Born in the District of Columbia during Ronald Reagan’s second term, Lyman-Schmidt acquired early and abundant evidence that structural oppression exists and has been trying to figure out what to do about it ever since.
When a BA in Literary Arts (fiction writing) and Africana Studies didn’t seem to help, he tried working as a ranch hand, criminal defense investigator, bartender, roofer, soup kitchen chef, purveyor of donated children’s books, digital librarian, and radio host instead. Throughout that time he’s been committed to the collective production of music, prose, and political commentary in his community. That has included editing and publishing the anti-oppression publication The ChimpanZine in Bellingham WA, co-producing Decarcerate Radio on the LPFM station WPEB in West Philly, and organizing the DIY music festival West Philly Porchfest, as well as years of songwriting and touring with the mandolin-bass gutter-folk duo Driftwood Soldier.
During the same time, his fiction, including his first novel, Ottoman Simmons, has been selectively published in limited runs by copying machines throughout the non-profit industrial complex, and widely distributed by email and bicycle.