Thom Watson

I live in the fog belt of Northern California with my husband, Jeff, and our two cats, Chip (Dark Chocolate Chip) and Del (Della Reese's Pieces).

As of late 2023, I am retired. Most recently I was employed as a public library paraprofessional. Before that I was editor in chief of Dance Studio Life, a print and online magazine dedicated to dance education.

And before that I worked as an IT, web, and communications manager for two universities, the U.S. Department of State, PBS's national headquarters and its member stations' national advocacy organization, a health information start-up, and several not-for-profit organizations.

Between 2011 and 2014 I volunteered full-time as the social media manager and a member of the national leadership team for Marriage Equality USA, the nation’s oldest organization dedicated to building equality for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) community through civil marriage equality in every state and at the federal level.

I grew up in the rural Allegheny Mountains in the Virginia Highlands, and have also lived in the Boston, Washington, DC, and San Francisco Bay metro areas. I love to travel.

I'm gay, atheist, politically far left, and passionate about civil liberties and civil and human rights.

I'm an avid gamer, an amateur baker, a devotee of mid-century design and architecture, and a fan of science writing, children's and YA literature, and science-fiction and fantasy literature, television, and films.

[Photo by Chris Hardy, chrishardyphoto.com, for Dance Studio Life]