Although I currently reside in a tiny town in South Carolina, I am a proud Hoosier. Born and raised in Bloomington, Indiana, with three brothers and loving parents who are still actually married to each other for thirty-five consecutive years. I have been using the handle Thaera for about seven years now, I coined the name to use for Telnet games when I was first at IU. Bloomington is the home of Indiana University, the Marching Hundred, the Singing Hoosiers, Bloomington Motor Speedway, Star of Indiana Drum and Bugle Corps, rock star John Mellencamp, and late music legend Hoagie Carmichael. Check out Famous Hoosiers for more individuals who call or once called Indiana "home.

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I went to University Elementary School, which is now a cluster of university offices for administration. (I wonder if they have to sit in little tiny elementary school desks?) There were- and still are- several other elementray schools in Bloomington, but to me they were just other teams to beat in the Girl's Club Softball Tournaments.

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Seventh and eight grades I spent in a middle school called Tri-North, composed of three previous middle schools and tucked into a wing of Bloomington North High School. It was short, only two years- but not very sweet. Middle school was not kind to me. Here my short volleyball career began and ended. It's okay- I was very active in the local children's theatre, Acting Up, in the winters I was doing some figure skating, and in the summers my softball team was mopping up!

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Bloomington High School North will always be a sense of pride, the music program there headed by Miss Stockhouse has led many young people directly into the highly-competitive music school at IU. Even those of us who didn't continue in music recognize how music enriches our lives. Studies have shown what many of us have known all along, in addition to gaining self-confidence, self-reliance, self-motivation, personal accomplishment and teamwork skills, learning to play a musical instrument also improves math and reading comprehension. Music departments are in danger of disappearing in schools all across the nation due to budget cuts. To get more information or find out what you can do, check out Save the Music on VH1 Online.

Intricately entwined with the music was the drama department, which rocked the town with its large-scale musicals, dramas, and stage productions. Mrs. Gleeson is the reason for the fantastic drama department, and Mrs. Stephens maintains the mix of professionalism and fun that Mrs. Gleeson began. Music departments, drama clubs, and art classes are disappearing or entirely missing in many schools, because the fine arts are too often viewed as an accessory, an elective, or an easy-A class. I find this to be a myopic view held by ex-football captain school principals, and propose that that an appreciation for the finer arts is emminently more useful to our futures than new lights for the football field-- for our schools, our children, our own culture, and our nation's future.

Thankfully, Bloomington North has always valued the fine arts, and continues to encourage growth through academia, music, and visual art, as well as school sports.

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After a couple of less-than-mediocre semesters at IU, I decided it would be best to put college off for a little bit. I got married in 1996, and we're now living in South Carolina. He graduated from Lander University last year with his Batchelor's Degree of Science in Nursing, and is now an RBSN in the emergency department at a large hospital 40 minutes from here. We have eight cats and three dogs.

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And me? Now- - I'm finally back to school! Check out my bragging page.

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