Jay (Jacob) Schwartz

I was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1951 during the McCarthy era. Grew up in Brookline, Lynn, Marblehead, and attended a private American school in Greystones, County Wicklow, Ireland, from 1968 to 1969. That was a fabulous year for me and our group of American students and teachers traveled throughout Ireland, Ulster, Scotland, England, Portugal, Spain, Denmark, Norway, and Switzerland. I had such a great time over there that I didn't want to return to the USA and tried to get into Trinity University in Dublin. That was unsuccessful and I flew home via Aerlingus. After graduating high school, I worked as an orderly in at Soldiers Home, a veterans' hospital in Chelsea, Massachusetts. From there, I applied to and was accepted at Ricker College in Houlton, Maine, where I spent two years. After braving -40 below winters and snow storms, I headed West in an old Dodge window van with my bedroom in the rear and an electric frying pan and a typewriter. The next two semesters were spent at Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, and from there I joined my parents and brother in San Diego, where I've been, mostly, ever since... I enjoy cooking, photography, creative writing, coffeehouses, the ocean, watching documentaries, and sometimes you'll catch me viewing Ellen and Oprah. Exercise-wise, I do my best to go walking and I try and eat pretty healthy.