Laura Medeiros
What I am
I am more than the sum of describing factors. I have always been hard to exactly “place,” and I do not pigeon hole well in a world were descriptors put us in our place.
Most people need to know who you are, or what you are. Too many people base who they are on what it is they do. Or more precisely, what it is they are paid to do. I’ve been paid to do a lot of things, no matter what, I am an artist.
Where I came from
I grew up in a modern art museum, in a hippie college town. I really never stood a chance for being normal.
What I’ve done
I am a fourth generation professional artist, and only became a teacher after being fed up with people trying to shove my biomorphic form into a square hole; and then being told I need to “think outside the box.” I tend to hurt people’s brains with the variety I embrace; I tend to be so far away from “the box,” that I have to ask what box people are talking about.
I have a variety of degrees and certificates and professional awards. I have a hard time separating my professional life from my social life, since I tend to take my social activities to a professional level.
Where I’m going
In a constant effort to define myself for myself, I seem to modify what it appears I am. As a professional level “dieter” I recently changed to a holistic and healthy focus, and have embraced better living through nutrition. I had never thought of myself as including this type of descriptor in my definition before, and now I use the word “raw” with out feeling the need to explain or justify. I’m not certain what that means for the future, only that it indicates I am capable of great change on many levels. I expect other unpredictable great changes will also occur.
Who I’m taking with me
I started working with this interesting guy, we traded comic books, and ate Greek food together (neither of us had friends who liked Greek food). I had a first edition copy of the Dark Knight series by Frank Miller. He used it for kindling in a house fire. I never really forgave him, so I married him to continue the backlash and torture. Since we weren’t miserable enough we added two quirky girl children to the mix. It didn’t help the misery level, so we abandoned that, and chose to have fun instead. Visiting art galleries is the norm, then again, so is seeing an action flick at the drive-in. They have traveled cross-country five times, visited aliens in Roswell, King Tut in Philly, and have been zombie extras in a movie. One is a mini Odyssey and Trojan War expert, the other reads like she is a dictionary. For them “trebuchet” is what they yell when sorting socks, and not a computer font (they do know what one is because Daddy is a bit of an expert on the long bow and its development and usage in the 100 Years War.) 
My children have the capacity to tan. I burst into flames when exposed to sunlight for a prolonged period of time. I empathize with vampires, and read about them constantly. I firmly believe they do not sparkle.