Personal
The non-resumé version.
Life
I grew up in New Orleans as the son of two teachers — which probably explains more about me than any job title does. I live north of Cambridge, Massachusetts now, with my wife and two boys. My wife is an interior designer; her work is at BeckwithBarrow.com and worth a look.
I'm an Eagle Scout. I mention it less for the nostalgia and more because the habits — planning ahead, finishing what you start, leaving things better than you found them — have a way of showing up everywhere else.
Before policy and technology consumed most of my waking hours, I spent a meaningful stretch of college and early DC life doing musical theater: performing, directing, and a lot of technical work behind the scenes. I did enough scenic painting and welding to win an award for it. The award was small. The welding was loud enough that Morgan Freeman — who happened to be on set — came over to personally address the situation.
Community
Housing equity matters to me in a concrete way — I volunteer with Habitat for Humanity, not just donate to it. My family also supports All God's Babies, a New Orleans-based nonprofit doing real work for children and families in a city that means a lot to us. If you're looking for somewhere to put some generosity, these are two organizations I'd point to without hesitation.
Fun Facts
- I once bumped into Condoleezza Rice in a hallway because I was too absorbed in my BlackBerry to look where I was going. She was diplomatic about it — appropriately, given the job.
- I build Lego. Seriously, not ironically. My kids have started raiding my sets for spare parts, which is the kind of entropy I've learned to accept.