Soul Mosaic

I have worn many hats in life – writer, artist, lexicographer, scientist, book lover, ethicist, mother, teacher, wife…woman.

This blog started out in 2008 with the mosaic metaphor, as my early posts covered a wide range of topics. I’ve always been a person of many interests, and those things were the “bits” that, combined, made me who I was.

After a few years, I took a break from the blog to pursue new career directions in science museum education. However, it is time to return, and in a different way. The mosaic theme will still apply, but those bits will come from within me. It is time to give the past its due.

My original path for over 30 years was in the medical field – clinical and research laboratories, pharmaceutical AIDS research, and medical ethics on an Independent Review Board (IRB) protecting human subjects in research studies.

At the same time, I wrote science articles, CliffsNotes, and was a cultural editor for a dictionary – essentially a “professional freelance word-lover.”

As mentioned above, I then had the opportunity to spend 15 years reveling in a new path: Exciting students and the public about the wonderful and weird world of science at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh, NC. While everything I did in life mattered to me, this particular role allowed me to be the mentor to encourage and inspire kids to find their paths, not give up, and believe in themselves, all while returning to my own childhood roots – having FUN with science and kids!

But to return to this blog – I am now retired from the museum and am a full-time writer and artist. I still seek to inspire the world, but this time through a different “mosaic,” a memoir.

The pieces for this particular mosaic are all the broken, mismatched, and unwanted bits of my life-almost 3 decades of childhood physical and sexual abuse. In examining that past, I also get to change and infuse my future with new life. Looking back gives the gifts of understanding, healing, and meaning. So it is, then, also a journey of hope,

While I have other projects in various planning stages that I will share in the future, first, it is time to tell the story of rebuilding me, of how I built my personal mosaic. The other writing projects will come later.

So, for the time being, this blog will be a “brainstorming space” to map out topics that the memoir will cover and also a place to share my truth and my process with anyone who might want to follow the journey.