A Couple of Idiots

Matthew was born at the base of a dormant volcano in Pasto, Nariño, Colombia, an unwitting child of the Peace Corps. Since then he has mostly worked in education, first as an admission officer for a small college and then as the chief of staff to the president of a larger college before concluding his 9-5 career as an educational consultant/writer for a very fine strategic communications firm. He also enjoyed a three-week stint as the vice president of a company that protects children by manufacturing a product which, when properly installed, forcibly ejects small fingers from the hinge-end of doors, preventing unwanted mangling, amputation, or worse. Now he writes books with Robbi, does a bit of freelance writing, maintains a humble blog, and plays his harmonica as much as possible.

Robbi was born and raised in a small town on the eastern shore of Maryland (winters) and the Alaskan wilderness (summers), learning the enigmatic ways of the average Japanese-American in the first and of the hardy commercial salmon fisherwoman in the second. Her third grade art teacher, Ms. Chauvenet, taught her to love art ("strretch your imaginations!"), and her ninth grade art teacher (left unnamed) taught her to hate it ("you should have used purple"). Robbi came back around in her mid-twenties and got her MFA in illustration. Though her work is often messy (an apt reflection of her true self), much of it comes from a surprisingly dark place which baffles even her, as most people will describe her as "awfully smiley." No worries, she is doing just fine.