Jason Morphew

Jason Morphew lives in Los Angeles with his wife, children, and a well-educated rescue dog named Lhüwanda that monitors his classes. Dr. Morphew was born and raised in Hot Springs, Arkansas, a roaring-twenties resort town whose roar had long faded by the time he arrived. His disorganized campaigns to restore the roar utterly failed.

While an undergraduate at Yale, Dr. Morphew frequently performed in New York City nightclubs. This led to the release of several albums on independent rock labels and a music publishing deal with Sony/ATV. It also brought him to California, where—except for a brief sojourn in Little Rock, Arkansas—he’s lived ever since. Dr. Morphew loves California and joins Tom Petty in hoping it never falls into the sea.

Dr. Morphew’s academic specialty is English Renaissance Literature, and he delights in teaching texts from that era—especially Donne, Marlowe, and Shakespeare. In addition to SOHS, Dr. Morphew has taught literature and creative writing at UC Davis, UCLA, Mt. St. Mary’s University (LA), and Astra Nova School. He’s published four collections of poetry, along with many essays and book reviews. He’s sold one screenplay and written a dozen others. He ghostwrites celebrity memoirs and edits novels on a frantic freelance basis.

Tennis, pre-code Hollywood, the Aeolian Islands, and motorcycles number among Dr. Morphew’s passions. When he’s exhausted, he watches the dumbest TV he can find. Lately that means Family Feud, whose scoring system Dr. Morphew challenges anyone to explain.