I'm 48 years old and live in Brooklyn, NY with my two cats: Tiger and Hanachan. I have studied psychology and philosophy at SUNY Oswego and at Indiana University. I spent five years studying pottery in Japan. I finally decided what I wanted to be when I grow up at 42: a writer. My first novel was published in 1998 in Germany. Since neither I nor any of my friends read German, no one I know has actually read the book. My third novel, a vampire novel set in Edinburgh during the reign of Queen Victoria, will be published next year. You can read about it in the at the publisher's website. If you are interested in reading some of my other work, please check the Library.

I have painted most of my life, mostly in oils. When I was in Japan, I had two one women shows of my pottery and paintings as well as participating in a number of group shows. Unfortunately, it's not practical to set up a pottery studio in a NYC apartment, but last fall I began taking classes in computer graphics, and I found a new way to express my artistic visions. If you would like to see some of my artwork, please check the Gallery.

I am editor and art director for NOLOSE NEWS, the quarterly publication for the National Organization for Lesbians of SizE. I became an fat activist four years ago, and aside for my work on the NOLOSE NEWS, I'm involved in planning the National Conference for Lesbians of Size.

I have been using a wheelchair for the past five years. Before that, I was home bound for almost a year before I got my first mobility scooter. In many ways, being in a wheelchair sucks: their are so many places that are not wheelchair accessible, and traveling is very difficult. But not having the wheelchair and being stuck in the house was a thousand times worse. I just got a new JAZZY power chair. I have named her Zephyrus, after the Greek goddess of the west wind. I'm planing to do a lot of zipping around on Zephyrus. If you see a fat woman in a purple power chair, that's probably me.

My current life goals (always subject to change) are to continue to write and work as a graphic artist/web designer I love the challenge of balancing the technical and aesthetic components of websites sites, and I find I have a real talent for graphic design.

My two roommates and house Deities are Tiger Samma and Hanachan.

I found Tiger when I was living in Japan. My sister, nieces and I went for a drive in the country one day, and this crow swooped down on the road in front of us. My sister jammed on the breaks, but we had scared the crow away. There in the road were three tiny kittens that had been abandoned. They looked about 3 weeks old, and I had to feed them with an eyedropper for two weeks before I could wean them on to solid food. Click here if you would like to see baby pictures of Tiger and his siblings. My younger niece named the runt of the litter "Tiger" -- that being an exotic name in Japan. I added the "Samma" (A Japanese honorific roughly equivalent to "Lord") because Tiger is and always has been a prince among cats, even if he does still think I'm his mommy.

Hannachan joined my household after I moved back to the US. A friend found two kittens abandoned in a cat carrier at the Home Depot where she worked. Of course she took them home. She asked me if I wanted to adopt one of them, and after a trail visit where Tiger hid under my bed and Hanna would get off my lap, I decided to adopt her. I named her "Hanachan" which loosely (very loosely) translates to "Flower child" from Japanese. She has a sweet, loving disposition and loves to play. She used to fit in my desk, and would sleep with her chin on my knee while I worked on the computer.