I am a Cold War Kid. Generation X. I grew up in a middle class family of public servants. My mother was a teacher and my father retired from the Public Health Service. I graduated from Glen Este High School (Clermont County, Ohio) and went on to college, first at Trinity College in Washington, D.C. and then at Illinois College in Jacksonville, Illinois where I grew up.
In November 2013 I pressed domestic violence against my husband. In December of 2013 I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. In what felt like an instant, my children and I fell from the middle class to the 'extremely low' income level.
I know how it feels to search for affordable housing and have to settle on an apartment that costs over half of my income. I understand how disruptive an unexpected expense, like new shoes for the kids, or a higher than expected electric bill is to an already stressed budget. Or having to ration car trips to make sure there's enough gas in the tank to take the kids to school. It shouldn't be this hard to afford basic necessities. It shouldn't be this hard to get back on your feet again.
I am running for Congress because it's beyond time we had someone represent our district who understands what it's like to struggle and will work to make things easier for women and children and anyone else who is trying to get back on their feet.
A Regular Person
with Regular Problems
Education
I have been shaped by major events as much as I have been shaped by my academic education. I grew up with bomb drills and movies about the evils of the Soviet Union. Red Dawn. Rocky IV. The Childrens' Story.
While my parents and grandparents remembered where they were when JFK was assassinated, my generation had the Challenger explosion and the Unibomber and the Oklahoma City bombing and Columbine. We had the end of the Cold War and the tearing down of the Berlin Wall. We had acid rain and the hole in the Ozone layer. I remember Farm Aid and LIve Aid and Band Aid and Hands Across America. The AIDS crisis and the Ebola scare...
I remember when our military involvement in the Middle East began. I was a Senior in high school. I remember watching the evening news with my dad. I was sitting on the floor leaning against the couch. Usually I hated watching the news. I thought it was boring. But on that particular night I was fascinated and horrified. I remember watching the bombs falling from the sky and thinking that they looked like fireworks and the feeling like I was watching history take place before my eyes.
