Let's explain the profile pic

Eyes to the left, people!

On my profile picture you will see a bunch of squares.

The explanation is two-fold.

1) I don't have many pictures of me. Why would I? I am faced (ahem) with that reality every day. I'm not going to waste film, digital or otherwise, on that.
2) The squares are actually part of a quilt. They provide a good deal of insight without subjecting the unsuspecting masses to my pasty white visage.

On to the quilt!

My best friend from college (Stephen F. Austin-Go Jacks!) is Andrea. Henceforth, known as Drea. She is uber-crafty. Like an ethnic Martha Stewart.

She recently took up quilting. I love how she can just decide to learn something crafty, then she has the time and talent to produce in whatever crafty medium catches her eye. She can just see these things and know how to create them. And, do them well.

I know how to read books. That's about it.

As Chandler Bing said, can I interest you in a sarcastic comment? There ends my expertise.

The trend lately has been for people to take old t-shirts or jerseys that are significant to the quilt owner and use them for the panels. It's a great idea for making the quilt much more personal to the quiltee. Sort of a scrapbook you can snuggle up with.

I had a ton of t-shirts left from my days in the Piney Woods. SFA was (and is) a fantastic place to go to college. I love, love, love it. Classes were small enough that you weren't swallowed up in a sea of wandering undergraduates. The university is large enough to have tons of activities and events to distract you from your classes. And, the city of Nacogdoches is very supportive of the school. They will bust out the purple bunting at the drop of a hat. People joke that it's a party school, but hey. It got me two advanced degrees. It can't be all beer bongs and jell-o slip-and-slide parties.

Anyhoo, Drea had become a quiltin' machine and told me of her project of turning t-shirts into quilt panels.

A deal was struck.

I went to Scotland a couple of summers ago. Long story for another blog. Drea wanted some yardage of her family tartan, no doubt to do something uber-crafty. There is a very cool wool mill at the foot of Edinburgh Castle (Best. Castle. Ever).

The wheels of a plan were in motion. I buy the yardage in Scotland. She makes a quilt out of my old funky t-shirts.

(Actually, she wanted a kilt. According to one of my guide books and a special on The Travel Channel, there was a cool kilt store right next door to a cool yarn store that I had planned to visit. I shook my fists and bellowed at the heavens when I bee-bopped to the kilt store only to find it was closed for remodeling. The wool mill was Plan B).

So, I bought wool for a kilt, and shipped it along with years and yards of cut up SFA shirts to Drea to wave her crafty wand and turn my memories into a quilt.

Included in the quilt are many a band t-shirt. Along with being a book nerd, I am in my heart forever a band geek. Most coveted of the bunch is the rugby shirt from my four years in the SFA basketball band-The Roarin' Buzzsaws. (I was also in the jazz band for a couple of semesters-The Swingin' Axes. Everything at SFA is tied to the Piney Woods, which makes for very charismatic nicknames). Each individual instrument/section in the marching band would get together and have shirts made touting the greatness of that particular section. I know we had some good ones, but I could only find one when I was gathering shirts.

Some old sorority shirts from Tau Beta Sigma are in the bunch. Most of those are from spring formals and whatnot. Don't even get me started on the Tau Turtle Debate.

Elvis was a big player at Student Publications, so he made an appearance on a t-shirt that I'm surprised didn't bring down the wrath of the copyright police on us. Also, you'll find an outstanding caricature of the yearbook staff. That still makes me laugh.

I also included my one SMU t-shirt that actually made the trip to Europe twice. I even bought a TWU t-shirt for the project. I must support equal representation of all higher learning institutions on my quilt. I wouldn't want anyone to feel left out.

So, that pile of dilapidated t-shirts is quite telling of my interests and inspirations. Much better than a goofy photograph of moi!

Kiera also wants me to add a picture

Why? Why? For the love of humanity, why?

Oh well. This is me at St. Andrew's in Scotland a couple of summers ago.

Do I know anything about golf? No. Do I care about golf? No.

However, I am smart enough to recognize an opportunity.

And, here we go!

Kiera made me blog. It's true.

But, don't let that statement fool you. My dream job would be to be a columnist somewhere. Not an entire novel, mind you. I doubt I could hold a train of thought that long. An occasional column in a huge newspaper somewhere would have been awesome. Who wouldn't want to read what I had to say about absolutely nothing of consequence?

The Dallas Stars' goalie situation? I've got an opinion. The state of public education? I can pontificate. Conan versus Leno? I'm all over it. Why I hate the Twilight books? I could go on for days.

However, I'm still not convinced I could turn my ramblings into opinions worth an editor's money.

Way back in my undergraduate days at Stephen F. Austin (Go Jacks! Whoo-hoo!), I was afforded the opportunity to "freelance." I co-wrote a few columns. I helped out with a few features. I did some highly suspect work on the yearbook. But, I never had an interest in journalism.

I did (and do) have a huge interest in books. For my degree, I had to major in two teaching fields. I ended up majoring in English and reading. (Yes, naysayers, you can major in reading. How do you think reading teachers learn how to teach reading?). So basically, books, books, writing, books, and some more books. It was through my reading classes I discovered Young Adult literature, henceforth called YA. Good times, fun, and yuks ensued.

So, armed with my certifications in English, reading, and later Spanish, I stumbled into junior high.

I meandered in the classroom for a couple of years before returning to school for a Master's in Liberal Arts degree from Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Why not? All of my friends were in graduate school. I'm sure the alumni board has a more elegant explanation of the degree, but it was basically a "learning for the sake of learning" degree. Students are given a catalog of courses and given fairly free reign to pick and choose classes. Although not officially a "specialization," most of my classes were history classes.

My classes also allowed me to travel a bit as I was able to take a class in Spain and another class in England. Any excuse to bust out the passport!

All of the librarians I had worked with told me I would love to be a librarian. I already had an interest in reading and YA literature. I was perceived to be much smarter than I actually am, so they were convinced that graduate school wouldn't be difficult. However, it never occurred to me once I was in the program at SMU that I could obtain a second Master's degree.

After a particularly brutal day teaching 9th graders, and eighteen months prior to finishing at SMU, I decided as soon as I was done at SMU I would start library school at Texas Woman's University in Denton. My predecessors were correct. I could totally be a librarian.

As a librarian, I can finally spend time with the books that I enjoy so much. Yes, there are books in English classes. However, there is that pesky thing known as writing. As someone who never found writing difficult to do, I found it very difficult to teach. After teaching an elective I learned that while the scrutiny of a tested subject isn't involved, electives can become a dumping ground for reasons that could take up many a future blog.

Anyhoo, fate was kind, and I am now a librarian! I get to be a book geek for a living! And now, thanks to Kiera, I'm blogging a bit, too! We'll see how long it lasts.

Or if any editors call.