I HAVE BEEN TAGGED!

There is a really cool game of tag going around on artist's blogs, and my friend Michelle Wiebe has tagged me! Because I've been tagged, I have to tell 5 little-known facts about myself, and then I get to tag 5 other artists. What fun. :-)

Okay...here goes...

1. My first name is not Joanne. My parents named me Marilyn Joanne, and then called me by my middle name. This caused all kinds of confusion for me in school when the teacher would take attendance the first day, and I would get in trouble for not answering when "Marilyn" was called out. My husband gave our daughter, Kim, the middle name Joanne, and Kim has given her little girl, Sydney, the middle name Joanne. So now we are 3 generations of Joanne's, but I'm the only one who goes by my middle name.

2. I have a Bachelor of Education degree, and taught grade school for 12 years until I ended up with such severe Carpal Tunnel Syndrome that it ended my teaching career. Just 6 years ago I could not pick up a glass of water with one hand! I had gone through every therapy possible, and ended up having surgery on both hands. I am very grateful that the surgery made a tremendous difference to my quality of life, and as long as I am careful, I can do almost anything I could before the surgery, with the exception of playing the piano and guitar.

3. I love drama, and have written several full length productions, directed casts and crews of over 100 people at a time, and I have acted in several plays and monologues. The latest one I wrote, directed and stage managed was called The Gift of Christmas, and played to an audience of 925 people last weekend.

4. I have ridden in The Bullet, a 4-man bobsled that goes down the luge track at Canada Olympic Park in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. That was the longest 2 minutes of my life, and I felt like I had been beaten up or in a car accident afterward. It is not a smooth ride at all, and coming off the walls in the turns can be bone jarring to say the least! The helmet gave me claustrophobia, but I took the ride anyway. I forget what the g-force rating was on the ride...but it's more than I had ever experienced before or since.

5. My son is an artist and graphic designer, my husband is a graphic designer and an amazing woodworker, my daughter is a musician/composer as well as a writer and quilter, so I guess you could say we are a creative family.

Okay - now I get to tag some artists!!! Because I am so new to blogging I don't "know" many artists, so I hope they have not been tagged already...

Alvin Richard
Todd Ford
Otto Lange
Kim Shields
Neil Nelson