I was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, attended Nicolet High School, then got my BA at a fine liberal arts college in Minnesota, Carleton College. After that, I moved to New York City (actually, the Bronx, to be more specific) where I ran a diner for awhile. That was essentially a disaster. Then, a brief time in Wisconsin before I headed to Santa Fe, New Mexico. There, I sold jewelry to local shops for a few years. Somewhere along the way I got married, had a child (Jeremiah), and eventually moved to Idaho. I worked there as an Office Manager / Computer Programmer for about 5 years before I decided to bag that and study to become a teacher. I also remarried, had another child, Jesse, and somehow landed a job in Madras, Oregon. I spent three summers hustling back and forth over the Cascade Mountains to get my Masters degree from Western Oregon-- the state of Oregon requires lots of teacher education, but access is challenging from the middle of the state. I'm now happily re-divorced and have decided to quit doing that (it's expensive, and really isn't as much fun as you might think!)
Central Oregon is gorgeous, but don't move here because we've already got a large enough people, thank you very much! (See how quickly we transplants get ornery about the influx of other folks? Sheesh!)
Now I teach at Madras High School, Jeremiah's a junior in college (where he is either majoring in babes or business, I'm not clear which), and Jesse's in high school. I started out as an ESL (English as a Second Language) and Alternative Ed teacher, but now, in my 13th year of teaching, am teaching Spanish 1, Spanish 2, and Advanced Spanish. Fortunately, I am pretty adaptable, which is excellent, since my major in college was Economics! Hey, the District even made me the Webmaster for awhile (see what happens when you spend too much time in Cyberspace?). If you're a real glutton for punishment, take a look at my paper on Second Language Acquisition. Here's my resume (it's old, but give me a job anyway.)
If you have nothing better to do, take a look at
this newspaper article which appeared in the Portland Oregonian way
back when cyberspace was new for most folks: My 15 minutes of fame.
On my birthday in 2003, my gift to myself was a trip to Portland to Tango Berretín. I attended the beginner's lesson, stayed for the entire evening (it happened to be the weekend of Alex's Thing, so there was even live music) and by 1AM had been officially declared a tango addict by Alex Krebs himself. Argentine tango is truly magical, and since the Portland tango community is the best in the nation, I consider myself incredibly lucky to live within driving distance. After a lifetime as an awkward klutz-- typical nerd-- I am slowly learning about grace, balance, and feminity. Milonguero Robert Hauk, close embrace prodigy, is my favorite teacher. I'm also crazy about Portland's local tango band, Conjunto Berretín.
For 17 years, I drove a 1986 Ford Escort, which had started leaking all its major fluids (hopefully this isn't a prognostication for my own future) right up until I hit a deer at 2AM when I was returning from the Eugene Tango Center. At least it died for a good cause. I'm hopelessly loyal, when it comes down to it (at least when it comes to my cars and my friends-- ex-husbands do not count.) I also owned a second Escort, but Jeremiah wrecked it after I'd had it only four months, so he owes me a decent vehicle. (Yeah, right.) Last winter, I finally broke down and bought a respectable, solid, boring, dependable Toyota Camry (hard to find in parking lots because it looks just like every other car, but perfect for driving thousands of miles back and forth to milongas.)
As for hobbies (tango is a passion, not a hobby), I very much enjoy genealogy. I maintain websites for a bunch of people: The Dreisbach Family Association, Compass Symbols (little by little I'm teaching my friend Elaine to maintain this herself), Wayward Women, Gypsy Fire, and of course, my own site, Bridey's Beads.
My kids and I like to have fun together... awhile back it was collectible card game mania. Jeremiah plays Magic: The Gathering, Jesse and I have been playing the Monty Python and the Holy Grail card game. We also play lots of computer and video games together. The weirdest was Bad Mojo, in which you are a cockroach for nearly the entire game. Hey, it's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it! Personally, I prefer games like Myst and Silent Hill. Nowadays, the boys are into Texas Holdem (this is poker, don't ask me) but, since even a novice can read my cards in my face, I don't play. The boys seem to be pretty good at it, though. Now, if they'd just end those poker parties before 4AM...
We got rid of cable in 1997, and it was the best
decision we ever made. These days, we watch a lot of film, both
in and out of the theatre, and the only TV shows we regret missing are
the Simpsons and SNL. Madras even has its own Film Center now, and
this has become a favorite.
Meanwhile, I finally decided to rename myself with
my birth mother's surname, and I kept my adoptive mother's surname as
my maiden name, so now I'm officially Carrie E. McPeak. I'm
getting used to it.
It never seems like there's enough time to do
everything, so don't hold your breath for another update to this page
any time soon. But thanks for stopping by!