About the Author

Thomas Ross Swanson (generally aka “Thom,” though he’ll honestly answer to pretty well anything) was born on December 28^th, 1991, in Minneapolis Minnesota. On the face of it, that sounds like the makings for the beginning of a pretty conventional Mid-Western upbringing, so before we go too far down that narrative, it’s probably worth clarifying that both of his parents were missionary kids, from Ecuador and Nepal respectively. Thus, while the first five years of his life may have been accordingly filled with snowmen and sledding, it wasn’t long before his family’s cultural entropy took effect, and he has since laid claim to homes as comparatively mundane as Up State New York or Northern California, to those as far flung as the U.S. Virgin Island St. Croix or a Hill Station in Northern India.

He shares the resultant identity crisis invariably stemming from such offensive questions as “So where are you from?” with his three sisters, whom he largely credits for many facets of his current personality, including an unflinching immunity to even the sappiest of chick flicks, a familiar willingness to sleep on motel floors, and probably, his off-puttingly overdeveloped sense of chivalry. In short, if you’re familiar with the “K” phenomenon—i.e. TCK (Third Culture Kid); MK (Missionary or “Mish” Kid); even PK (Pastor’s Kid—but they’re Lutherans, so it’s pretty cool still)—the Swanson family can probably make a convincing argument for its applicability.

That considered, Thom is generally remarkably well adjusted. He graduated salutatorian from Woodstock School in 2010, and currently splits his year between Boston, where he studies Architecture at Northeastern University, and Delaware, where he pursues the benefits of rent-free living and unlimited woodshop access in his parents’ basement.

When he’s not testing the limits of hours per week in the context of the human capacity for sleep deprivation #PromoteRealisticSocietalPerceptionsOfArchitects, he enjoys hiking, indulging in geek/nerd culture, anything pertaining to dinosaurs and/or the How to Train Your Dragon series, getting caught in the rain, and long walks on the beach. He pretends to passably speak English, Spanish, and French, and can do remedial shopping in Hindi or German. He is also fairly good at anything up to 200 level maths, and doing fake accents.

His other hobbies and interests include trading monkey stories, building ridiculous stuff like this,

 randomly bursting in Disney Song with little to no provocation, and writing about himself in third person. He is also bad at conclusions.

Queries? Hit me up!  evensareodds@trswanson.com