Yet, I believed that artists were supposed to live in New York City, even as the evidence piled up that most of my NYC friends were spending their time hustling for rent, not making art. So I moved to Brooklyn in 2003 taking a corporate day job to pay for rent and therapy, trying to make my art on the side. Yet, I couldn’t shake my self-doubt that I might not have the perseverance to make it as a professional artist/writer. In 2005, walking home from the subway after work, I suddenly realised I hadn’t seen a tree in three blocks. I needed trees more than I needed the MOMA! So, I gave up on NYC for the last time, and moved back to sweet, earnest Portland.