Born in Berkeley, California, JDM studied philosophy at Guilford College, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Princeton Theological Seminary and University of Virginia. He specialized in the work of American philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce and the mathematical logic of Russell, Whitehead, Frege, and Tarski. His fiction and nonfiction writing has appeared in literary journals, TANK magazine (London), the Washington Post and other publications. He was a contributing writer at TEA magazine. His films, videos, illustrations and photography have been exhibited in galleries, theaters, conferences and festivals throughout the U.S., Europe and Asia, including Berlin Directors Lounge, Galapagos Art Space (Brooklyn), Miller Gallery (Carnegie Mellon University), Center for the Arts in Society (Pittsburgh), Wexner Center for the Arts (Columbus, Ohio), and the Mechanics Institute (San Francisco). His video work with international fashion designer Sophie Hong at New York Fashion Week, featuring a collaboration with Coppé, the legendary Godmother of Japanese electronica, was shown at the International Conference on Innovation & Creativity in Popular Culture (National Taiwan University) . He has received fellowships as a writer and artist at leading art centers including Experimental TV Center (N.Y.), Taipei Artist Village (Taiwan), Virginia Center for Creative Arts (VCCA), City of Breckenridge (Colorado), and Schloss Plüschow (Germany). JDM is also the writer-director-producer of the feature film, My Fool Heart with Merle Haggard, Ralph Stanley, Charlie McCoy, Elizabeth Cook, Justin Townes Earle, Jim Lauderdale, and Jim Waive, and the documentary film, Way of Dance: Lin Lee-chen and the Legend Lin Dance Theatre (Mandarin and English). A Lifetime Member of The Dramatists Guild of America, he lives on Telegraph Hill in San Francisco.