My name is John, I’m 38 years old, husband and father of two. I am an artist and entrepreneur and I also have multiple sclerosis. I made the What’s The Matter With Me? podcast to share what I’m going through. To give you more insight into what I do, here is my artist statement.
I believe in using the transformative power of creativity to achieve social justice. Joseph Beuys once famously claimed that, “Every man is an artist.” In the words of the Spanish poet Antonio Machado, “Wanderer, your footprints are/ the path, and nothing else;/ wanderer, there is no path,/ the path is made by walking.” My work consists of interactions in the public sphere that create new connections in the community.
I have multiple sclerosis and that affects my life and work in many ways. I am the host of What’s The Matter With Me?, a podcast where I share my experiences, challenges and triumphs as a patient with MS. The podcast develops my Disability Consciousness and bridges me with my caregivers, doctors, the disabled community, and community-at-large.
At San Francisco Bay’s KFJC 89.7 FM, I host Questionable Traditions, a weekly radio show broadcasting a punk ethnomusicology of sounds from around the world. In operation since 1959, KFJC has a physical library of over 75,000 titles, including a large International library from which the show is primarily drawn. Cultural imperialism is upended and thus interrogated, spouts an improvised Jabberwock of Scottish Pipe and Drum, Morrocan Gnawa, 70s Turkish Psych & more.
Hoppin Hot Sauce is a product I sell to restaurants, groceries and other food-service businesses. Breaking bread together is a foundational human experience that nurtures us and fosters togetherness. Hoppin Hot Sauce is a product I created to make food taste better, and to share some of the flavors of my table with yours.
If each person is an artist, and we create the road by walking, then it is up to us to create the world we want to see.