I was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico three years before George McGovern ran for president, which was my earliest political memory; my parents took me with them to the polls, and I thought McGovern was actually going to be there, so I seriously pissed off the Nixon voters by talking about this rather loudly.
Needless to say, I grew up in a true blue anti-war liberal family. I was a child of the Cold War, in a world where the Doomsday Clock was ticking closer and closer to midnight, where nuclear weapons were coming off the assembly line as fast as the US and USSR could order them. My strong opposition to nuclear weapons endured throughout my college years; ironically, part of my undergraduate Bachelor of Sciences work in chemistry at Colorado State University was spent as an intern working with the nuclear waste at the Hanford Nuclear Site in Washington State. Incidentally, this is where I earned the unfortunate (but nerdy) nickname "Plutonium Page".
Many moons later, after a stint in research and development at a biotechnology company in Seattle, Washington, I returned to my beloved New Mexico. I taught undergraduate organic chemistry laboratory classes, and was a research assistant in a physical inorganic research laboratory in the University of New Mexico Chemistry Department. I also became heavily involved in Howard Dean's campaign in 2003-2004, which meant I spent far too much time both offline and online with the campaign and not enough time studying. Fortunately, my online time paid off, because that's how I met my Dutch husband, Frank.
Just for the hell of it, my three felines and I moved to Amsterdam (the one in the Netherlands) in 2005. I have been a a volunteer blogger, internet geek and activist for both Greenpeace International and the Greenpeace Netherlands offices since 2005. I'm dedicated to saving whales, blogging about nuclear disarmament, climate change, and other environmental issues, and drinking fabulous Dutch beer.
Finally, a disclaimer. I want to say that even though I'm deeply involved with Greenpeace, none of my opinions are officially theirs. They'll probably just happen to match. And although I've written for a very high-profile US Democratic blog, I've started my own because I'd like to express opinions that are mine, not those of that site.
That's it. This is my own private echo chamber blog. Only people who agree with me can comment. Kidding.