I grew up in Northern Kentucky, where just across the Ohio River, the Cincinnati skyline was always a sight to behold. At fifteen, I got a job at Riverfront Stadium where I worked concessions until graduating high school in 1993. If you know your sports, then you know how cool that was. As a teenager, I got to work the 1990 World Series games.
Between working concessions and playing in the High School Marching Band (Pit Percussion), that’s about as close to sports I ever got. As an adult, I pursued a career in writing and nonprofit public relations. I was the executive director for the Child Wellness Community Fund in Cincinnati and then the Richland Area Community Center in Michigan. Even when holding a “day job” I moonlighted as a freelance writer.
In 2010, I faced a medical crisis. I was diagnosed with Psoriatic Arthritis. Swelling and crippling pain forced me to retire from the community center at age 35. I was bedridden and heartbroken for nearly a year. Thanks to the amazing expertise in autoimmune arthritis at Northwestern University in Chicago and the patient advocacy of Dr. Eric Ruderman (he is a rock star!) I won the fight with my insurance company so I could begin biologic treatment. Biologics were fairly new and very expensive.
My quality-of-life slowly returned and so I returned to freelance writing. My health still requires maintenance but quality of life has returned and I know how to manage it. I do not allow it to consume my identity. From my home office, I’ve built an award-winning career for which I’m proud and extremely grateful. I enjoy boiling down big concepts and articulating solutions for readers specifically in health, social justice and environmental concerns. I love that writing doesn’t mean you have all the answers; it means you know how to ask questions, listen, and communicate what you’ve learned in a way that’s understandable and hopefully enjoyable.
I’m back in Kentucky these days living in Louisville with my husband and son. My two adult daughters live on their own. That’s right, I had my son at age 40 when my youngest daughter was fifteen. The fact that he is here and my body could grow him despite its challenges leaves me awestruck daily.
As a writer, wife, and mother, the importance of strong community resources speaks to me both personally and professionally.
Journalism is a vital community resource to which I am honored to contribute. If you have leads for me, please do not hesitate to email me at Bonnie at WriterBonnie dot com.
I grew up on a small farm in Michigan, a place called Aura(plow in Finnish) until I was placed in the Army against my will in 1966! My parents moved to to Tucson, Az. in 1967, while I was going to Vietnam!
When I returned I went to the University of Arizona and received a degree in Psychology and became a mental health counselor, working with abused juveniles, prison inmates chronically mentally ill, and sex offenders! I helped start a union at the prison in 1974, despite threats of firing from the state capital, in a “right to work for nothing State” ! I retired in 2009, belonging to a union!
We live in my home to in Upper Michigan in the summer, but in Sun City, Az. in the winter!
I am a fighter, and from the time I was going to the Univ. of Az I became “an Abe Lincoln lawyer, studying at the law library after a corrupt salesman lied to me, so I stopped him dead in his tracks, and this skill has helped me many times, without hiring a lawyer! I grew up in a log cabin, primed the pump for water, made and burned firewood, had an outhouse, and milked our cows made hay, and gardened, and helped our neighbors who founded or town in1914! I was the oldest of 5 brothers, and my dad was crippled, so I was his hands in all kinds of chores.
So here I am looking out of the living room window at Keweenaw Bay, snow on the ground, on 48 acres of forest, and peace and quiet.
My wife and I, and one of my son’s an organic gardener, who lives here year round, are here, for Christmas, then to Sun City, Az.
By the way, I have had mild psoriasis all my life, diagnosed as a teenager, with the bunions coming in my 50″s, which I had to diagnose for my doctor but my my knee injuries from Vietnam are the worst!
I was also a voracious reader child. Your daughter might enjoy the James Herriot books starting with All creatures great and small. Keep it up and best of luck. If all else fails, try banning a book, like Tom Sawyer.