Black Lamb

Author profile

December 1st, 2002

Joel Hess is an amateur logophile and dilettante writer currently living in Portland, Ore. He grew up in a working-class family in the Philadelphia suburbs; went to school at Washington University in St. Louis, majoring in Chinese, including one year on a year-abroad program in Singapore; returned to Philadelphia; and made his home in New York for a decade before deciding to move to the west coast. His various residences, along with extensive travel to forty-four states and twenty-five foreign countries over the course of his lifetime, and formal study of a dozen or so foreign languages to various extents, have supplemented his insatiable thirst for knowledge about the world’s languages to produce a solid foundation for writing about language and linguistics. His other major interest is in music, in which he has a degree (B.Mus. in music history) from Temple University. As a singer and violinist, he has performed with dozens of ensembles on three continents. He lives alone, alas, but if you know of any available gentlemen, he would be glad of an introduction. His Black Lamb column is called Glossolalia.

Posted by: The Editors
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