Melanie profile picture

Melanie

I am here for Friends and Networking

About Me

I grew up in New York City in and around the theatre biz and after the prep schools, drama and art academies and a couple years at Lee Strasberg, I found myself leaving it all behind and concentrating on art. I was working with children when my health started to fail. After three organ transplants I am now strong and healthy and lead a full life despite whatever obstacles I encounter. I am back in school pursuing a degree in art therapy. I want to work with patients who are battling chronic illness and pain and share my experience. I am currently takin a six month leave from school to get out and play!

My Interests

Art, Music, Theatre, camping (somewhere in-between car camping and packing-in the deep wilderness), inline skating (I'm very new at this), dancing, jewelry design, good conversation and people who have something to offer this world

I'd like to meet:

Anyone with the time and inclination to go to a museum,art gallery, zoo, etc. with me.

Music:

Stuff I can dance to and songs I can sing, R.E.M., Depeche Mode, U2, Steely Dan, Oingo Boingo, INXS, Psychedelic Furs, The Pretenders, New Order, The Cure, Echo and The Bunnymen, The post punk alternative music of the eighties, Sheryl Crow, Ofra Haza, Tom Waits, The Smiths, Alanis Morrisette, The Cult, Stevie Wonder, Jethro Tull, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, The Pretenders, K.D.Lang, Crosby, Stills and Nash, Indigo Girls, Simon and Garfunkel, I also listen to classical and New Age stuff. What is on will often depend on what I am doing. I paint to Jazz a lot these days. If I put on dancable music, I won't get any work done. I can dance with a paintbrush in my hand but can't paint while I'm dancing around the room...

Movies:

Everything is Illuminated, The Usual Suspects, American Beauty, Funny Face, Casablanca, Harry Potter, Le Tran de Vie, Amelie, Dogma, Ghost World, The Thin Man, The Maltese Falcon, The Full Monty, Fantasia, Much Ado About Nothing, The Bridge on the River Kwai (of course) Favorite Chick Flicks- Chocolat and Under The Tuscan Sun (I'd love to have a villa in Tuscany in which to paint),

Television:

The only purpose I have for television is to completely drain my brain inbetween studying sessions or to help me fall asleep. It was great while I was on dialysis but I don't have the time to waste. For some reason, I always turn it on while I eat. But I always go back to my books or music.

Books:

Atlas Shrugged, Reading Lolita in Tehran, The Portable Dorothy Parker, The Razor's Edge, The Portrait of Dorian Gray, I love the classics. Now that I'm not reading things I must, I am delving into books just for fun again. Currently reading on audio: Paradise Lost by John Milton. I love rteading while walking around the lake.

Heroes:

The University of Washington Medical Center Transplant Team, My Dad- Geoffrey Horne
Myspace Layouts
Myspace Codes
Myspace Generators
Myspace Backgrounds

My Blog

The Underappreciated Long Hot shower

I want to extoll the virtues of the entire ritual. After six weeks of medically imposed bathing restrictions I was able to get into the shower without wrapping plastic on my arm or taping up...
Posted by Melanie on Wed, 16 Apr 2008 03:39:00 PST

high-tech hospital

This is day five of this hospital and it’s wearing me down. This is only my second admission since the last kidney transplant in 2004 so I can’t complain too much. When I had my first kidn...
Posted by Melanie on Mon, 07 Apr 2008 11:23:00 PST

Winter Transfer Fair (or Where Do I Go From Here?)

Why they decided to call it a 'fair' became quickly apparent to me as I felt as though I was being pitched to rather than discussing my future. Is enrollment so low that they need to beg people to at...
Posted by Melanie on Thu, 14 Feb 2008 04:12:00 PST

Winter quarter underway

What a relief to be back to work. As much as I was drained and ready for the winter break, I was really ready to get back to school. I am taking the next in the art history series, Medieval and Renais...
Posted by Melanie on Mon, 14 Jan 2008 08:15:00 PST

fresh air choking

Momentary allusion to the stillness of an earlier time& Enjoy the silence. Flash Current chaos overwhelms Should I prefer the stillness, a quiet mind, a quiet heart? But he feeds my soul Like the pa...
Posted by Melanie on Tue, 25 Dec 2007 06:40:00 PST

Art School Not-So-Confidential

I now consider art school a whopping success! I completed my first piece last night in metal arts. A silver ring made from two types of silver wire, one piece round and two square. I silver soldered t...
Posted by Melanie on Thu, 26 Jul 2007 09:41:00 PST