Cas' Bio

Biographies and introductions are a consistent challenge for me. So much so, that I perceive it must be for everyone. Whenever I have to introduce two people to each other, I try to include information that I know about each of them that might be of interest. My hope is to alleviate that uncomfortable pressure of them having to say something about themselves; or worse, having to ask one of those awkward questions that we really have no interest in having the other person answer. “So, you live in Tucson, huh?”, “What did you say your name was again?”, “Have you tried the dip?”… ugh, brutal. So, when my fellow Women Without Tangible Filters and I started discussing our introductions, that’s kind of where my brain went… to all the little random facts that create the composite of me, things that perhaps you could use to introduce me at a party, like…    

1. I have been employed (often at multiple jobs) as an Activist (Environmental and Social), a Bartender and Bouncer, a Chimney sweep at an industrial bakery (worst job EVER!!!), a Drawing instructor, an Editor, a Farmhand, a Glaze mixer in a ceramic studio, a House management supervisor, an Illustrator for medical textbooks, a Jewelry designer, a Kindergarten teacher, a Lifeguard, a Motion picture delivery person (on a motorcycle!!), a Newspaper delivery girl (this and babysitting were my first jobs) , an Old ale brewer (I brew lots of ales, but I needed an “O”), a Painter, a Quilter, a Retail manager of a bead store, a Swimteam coach for Tadpoles (the name of the youngest swimteam, not juvenile frogs), a Textbook researcher, a Union communications liaison (between auto workers and environmentalists!!), a Voice actor in radio ads, a Witch in Hell (a role I played for a production of the DreamGuild Theater), a Xylophone player, a Youth counselor, and a Zodiac illustrator. That's right, every letter of the alphabet and only one occupation is a lie (and I've done it, I just wasn't paid to do it)!
2. My husband Mike is the most amazing musician and should be the most famous musician on the planet.
3. My son Thackery is the happiest person I have ever met, and he makes me laugh hysterically daily.

4. I am slowly attempting to convert my entire wardrobe to purple clothing so I will no longer have to match my outfits.
5. I secretly believe most people have been programmed to lack empathy.
6. Not enough people put their art in the world.
7. I believe in angels.
8. I hope that there is a plan larger than the human existence and unknowable to our tiny peon brains.
9. I regularly read at least 7 books at a time. The first book I ever read was The Life and Times of Jack London. I was three, it took me months and it introduced me to individualism, adventure, socialism, bohemianism and naturalism, as well as an understanding that reading is the blood of life.
10. My love of reading has taken a very Billy Pilgrim role in my life. As a young child I read very adult themed books, Slaughterhouse Five and everything else by Kurt Vonnegut, The Diary of Anne Frank, everything by Jack London (but Star Rover is still my favorite), Willa Cather, Leo Tolstoy, J.D. Salinger’s Nine Stories over and over, Aldous Huxley, James Baldwin,…my grandparents library was large and full of classics and I read them all. As I grade school student I read fantasy fiction my favorites were by J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis and I became fascinated by their friendship and everything to do with The Inklings. I also started my lifelong love of Jane Austen at that age. All through high school and college I read every poet and philosopher I could find insatiably.  As a 43 year old who does a convincing job most days of being a grown-up, I have found my true love, the one that when done well combines great poetry, great art, meaningful philosophy and very adult themes…children’s literature.

11. Every day offers us multiple opportunities to make our world and our future better.
12. One way to do that is by changing cocktail recipes to strictly alcoholic ingredients. Cream? Ha, Bailey's. Pomegranate juice? Ha, pomegranate vodka. Really, put some effort into this people. There's even a Starbucks liqueur now so, no need for mere coffee in your Irish coffee anymore!
13. I refuse to EVER eat iceberg lettuce.
14. I am writing a novel and I think I am way too old to be publishing my first novel.
15. I think most Americans would stop buying new television sets if they saw the vile conditions in which the children of the families who build them are forced to live.
16. In the quite unlikely event that I ever do anything worthy enough to have a biography written about me; I hope it's titled, "I Have a Theory."
17. I do not have enough time in a day to make all the art I want to, that fills my dreams and haunts my consciousness; including illustrating the children's books that I have written.
18. When I am suffering from melancholy I read Calvin and Hobbes until I feel better (and I mean the Bill Watterson cartoons, not the theological and political philosophers).
19. I value the love of my family and friends above everything else in life.
20. I am confident that all our body parts were not intended to make it to the finish line. My grandmother shared this with me and recommended that I practice becoming unattached (pun intended).
21. The overwhelming beauty of the colors of Tucson take my breath away at least once a day.
22. Children are the greatest teachers and our only connection to the source of truth.
23. Some days a giant plate of super spicy Huevos Rancheros with a Café Cubano is all you need to know about the gifts of the universe.
24. When I grow up I want to "wear pajamas in the daytime."
25. Pukka what you practice.