Born in Washington, DC, I was raised in Southern California where I ran wild with coyotes in the hills above Malibu. Although I protested the war in Vietnam, burned my bra for feminism, and am a social liberal but a fiscal conservative, I ultimately realized I had to earn a living. After spending way too many years in college, in the process earning an undergraduate degree and three graduate degrees, I entered the military-industrial complex after an academic career as a student and teacher. I count myself a survivor of the corporate brainwashing, because I still have the ability to think. Not outside the box or any other cliche, but creatively and objectively. Married for nearly twenty-five years to the same man, I am a writer, a thinker, the mother of three grown stepchildren, companion and friend. I find time to work with young women, mentoring them to succeed in the workplace without losing their identity, write fiction, play golf, sail, hike and read. I write on ecological issues for two local newspapers and frequently publish essays in regional magazines. I love riding behind my husband on his motorcycle. You’ll have to decide for yourself if and where I have a tattoo.