Click to hear  "The Entertainer"

Hi, I'm Ruth.
To really know someone you need more than words, but here's a bit of history.

I was born in Detroit, MI in 1946, and grew up on the east side. I lived in and around Detroit until I was 24 when I went to California to go to the university, though I didn't enroll until I was 32. I have done many different things in my life. I was a bookkeeper just after high school, worked for a place called Vernor's, the ginger ale guys, they have a unique ginger ale, and I still get it when I can find it, it's not in many places unless you can find it at a wine or liquor store outside of MI, OH and a few states back there, but it's really great, anyway, back to my job....I kept track of bottle breakage, oh what fun. Office work was not my forte, I didn't like being couped up doing the same thing over and over with the same few people. Next, I tried out as hamburger flipper working for a little place called White Castle, another great item. Whenever I go home, it's one of the first things I get.

Next I tried something I did for 11 years, I became a dancer....a go-go dancer.  I loved it.  I really love music, and I loved dancing. From then on I did a lot of jobs, I've been an invoice biller, a warehouse worker, tended bar, cashier, short order cook, and that oh so wonderful waitress. In 1978 I went back to school. I got my AA, then went on to the university to get my BA in Spanish Literature and Language, then in 1985 I completed work and received my Master's in Spanish Literature. I went on to study for my Phd and completed all but my dissertation. I will not complete it now, so much in my life has changed, and I don't have the focus or drive needed to complete it, though I've finished all but one chapter. However, my primary field was Peninsula Spanish Literature [focusing on medieval] my secondary, Russian Travel Literature, and an interdisciplinary in international Science Fiction.

I used to breed cats, Shaded American Shorthairs and Traditional Burmese. There are pictures at the main site of Ruku's Rahki Mau Tin Bluz, a Shaded Blue American Shorthair and TIKA's 13th Best Shorthair Cat 1992-1993 and Ruku's Karamelyn Kream, a Shaded Chocolate American Shorthair. I don't breed now, and I don't have Rahki, nor any of my other cats. They died one after the other and the vet could never figure out what was causing it. Had they been outside cats we would have thought they'd been poisoned, but I never let them out so unless someone who came to my home [a so=called friend] did something....Ruku is the name of my cattery, and there are some nice cats out there with that name in their pedigree. TIKA stands for The International Cat Association.

I had another business until Dec. '99. I owned and ran my own Inn. It was a full time job, even though I had another one also. I had a manager who worked while I taught Spanish at a private university where I worked for about 10 years teaching 3 days a week from 8 until 12pm . I loved teaching, but I gave it up when it became evident that I was no longer welcome in my department under the new management. I'm not a fighter and without support couldn't deal with the treatment anymore, especially since I was going through some rough times, my dad having died in 1996, and then my Mom in 1999.                                                                                                                      

I love music and have eclectic tastes. I read science fiction and mysteries. I have been a solitary person most of my life.  I am not fond of crowds, and much prefer being one on one, being the focus of the other's attention, that requires a commitment most are not willing to make so I've remained alone.

As for the rest, I am old-fashioned, conservative, and believe very much in my country. I have the greatest respect and honor for those who serve this country whether they be military or police or fireman. I have no use for politicians. There are perhaps some good ones, but in my opinion they no longer support what this country was founded to do, give the power to the people. They no longer do what is best for the country and people. Their only real interest is power and getting re-elected. They live in an ivory tower passing laws which affect those in other economic levels and do it all in the name of their party to the detriment of most of us out here. They work hour upon hour to get more and more power into the hands of the city, county, state, or federal government and do not care about the consequences of the laws they keep passing. For every law they pass to meet their 'philosophical' beliefs they steal our power and independence. They have made the gov all powerful and continue to try and make the 'free' citizens dependent. Because of course, the more dependent one is on the gov the more power the citizen will give to whom? the politicians! But, that's something for another day. As to the others, the military, fire, police....they are heroes. I believe in telling the the truth, in honor and being honorable, and respect. I believe in thinking before speaking because words can never been erased once spoken. I've got a good sense of humor, but a very serious side, also. I'm intelligent, educated and definitely not a feminist. At least not as they are today. I am an 'equitist'...if you do the SAME job, not an equivalent job, because who decides what is equivalent, but if you do the same job in all respects then you deserve the same rewards. I believe that if you wish to be a mother then THAT is your most precious job. If you wish to 'satisfy' some other need then don't have children get fish, you only have to put food in the tank and perhaps clean it maybe once a week or so. You cannot give 'all' of you to your child if part of you has to be given to your job! That, too, is for another forum.

         __________________________________________________________________

My life has changed drastically since 1994, and it has affected all I do, think and feel.  My father, for whom I cared after he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in early 1994, died of a stroke in 1996, and my Mom died unexpectedly in the recovery room after a surgery in May, 1999.  I didn't get to see her. I was giving my final exams and was going back to see her after they were over. I gave up my job in December of the same year, and yes, for those who think they are just stories, one can be driven from a job through subtle denigration. Ten years on the job and the new 'chair' felt the department shouldn't send a sympathy card because I was only an 'adjunct'. The next year I sold my home and mortgaged a property to help a friend of twelve years who had some difficult financial problems, so that she, her husband and children did not lose their home. I no longer have a friend, live in a single wide '89 mobile in a state where I know no one, while they have gone their own ways, walked away from the home and each gone back to their families. Isn't it nice when you have someone to fall back on when you're too lazy to work for a living and pay your just debt. But, I guess for some who are so self-absorbed stealing from a friend isn't really stealing because they 'need' it. And, it's always easier to blame the other person..they are 'bad' they were mean, they did this they did that. Very easy for people like that to convince themselves that somehow it's ok to steal. I am alone now, I am filled with anger, something that has never before been a part of who I am. Because I am repsonsible and pay my debts, I am trapped here until I can somehow pay off the loan I took out to help them. My poetry tells the world I see and the shadows I walk, it also tells the story of so many who love and lose, who reach for the unattainable.  

Please, enjoy your visit.

    Ruth