Barbara Wichert:  

By the time I graduated from Wilson I had a semester's credits at CSULB, so I just stayed there and finished a B.A. in Theater (costume design). THEN I decided to go to the U of Utah for my M.F.A., as I wanted to live among all the Mormons. The first day I was at the U I met my (soon-to-be and still) husband, Ivo Peterson. I finished the degree and the first baby at the same time... We've lived in Utah, Colorado, and Wisconsin and then came back to Utah where Ivo teaches at Snow College and is the local Justice of the Peace. My jobs have always been whatever I could get to work around locale/Ivo's job/my kids. I've designed knitwear, written indices for textbooks, done janitorial work. The last 17 years I've worked as a Correctional Industries Supervisor at the Utah State Prison. We teach people how to sew and do work for private companies. The people are interesting and it's a unique combination of routine and tightly controlled chaos, as we balance manufacturing schedules with security concerns. Who knew I'd grow...Expand for more