SKIP IF YOU'RE ALLERGIC TO DUST Putting my latest composition, “Lillian of the Valley”(May,2022), in my portfolio, I noticed the first piece in this collection, “Inch Time Foot Gem" was written in May,1972, when I was just getting out of Cal Arts. This binder holds the result of 50 years of writing—the single act I have chosen to define me---and also the decisions, sacrifices and wrong turns due to my attachment to creating different arrangements of tones that inevitably said something about myself. There are over 70 compositions in this collection, most have been performed in public at least once, including several big Holy Week Cantatas written for specific churches with specific performers in mind. Pragmatic questions ( Will it work? Can they sing it? How long will it take to teach?) made for some interesting and downright fun composing! 70 compositions by a now-dusty 70 yr. old composer, starting 50 years ago as a young man, lost and trying to figure things out after his father’s unexpected death 3 years earlier---which, it would turn out, would continue to be the case through 50 years, to this day.