Five Things You Probably Don’t Know About Me

Will mentioned this in his blog, and though no one’s tagged me, I decided to play.

  1. Will begins by mentioning his relation to William Bradford and John Proctor. Some of you probably know I am a genealogist, but you may not know it is a quirky hobby of mine to figure out how I’m related to famous writers. I am Mark Twain’s fourth cousin six times removed, Tennessee Williams’ sixth cousin three times removed, Jane Austen’s fifth cousin seven times removed, Oliver Wendell Holmes’ fifth cousin eight times removed, Robert Penn Warren’s eight cousin three times removed, Willa Cather’s eight cousin three times removed, Sir Walter Scott’s sixth cousin nine times removed, Ray Bradbury’s ninth cousin three times removed, twentieth great-granddaughter of Geoffrey Chaucer, sixth cousin six times removed of Emily Dickinson, and… well, I could go on, but the point is that I am just barely related to anyone famous. At least no more related than you probably are. The difference is I am weird enough to figure out the relationships.
  2. I was what is known, I suppose, as a heavy metal chick in high school. Hair bands. Yep. And I had big New Jersey mall hair. No, you can’t see a picture.
  3. My son Dylan is named for the poet Dylan Thomas — Dylan Thomas Huff. My dad’s name is also Thomas, so Dylan’s middle name serves the dual fuction of completing the poet’s name and honoring my dad. My hope is that Dylan will not emulate the poet’s lifestyle.
  4. My husband is an operatic tenor. He has had roles with the Knoxville Opera and has sung in the Atlanta Opera Chorus. I think he gave up on making it a career after he didn’t make the last round of Met auditions for which he was eligible.
  5. Elaine of Astolat as rendered by John William WaterhouseI am a King Arthur buff. A walking encyclopedia of Arthuriana. And yet, I have never had a chance to put it to much use teaching. Gawain is my favorite knight. My daughter Maggie’s middle name is Elaine for the Fair Maid of Astolat. May she not suffer the same fate.

I tag Mr. Teacher, Nani, and Ms. George. Well, really anyone else who wants to play.

3 thoughts on “Five Things You Probably Don’t Know About Me”

  1. Okay, I am delurking for a brief moment. I would love to know how you go about researching your tenuous (but oh so cool) connections to the literary world. As an English teacher myself, I think it would be fun to do a research activity/project with my students to see if we can establish any links of our own…

    I love visiting your site!

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