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I was born Maria Kathryn Hinds (Maria Hinds) on October 3, 1968 in Rochester, New York. I lived in Rochester for 11 years, attending a variety of private schools, including one run by my mother. I enjoyed playing outside, especially football, kick the can, and ghost in the graveyard, and I loved to read, especially Cricket magazine. I have one brother, who is a year and a half younger. We had our moments while growing up, but he has been one of my closest friends since high school. He currently lives in Davis, California where he is an editor at UCDavis. He lives with his wife, Shannon Hickey, their beautiful daughter Ella, their dogs, Jolie and Pierre, their cat Apple, and various other friends, relatives, and housemates that flitter in and out of their house.
When I was 11 years old, my family moved to Steilacoom, Washington. Steilacoom is a small quintessentially quaint little town just south of Tacoma. While living in Steilacoom, I attended the christian school from hell, Heritage Christian School. Any thoughts that may have lingered in my mind of christianity as a possible option for my spiritual life were soundly smashed by my two very long years in this school. From Heritage Christian School I moved on to a catholic high school, Bellarmine. After two years at Bellarmine I switched to the local public high school, Steilacoom High School. When people asked me about the differences between the public school and the Catholic school, I usually replied, the price of the drugs. Both schools were the usual high school drivel, with the exceptional teacher now and then. To be honest, most of the drivel was due to us being teenagers rather than any lack of effort on the teachers' parts. Home life was, er, chaotic, but fortunately I had quite a few good friends during all of my years of school. Unfortunately I have lost touch with almost all of them. :- ( During my school years in Steilacoom I was lucky enough to have 2 sets of surrogate parents, the Bulls and the Storholts. Much of my sanity is credited to them.
One month after graduating from high school, I left for a career (!?!) as a diesel truck mechanic in the US Army. People who didn't know me then, and probably even people who did know me then, have never fully understood this decision. I'm not sure I fully understood. Mostly I was driven by an overpowering sense of panic. I needed to leave, to escape; I didn't feel I had the grades or the money for college, nor did I think I was ready for college, and so I took the first and easiest opportunity to escape that came by. I really wanted to see the world, so I not only signed up for the army, but requested Korea. I don't know if my options were really as limited as I thought at the time, but it was probably close. Basic training and advanced individual training (AIT), where I supposedly learned how to become a mechanic, were kind of fun, and I kind of got into it, at least enough that I signed up for jump school at that time, and probably would have gone for rangers if they had let women. After basic training, AIT and jump school, I boarded a plane bound for Korea.
I was stationed near the DMZ in Camp Casey. It was very intense. The first 6 months in Korea were not bad, but the last 7 months in Korea were a living hell. I'm not sure how I survived, but I know a lot of credit goes to some very good people that I was friends with. So let me say a few words of appreciation. Aletha was my roommate and truly my source of sanity, and I am forever grateful to her for helping me get through that dark period of my life. Randy and his wife, Debbie, were true friends. Wherever you three are today, I hope you are well and happy. You have no idea how much you meant to me those long months we were together. My boyfriend the last few months of Korea, Mitch, was also a lifeline for me. Much thanks also to the people who helped me get out of there and/or gave me moral support, especially to my supply seargent, whose name but not kindness, escapes me after these long years, but without whom I may not have made it out of Korea as a member of the United States Army. And finally, but not at all least, my brother, who actually managed to visit me in Korea (he was just 17), and the people from back home that kept in touch with me and sent me encouraging words. Some day I will write down the story of my life in hell, (hell caused by the US Army, NOT at all from the country of Korea, which I actually enjoyed visiting, and wish I had had more time to explore it), but for now I will leave it at that.
When I left Korea, I was still (somehow! -for better or for worse) in the army, in love, and bound for Texas. I became Maria Mitchell on Febrary 29th, 1988. I was nineteen years old. Texas was slightly better than Korea, or I should say my army unit was slightly better than in Korea. Fort Hood, Texas was most certainly not any better than Korea. After both of us finished our time in the army, we moved to Mitch's hometown, Red Lion, Pennsylvania. I joined the National Guard and became a weekend warrior, and worked in various jobs. Most of my jobs involved very little brain use, and I became determined to return to school so I could get a more mentally challenging job. I took classes on and off while in Pennsylvania. While we lived there, we really enjoyed having a foreign exchange student from Germany come live with us for six months, Patric. During my stint in the army and while I lived in Pennsylvania, I met lots of wonderful people, all of which, unfortunately I have lost touch with. Seems to be the theme of this life. Mitch and I had some good times, and we had some bad. I don't regret it, but I do wish I could say that I ended my marriage gracefully. Unfortunately, I'm afraid I did a terrible job. Mitch, wherever you are, I'm sorry. I never set out to hurt you, but I was young and selfish and frustrated. I moved back to Washington in 1992, transferred to a National Guard unit on Fort Lewis, and began life again. In the fall of 1993, I got divorced, became Maria Kathryn McKinley, and moved to Seattle to attend the University of Washington.
I majored in physics and minored in German. While attending school, on Novermber 14, 1996, my daughter Tanika was born, and I became a single mom. To use an old but apt cliche, she has been my sunshine since she was born. Her dad is a sweet guy, but our paths were in different directions. He now lives in California, but is still a part of Tanika's life. Fortunately, at the time I was living in a house with 2 good friends who each had a child, and my brother and his wife, (yup, full house). So I had lots of helping hands and experience around. The following year, I was awarded a scholarship to study physics in Germany, so Tanika and I left in the summer of 1997 to live in Giessen, Germany. Thankfully, I was blessed with insane optimism, can-do spirit, and a mostly very charming daughter. And so we had a wonderful year. It was logistically difficult at times, but well worth it. I met a lot of wonderful people, from all over the world, including Patric's family, who are fantastic people, and learned a great deal. Unfortunately, of course, I have lost touch with most of these wonderful people. If anyone has a method for keeping in contact with people on a very long time basis, I'd love to hear about it... We traveled a bit around Germany, with a couple of trips to other countries, including France, England, Amsterdam, and Turkey. Tanika's first language was German. Unfortunately, she doesn't remember any of it. We'll have to go back to Germany for a summer or something, and see if she can get it back. Soon after we returned from Germany, I finally quit the National Guard. Have never regretted that one (quitting that is), although I do miss a few people from my years in the Guard.
I graduated from the University of Washington in the summer of 1999. Soon after that I moved into a house with my best friend, Laura. During that summer I worked for a professor at the University. I worked temp jobs and was unemployed for a while, and then in the spring of 2000, I got a job as a scientific programmer in the Physiology and Biophysics department at the University of Washington, working in two different labs at the UW; both labs do neuroscience research. Fred Rieke and his lab research retinal processing. Mike Shadlen and his lab research higher level brain functioning, currently focussing mostly on decision making processes in the brain.
In the summer of 2001, my partner, David, and I moved into a house together. I first met David when I was an undergraduate and he was a graduate student at the UW, in the fall of 1994. We were friends for years, and he moved in with us (supposedly temporarily...) when he returned from his most recent long stint in Germany in December, 2000. We now own a house together.
Tanika has been a joy. Watching her grow up has been wonderful and exciting. I have many entertaining stories about Tanika, but I will save those for her web page. We all enjoy reading, plays, hiking/camping, rock climbing (although we don't actually do much of it lately...), skiing, art projects and music. Recently, I have started playing the piano again. Have a long way to go, but already sounding better.
I currently work fulltime for Mike Shadlen. In the 6 years that I have worked in neuroscience labs, I have become excited about neuroscience research, and am planning on applying to grad school so I can become more involved in the research end.
So far, my life has been sometimes quite difficult, but the struggles have made me stronger, or, at least I think they were suppose to. A big thanks to all of my girlfriends, who have been my salvation in my darkest moments, you all know who you are. The boys seem to (with a few wonderful exceptions) come and go, but they still have a special place in my heart :-). Hmm, not sure that made much sense, but basically I just want to thank everyone who has helped me out, and let you know that just because you haven't heard from me in years, doesn't mean I don't think of you or that I don't want to hear from you. I would love to!
monstermama@gmail.com
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