I was tagged by both Harper Reed and Melissa Pierce to do this meme. At the end of this post I will tag 7 lucky people to post their own 7 random things about themselves.

First off, even though this post is about random things, there is nothing random about this list and they are not things. This list of attributes, events, situations and idiosyncrasies were methodically chosen. This meme, or viral blog thingy is like an online icebreaker, or teambuilding activity in the blogosphere. Weird, huh? If I were going to make a list of random facts about myself I’d have to make a list of every fact about myself and then pull 7 out of a hat. I just don’t have that kind of free time on my hands. So I’m going to pick 7 things that most of you do not know about me, that are odd, quirky, unique, maybe banal, things that make me seem cooler than I am and things that make me seem funnier than I am.

One
I have webbed toes. In between 2 toes on each foot, the second and third toes are webbed.

Two
I grew up on a tree farm in Iowa, but most of our land was CRP acres, which means my dad was paid to keep it real, no commercial development. Kind of like growing up on a state park, rural isolation, which for a 9 year old is complete freedom. Another weird fact from when I was 8 or 9, some older kids nicknamed me Piernov: a. because I was a fast runner and pierna is leg in Spanish, b. the resemblance of Pierce to pierna, and c. no idea why it became Russian.

Three
Somewhere around 2003-04, Brock Manke dubbed me the “Thomas Edison of Trash Culture”. I’m not sure what this means but it sounds cool. Brock used to dj at Innjoy on Tuesdays, which is where I met my wife Melissa. Harper introduced me to Melissa on one of those Tuesdays, and these 2 are who tagged me in this meme.

Four
I’ve been on a Bosnian TV show called Central Prison. Actually it was my grad school colleagues and I sitting in on the talk show interview with our teacher, Damir Niksic. He hooked us up with a spot to do a video installation in the Sarajevo Winter Festival. Some other funny stuff happened on that trip, like the girl informing me I have a “multicultural face”, and Fenchel and I djing a bar until they made us stop after I played “Purple Bottle” by Animal Collective. By the end of the trip my colleagues and I referred to each other as Dannys. It’s a long story.

Five
My art practice has led me to some odd activities. I have made paintings with an eggbeater. I have dunked a pair of ski boots in a bucket of paint. I made a video of myself playing basketball on a court full of mulberries. I convinced 18 people to make a mixtape for Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston (back in the day), and send the tape to me. I sent the box of tapes to the celebrity couple, without promise of receipt. By chance, one day Brad Pitt was drinking a cup of coffee outside my workplace and I asked him if he received the box of tapes or if he knew about my project. He knew nothing, and calmly asked me about it, then was whisked away by his people. In college, while on a semester arts gig in Chicago, my class was assigned to do a public art performance. I dressed up in a dog costume, got on all fours on a skateboard while Michelle Deva Jebb (in exorcise gear) jogged and pulled me around the Gold Coast neighborhood. There were always people jogging with dogs in that area. I barked at a dog.

Six
I like my coffee black and my whiskey neat, however I embrace herbs, spices and sauces in and on the food I eat. I can cook a good stir fry, some excellent soups, have perfected a collard greens recipe and am working on the perfect gumbo.

Seven
I have worked at the Chicago Teachers Center of NEIU ever since I moved to Chicago in 2001, in many capacities. Here is a list: Videographer, Teambuilding Facilitator, Improv Workshops, Movie Workshops, Climbing Wall instructor, Leadership Camps, High Ropes Course, Video Afterschool Clubs, and once and only once - Bus & Field Trip Coordinator for a summer program.

There, its done. Now its time for me to pass on the energy ball. Here are the next 7 people to post 7 random things about themselves on their blog.

The rules of this ‘game’ for those that I have tagged:

Link your original tagger(s), and list these rules on your blog.
Share seven facts about yourself in the post - some random, some weird.
Tag seven people at the end of your post by leaving their names and the links to their blogs.
Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their blogs and/or Twitter