I was born in Oakland, California. I was a civil rights activist in San Francisco in 1964 prior to relocating to the East Coast. I then met my husband, jazz musician/composer Grachan Moncur III in New York City and we relocated to Newark, NJ. We have six wonderful adult children. After moving to Newark I returned to school and became a certified teacher for the Newark Public School system. I retired from the Newark Public School system in 2010. Before retiring I self-published a book entitled Diary of an Inner City Teacher which is a probe into the reality of teaching in the inner city school systems as seen from the front line. The book is available both in eBook format and hard copy on Amazon.com, and eBook format at other online book stores. Writing is a passion of mine and I'm looking forward to being part of an online writing community.