November 2007

Dear Readers.

Here's a picture of me in my SCUM T-shirt.  The letters stand for Sailplane Crew Union Member.

My husband, Ed, flew sailplanes, and I was his crew.  I helped him put the sailplane together, helped him get it out on the takeoff line, hooked up his sailplane to the towplane with a rope, and run along holding his wing until he got going.  If he landed his sailplane away from the airport, I hooked up the trailer and went to find him.

Back then, I was getting letters from kids wanting pictures of me, and I thought it would be fun to send this.  I wrote a letter saying that the letters could stand for She Couldn't Understand Math, because I couldn't.  That's one reason I became a writer.

Well, right away, one of the schools retuned the picture saying they couldn't allow "such things" on their bulletin board.  I had had manuscripts rejected before, but never my picture.  That ended the fun.

I came across the picture the other day and realized that now I have my own web site and can put "such things" on it if I want to.  I can even put a not-very-good picture of me running the sailplane wing.  So there...