20 Things You Don’t Know About Me

I would like to introduce you to myself with one of those fun quizzes where you tell what your favorite things are…except I don’t have a quiz in front of me so I’m going to make a list of the first things that come to my head.  If you like, send us things that pop into your head about yourself by adding your comment below this article.  Let’s share!

1.  Did you know I was involved as a founding member of a performance art group for 25 years in Detroit?  It started out with my boyfriend’s best friend in college inviting anybody who wanted to party on stage. I couldn’t imagine what I could do onstage, but we went to watch the auditions.  It ended up with me going up to the mike to read some poetry to give the electronic musicians some structure to work around.  It worked like a charm! It was named the Motor City Free Arts Group (MCFAG).
2. When I joined MCFAG, I fell in love with electronic voice. The electronic musicians of the group altered my voice with their instruments while I did dramatic readings of my poetry. I later bought synthesizers and a guitar to do it on my own.
3. When I fell in love with electronic voice, I was just transferring to the University of Michigan and decided I wanted to major in oral interpretation.  Since they didn’t have that available, they offered me a second major in Theater.  I had almost finished my major in English, so I ended up with a double degree in English and Theater.  (Although I always sucked at acting, I enjoyed learning sound tech and costumes.)
4. As a poet, I had some pieces published in journals and was featured in a book by Detroit’s Horizons in Poetry, but mostly I performed my poetry live onstage and on the radio throughout Michigan, Canada and in Chicago.  I produced poetry shows around Detroit to showcase local poets, got a grant to produce video shows of MCFAG, and performed many a time on WDET radio in Detroit and the college radio station at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
5. I spent three to four months each in the following places:  London, Chicago, Los Angeles and Guatemala.  I studied Shakespeare and Commonwealth writing in London, worked in public relations at a pie company in Chicago, worked in public relations at Beno’s Department Store headquarters in LA, and taught English to Spanish-speakers in Guatemala.
6. After my term at Sarah Lawrence College in London, I took my French touring bike that my now-husband had bought me and toured the Pas-de-Calais in France for a month by myself.  I had a backpack with a space blanket in it and biked 50 miles a day to the next youth hostel. I usually carried a baguette with cheese and fruit and stopped along the way for wine. When I went to restaurants, the French were so friendly they would invite me to their tables to partake of their meal and ask me about America. Since I was riding a French touring bike through the country, the French would call out to me, “Mademoiselle, are you in the Tour de France?” because the Tour de France was going on at that same time.
7. I had four years of French in high school so I was able to converse when I was in France. I just had to constantly ask for people to slow down when they spoke to me. At one restaurant, one Frenchman gave me a tip.  He said, “You don’t have to find the exact word.  For instance, if you can’t remember the work for salt shaker, just say ‘would you please pass the thing that has salt in it?'”  I also visited Montreal and Paris. Each time before I went, I would brush up on my French first. Once I just used my old French textbooks and the last time I attended a French meetup in the Greater Detroit Area once a week to speak to others in French.
8. I didn’t know Spanish before going to Guatemala, so I took a beginning Spanish class before I went. Then when I was there, I studied a little each day out of a Spanish grammar book.  By the end of three months there, I was speaking fluently. After I got back home, I realized that French and Spanish were so much alike that I was getting them mixed up. So I intentionally wiped the Spanish out of my mind so that I could focus on my French without getting confused. If you have any tips about how to handle both of these together without confusion, please let me know! Lol
9. I come from a family of artistically talented people. It’s in our blood. Everyone has their own particular talents. My father painted with acrylics, oils and silk-screen. My mother was a dance teacher at Arthur Murray’s School of Dance, which is how she met my father. One of my sisters has acting talent, my other sister has talent in drawing (even likenesses) and photography, and my brother is such a good craftsman that he has done work in customizing at a car dealer and can rebuild a house in a snap. My daughter can sing beautifully and is artistically talented in many genres. My son is a working actor in New York and has starred in over half a dozen independent films, many shows off-Broadway, was recently in one on Broadway, had a few spots in television shows, plus more.
10. When I was a little girl, I wanted to be a nun when I grew up. I would dress up as one and pretend I was one. I even wanted to go to a Catholic school (I was brought up Catholic). I now feel lucky that my parents didn’t want to spend the money to do that!
11. I grew up in the suburbs in a family like “Leave It to Beaver”.  To me, it was so perfect it was boring.  But what did I want…dysfunction? I should have been happy. Instead, I shed my obedient behavior as a child and became a rebellious teenager.
12. I loved to spend my days three ways when I was growing up, young and free:  1) In other worlds through stories and myth. I love to read novels, covered the greats, and was always deeply upset when a love was crossed (especially when no one spoke their true feelings to each other).  2) Swimming in an outdoor pool. I really was a show-off with my tricks and dives and spend more than half of my time underwater.  3) Drawing beautiful women from the comic books. I really want to find a fashion drawing course now, but it seems there aren’t any in my area now and the books just look so dry and complicated (I’d rather have fun doing it!)
13. Well, from the above first way I liked to spend my days when I grew up (#12.1), you might be able to tell that I tend toward introversion. Real-life drama from people scares me. I like to stay out of it.  :/
14. You might also be able to tell by #12.1 that I believe in love. It has always been the most important thing in the world to me. I married for love and I’ve stayed that way for 35 years without second thoughts.
15. Besides swimming, I love hiking, especially in the woods.  I love the trees, especially at their most beautiful in Autumn. It’s super great to ride a horse through the beautiful Autumn colors in the woods, on the hillsides.
16. Another sport I love is downhill skiing. I like to cross-country ski, too. When I lived in Detroit’s Cass Corridor, I used to ski down the street when there were record snowfalls and everything was too covered in snow to walk on – for fun!
17. That reminds me that when I was a kid and there was flooding in the streets, my parents would sit on the porch and let us kids swim in it in our bathing suits. Strangely, in those days it was clean water overflow. Well, it looked and felt clean and we never caught any diseases…and it sure was fun!…the things parents used to let kids do, huh?
18. I have lots more to tell you, but I’m going to have to finish up with things fashion and style. I love my jeans!…always did. When I worked in offices, I used to hurry home from work and change right into my jeans every day.
19. My signature piece is a scarf, and when it’s cold out I just about always have a shawl that I can wrap around me warmly, or put around my neck for warmth, or just throw over a shoulder if I get too warm.
20. My favorite place to buy clothes is Soft Surroundings. I love their styles and the clothes fit my body type. If I had more money, I’m sure I’d find other brands I could love.  But I can do Soft Surroundings with much ease and happiness!

What are some of your favorite things? Let us know in the comments below!

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Things You Don't Know About Me