This
is a picture of my husband and me.
We don't really look like that (we were
dressed for a costume party), and my husband hates it; but he doesn't know
my password so he's stuck with it here.
Actually, this is what we
really look like:
I pretty much look the same
anyway, so it doesn't really matter to me (I thought about putting a picture
of Nicole Kidman here, but really I like this one better). That's
our daughter Kate on the left, next to her is our son Kevin, then Larry
(my husband), me, and on the right is our daughter Amy.
.
This is one of my newest and most important endeavors. Please take time to visit The Heartstrings Project. Thank you.
Thinking about stuff...
This is one of my favorite
places to go think. You can only get to this bridge if you know how to
cut through a certain cornfield near my home.
I like to think of it as my bridge, but of course the farmer who really owns it doesn't agree. Since
it's a railroad bridge, trains pass under it on a regular basis and I like to
sit on it and dangle my feet. The thrill
comes when the trains include extra high cars! It's
a fairly rickety bridge so that makes it kind of fun, too.
Anyway, what follows
below is stuff I like to think about:
Background Check:
I
am an associate Professor at St. Ambrose University
where I teach a variety of psychology courses. Visit our Psychology
Department homepage for information about our courses, our faculty,
and our students. I received my A.B. from Augustana in 1988 (as a nontraditional
student). I received my M.A. in 1990 and my Ph.D. in 1993, both from the
University of Iowa. My Ph.D. thesis considered the effects of brain injury
on certain types of memory and the research was conducted at the University
of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in the behavioral neuropsych department.
I live
in a small town just south of the Quad Cities (population: 1800) with my
husband (and three cats who claim to live under our porch...they have established a rather large collection of squirrel tails under
there.)
We live in a 1912 Queen Anne style Victorian home known locally as the
"South House" (after the original owners). Clicking on the picture
of my house will take you to more pictures of Victorian homes. OK, I admit
the pics are mostly my house. I really enjoy old houses and have tried
to include others, but hey, it's easier to take pictures of my house than
of strangers' (especially from the inside). We
also have an old farmhouse about an hour south
of here in a little teeny
town called Victoria.
Non-academics
I
like to spend any free time I can find doing a variety of things outdoors.
I love to run*, bicycle, and swim (no, I'm not even close to a triathlete--way
too sloooooow) and I love hiking and camping. And for those days when it's too dreary to be outside,
I like to read and cook (sometimes at the same time).
My latest obsession is beading. Yes, I know I'm kind of a latecomer to this, but I'm really enjoying it. Must be the latent "flower child" in me. Recently I became the proud owner of a Hothead torch (it looks like a miniature jet engine!), some MAPP fuel, glass rods, other assorted tools, and a pair of safety glasses, so I'm going to make my own glass beads. That could be a risky venture in an older home, but I'm also investing in new fire extinguishers.
I kind of got carried away with the jewelry thing and I recently ordered 20 feet of silver solder. I was planning originally to use it with a soldering iron, but I realized the melting point is over 1200 degrees and the flow point is over 1300 degrees, so now I'm thinking of getting another torch. It's funny how that works out. My family just shakes their collective heads.
I'm also a huuuuuge Eric Clapton fan (this is a huuuuuge picture I took at a concert). Here's another picture, same concert, and finally, here's one more (although this one is not very good at all). I have a few links to some great Clapton sites, but by far the best entryway I've found is through a page by Steve Proctor so you might as well start there. Steve's also got a great Nathan East page (Nathan East is one of the nicest, classiest guys in the world). You can go to the "Official Clapton Site", although it's rather limited at this time (sorry, Eric). And there are a few others that are pretty good. This one is billed as the Unofficial Eric Clapton Website (although there must be a million of those). And this one, entitled Slowhand Blues Guitar has some interesting stuff on playing like EC (yeah, dream on...).
And IF you're in the mood for some really great music that crosses multiple genres, try a little Eva Cassidy. Eva died in 1996, at the age of 33, so there will never be any more available, but she was wonderful. She did everything from blues to jazz to pop to gospel and I have never come across such a beautiful voice.
Read about the adventures of my lucky beans! Exciting Plants Growing Wild (on my front porch) (in a pot)!
Thinking about going back to school?
Go for it! A nontraditional
student is anyone who doesn't fit the template of a student just out of
high school, beginning their first year of college at the "normal" age,
and progressing steadily through college in 4 or 5 years. For example,
I started at Augustana College when I was 33 years old and had three children.
Some students begin their college careers at 21 or 22; thus, although they
are not "older" by most viewpoints, they don't quite fit the mold. There
are still others who begin college in their 40s and 50s (and older still);
so despite your apprehensions and fears, if you think you are too old for
college, then think again (and give me a call at St. Ambrose). You can
also e-mail me if
you'd rather.
Academics
There are many things I
would like to share with you about the courses I teach and how I feel about
teaching. For me to present the information that I believe to be important
demands a different page (in the interest of time and bandwidth). So, if
you're interested, check back and hopefully I'll have that page done soon...
Research
Another component of my
career is research. I am an experimental psychologist (as opposed to a
clinical psychologist) and so, obviously, I am interested in various aspects
of research. Again it would be difficult to present the facets of
research that I believe to be important, and so if you are interested in
experimental psychology, then let's go there (Link will be functional
soon).
Cool Psychology & Neuroscience Links
Here are some sites that
you might find interesting. You will find some information on grad programs,
a search engine or two, and links to other places that I consider interesting.
Running
This is a link to the Cornbelt
Running Club. The CBRC is the largest running club in the Midwest and is
dedicated to serving runners/walkers of any level (I'm a member, so speed
certainly isn't a factor!).
This page will tell you
about the club and serve as a link to other running-related sources.
*My best friend says I can't consider myself a runner these days, or even a walker for that matter. So, I temporarily consider myself a saunterer...sigh.
Bicycling
Another link to a great
Quad Cities organization. The Quad Cities Bike Club has been around a long
time and its membership comprises some of the wackiest, funniest, nicest
people that I know.
You might also be interested in one big party on wheels: The [Des Moines] Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa. I have done a lot of long-distance bicycling with large groups and small, but never has anything compared to RAGBRAI. People come from all over the world to participate and I have ridden with children as young as six and adults in their 80s. It is a week-long adventure for upwards of ten thousand people that includes your favorite form of carousing (whatever your preference may be). Although it doesn't require speed, this is one event that requires some endurance (and yes, Iowa has hills); so if you're considering it, then make sure you train for it. You may wish to include training in how to share an outhouse with thousands of other people.
My Political Statements (which are solely my own and not necessarily representative of those of St. Ambrose University):
Are you familiar with the "Doomsday Clock?" It's a hypothetical construct that indicates how close we are to total annihilation. Pretty thought-provoking to say the least. The picture below provides a link to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, the publication of the group of individuals who keep the clock set at what they perceive as the countdown to nuclear holocaust based on the status of international security. You can learn more about the clock there.
Picture
originally published by the BBC.
The closest it has come to midnight was two minutes, which occurred in 1953, when both the US and the USSR were testing thermonuclear devices. The farthest the clock has been from midnight since its inception was in 1991, when it was moved to seventeen minutes to midnight, signaling the end of the cold war.
The clock was advanced from nine minutes to midnight (its setting in 1998) to seven minutes to midnight in 2002, following a series of events (e.g., the US decision to remove itself from the Antiballistic Missile Treaty, the refusal of the US to participate in talks regarding the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, the stockpiling of weapons of mass destruction by other nations, and the attacks on the US on September 11).
Ironically, its current time of seven minutes to midnight is the same
time at which the clock was set when it was first unveiled on the cover of the Bulletin
of the Atomic Scientists. Meanwhile, as we ponder the state of the world,
the clock quietly goes on ticking.
UPDATE! The Doomsday Clock has been reset to five minutes to midnight. This adjustment has been made because the board of directors of the Bulletin decided that global warming must be factored into the equation. That factor in no way diminishes the importance of those factors already in place; rather, it causes us to move two minutes closer to extinguishing our human flame.
The Bulletin can be viewed at the group's website.
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."
- Dwight D. Eisenhower
OK, here's one more political statement. As of right now, the population of the world is displayed here (refreshing the page will update the counter and you will be amazed at how the count changes in a blink of an eye). Think about it...that's a whole lotta people, with a whole lotta needs and wants. Hopefully, with careful stewardship, our Mother Earth will sustain all of us, but she does need our help. Recycle, reuse, buy bulk (less packaging), don't support corporations that pollute, use ethanol blends. Her rivers are our lifeblood, her forests our treasure, but if we don't manage wetlands, if we don't guard the Everglades, if we use so much petroleum that we must plunder her reserves of oil, then we will reap what we sow. It's not just big cars that are choking our Earth, it is our relentless pursuit of easier and cheaper and more of everything. It's our wanton disregard of her eternal beauty--her seas, her air, her wetlands, her vast and arid deserts, her lush plains and verdant jungles, her frozen grounds--that will lead us to matricide and thereby suicide.
Here are some links that recently have become significant to me:
The Lymphoma Research Foundation
The Lymphoma Information Network
Gilda's Club of the Quad Cities
The American Heart Association
UNOS (The United Network for Organ Sharing)
Become a donor--become a hero.
This
is me 'n' Mom. 1957 or 58 I think.
