David Baez

Higher education has always figured prominently in David’s life. Born in New Jersey when his father was earning his doctorate in psychology at Princeton, David spent his childhood summers clutching a handful of change for the vending machines and roaming the campus of Southern Illinois University, where his father had become a professor.  

A lack of social services for an autistic brother led David’s father to move the family to the Chicago area and begin work as an industrial psychologist for a consulting firm. Cutoffs and a Ché-like beard were swapped for a confining suit and a tight shave, as David’s father joined the legions of office workers taking the commuter train into the city every morning. David never forgot or ceased to idealize his father’s identity as a professor; the impression of academia as a bastion of freedom and independence, in contrast with the many constraints of the corporate world, endured. 

David eventually earned a BA in English Literature from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a Master’s in Journalism from Columbia University. His final Master’s project was on a series of Diane Arbus photographs taken of residents at what was then known as a “home for the feeble-minded,” in late-1960s New Jersey. This project combined David’s passion for the photographic image, advocacy for the developmentally disabled, and research acumen.

After graduating from Columbia, David worked as a newspaper reporter and photographer for three daily newspapers — in the Rio Grande Valley, Coastal California, and Middle Tennessee. When his father passed unexpectedly, David left daily newspapers, had a series of remarkable experiences in Nicaragua (the country of his father’s birth), and embarked on a career as a freelancer.

When he’s not working as a writer, editor, or translator, David enjoys lap swimming (the very best form of exercise), reading history and literature, watching films from the 1970s Hollywood renaissance, and caring for two toy poodles.