Michael Minn

Geography

I am a PhD student in Geography at The University of Illinois with a research focus on transportation - specifically American intercity passenger rail in the context of increasing energy resource scarcity. Other research interests include renewable energy, urban infrastructure, open-source GIS and the geography of food. I have a Master of Arts degree in Geography from Hunter College, where my thesis project was TRAMM, a web-based framework for visualizing "transportation poverty."

American Passenger Rail Network Durability and the Spaces of Actor-Network Theory, presented at the 2012 West Lakes - East Lakes Joint Meeting of the Association of American Geographers in DeKalb, IL.
The Political Economy of High Speed Rail in the United States, forthcoming in Mobilities, and originally presented at the 17th Annual Mini-Conference on Critical Geography in Milwaukee.
A look back at the 1967 Midwest High Speed Rail Transit Conference, presented at the 2011 West Lakes AAG Meeting in Chicago, and forthcoming in the Journal of Transport Geography
The Geography of Chinese Restaurants in New York City, presented at the 2011 Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting
An analysis of renewable and non-renewable energy sources with a summary of current usage and potential future availability

I am an avid photographer and have assembled an extensive collections of photographs taken during my journeys:

Linux

I am an advocate for the Linux computer operating system and have used it on my home systems since 2000. I have been working with various flavors of UNIX since graduating from North Texas State with a Master's degree in Computer Science. I worked as a C/UNIX programmer in Dallas at Texas Instruments and VISystems before moving to New York City and I have completed the CTA network administration and design program at Columbia University.

I have written and support the following open-source projects:

MMQGIS: a set of useful python plugins for the QGis open-source mapping and analysis software package.
MMUSBAUDIO: an OSS device driver for the Roland USB audio devices
MMZX80: a utility for transferring programs for the Sinclair ZX-81 (a $100 microcomputer from the early 1980s) from cassette to digital files that can be run in a Linux ZX-81 emulator
MMPTP: a Linux utility for downloading pictures from PTP digital cameras

I have written numerous Linux on Laptops installation instructions for a variety of machines:

Music

I've been performing music of some kind for most of my life and have been a singer/songwriter since the late 1980s, with an emphasis on vocal harmony. I have a music education degree from North Texas State (now UNT) and I've played a number of instruments at various times with varying levels of proficiency. This website includes MP3 collections of some of my work.

Pop vocal MP3s
Instrumental MP3s (trombones / guitars)
I wrote and produced Mossadegh, a rock opera based on the C.I.A.-orchestrated 1953 Iranian coup, for the 2004 New York International Fringe Festival and the show website had a surprising afterlife, receiving attention from the BBC, Radio Farda, and numerous Iranian blogs
I wrote and produced the musical comedy The Irreplaceable Commodity for the 2003 New York International Fringe Festival
I marched for three seasons with the drum corps Blue Stars (1980), Louisiana Southernaires (1981) and Madison Scouts (1984). Photos and reminiscences from those experiences are HERE...

Theatre / Web

From 1991-2006 I worked in theatre in New York City. Off-Broadway I appeared as a performer in the musicals Making Tracks and Shanghai Lil's. Regionally I appeared in productions of 42nd Street (Julian), The Pajama Game (Sid), The King & I (King). Television credits include All My Children, As The World Turns, The City, Law & Order and background work on an extensive number of other forgettable television shows and feature films. You may view my theatrical photo résumé HERE...

I toured four seasons with the award-winning children's theatre company Theatreworks/USA (Secret Garden, Swiss Family Robinson, Charlotte's Web, Romeo & Juliet) and worked as a stage manager with Artspower, The Kaleidoscope Theatre Company and the 78th Street Theatre Lab. At various times I have been a member of The Dramatists Guild, Actors Equity Association, AGMA, AFTRA and SAG.

Aside from my personal web content, I am also maintain the following performing arts-related websites (in meticulously hand-coded HTML and PHP):

The National Asian-American Theatre Company
The Kaleidoscope Theatre Company
Andros on Ballet - a ballet history site for teacher Dick Andros
An exhaustive Louis Armstrong discography
A Sarah Vaughan discography
Three centuries of my family's history on The Privett Family Website

Songs have become, for lack of a better word, trivial: not through any less effort from the best musicians, but through the unexpected combination of a nearly infinite supply, constant availability, suboptimum sound quality and the intangibility I've always thought I would welcome (Jon Pareles).