David Avila

I am named after my father’s father, Cleofas, but given my own destiny. David — my mother’s doing. She insisted my own name, my identity led. David Cleofas.
The family name is one of many, a strong name. Avila.
David Cleofas Avila.
I am a creative. I paint. I write. I make music and live with schizophrenia. I manage well by taking my medicine. I've taken this medicine since it first came to market. A Dr. John Joel Kohut, MD. of the Kohut Psychiatric Medical Group sent me home with a starter pack. I couldn’t maintain compliance and it was bumpy, but I have finally accepted that were it not for this pill — I would slip into a fugue.
On it, I have managed well — I have a B.A. in Psychology. I even when to graduate school. Back then, I thought becoming a therapist would kill the Kraken that disturbed my once still waters. I became a peer counselor because I had heart. Of course, the Kraken lived. Waves carried me to a marker in a psyche ward. My marker drawings inspired me paint with oil. I was already a competent singer/songwriter blues harmonica player with a lifetime of writing poetry.
Now. I understand why I am a creative. Expression calms my soul. Quiets the mind. Whatever the science behind it. The Kraken put me on the dis...

B.A. Psychology - Sonoma State University, 2008.