Patrick Germain lives in Philadelphia, by way of a small town in Connecticut, Montreal, New York, and Taipei. He graduated from McGill University with a bachelors in Philosophy and East Asian Studies, the latter focusing on Chinese language. An autodidact trained in several languages, including Kurdish, his study of philosophy, cultures, languages, and history is motivated by those bright flashes in time when people transcend the current system and find ways to live more freely and cooperatively.