Mitchell Joe is not sure what he should tell you about himself. He is not sure what you might like to know. He knows that the most beautiful thing he has ever seen in his life was a rainbow in the middle of the night made with moonlight instead of sunlight. If seeing that had killed him, he would have died happily. He knows that when he was four-years-old, his father asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up and he said, “A man.” He knows that journeys end in lovers meeting. He knows that he’s on a journey.
He lives in San Francisco, California, where he makes his living as an interaction designer, designing products for good and not for evil. He has always wanted to be a Jedi knight, but the closest he has come that is to have been an English teacher in China, a philosopher in San Diego, Scotland, and Australia, a poet for one blissful week in the Netherlands, and a bartender for one blissful year on Molokai.
He likes anyone who looks him in the eye and is best friends with everyone who makes him laugh. He is a fan of E.E. Cummings, Jelalludin Rumi, Rainer Maria Rilke, Annie Dillard, Shunryu Suzuki, Mahatma Gandhi, Peter Singer, Edward de Bono, Buckminster Fuller, Otis Redding, Jack Johnson, Sam and Dave, Calvin and Hobbes, whoever invented surfing, Pelé, Amélie, In the Mood for Love, The Princess Bride, The Princess & The Warrior, Terra’s Yukon Gold Potato Chips, Port Salut, Lindt chocolate, Kinder Surprises, taro, haupia, and guanábana ice creams, the moon, and Audrey Tautou.
He often lays awake at night. He used to hear kangaroos eating the grass outside his bedroom. Now he hears crickets. Sometimes he cooks breakfast for dinner, and sometimes he doesn’t. He enjoys his freedom and he really likes potatoes.
“What I say is, if a man really likes potatoes, he must be a pretty decent sort of fellow.”