ed note: Because it would be impossible for us to write an introduction of a biographical nature for Charly, we thought it best to present this autobiographical introduction.

Charly Makray-Rice

Although I now live an hour north of Madison, Wisconsin, in a rural area near the vacation destination known as Wisconsin Dells, I'm actually a product of Chicago. Bred, born and raised on the outskirts of the "Old Town" area - pride of artists, folk singers and old hippies. I've been in Wisconsin for close to twenty-five years now and I love it's scenery, it's wildlife, and it's friendly fury-free people.

I'm an avid photographer, even though only one shot per roll is worth bragging about, and I love cooking yummy vegetarian meals, and mucking around in my flower garden. The prides of my life are my husband, Don, whom I married last year and my old Doberman, Shay. She knows all my secrets, but she never passes them around. Other than that I gave names to my cars and canoe, the only thing you won't find in any of my essays is that Don and I would both love to spend a few hours playing around with Jackie Chan. He's such a hoot!

Just when I thought life was over, I learned martial-arts, got married for the ONLY time, and discovered that my writings were pretty special. My motive in writing is to strike a chord somewhere that will leave a small pleasant memory in someone. I hate the idea of leaving this world without having left a reminder, somewhere, that I did in fact exist.

Having grown up in a totally dysfunctional family, I live by two mottos: "Mother is the necessity of invention," because if it weren't for my weird mother I wouldn't have had to learn creativity and "If at first you don't succeed, get depressed". If that fails, remember to laugh a lot and that in life "what is, is".