Just A Bit About Me

I’ve received many emails inquiring about who I am and what drives me to write this blog everyday. It is a labor of love for sure, as there aint’ no money in blogging just yet, but I get as much from you as I give, so it’s no big sacrifice on my part. So in response to the inquiries, I thought I’d share as much personal information as I’m willing to part with at this point.

What to say about me? Hmmm. I live in Seattle, love the gray but hate how long it hangs around, left my job at a non-profit for six weeks of maternity leave, over nine years ago, and haven't been back. I never intended to be a stay at home mom, but I never thought I'd have kids either, so clearly I didn't know much at 25. I have a nine-year-old daughter who is so much like me (fiery, opinionated, smart, a little stubborn) that it's a constant challenge to parent her. She is a lovely girl, everything I want her to be as an adult, but that can cause some problems when it's my job to steer her in the right direction, since she's not easily led.

I have a four-year-old son who loves his mom so much that he doesn’t give her any grief. I call him my reward child. My husband is a musician but since that doesn't support a family of four, he has also learned to love his computer geek inside (don't ask me what he does because it's all Geek to me, programmer, build engineer, whatever, I don't know). He's also a very smart man because he's the one who saw me spinning out of control after the '04 election, set up an account at blogger, bought me a laptop, sat me down and said "write". The rest you can read on this now flourishing blog.

I love Seattle, it's a beautiful place and it's a city that feels more like a small town. The people are nice, it has seasons, which I like, although the summer is a bit too short for my taste. In short, I've made a life I love here. But I am a small town girl at heart, and sometimes I long for the smaller, closer knit community that comes along with that. I grew up in a college town in northern California that is surrounded by farmland. It was a great place to grow up and my entire family is still there and I miss them very much. It truly is "red state" meets "blue state" there. A lot of rednecks, stock car races, fishing on the river, cheap beer and BBQ's, but the conservative bent is tempered by the influence of the college making them, in my opinion, the best people in the world.

When I go back home I get a lot of "girl, you sure are smart" and “take it to ‘em missy.” They don't all necessarily agree with what I write on my blog, but they read it nonetheless and they are the first to support me in my endeavors. I like to think I'm slowly bringing the conservatives among them around. My immediate family has always been fairly liberal, but some have a decidedly conservative bent and a few of the more liberal ones didn't marry well in that regard (but they did in all the ways that matter, that’s for sure).

My mom was a struggling single mother from the time I was eight and her financial situation hasn't changed much since then. She worries daily about what will happen to her, and that’s just not right. She's worked hard her whole life, doing medical billing (after working at the nut factory, the hardware store and stint at Dairy Queen) and has no retirement to speak of. Her struggle is what fuels a lot of my writing, because there is something so fundamentally wrong with a country that doesn’t value hard work and what a feat it is to raise two great kids, and she did it all with dignity and grace. My dad is a history teacher, a political satirist and largely responsible for my addiction to politics. He always taught me that what I do matters, and that doing nothing in the face of injustice, is never an option. He couldn't be prouder of what I am doing now. Becoming a doctor or a lawyer would have been a disappointment by comparison.

I guess that gives you a little insight into who I am. It seems pretty clear that, to me, family is of the utmost importance. I don’t view politics as a spectator sport and I care deeply about what happens in the world around me, but those closest to me are what matter most. Being closer to more of them is the only thing that could ever drive me away from my beautiful home in Seattle. I'm a poor, small town girl turned middle class mom in the city. I'd say my life is pretty good. I just won’t rest until everyone is able to say the same.