Karen’s roots are in rural south Alabama where her family has been for generations. Her love of nature began while visiting her grandfather’s farm, wandering around outdoors, and spending time on the Gulf Coast. She left young and moved often, making the regular tumbleweed jokes while following her ex-husband’s military and civilian careers across the country. She loved exploring each new place with the curiosity of a geographer.
Her academic studies were scattered across the country as well and included business, government, international affairs, geography, GIS (Geographic Information Systems), tropical biology in Costa Rica, environmental sciences and economics. She finally graduated in Georgia with transcripts from 11 Universities and nearly twice the hours a B.S. requires.
Studying geography in Grad school was the sweet spot in her formal education because geography can include everything, especially at UGA where the geography department includes both human and physical geography. Most university geography departments focus on one, or the other. It’s all about what’s in the world, how it all fits and works together and where that leads. Connections are everywhere and fascinating.
Karen’s career was also scattered across interests and locations with a lot of volunteer work. Life eventually took her to the city, and family ties now keep her in the Atlanta burbs. Urban life offers a lot that country living doesn’t, but that’s a two way street.
Like Russ, Karen is happiest when there is balance between curiosity, creativity, being active (both mentally and physically) and meeting goals. Other interests have included gardening, fine hand sewing, SCUBA, cycling, hiking, biodiversity, native plants and habitats, hot-air ballooning and new things.
Writing is her current aspiration. She’d love to share some of the better and more interesting things about life in hope that one day she will be able to make a positive difference. Slow and considered is her style, but she struggles with organization. She constantly rewrites trying to say things better.
The website is seriously under construction. She tried to fix what she thought would be a small problem with the mobile view and ended up changing the entire appearance and structure of the page. Please forgive the transitional mess.