I'm a writer, lecturer and antiquarian, originally from Wellington, New Zealand and now resident in Chicago, USA. I've never been satisfied with the modern, mainstream Western take on mortality. During the late 1990s and early 2000s I staged several large-scale ritual performance pieces inspired by the Dia de Muertos and Danse Macabre traditions, prototyping a counter-cultural statement of the simple, profound message - "remember death, and therefore seize the day". More recently I've been involved with the emerging Alt-Death/death positivity movement, researching and developing "new" secular practices inspired by those themes. I enjoy connecting with others who don't believe in magic nor ghosts, but who do take them seriously.