Kenneth Palmer:
CLASS OF 1975
North Brunswick Township High SchoolClass of 1975
North brunswick, NJ
St. Joseph's High SchoolClass of 1975
Metuchen, NJ
Linwood Junior High SchoolClass of 1972
North brunswick, NJ
Arthur Judd Elementary SchoolClass of 1969
North brunswick, NJ
John Adams Elementary SchoolClass of 1968
North brunswick, NJ
Kenneth's Story
Life
In 1982 I met my soulmate, Ruth, at a Flock of Seagulls concert. She was (and is) an incredible artist and designer. We knew within a few weeks that we'd be married, which we did 11 months later. That rash decision has over almost 25 years. We soon bought a little 300-year-old house with a postage-stamp-size yard in south NJ, and I became very handy with power tools and carpentry. In 1988 our son was born, and "this old house" started feeling a bit too small.
In 1995, our daughter was born, and soon we moved just down the street to our "newer" 250-year-old house. In the much-bigger yard (now measuring in acres instead of feet) are about 20 chickens (and yes, they all have names), 1 cat, some fish, too many rabbits, and various other critters that have take up residence in the garage and woods behind the house.
Also in 1995, I hooked up with some incredible musicians to form Brainstatik, a sort-of-progressive rock band in which I play synths. I also ran (and hosted) the Cosmic Coffeehouse, a monthly live concert for unusual and original musicians in NJ. And yes, for those of you "who knew me when," I am STILL a big Yes fan, and even met Jon Anderson once! And in 2003, I finally got to meet and thank my idol, artist Roger Dean, for inspiring me to follow my creative muse.
So, here we are, well into the 21st century. Ruth's teaching art classes, illustrating and designing. Both kids are amazingly talented artists (of course!), with our son now off at art college in Philly, and our daugher competing in irish dancing. And we each have our own Macs... ahh, technology!
My life's been really hectic... I just NEVER have much free time, so I've been terrible with keeping in touch with old friends (though I'm making more of an effort lately, such as doing THIS). My job moved to Manhattan in 2005, so my free time has been cut down even further by the 2 1/2-hour commute each way. On the positive side, my band is gaining momentum and playing about a gig per month now, which is a LOT for us!
For those of you who knew me, I'm still a sci-fi junkie, closet scientist, dreamer, designer, an artist, music player and music listener, so except for some extra weight and fading vision as I progress beyond the half-century mark, I am still young at heart and try to face life with the same humor and sense of wonder as I did when I was a teen. So much still to do...
-Ken Palmer (updated March 2009)
School
After spending a single way-too-short year at (and graduating from...Expand for more
) "Starship NBTHS," I went to Rutgers in New Brunswick, toured with the performance art troupe "Elircus Magnus," played weird music with "Liquid Idiot," produced a lot of avant garde art, played acoustic guitar, bought my first synthesizer, and gave up the Gremlin X for a beat-up old '66 Dodge van for hauling my paintings and sculptures. I graduated RU with a BA in Fine Art (With Distinction) in 1979. Assuming that people just land "an art job" right out of college, I proceeded to NOT land an art job.
This previously idealistic young artist finally shook off his disappointment that nothing in his life worked out as he'd hoped, and attended Middlesex County College to fill in the gaps to earn Certificates in Commercial Art and Photography.
College
I covered most of this already in the "School" section, so here's a quick opinion of my college experience:
Four years of friends and (mostly) fun, a well-rounded education, but practical preparation for NOTHING. Most of my friends ended up in careers that had nothing to do with their degrees. Liberal Arts students could have used a little bit more guidance in what to expect AFTER college... Real Life 101.
I DID love most of my classes. I owe a lot to Phil Orenstein as a mentor. But I don't have any RAH RAH attachment to Rutgers. All the Alumni Association has done for me is ask for money.
Sorry, but it was a mixed experience for me.
Workplace
Soon after college, I moved to East Brunswick to share a house with a few friends, grabbed occasional freelance design gigs, and watched a part-time retail job turn into a full-time career detour for most of the '80s. Somehow I became a buyer for electronics, which at least evolved into producing the company's radio spots, catalogs, and print advertising.
Finally (and fortunately) kicked out of retail by the economic downturn of the late '80s, I freelanced for awhile, doing illustration and advertising work. In 1992 I landed a fulltime gig on Bloomberg LP's magazine staff in Princeton. After a short stint in their Creative Services department, I moved back over to the magazine biz as Art Director of "Bloomberg Markets Japan" magazine in 2000, and soon the whole office moved to NYC. Then, after 6 years there, the company laid me off in August of 2010. I am now looking for work and back to freelancing.
If you want to re-connect with me, you're better off these days finding me on Facebook, which is my current cyber-hangout, and a great place for redisovering what my old NBTHS friends are up to
Register for Free to view all details!
Reunions
