Jane Beckman:  

What a long, strange trip it's been. I went off the Cal Poly, was a mad biologist and a tekkie, then moved to Silicon Valley and became a computer technical writer, a history buff and living historian. Along the way, I garnered honors from the State of California for "service to the People and Parks" (primarily Sutter's Fort), crashed the pretty much all-male Civil War circuit (in 1983), became an expert in period food and cooking, and became a senior technical writer for a bunch of high-tech companies. I've written and published articles on food, collecting, history, fiction, erotica, poetry, and more. I've been a historic figure on PBS specials. Currently, I'm consulting with the Mythbusters TV show. Along the way, I was married and divorced, no kids, but have a couple of great goddaughters I've been Auntie Jane to, and watched grow up. Taken a lot of teenagers under wing and steered them on a successful life course. I now am honored to count them as part of my unofficial family. I stand now on the cusp of reinventing myself again, wondering if it's time to reconnect to my roots and my passions, in biology and agriculture and history, and ease my way out of technology. The Great Recession has a lot of us questioning what's ahead, and how our lives will change. How that will manifest, I'm ...Expand for more