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David Joel Thomas is an Assistant Professor and Program Director of Creative Arts at Bellevue University. He holds a Master of Fine Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a Master of Arts in Philosophy from DePaul University. His dual training reflects his commitment to bridging the gap between critical research and creative synthesis. He organizes his multidisciplinary practice around anecdotal ecosystems that underpin indigeneity, transnational migration, and diaspora. Through the lens of his Near Eastern heritage as an Assyrian American and international upbringing in Pakistan, Turkey, and Afghanistan, his work explores that precise moment when it becomes possible to transform chaotic conditions into creative process. Reflecting seemingly divergent pathways are three interrelated, critical-creative projects: The Perfect Hours, a series of short, free-spirited liturgical fictions; Back Wars, an improvisatory design exploration of Ancient Mesopotamian architectural typologies; and Grief-Work, a visual/literary meditation on diasporic storytelling and place-making.