I was born in 1951 in Lansing, Michigan. My mother was working as a Registered Nurse at Sparrow Hospital at that time, but stopped working to raise her growing family. My father was working as an engineer for a company that manufactured car wax.

My parents moved to Ann Arbor just before I started the 7^th grade. The third oldest of seven children, I had to make a lot of noise to get any attention, so I learned to play the trombone.

I studied Russian in high school.  Why Russian?  Because the other kids were learning French.  It turned out to be a lucky move, because I went on a senior class trip to Moscow and Leningrad during spring break in 1969. I earned all the money myself by doing kitchen work at a local psychiatric hospital.

I really caught the travel bug.  Over the years I have managed to visit England, Turkey, China, Armenia, and several other countries.

In the early 70's I wrote for a radical feminist newspaper in Ann Arbor while studying journalism at the University of Michigan. As my career progressed, I worked part-time for the Ann Arbor News, then full-time for a daily newspaper in Ionia, Michigan.

I left Ionia in 1976 to live on a kibbutz in Israel, where I learned to pick bananas and speak Hebrew.

When I returned to the States, I found out Cooley Law School had accepted me as a student. By the time I graduated, I was engaged to another lawyer. I married him in 1980 but it didn’t last.

My first job was with Liberty Mutual Insurance Company.  I was a trial lawyer, handling personal injury litigation. Meanwhile, I was trying to figure out a way for my brother, Nathan, to leave my parents’ house and live independently. He is developmentally disabled, so he needs a little extra help to live on his own.

In late 1989, I moved to Chicago to serve as President of a non-profit legal foundation. As it turned out, that gave me an opportunity to help Nathan live on his own. He found a wonderful group home on the north side of Chicago, just half a mile from where I lived.

My work in Chicago led me to the study of mass hysteria, and how people can become sick as a result of their fears. I was writing about environmental law, and how to tell whether a new regulation makes sense from an economic standpoint. Some laws are designed solely to appease public fears, like a giant sugar pill. This has nothing to do with science, it’s purely a public relations ploy, and the government can waste a lot of money this way.

At about the same time, I became aware of false memories, because someone in my family read the book "Courage to Heal" and then accused her father of childhood rape. The new-found rape memories had been reinforced during her group sessions with a recovered memory therapist. Gradually, I realized that recovered memory therapy does a great deal of damage, tearing apart families and causing innocent people to go to prison.

In December 1994, I moved to Roswell, New Mexico for personal reasons. I arranged for my brother, Nathan, to come with me. I represented divorce and Social Security clients in a law office right around the corner from the UFO museum, while my brother lived in various group homes and one nursing home.

One nice thing about Roswell: the space aliens. What a great place to live for someone with an interest in mass hysteria!

I helped set up a state-wide organization in New Mexico to educate the public about mental health treatments, so that people could recognize and avoid harmful "recovered memory" therapies. I also helped establish a regional Jewish congregation in southeastern New Mexico, called Mishkan Shalom.

Eventually, I came to the realization that I ought to settle down someplace when I grow up. My parents suggested that Nathan and I move in with them, in Milan, Michigan. They have lived in this town for 30 years.  My folks are retired, but they used to operate an electroplating plant here.

I packed up all my belongings and office equipment and drove a truck from New Mexico to Michigan in November 1997. I thought that I would live with my parents only "temporarily" because Nathan would find a home of his own within a few months.

As it turned out, the Ann Arbor area has not been a good place for someone with a developmental disability.  No one is creating new group homes here. In fact, there are fewer and fewer group homes. I went on a campaign to ask the local CMH (Community Mental Health) to provide my brother Nathan with a suitable place to live. In October 2000, that became a reality, but it wasn't easy.

My clients are the ones who tell me what kind of law practice I should have. People ask for wills, trusts, and probate work. Some of them need divorces or bankruptcies. Some want to buy a home. I love to read books about mass hysteria and false memories, but that is just a hobby, and it has nothing to do with my law practice.

Living in Michigan is great for me, partly because I grew up in Michigan, and partly because so many of my family members live here. My sisters and brothers have all sorts of interesting jobs: respiratory therapist, special education teacher, machinist, computer expert, medical doctor, and gardener.

I purchased a small house in Milan, on York Street, and I enjoy home ownership.  In November 2003, I was elected to the Milan City Council for a four-year term.

Because I've been so close to my parents, I have found some really neat old family albums laying around the house. I made copies of the oldest pictures, so that my brothers and sisters, and cousins, can enjoy owning these treasures. There is a needlepoint at my parents' house that was made in the 1700’s by an ancestor of mine from Ireland, and I wish it could be reproduced, too.