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1960 -   Born on a summer Sunday in the beautiful valley of Boscobel, Wisconsin. Parents scuttle hopes of ‘Timothy Edward’ and combine their own names to welcome third daughter:  Patrice Josephine. Siblings later trim this to PJ.

 

1966 - 1971   Patty Jo attends Immaculate Conception Grade School where Sister Juan Marie nurtures a love of reading and writing. In the third grade Patty delivers her first public speech courtesy of the Worldbook Encyclopedia. The experience later serves as a cautionary tale for hundreds of college composition students when discussing unintentional plagiarism; they prefer the story about the time a neighbor ran over her lip with a bicycle.

 

1971 - 1978   Interest in music and theater at Boscobel Area Schools saves Patti from earning the distinction of ‘most injuries sustained in a non-contact sport’ on the tennis team. Babysitting enterprise leads to a summer of pushing swings in suburban Chicago, a ‘close enough’ encounter with Barry Manilow, and a new typewriter for the aspiring writer.

 

1978 -   Patrice moves to Madison and works in a long-term care facility. Begins and ends college career at the University of Wisconsin Madison. Sets record for longest college registration process and shortest ROTC membership. Search for serotonin goes awry; plunges into eating disorder abyss.

 

1979 - 1980   Works in JC Penney catalog department; masters teletype moments before equipment becomes obsolete. Moves to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to develop temping career (clerical, retail).

 

1980 - 1983   Attends and graduates from Viterbo University with a B.A. in English. Performs with Viterbo Concert Choir; tours western Europe in a seafoam gown. Explores glamorous work-study opportunities in housekeeping, alumni office, and hospital development. Writes partial draft of FEAR ITSELF, a gloomy novel about unrequited love and social conditioning; hides novel. 

 

1984 -   Pursues short-term contracted work (retail, clerical).

 

1985 - 1988   Teaches composition at South Dakota State University while pursuing M.A. in Comparative Literature.  Ploddingly writes thesis which advisor insists on titling Iris Murdoch’s “Learning Protagonists”:  Toward Contingency, Responsibility and Reality. Repeatedly consults dictionary for definition of ‘contingency.’ Eager to spend the next fifteen years paying off students loans, prolongs graduate school by taking the education block.

 

1988 - 1999   Trades wind-swept plains for scenic river town.  Teaches composition and literature, speech, technical writing, and journalism at Ellsworth Community College in Iowa Falls, Iowa. Sponsors student newspaper and promotes annual literary contest and publication.  Surrenders all hope of a personal life. Writes partial draft of unnamed novel; shreds manuscript.

 

1999 - 2001   Teaches at Scott Community College, in Bettendorf, Iowa. Begins long distance relationship with former colleague based on email; marries, moves to Arizona. Develops a healthy respect for cactus and a mediocre tolerance of extreme heat.

 

2002 - 2007   Writes many drafts of novel that becomes Alumni Affairs. Develops partial drafts for Villa Hooey, Lessons in Duplicity, and Chanteuse on the Loose.

 

 

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