Eight Random Facts about Me . . .

I was tagged for this meme by Kris at Inside Art and Words . . .

1.  I've never lived farther than 50 miles or so from the beaches of the west coast (and usually much closer), except for 10 months in 1973 when I lived in Denver, Colorado. (I grew up in west Los Angeles.)

2.  I became a born-again christian in 1972 and spent most of the 70's in church, so I don't recognize most pop songs from that era.  I left around 1980 when I had the revelation that the church was about power, not love. I used to sneak into the local community college and read copies of Ms. Magazine, which radicalized me.  The book that turned my life around at that time was:  From Housewife to Heretic by Sonia Johnson, the woman who was excommunicated from the Mormon church for supporting the ERA.  (Remember the ERA?)  I wasn't a Mormon, but her account of her experiences with the church had many parallels to mine.  That book introduced me to the feminist concept of patriarchy.

3.  My bachelor's degree from UC Irvine is in English and Comparative Literature, not Art.  I'm a self-taught artist and didn't start drawing and painting in earnest until my late 20's.

4.  Craig and I live in a straw bale house that we designed and built together in 1999-2000.  It's a "hand-made house" and I love it.  We dropped blessing herbs into the wet cement of the foundation and our friends inscribed blessings and prayers there.  Of course you can't see them now, but we know they're there.

5.  I've had pulmonary emboli (blood clots in my lungs) four times — 1977, 1984, 1986, 1993 — and nearly died each time.  These episodes left me with limited lung capacity due to large amounts of dead lung tissue, so I get short of breath quite easily.   I'm very grateful to be alive (a cliche, but true nonetheless).

6.  I've been with Craig for ten years, handfasted for eight and married for seven.  Handfasting and marriage both happened on Spring Equinox, so we have a movable date for our anniversary.  It's a third marriage for both of us, and we intend it to be the last.

7.  I have been having fantasies about the kind of artwork I'd like to do after I finish my Gaian Tarot deck.  Something free and wild and spontaneous, just the opposite of the tightly controlled photorealistic work I do now.  I'd also like to get back to nature journaling, which I miss dreadfully.

8.  I've always been a bookworm.  I've never been without 2 or 3 books I'm reading simultaneously, and I feel like I'm in withdrawal if I don't have a book to read.  (Currently I'm re-reading The Moor by Laurie R. King and have picked up the audiobook Animal Vegetable Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver again after temporarily abandoning it in favor of The Tin Roof Blowdown by James Lee Burke.  I have eclectic tastes.  Oh yes, and I finished the new Harry Potter.  Have I mentioned that I read fast?)

I tag Lunaea.