1. I was a Vocal Performance major with a minor in opera and oratorio at Eastman School of Music.
2. My hair is naturally curly.
3. I was on tour in Romania (11 cities in 21 days) with a music group in 1973 before the Iron Curtain fell.
4. I am eligible to be a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
5. Turning 50 was much easier than turning 30. And at this point in my life, I feel far freer about voicing my opinions, to the chagrin of my teenage daughter.
6. I was a short order cook for one morning and a paid soloist in church choirs for many years.
7. At one time, I was an instructor for Adult Leader Basic Training with the Boy Scouts of America. I taught people how to be Den Leaders.
8. My three children were raised by me alone for ten years. I had one job from which I earned less than $30K a year, received no child support and to this day have no idea how we made it.
9. I obfuscated my way into my first paying proofreading job by saying that I had been editor in chief of my school newspaper after telling the person interviewing me what college was like. I had been editor in chief of a school newspaper, but that was in high school.
10. My tonsils were removed when I was 19. I had to relearn how to speak and sing because of the removal of scar tissue which was obstructing my throat. Breathing was a whole new experience too.
11. I am a published poet.
12. I studied music for a summer in Switzerland.
13. When I wanted to learn how to play the guitar I taught myself. Then I spent a summer teaching children how to play.
14. In college for the second time, I had a full-time job as an executive secretary during the day and supervised a student darkroom at night while attending classes full time.
15. Counted among my ancestors are Kit Carson, Mayflower voyagers, and horse thieves in Virginia.
16. I’ve lived in New England most of my life and have family roots here going back to the 1600’s.
17. I consider myself a very shy person, to the point of social phobia, but am totally comfortable performing onstage in front of large crowds.
18. I spent the summer after I graduated from high school working for my grandmother for $2 an hour. It was the hardest job I’ve ever had. She had me doing tasks including taking windows apart and cleaning them, ironing with a machine she called a “mangle” and picking blackberries to be sold at a local organic market.
19. I used to practice singing out in the pasture near where I grew up. I worked at it long and hard until I could hear the echo of my voice come back to me from the mountains miles away. My parents used to send me there to practice the bass clarinet, too.
20. I loved high school marching band.
21. In 1974 I drove an electric car around my home town just for the joy of watching people stare at its noiselessness.
22. Socially, I give people on my guest lists three strikes. If I invite someone to two different events and s/he doesn’t show up after agreeing to attend, that person is deliberately crossed off any future guest lists.
23. One of my sons is an Eagle Scout.
24. My husband says that one of the reasons he married me was that I’m the kind of woman he could picture taking off across the prairie in a covered wagon. No wonder he’s my best friend.
25. I have no illusions that anyone on Open Salon will take note of or care about what I write in this list.

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