: About Me

Hi! So, here's a little about me in convenient list form:

* I live in Indianapolis, Indiana.
* I have a husband, a 6-yr old daughter and a 3-yr old son.
* I am a composer, mostly piano music, but also some vocal and choral music.  I'm hoping to launch my own freelance business selling my compositions as sheet music.
* I work in the claims department of the oldest continually operating insurance company in the US.
* I speak English and Japanese, have a basic knowledge of Portuguese and Spanish and am studying French.
* I graduated from Indiana State Univ. in 2002 with a degree in music (and a minor in linguistics).
* I have volunteered with Partners of the Americas.
* I finished writing a reference book on the Japanese language. I'm currently working on one about essay writing and one about funny stories from the world of insurance claims. 
* I'm a news junkie.
* I love to play classical piano and study music theory.
* I'm an avid reader: I have a list of 851 books, mostly classics with a few others mixed in. 
* We have a custom truck that we take to car shows. We've won a few awards for best graphics. My husband did it all himself.
* I love music of all kinds, including classic rock, modern rock, punk, hip-hop, R&B, ska, reggae, house/ techno/trance/dance, jazz, blues, classical, Latin, J-rock, garage rock.
* My favorite food is sushi. And I could always go for a Killians or a Kirin Ichiban.
* My favorite game show is Jeopardy! (Dare anyone to challenge?) 

My passion is ...

reading and writing and equality

I know too much about ...

geography, language, literature and how to cook without MSG

My parents always told me ...

Always learn as much as you can. You'll never know when you'll need that info.

My childhood ambition ...

I wanted to be a singer. Now I want to teach writing or music.

My favorite memory ...

I met my husband on an Amtrak train running between Chicago and Indianapolis. (We sat next to each other.)

Why I write ...

I know someone out there feels the same as I do and can learn something from me.

What I am reading/watching/listening to ...

reading: "On the Origins of Species" (Charles Darwin) and "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest" (Steig Larsson); watching: my children learn; listening to: The Velvet Underground

My first job ...

helping my dad deliver the Sunday edition of the Indianapolis Star newspaper

My best moment ...

perhaps when my kids were born. (I'm so glad for epidurals!)

My inspiration ...

the great leaders of history

Arts & Humanities > English Language Should unused words be removed from new editions of English dictionaries?

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According to Oliver Wendell Holmes, the 19th century poet and author, “A word is not a crystal, transparent and unchanging; it is the skin of the living thought and may vary greatly in color and content according to the circumstances and time in which is it used.” People have long understood the importance of words, which is why they painstakingly carved their written words into stone and wood to record the events of the day.  With Gutenberg’s world-changing machine, it became easier to mass produce our words and share them with everyone.  As trade spread goods,...

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