The Scrapbook
At seven months, the first Christmas:
Cleveland, Ohio. Mom and me.
She said this must have been the moment when I acquired my lifelong taste for shiny, beautiful, expensive things.
At four or five years, arguably the first novel (but not the last):
Millie the Caterpillar. Hand-written. Hand-illustrated. Hand-bound (with a needle and thread). Dimensions: 1 3/4" by 1".
Chapter One: Millie is deeply insecure about being a caterpillar. Chapter Two: Millie becomes a triumphant butterfly.
Not for sale.
From five to thirteen years old, wrote and illustrated several novels, including a sequel to The Cricket in Times Square.
At eight, a ballerina:
Yes, those are toe shoes. Yes, they hurt. No matter how much cotton padding I stuffed into those shoes, my knobby feet wound up bloody and blistered.
It's tough being eight, and walking around with bloody, blistered feet.
Danced in recitals galore. In the kids' chorus line when the Bolshoi came to Cleveland.
Hung up my toe shoes at about age ten (to Mom's great disappointment).
Too much pain.
An equestrienne at thirteen:
Cinnamon Girl and me.
We'd placed in the Cuyahoga County Jumping Competition that autumn.
Horseback riding inflicts its own sort of pain. Sore knees. Sore butt. Sore everything when you fall off.
But, gosh, what a blast. Teaches discipline, responsibility.
Thanks, Girl.
You were the best.
Off to college, with a lot on my mind:
Attended the College of Literature, Sciences, and the Arts, the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Fascinated by everything: literature, political science, psychology.
Graduated Bachelor of Arts, with Highest Distinction. Phi Beta Kappa.
Stayed for the Top Ten Law School.
Then off to California with my Juris Doctorate on my knee. . .
Graduation Day. Ann Arbor. Dad and me. I'm the one not crying. Physicist, electrical engineer, inventor was Dad. Certified genius. Motto: You always have choices. Hated Robert Altman movies because he thought they were sexist. Croatian: troubled man from a troubled country. Seven years to the day after this photo was shot, he had his first and last cardiac arrest.
Ya see, Dad? Always said you'd go on the Internet.
At twenty-something, a tax lawyer:
Ninety hours a week. Week after week. For the rest of your life.
After fascination with everything, could only think about billable hours. The Internal Revenue Code. Starker exchanges as sexy as it would ever get.
Picture this thought bubble emanating from that smiling lawyer's face:
"AAAAH! LEMME OUTTA HERE!"
Got outta there
And back to basics:
"Brainstorm"
Returned to stories. Started a novel. Jobs to pay for living in the San Francisco Bay area: legal writer, editor, then executive editor of tax publications for a national law book publisher. Software developer (in the ancient days, i.e. 1989). Real estate broker. First fiction sale, 1987.
Went indie, 1991.
Thank you, guardian angels.
Copyright 1991
by Lisa Mason
Met Tom Robinson.
Graduate of the San Francisco Art Institute, Academy of Art College, Revere Academy of Jewelry Arts. Pioneer of abstract symbolism. Artist, sculptor, jeweler. Illustrated The Dancing Wu Li Masters, Summer of Love, Pangaea I and II.
Motto: Do better what others do well.
What goes around, comes around
Mom and me, again.
After multiple illnesses culminating in aggressive systemic cancer, Ruth died 26 August 1999.
Ya see, Mom? At last you're on the Internet, too.
Serious Question: Mom got cortisone shots for arthritic pain in her shoulder. Ten years she got them. Could this have caused her sudden, severe osteoporosis? The aggressive bone and breast cancers?
We received this excellent report from a homeopathic healer:
"Cortisone is of course a steroid. It creates what we call the 'snowball effect'--when you get the shot you feel better, when it wears off you feel worse than before you got the shot, the next shot makes you feel a little better for a little while and you continue to go downhill."
And here's more info about this very important subject from Dr. John R. Lee's book about PMS treatments, premenopause, and menopause:
"...progesterone and glucocorticoids compete for receptor sites in osteoblasts, the bone-building molecules. The 'message' brought to the molecule by each of the two hormones is, however, quite different. The message of progesterone to the osteoblast is to stimulate new bone formation, whereas the message of glucocorticoids is to suppress that action. When glucocorticoids exceed normal production, osteoporosis results. Further, people placed on long-term use of large pharmocologic dosages of glucocorticoids will develop osteoporosis....People taking these drugs [women and men] over a long period of time all develop osteoporosis..."
Onward
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"It was at the highest point in the arc of a bridge that I became aware suddenly of the depth and bitterness of my feelings about modern life, and of the profoundness of my yearning for a more vivid, simple, and peaceable world."
--John Cheever
Copyright 2000,2001 by Lisa Mason. This site is owned by Lisa Mason. All rights reserved.
She said this must have been the moment when I acquired my lifelong taste for shiny, beautiful, expensive things.
Chapter One: Millie is deeply insecure about being a caterpillar. Chapter Two: Millie becomes a triumphant butterfly.
Not for sale.
From five to thirteen years old, wrote and illustrated several novels, including a sequel to The Cricket in Times Square.
It's tough being eight, and walking around with bloody, blistered feet.
Danced in recitals galore. In the kids' chorus line when the Bolshoi came to Cleveland.
Hung up my toe shoes at about age ten (to Mom's great disappointment).
Too much pain.
We'd placed in the Cuyahoga County Jumping Competition that autumn.
Horseback riding inflicts its own sort of pain. Sore knees. Sore butt. Sore everything when you fall off.
But, gosh, what a blast. Teaches discipline, responsibility.
Thanks, Girl.
You were the best.
Fascinated by everything: literature, political science, psychology.
Graduated Bachelor of Arts, with Highest Distinction. Phi Beta Kappa.
Stayed for the Top Ten Law School.
After fascination with everything, could only think about billable hours. The Internal Revenue Code. Starker exchanges as sexy as it would ever get.
Picture this thought bubble emanating from that smiling lawyer's face:
"AAAAH! LEMME OUTTA HERE!"
Went indie, 1991.
Thank you, guardian angels.
by Lisa Mason
Graduate of the San Francisco Art Institute, Academy of Art College, Revere Academy of Jewelry Arts. Pioneer of abstract symbolism. Artist, sculptor, jeweler. Illustrated The Dancing Wu Li Masters, Summer of Love, Pangaea I and II.
After multiple illnesses culminating in aggressive systemic cancer, Ruth died 26 August 1999.
Ya see, Mom? At last you're on the Internet, too.
We received this excellent report from a homeopathic healer:
"Cortisone is of course a steroid. It creates what we call the 'snowball effect'--when you get the shot you feel better, when it wears off you feel worse than before you got the shot, the next shot makes you feel a little better for a little while and you continue to go downhill."
And here's more info about this very important subject from Dr. John R. Lee's book about PMS treatments, premenopause, and menopause:
"...progesterone and glucocorticoids compete for receptor sites in osteoblasts, the bone-building molecules. The 'message' brought to the molecule by each of the two hormones is, however, quite different. The message of progesterone to the osteoblast is to stimulate new bone formation, whereas the message of glucocorticoids is to suppress that action. When glucocorticoids exceed normal production, osteoporosis results. Further, people placed on long-term use of large pharmocologic dosages of glucocorticoids will develop osteoporosis....People taking these drugs [women and men] over a long period of time all develop osteoporosis..."
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--John Cheever
Copyright 2000,2001 by Lisa Mason. This site is owned by Lisa Mason. All rights reserved.