A page providing links to other sites I have created which might spark your curiosity.
A Personal Profile
November 22, 2002
Name:
State:
Time Zone:
Married?
Kids?
Occupations and
Experience ?
Kathryn Ilsley-Shannon
known to friends as "Kate"
Washington
Pacific
Widow
yes, young adults
Journalist, Writer,
Editor, Researcher,
and Teacher...
With a heritage of pure Irish descent from my mother (and Anglo-Saxon-Norman from my father, with undoubtedly a dash of Viking on either side!), need I say more? The Blarney Stone and The Troubles are in my blood.
Santa Barbara was my home for a loooong time, and there I was something called a "Publications Analyst" (read re-writer, ghost writer, and editorial factotum) for the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Prior to that, I was a Santa Barbara schoolmarm, and taught English in high school, college, and adult education. I also taught Logic, and was Debate Coach for our high school debate team.
Before teaching in Santa Barbara, I was a reporter out of the western bureau of Newsweek Magazine in Los Angeles.
The foregoing, of course, were full-career moves and do not include the jobs that helped me afford my education.
Now, I am a free-lance Journalist, Editor, Writer... and have sundry encounters with the game of Spades.
Born in New York City, I was raised all over the country by a lovable, peripatetic mom. I married a time or two... sigh, or three.
When I became sole breadwinner for my first two kids (after my too-youthful marriage), it was a dicey endeavor with my lack of money and schooling. Sooo, I took a look at improving my education and earning power.
A couple of college degrees (B.A., English; M.A., Journalism) were a demanding row to hoe without the entitlements prevalent today. Full and part time jobs were the answer. Then there was the Real Estate license for the sales and property management jobs... but I am a lousy salesperson. If someone is reluctant or says '"no," I smile and say "OK!" And that's that.
The jobs that paid my way gave me incredible experience in a wide variety of businesses, from construction to real estate to law to advertising, working as a secretary, answering service operator, office manager, paralegal specializing in Senior Citizen advocacy, and photographers' model to earn money to support the kids and pay the bills.
And, frankly, the very best education I ever received in my life was being a secretary to the very smart and savvy bosses I worked for. Letters behind one's name, I think, are a testament not so much to smarts but simply to persistence.
Beginning the study of Law I completed first year and passed the Baby Bar... but came to realize that a career which gave me more time with my children was paramount, and so I went after teaching credentials. To be a teacher gave me hours like my own kids'.
So, along the way three California education credentials... general elementary, general secondary, and supervison... worked their way into my accumulating academics... weeel I like kids, I like learning... and, yes, I very much like teaching, too. To discover how much a person learns just by teaching another was almost an epiphany for me.
Three more kidlets arrived when I wed again, to bring the total to four sons and a daughter,
It was while I was teaching that I continued to work on advanced studies at University of California, Santa Barbara, and completed the course work and the dissertation for a Ph.D., in Communications ("An Examination of the Instructional, Promotional, & Design Techniques of Persuasion"), but did not publish as my husband became ill with cancer and I stayed home to be with him.
My beloved husband was lost to us and some years later, one son lost his life in an auto accident.
I moved to the Land of the Redwoods in California for a few years, but in 2007 I came to a magic island in Puget Sound, where I occupy the top branches of the tallest evergreen I could find, from which I view the breakers on the coast,
edit manuscripts for publication,
write historical novels,
continue to tilt at windmills,
write verse.
...and create websites.
My addiction... and I get withdrawal symptoms if circumstances deny me... is, lucky me, culturally acceptable. Reading. Books, articles, ANYTHING!
This page was last updated on: February 18, 2008
. . . . And sundry encounters, too, with windmills...
tilting at them can plunge you down into the mire..or
sweep you up, up into the stars
(paraphrasing Cyrano de Bergerac)
"Welcome to My World"
mp3 file with Jim Reeves vocals
home sweeeeet home!
". . . it does not take a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen to set brush fires in people's minds."
Samuel Adams
To live amid beauty, whether natural or man-made, is to discover a Survival Tool for the soul.
Perhaps because of my debate background, I often allow myself the role of Devil's Advocate.
Historically, it is the Devil's Advocate who, as a loyal member of an organization, has the job of marshaling arguments against positions taken by the group to which he belongs.
He is absolutely loyal and his task is to provide opposing concepts, no matter how trivial, so that the group may evaluate its assumptions, be prepared for challenges to them, or alter policies and positions which may need revision.
You may use the player's controls to turn off the music. or adjust the volume. This is a great rendition by Jim Reeves!
the tough get going LOL.. please go to this site. I promise you'll laugh and feel better about things!
Note to Googlers! This page found its way unintentionally onto Google :) It was designed as a profile/cum résumé requested by an organization I now belong to, but those marvelous Google crawlers grabbed it from its link on another page! It's a tad personal but not a secret. It shows where hobby fetishes can lead us!
