Please allow me to introduce myself…

In 2023, I retired from being a full time middle school music teacher. I loved it and would do the whole 28-year gig again if I could. So many amazing kids and colleagues. SO…now as I am in my 50’s, I have pivoted away from music, and I focus on advocacy for individuals living with muscular dystrophy. I am also hilarious. My wife doesn’t always think so, but I am, and at times, I call my friends to have them remind her that my jokes are funny 99.1% of the time. But I digress….. I have been a human being since 1972, and have a younger sister who is a published author, and is WAY smarter than me. Actually, she is smahtaaa. Wicked smaht kid…since we we live near Boston….In my teaching life, I have participated in The Rose Bowl Parade, Macy’s Day, Fiesta, and Orange Bowl Parades, as well as a memorable middle school band performance on the steps of The Jefferson Memorial in Washington D.C. on Memorial Day. In my career, nothing gave me greater joy than helping kids have positive musical experiences in the classroom or on the road. To all my old students reading this post: I showed up for school everyday because of you. Don’t ever lose sight of that. Hanging with all of you and having “story time with Moeschen”, as well as lively discussions about The Beatles, censorship, Broadway Musicals, and Queen lyrics were some of the best moments of my adult life.

Recently I completed training to become an Instructional Coach with a company that is focused on helping and retaining teachers. Too many times, “experts” get paid big money by school districts and these people claim they have “the ANSWER” for discipline, math skills, fluency in reading, standardized testing (waste of time…) and everything else under the sun. The company I am working with aims to pair teachers across the country WITH TEACHERS to come together and assist each other DIRECTLY.

In my advocacy life, I work with a charity called Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy and have supported their mission to end Duchenne for more than 20 years. You think we would have ended it by now huh? Nope, but progress marches on and this disease is far more complicated that everyone once thought. I continue to have bright hope for the future as many talented humans are working hard each day to unlock science. Where do I fit in? By living. By overcoming. By coping. By finding bizarre solutions to bizarre problems. I have been told that I “make the best out of a bad situation.” I guess so, but as this is the only situation and body that I get, I don’t see it as “BAD”, I just see it as “LIFE”. I’m good at life. I like it, and I can also talk a starving dog off a meat wagon, so I travel and talk, and talk and travel. I have presented at disability conferences across the United States, as well as internationally in Australia, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Ireland and The Ukraine. Don’t be too impressed, some of these talks are virtual….but I did also GO to some places. I’ll let you guess which ones. I am also a member of the Working Group on Pediatric Gene Therapy & Medical Ethics. To make a short story long, I try my best to make everyday count (#makeeverydaycount). I live with my lovely wife Vanessa, for who in heaven, there is already a place for SAINTHOOD. (is that one word or two?) Speaking of two…we hav two sons, Timothy and Teddy, and we live in a handicap accessible home that we designed in Salem, NH. Well I designed it, met Vanessa, she moved in and now I have wallpaper, candles, many new paint colors, some furniture that I can’t name and my sports memorabilia has all gone missing. We also have a dog. There used to be 2, but there you go. Send me an email. We will do lunch. Peace and love.

Stay safe, stay awesome, and stay tuned.