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Dear Diva:
You must tell me something about you, the person. I'm sorry, I happen to be very curious about people. I kind of collect them...and have them, hopefully, as friends. I like activists especially.
-Hubmaster
Dear Hubmaster:
Talk about your tough questions! Where to start?
I was born in Stuttgart, Germany to military parents stationed overseas. I lived your basic military brat lifestyle, until my parents settled in Texas, and we moved out of our trailer into a house. My parents were both from very poor families, but had finally squeaked into the middle class.
I was always smart. Really smart. Get-your-butt-kicked-for-being-such-a-nerd smart. I had a tough time coming up. Lots of violence and cruelty. (I think that may be part of the reason I am a liberal: I have no problem identifying with people who get stepped on -- I've lived it.) I couldn't wait to get out of my "hometown," and into the wider world.
I went to a conservative college, Texas A&M University, on an academic scholarship through the National Merit program. Being at A&M is an experience. It bears no resemblance to any other University I have ever seen. Ultra-conservative. Scary-conservative. If I hadn't been a hardcore liberal before I got there, it would have made me one.
At A&M no one knew anything about me that I didn't choose to tell them. No one knew that I was smart, and I got treated like a girl by my peers for the first time in my life. It was great. I danced my way through college. I partied. I sowed enough wild oats to feed a small nation. I did all the things people regret not doing when they hit middle-age. Then I fell in love.
The Prince I chose was a grad student in microbiology. He was brilliant, and as rock-n-roll as my wildest fantasies. (He now has his Ph.D., but still looks like a rock star. RRRRRRrrrrrrr.) If I hadn't been a hardcore liberal before I fell in love with a brilliant scientist, being exposed to so much intellectual excellence would have made me one.
The Prince and I moved to Austin, Texas, and I started a small business, while he worked on his Ph.D. The business was great, and as much fun as college. Through my work, I became close friends with a lot of gay people. If I hadn't been a hardcore liberal before that, spending time with all those great gay folks would have made me one.
The Prince's lab moved to California, and we went with it. We landed in Orange County, Irvine to be exact. Bob Dornan country. YIKES! The whitest place I have ever seen in my life, whiter than East Texas (only 6 out of 1000 residents are black). I hated it. If I hadn't been a hardcore liberal before I got there, living in a segregated community would have made me one.
When The Prince finished his post-doctoral studies in Irvine, we moved to Long Beach, a great town. I didn't need to go back to work right away (I had worked in Irvine, in a corporate office environment, and HATED it), because I had won some money on a game show. So I didn't.
In my time off, I began teaching myself software and web publishing, and started playing around with websites, hoping to make myself more marketable for the inevitable return to the workplace. Time passed, the election came, and everything that followed it. If I hadn't been a hardcore liberal before the election, watching the American people be betrayed would have made me one.
I think you know the rest.
So there it is, the condensed life of The Diva, "Cliff's Notes"-style. Thanks for asking.
NEXT: SITE SECRETS REVEALED!
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