Our high school (John Glenn HS) put on a variety show (Kaleidoscope) in the Spring of each year. I participated every year; sometimes a lot, sometimes not so much. And, of course, my senior year, I was very involved. Our school benefitted from a school board that was very pro-theater and music; so this year,…
We all have those moments where we have a choice to make, and looking back, you realize how impactful it was on where your life ended up. One of mine was a job I got through the Michigan unemployment office. I had been laid off (because I took off a summer to do the Fischer…
Everyone should have a person in their life who loves them no matter what and is always there for them. For me, that was my Grandma Harris. God I loved her, and I still do to this day. My Grandma Cotter died when I was about 7 or so, and she was very ill before…
Growing up, my step-father always chose my (used) cars. He’d tell me how much, I’d pay, and I’d have a new-to-me car to drive. This was not always a successful endeavor – one car had the engine blow up about a week after I got it. But Charlie went back and got me a different…
It’s true! Okay, maybe just Laverne, because I think this was after Shirley left the show. I “celebrated” turning 30 by having my gallbladder removed, just before my birthday. Because I was fair and fat (although not yet forty, which according to the doctor, is supposed to be the gallbladder stone trifecta), the doctor assumed…
My first car was an early 1960s, AMC Rambler. God I loved that car. My parents bought it for $100. They bought it because I had a broken leg, and all of our vehicles were manuals, so I couldn’t drive them, and the AMC had an automatic transmission. I was involved in many extracurricular activities.…
If you lived in the Bay City area and you did musical theater, eventually, you would work with Patricia Ankney – also known as Miss Pat. Miss Pat was short and fat, was a good, but demanding, director, and had a nasty temper if you got on her wrong side. In her later years, she…
I went to my senior prom with Mike (Hairy Butt) Doriean. I have a feeling he was pressured into asking me by mutual friends, but hey, I got to go to the prom. (His middle moniker was due to information I was given by Pat Gray, who shared a few theatrical dressing rooms with Mr.…
When I was in 4th grade (I think, might have been 3rd grade), my family moved from Essexville. We moved across the river – not to Bay City – to Bangor Township. This meant a whole new school system. I had been going to Hughes School in Essexville. A fine place to go to elementary…
So, back in 1992, I joined the cast of Bottom’s Up – a long running Las Vegas-style revue. I had always wanted to earn my living performing, and here was my chance. I won’t lie. It was scary. Okay, it was fucking terrifying. But I knew that if I didn’t try it, I would always…
Thoughts from a Fat Old Lady 