Atlantic Canada has been my home since 2007.

 

Born in a Pennsylvania coal town, I have a blue-collar soul. My dad, uncles, and grandfathers mined coal. My aunts and grandmothers worked in clothing factories. Ever drawn to people who work with their hands, I've worked in factories, plowed snow, and done grounds-keeping and custodial work, as well as writing and teaching.

 

I'm hoping that candidates for office will commit to saving the planet and coal regions like mine with well-paying jobs in alternative energy—rather than dangling futile hopes of restoring the backbreaking, lung-blackening work to the level it was back in the day when Coal was King.

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Some other odd jobs:

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Volunteered to work for a few weeks on a collective farm in the USSR.

 I've worked as support staff in special education and continue to do freelance editing of math and science textbooks.

 

Every spring, for fifteen years, I wrote multiple choice questions for the general knowledge section of the FSOT (Foreign Service Officer Test) for the U. S. State Department. I’ve taught ESL (English as a Second Language) in Maine, Iowa and Russia.

 

MUSIC:

For nine years I was part of the Portland Folk Club in Maine. I love hitting the road with Brian and finding open mics to perform in. We're part of a local song circle that meets at public libraries, where people who come to read books often end up singing

 

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