David Z Hirsch

I grew up on the steppes of Nebraska peddling Kool-Aid off I-129 until saving up enough cash for medical school. After graduation, I moved to Pyongyang to teach pre-med classes at Kim Il-sung University. I soon fell out of favor and was imprisoned at Kaechon where I traded medical favors for soup and toilet paper until I made a daring escape across the border.

I subsisted for the next three years by foraging gooseberries and licking the dew off spiny toads. This led to a burst of creativity, and I wrote the first draft of Didn't Get Frazzled on bark peeled off a dying Manchurian Ash tree. Ultimately discovered in a semi-feral state by the China Coast Guard floatilla from Liaoning, I returned to the United States sixty pounds lighter but more inspired than ever.