My journey to stepping into life as an artist has been quite a wild adventure and I hold in my heart so many people who supported my journey through a “self-mandated” art education and then through the publishing of my first book. Thank you to all, dear souls!

I am deeply grateful to my husband of twenty-four years, Koran Dei-Anang, who has supported me in every way, especially my endeavors of pursuing an education at Hollins University. He is my best friend. He believes in me wholeheartedly and loves me unconditionally. I have what the whole world looks for in a mate and daily I thank God for him. He also has been an example to me in holding an undergraduate degree and two master’s degrees. 

Pamela Chafin is my only sister and she set the example for me early on in attending Radford University with one-hundred percent tuition covered by scholarships. She was the first in our family to attain a college education and she has been very supportive of me in my late-life education endeavor. She expresses her pride in my accomplishments which means a lot to me and I thank her for her support. 

Patricia Price has been my best sister-friend for over thirty years. She holds an undergraduate degree, two master’s degrees, and a PhD in English. She was head of the English department at Virginia Western Community College until her recent retirement in 2012. From the 70s–present, she took an interest in my writing, edited for me when needed, and gave me heaps of encouragement along the way. It was “my Patty” that pushed me to attend Hollins which I am eternally grateful for.

My “Aunnie”, India Azelene Simpkins, is my mother’s only sister and always has been a co-mother to me and my siblings. She has loved me unconditionally all my life: a precious gift and a rare one. Reaching for two degrees meant I could not spend as much time with her as we both would have liked but she was understanding of the situation and hailed me onward. “We’re not a family of quitters” she once exclaimed when things got tough and I was questioning my decision to go to school. Thank you Aunnie for everything you have done for me!

Professor Nancy Dahlstrom was my printmaking professor for undergraduate and MALS studies, my thesis advisor, and has become a cherished friend and mentor to me. She has changed my life in so many positive ways. She has helped me to see myself and understand myself so much more clearly when I could not. Professor Dahlstrom has always believed in me and pushed me to be the best artist I can be. There is so much more I can learn from her. I want her to always be a part of my life and I look forward to many more etching classes with her in her studio in Fincastle, on her farm, now that she is retiring from an exceptional thirty year career at Hollins. We are both members of The Market Gallery in Roanoke which I am thrilled about because I will get to see her often.

Professor Bill White was my painting and drawing instructor at Hollins. I have learned so much from him and he freely shared his knowledge with me, even on topics of science (Fibonacci Principle) and philosophy. We both share a love of learning and his passion for this is contagious. I thank him for seeing me through to the end even though I struggled mightily with the drawing. I thank him for making ownership of a press possible for me. I will never forget the genuine care and kind and reassuring words he had for me when my back went out during senior seminar semester. I am grateful that I was at Hollins before he retired after forty-three years of teaching.

Professor Jan Knipe was my professor for senior seminar semester. I was honest with her about my deficiencies and she gladly filled in the gaps of art design principles. We both had fun playing with design in the print lab. My art is far better because of her willingness to catch me up. I regret that I had her for only the one class as she is a patient and loving teacher with a vast understanding of what makes art good. 

Professor Alison Hall was my painting professor. I thank her for teaching me how to grey down color. I hated the color grey until she taught me to embrace and love it. Her patience and teaching skill is astounding. When I asked her to take the MALS students to Todi, Italy for three weeks in the summer, she complied and it was a first trip to Europe for me. Her love and passion for the masters and all that came before us in the art world was contagious. She made the trip of a lifetime possible for me and it has changed the way I think about art and look at art. It was a life altering experience every art student should have. I saw, in person and up-close,  Michael Angelo’s “The Great David” sculpture,  Leonardo’s “The Annunciation” that I transcribed in her class, and many other famous paintings that I might never have seen if not for Alison. I am eternally indebted to her for this tremendous gift to my art education.   

There are many more Hollins University professors outside my art major whom I consider to be outstanding and excellent teachers. They are, in no certain order:

Professor Pauline Kaldas, non-fiction creative writing.

Professor T.J. Anderson, Poetry, Creative Writing.

Professor Thorpe Moeckel, Creative Writing.

Professor Jillian Bledsoe, Creative Writing.

Professor Michael Abate, English Literature. 

Professor LeeRay Costa, Anthropology, Life Narratives

Professor Susan Thomas, Women’s Studies, Feminist Theory.

Professor Kay Broschart, Sociology, Founding Women Sociologists.

Professor Bill Nye, Sociology. 

Professor Rachel Nunez, history.

Professor Tom Mesner, Asian History.

Professor Jeanne Larson, Buddhist Literature.

Professor Christine Siegel, Science, Plants and People.

Professor Michael Gettings, Philosophy of Art. 

Professor Kimberly Rhodes, Art History.

I am deeply grateful for the knowledge these professors shared with me and the passion they bring to the classroom. The world came to life for me because of them.

Professor Nancy Healy, Computer Science. (Also my math tutor, without her I would never gotten through the math class, and I am eternally grateful to her).

Professor Lorena D’Andrea, Spanish Language Assistant. Lorena, a Fulbright recipient, became like an adopted child for my husband and me the year she was here from Argentina, staying with us over breaks and sharing our family celebrations. She tutored me in Spanish and I would have never gotten through it if not for her loving help. Her love of the English language and work ethic was awe inspiring. We miss her still.

I also want to acknowledge Celia McCormick, the director of the Horizon Program at Hollins. Celia is an amazing person. She is fashioned out of “giving fabric”. Nearly every Horizon student will tell you it is Celia that gets them through it. She is always there to lean on, answer questions, give emotional support, give hugs, and hand out the tissues. “Just “breathe” she would say. She gave one hundred percent of herself. It was far more than a job to her and every one of us knew it and we are deeply grateful for the blessing of Celia in our lives. 

Joanna Schroeder, Horizon Program Assistant, is also made of “giving fabric’ and shares all of the same traits that Celia has. We cannot think of them separately because they work together as a team to make the lives of Horizon students as easy as possible. She is equally adored by every Horizon student. Joanna is the epitome of Southern gentility with a generous helping of pure sweetness. 

Sharon Christner owned a townhome in Gaithersburg, Maryland in which I rented a room in the basement from her the four years I was single. I watched her struggle for ten years to complete an undergraduate degree in accounting while working a full time job, a part-time job as a waitress in a restaurant, and taking one or two classes every semester. She finally accomplished her dream and we had one hell of a dinner out to celebrate it. She showed me early on an education is worth any sacrifice we have to make for it.

Three people who have inspired me more than any other writers are:

Maya Angelou, whom I was blessed to meet in person twice in my life, inspired me to read again and try to educate myself before I began my Hollins career. She has taught me that a life is worth writing about and fancy writing does not necessarily mean it is good writing, and a strong voice touches the soul.

Mary Lou Awiakta, who taught a summer writing workshop at Radford University, has been an inspiration to me in my writing. She gave of herself freely and I felt a spiritual connection to her that remains with me always. Her authentic Cherokee, Appalachian voice as a writer taught me to write what you know and never be ashamed of your roots.

Bill Brown from Vanderbilt University taught for a week at the Highland Summer Conference for writers at Radford University in 2007, along with Mary Lou Awiakta. Hearing Bill read his work sent shivers up and down my spine. He read it with passion, animation, and his reading had music and acting in the way he presented it. My writing life changed that night. I knew I wanted to do what Bill did with his work… touch people’s hearts and souls or rip them right out with angst. I want to make them “feel” deeply when they read my work. It set the bar for my own writing. I am deeply grateful that I was there to hear him and also grateful for his encouragement of my own work that he took back to his hotel to read and critique. 

There were four teachers who, early on in my life, forever changed the course of my life by giving the extra care for my education.

My first grade teacher, Mrs. Wilson (who also taught my father) recognized that I was not learning to read and went three times to my house to talk with my mother to see what the problem was. She could not change my home life, but she did put me in a special reading group with extra one on one teaching. She also made the decision to put me in “special education” in second grade. Had she not done that I would not have learned to read. I had an angel teach me that whole second year. I do not recall her name but can see her in my mind like it was yesterday. She was near retirement, plump, had snow white hair cut in a Barbie style of the fifties, making her face even rounder. She had loads of wrinkles and soft hands. She had a soft voice and was ever so patient. She smelled of lilacs. She taught me and four or five other kids in what was the coach’s office off the basketball court. It had no windows. It did not have a bathroom. One large blackboard and her big desk and five little desks were all the room could hold. I was with her all day except for the first class of the day with the teacher that would have been my teacher all day otherwise. I learned to read. I think of her when I smell lilacs. 

Mrs. Resnick was my seventh grade teacher. She was stern and wore her hair in a bun. She also was near retirement. All the kids hated her, even me. She never smiled. But she recognized that I had fallen into the cracks when it came to math. She tried so earnestly to catch me up. She recognized part of the problem was I could not see the blackboard, even when she moved me to the front row. She went out of her way to have me tested and found I was in dire need of glasses and when my parents were not forthcoming she took the step of having the school provide them. I hated her then, but she remains in my memory with the greatest of respect now. 

Mrs. Annal Winberry taught world geography to tenth graders at Riner High School. I worked harder for her in that class than any I ever had and she wrote little love notes to me on my papers how she wished there was a grade higher than an A plus so she could give it to me. It was the first time in school I realized I was good at something, that if I gave it great effort I could do well. She adored me for applying myself and showed her affection. It gave me confidence in myself. She made the world an exciting place for a girl who had never been out of the county. It lit a burning desire in me to know other cultures and places; a fire that rages in me still. When I got married at sixteen it must have broken her heart. She came to a little wedding shower mom gave me. I have her gift on my coffee table to this day. It is a little wooden box, decoupaged with Italian stamps on the outside and has three little spaces on the inside to store stamps. She bought it on one of her travels to Italy and gave it to me. I wish she knew how very much she gave to me and how she changed my life and that I went on to accomplish all that she believed I was capable of. 

Masoud Mirtaheri was my husband from 1978 to 1986. He received and undergraduate degree, master’s degree, and PhD in seven and a half years from Virginia Tech in engineering. He taught me many things; how the world works, mid-eastern politics, the religion of Islam, and some Farsi language. Most of all I learned from him that every single person has something to teach you (his personal philosophy) if you only ask questions. He taught me to be a “sponge” for knowledge. He also taught me not to be racist, and to question what you have been taught in the past. He went home to Iran and I sincerely hope he is happy now. I owe him a lot and I would not be the person I am today if I had not met and married him.

While I was in Maryland for twenty-four years I had dozens of clients who I was stylist for that long. They all had educations with professional jobs and I watched them bloom in their careers. I often did their spouses and children too. I can’t mention all of them but every one of them impressed on me the value of an education in some way. A few are: Mark Dorlester, The Pingatores, the Abramsons, the Biesekers, the Howards, the Leonards and the Rosenbleuths.  

One client in particular I must mention is Nicki Joy. Nicki came in to the salon once or twice a week because she traveled extensively with her career as a motivational speaker. She has two books published of her own and is a voracious reader of others books. She had a huge impact on me personally. Every week she sat in my chair and motivated me to do better, be better, and reach for the moon. She believed in me and my abilities and voiced that opinion to me often. I am deeply grateful for that and her friendship, which I cherish. 

Denny Arrant was a client of the salon and when I learned he taught private oil painting classes, I took advantage of it for two years. He thought I had some talent and encouraged me to continue but did not want me to go to an art school. He had attended the Corcoran Art School and felt it had broken his spirit. I promised him I would not let school do that to me and I have kept that promise. Denny is in heaven painting with the angles now. As my first mentor, he is always with me in spirit. 

My client Nicki Joy was interviewed by Diane Rehm on Public Radio in Maryland and I was I tuned in to hear the interview. It was the first time I ever listened to public radio. I have been listening daily ever since. I have received the equivalent of a BA degree listening to public radio. It is often where the books I read are first introduced to me. Diane Rehm is my heroine. I hope someday when my own book is published she will interview me and I will finally get to tell her how she has shaped my life.  

No one is successful without the help of others. For all those that helped me get to where I am today and cannot name in this document, know I am deeply grateful for your care.