About Kurt
“I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing.”
Who am I?
What am I?
When am I?
Where am I?
Why am I?
Heck if I know!
However, these simple questions have been burning in my brain since I was a little monkey. Now, as a silverback gorilla, I’ve got some old scars and gold stars to show, a wee bit more wisdom, a smidgeon of smarts, and LOTS more questions. I like questions.
When I was in 6th grade, I had to write down what I wanted to be when I grew up…
I put down: Musician, Comedian, Voice Actor, and an Archeologist like Indiana Jones. Little did 6th-grade-me realize was that I was about to cross the threshold from my “known” world to the “unknown”: it was the year my dad passed away from cancer. This tragedy was the cruel catalyst that sent me down the path of self-learning and self-discovery that I've humbly and hilariously been walking my whole life since.
My entire life I’ve simultaneously felt like an 8 year old and an 88 year old. My consciousness experiences a constant fluctuation between charming childlike wonder about the world and serious self-reflection that belongs to an ancient soul. The rest of the accolades of “modern society” in between has always been a bit of a nonsensical nuisance to me. All that I know is that I want to know more about what I don’t know. I am eternally the kid who never stopped asking “WHY?”.
In my formative years,I already was fascinated about the world around me, and took it upon myself to chase all of the rabbits down all of the holes that interested me. I became an avid reader, audiofile, film buff, historian, and budding baby philosopher before I had my driver’s license. Luckily, I learned to love the research, the chase, the hunt, and the game. I didn’t do any of this work for grades…which weren’t great. I did it just because I loved it.
I ended up going to college for music and theology/philosophy, where I was lucky enough to meet my intellectual and spiritual mentor, Prof. Wendell C. Beane. He was an absolute DYNAMO on so many levels, in so many subjects. Dr. Beane was a master of comparative religious studies, history, science, spirituality, and culture. Having him as a mentor and lecturer changed my life forever. He taught me to “be a hungry dog in a meat factory for knowledge”, and that being a “true scholar” is something that you ARE, not something you need a grade, diploma, or position for. He was a student of the legendary Romanian religious studies professor, author, and researcher from the University of Chicago, Mircea Eliade. Having Beane as a bridge to understand Eliade’s work opened up all kinds of mental and mysterious doors for me.
While in college, I began working at record stores, book stores, music stores, as well as teaching individual music lessons. My “resume” over the next 30 years is difficult to summarize succinctly: I worked with my dearly departed pal Jason Verhagen and a bunch of our friends locally and nationally on his independent arts company, Fever Pitch Magazine and Music. I learned how to play a smorgasbord of instruments, DJ, perform musically and comedically, record, produce and teach my own methodology and creative philosophy to hundreds of students over the years with Kurt Stein’s School of Music. I got into puppetry, script and story writing, photo/video production, martial arts, meditation, and a zillion other things. Oh, I also love animals, and taught my pet pit bulls to urban mush with me on skateboards and bikes. All of this I have not done for fame and fortune, but because I felt compelled to. Naively, I thought everyone had the same passions, drive, and compulsion to learn and create.
The joke was on me though. What was obvious to others, was kind of oblivious to me.
Like many other “neurospicy” folks, I wasn’t diagnosed “officially” with ADHD until I was in my 40s. I had spent decades helping kids and adults with neurodivergent tendencies and really “getting” them…because I was one of them, of course. Duh.
Sooo, I then used my ADHD “superpowers” to research all info and theories I could on the psychology, philosophy, biology, and history of neurodivergence…and found questions, lots more questions. I realized that since I had been undiagnosed by any school or doctor until later in life, that I had come up with some excellent tricks, strategies, and theories that made my busy brain a blessing more than a burden. I love being "Unapologetically Kurt” and authentically who I am. Of course, I still deal with the downsides of neurodivergence too…most of which center around not exactly “fitting in” or adapting to the stringent straight line of our society. I often say I roll through life with one foot in my mouth, and one kicking my own butt. We all need to figure out how to forgive ourselves and others, love ourselves and others, and learn together. Striving not to ruminate about the past, suffer anxieties about the future, and stay present in the present moment is a universal goal of all great philosophies, religions, and psychology.
I am a firm believer of the opposite of the old adage and insult to educators, that “Those who can’t, teach.” My philosophy is the exact opposite…”Those who CAN, teach.” My heroes, inspiration, and mentors are the brilliant weirdos, deep thinkers, and eccentric teachers of the past. Socrates, Tesla, Buddha, Jesus, Einstein, Zappa, da Vinci, Carlin, Mingus, Twain, Mozart, Musashi, and countless others that broke the mold, stayed true to themselves, lived to chase their passions, and share that “Eureka!” enthusiasm with their students. Hoping and knowing that it was their mission and duty to develop themselves and their creativity as long as they lived, so others could take up their own mantles to continue the search to solve the grand puzzle of WHY?
Like I said…I don’t have answers, but I DO have lots and lots of questions. What do you want to know that you don’t know?