics, family, adventure:

1949: In Brooklyn, I lived on Ocean Parkway, then Brownsville, then Canarsie

1966-67: A year in Israel after high school

1967-1970: Back in Brooklyn, for Brooklyn College

1970s: East Lansing, Michigan (grad school at Michigan State, 1970-72); Israel again (kibbutz); Newburgh, NY; Boston (South End, Jamaica Plain, Allston); Somerville, Mass.; Red Hook, NY; Brooklyn again (Park Slope 1977-78); Los Angeles; Somerville again, for the 1979 Seabrook occupation attempt

1980s: Atlanta; Somerville yet again; East Lansing one more time and then Lansing (back in grad school); Cambridge, Mass.; Lincoln, Nebraska (post-doc at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln)

1988-1998: Springfield, Illinois (Sangamon State University/University of Illinois at Springfield)

Since 1998: back in Boston for the fifth time.

Fall 2009: In Toronto for the fall semester to teach a seminar at York University

2010: back to Boston.

My early retirement resulted from disability-related fatigue. As these things go my multiple sclerosis is mild, not visible, and not progressing. Ironically, I used to work for the Social Security Administration's disability program; the paper I later wrote about the politics of subjective disability evaluation is the most-visited page on this website. So far I've only written briefly about my experience on the other side.

I have three children from two marriages -- two sons in their thirties, one teenage daughter. And a granddaughter!

No longer married, I'm back in the polyamory (honest non-monogamy) world; my 2001 essay about being a married anarchist needs an update.

I used to be a vegetarian, for a variety of moral, nutritional, ecological, political, and financial reasons. They're all good reasons, but I'm no longer a real vegetarian.

Someday I'd like to abandon the Internet. Not yet.

I remain in transition. Always.

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What am I up to now?

Intermittent academic work. Writing. Politics (major recent focus: Israel/Palestine).

Photography (see interview).

Kid Update

Avram, his wife Rie, and my granddaughter Airi are in Yokohama, Japan. Their blog describes past travels and current explorations and impressions.

Milo pursues a variety of creative pursuits while supporting himself in traditional struggling-artist fashion, now back in Florida. See his website.