Rob was born in 1988 in Des Moines, Iowa and moved around several times as a child before settling in Kansas City, Missouri in 1998. He graduated from college in 2011 with a degree in journalism. Rob loves baseball and developed an interest in sports in college. He is proud of his roots in Kansas City. In college, Rob was in a band called Andre and the Giants. He is now considering thesis topics related to improving cities through public transit, issues in professional sports leagues like concussions in the NFL, or managing an independent restaurant in New York City.

1. ROB’S LIFE
As well as his memories, desires, wishes, questions, motivations,
& some thesis ideas.

2. WHERE I COME FROM:
1988: Born in Des Moines, Iowa
1990: Move to Kansas City, Missouri
1994: Move to Seattle, Washington
1998: Move back to Kansas City, MO.
2011: Move to New York, NY.
Raised by single mother. Only child.
Graduate High School 2007.
Graduate College May 2011,
University of Missouri
Bachelor of Journalism,
emphasis in Photojournalism .
I wasn’t always a sports fan, but I developed a love of it in college.
Baseball is my favorite sport, but I also like the NFL and college
basketball and football. I’m not crazy of the NBA, NHL, or MLS.
However, World Cup Soccer and Olympic Hockey are awesome.

3. I LOVE KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI
I have a lot of pride in where I come from,
and I think it’s important for everyone to love where they’re from.

4. IN COLLEGE, I WAS IN A BAND.
We were called Andre and the Giants. We played a ton of shows,
recorded and released an EP and a full-length album with our own
time and money, went on tour once, and had a ton of fun.

5. ADMITTEDLY, I GET CAUGHT UP
IN THE ROMANTACISM of BASEBALL.
I think it’s a beautiful game that mimicks life, and
there is something in it that literally everyone can enjoy.

6. NOW I’M AT PRATT
And there are a few broad issues that I care about,
that MAY be able to be turned in my Thesis.
1) How do you do what is best for cities? How do you make them efficient,
safe, affordable, growing, and attractive? To perhaps be more focused,
how do you create a mass public transit system from scratch in a city that
could sustain one?
2) Labor relations between professional athletes and team owners, and
their ever turbulent history. What can be done to forever quiet the unrest
between the players and the owners. Focus on MLB, NFL and NBA. MLB
topic: steroids in the game, MLB’s fight against them and the idea of them,
and how MLB handles announcing the discovery of a positive steroid test.
NFL: Junio Seau and player safety regarding concussions, leading to de-
pression in retirement, leading to suicide. NBA: need to do (much) more
research. I am not familiar with the latest NBA strike that created this pre-
vious, shortened, season.
3) The logistics surrounding running a restaurant in New York City. Specifi-
cally, one that does not use a national or regional food vendor, but opts to
organize food delivery on its own with its own, hand-selected foods.