Saturday, December 31, 2011

Janine's Bio

     Janine spent her early youth in the old Indian Territory of Western Oklahoma. Her later youth was spent in the old Mexican lands of South Texas. She had ancestors tied to both lands and would often hear stories about them. Her mother used to brag she was part Cherokee, but it was never verified. Relatives contradicted her mother's claim. However, a cousin hesitated and then replied, "Oh yes, we did discover a scalp in grandmother Ellsworth's trunk in Oklahoma, after she died."
     After receiving a master's degree in sociology and a concentration in ethnic studies, she anxiously prepared to teach history and sociology with a multicultural focus.
     Janine taught in public and private high schools and junior colleges the past 30 years. Her background in multicultural history helped her understand her students, but it also helped her teach them about their cultural history, which is often neglected, in favor of Anglo Saxon history.
    As Janine realized that the interesting stories about the southwest were often untold and unknown, she began to gather some of the stories and weave them with fiction to highlight their place in history. Janine's knowledge about her ancestors helped shape the characters in her story, "The Voyage of the Ebony Piano".
     Janine serves on several boards in her community and works on primary elections every two years. She loves to play MahJongg with her girlfriends and her passion is folk art that she loves to paint and collect. Writing her memoirs and reflections is her favorite pastime, as well.

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