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I grew up all over the southwestern United States, including New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, and California (both southern
and northern). I like to tell it this way: I was born in Los Alamos, New Mexico; and then we moved to Denver, Colorado; and
then we moved to Mojave, California; and then we moved to Tuscon, Arizona; and then we moved to another house in Tuscon; and
then we moved to Palmdale, California; and then we moved to Littlerock, California -- and there I finished the second grade.
Our family's moves slowed down a bit after that. I finished up the second grade, completed the third grade, and was halfway
through the fourth when we moved to Santa Clara, California. We actually stayed in Santa Clara four whole years -- but I attended
two different schools -- an elementary and a middle school. (We called them "Junior High" then.) Just before I was to graduate
from Junior High, my family moved down to Pomona, California. But I and my sister were allowed to stay. She lived with our
next door neighbors, while I stayed with a family my father knew from work. That was a bit strange, because I didn't know
them at all -- and I acted like the perfect surly teenager, of course. I rejoined my family in Pomona for the summer, and
then ended up in another "Junior High," because it was a three-year instead of two-year school.
Shortly after I started high school, the family moved to Claremont, a nearby town, and I graduated from Claremont High. The
family -- and later, my mother alone, following my father's death -- stayed in that house for nearly thirty years. But of
course, I was off to other adventures, and followed the pattern of moving frequently on my own: Oakland (Holy Names College),
Santa Barbara (UCSB, where I met my first husband), San Jose (San Jose State), several locations in Ontario -- from which
I commuted to go to Cal State L.A., Cal State Long Beach, Cal State Pomona, and Cal State Fullerton. There are actually two
degrees in there: B.A. and M.A. from Cal State Long Beach. Along the way, I gave birth to a daughter (1972), divorced husband
#1, and married husband #2.
At the age of 35, I "ran away from home" to pursue a doctorate at the University of Iowa School of Journalism and Mass Communication,
which I received in 1994.
I lived in Iowa City for 5 1/2 years while I pursued my doctorate, taught journalism, and served as editor to the Journal of Communication Inquiry Volume 12. I spent
another year in Des Moines (for a temporary job as managing editor for the sociology journal, Social Problems), and then ended up moving to Rochester, New York, for a university teaching job I left in 1994. I have also taught at Rochester
Institute of Technology, and Monroe Community College.
I have been in Rochester since 1990. I would like to move to Madison, Wisconsin, to be near my daughter and blended family
of seven grandchildren, but that just hasn't been feasible for a number of reasons. Some day it WILL happen.
I have two cats, Tigger and Dottie. Tigger is 14 and Dottie is 2 1/2. I have had lots of cats in my lifetime. In the summer
of 2002, I lost "Kitty" (my daughter named her -- I joke that she was named after Kitty Dukakis), whom I had to put down at
the age of 14. She was a beautiful chocolate Seal Point Siamese/Iowa barn cat mix. It was very hard to let go of her. She
had been mine longer than any other cat, and she was a good friend.
I have been divorced longer now than my two marriages combined. More about that someday ... Suffice it to say for now that
I enjoy my independence.
I am devoted to progressive political causes (the term "liberal" is too far to the right for me). I am deeply concerned with
issues of gender, race, class, ethnicity, disability, religious tolerance and freedom, and numerous other equity-related causes.
I have posted a great deal on the Women's Studies Listserv (WMST-L), which you can find by searching the web for my first
and last names together as a phrase.
I have been involved with the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) since 1969, and I am profoundly concerned with what Quaker
founder George Fox spoke of as "taking away the occasion for war" -- that is, creating the conditions in which lasting peace
is possible.
As A.J. Muste said -- "There is no way to peace. Peace is the Way."
I currently attend the Rochester (NY) Meeting.
For more information about Quakers, see the online library published by Friends General Conference.
More to come ...
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