I graduated from Lane Tech HS in 1974 courtesy of Title IX. Afterwards, I tripped around Carthage, IL before moving to the Bay Area in California and tripped around. In 1984 I joined the Army; after returning from the First Gulf War's deployment in 1991, I graduated from the University of Central Florida, Orlando with a BA in Liberal Studies. In 1994, I left the Army when my son was born. In 1999, I took a job with a Pharmaceutical Research Organization as a Data Manager and moved to Kansas City with the company in 2000. When my son graduated from high school in 2012, I changed occupations and moved to Slovakia as an English teacher for one year. From 2015 - 2019, I lived in China and worked as an English teacher. Since returning to Kansas City, I bought a house, so I am here to stay. I work as an Office Director for Veterans Voices Writing Project, since 1946 a magazine that has published three times a year the writings of military veterans.