About

I am an author, ethnomusicologist, performing musician, educator, and visual artist currently living in Brooklyn, New York. I grew up on the end of a dirt road in rural northern Vermont, just south of the French Canadian border.

After earning a PhD in Musicology from Cornell University in 2018, I left academia to pursue public intellectualism: a practical application of the theoretical training I received during the course of my education.

You can buy my first book, JAPANTHEM, here; listen to my podcast, ACADEMIC DEFECTORS, here; read my column in Tokyo-based ele-king music magazine here; and read my Substack, ESOTERICA, ETCETERA, here.

I speak Mandarin Chinese and Japanese, and am dedicated to bridging gaps across culture (and between academia and the public sphere) through music, teaching, and writing. My activities have been supported by the Fulbright Foundation, MTV, and the US Department of State, among other institutions.

Feel free to send a message to <jlm1987@protonmail.com>.

You can find my reluctant social media profiles here: Instagram + Twitter.

And here’s me!