: About Me

Mother of six plus three international students from China. I built and operated two natural foods stores, one in San Francisco and one in Chicago where I published a weekly newsletter featuring topics ranging from agriculture and environmental issues to Swedish cooking (I am not Swedish). Currently living in the Santa Cruz mountains of Northern California, where I arrived on this planet some fifty years ago.

My passion is ...

playing cards with my eight year-old.

I know too much about ...

the eating habits of banana slugs.

My parents always told me ...

if I slow down I won't skin my knees so often.

My childhood ambition ...

to be the mayor of San Francisco. Or a veterinarian.

My favorite memory ...

It happened on the 14 Mission, late one night in 1986. The sweetest thing I've ever seen.

Why I write ...

Uh, it helps me think.

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

Hafiz and Cormac McCarthy.

My first job ...

Truck driver.

My best moment ...

I am having them all the time.

My inspiration ...

My family.

Creative Writing > Reflections Reflections: Why humans need pain

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Very few of us lead a pain-free existence. Those that do, well, they don't. Pain is as common to the human experience as joy, love, fear, and anger. It is a necessary component to our existence; meaning, that we cannot exist without it. Because I have not yet defined pain, the reader may be inclined to argue. That's O.K., because I could be wrong. But I don't think so. Pain comes to us in many forms. Some of these are assigned to us at the moment of our conception. If you happen to be forming in the womb of a woman whose life is being lived in a state of abject poverty, whose family is on ...

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