Shelley Norman:  

Life We moved to Pasadena in 1966, while my dad worked at Tenneco. I went to JD Parks till they finished building McMasters Elementary, then, San Jacinto Jr. High. I got to go to PHS though the neighborhood was split with our archrivals, Sam Rayburn. My mom & dad had been in a car accident with multiple rollovers, & unfortunately she sustained serious back injuries. She was addicted to Valium & Hydrocodone, & off her rocker most of the time. My closest friends knew this, but I tried to hide it from the rest. Our family life was NOT happy due to her episodes of manic behavior depending on if she had Rx or not. High school then, was my out. I got involved as I could, till we went to family counseling, to help my mom & then re-surfacing of mental scars started plaguing me. At 4 I had lost my virginity to a family member & from my memories I became self-destructive. I messed up my HS years, but I got counseling & really worked on myself. I got my GED. I met & married (after one divorce) a most wonderful man, and we focused our family on church. We were married 15 good years, when he died suddenly 1994 of Long Term effects of his chemo radiation he had sustained as a child. I was left w/3 children to support without formal education. I spent the 02-04 so doing & graduated with my associate's degree and then onto my bachelors in communication technology. I am an outspoken advocate for remedial education in the college system & believe the government needs to QUIT skirting around the issue of medical care for Americans. I do not support the idea of supporting illegal immigrants or people who do not pay into our systems. I took my advocacy to Washington DC in 2003, and to Mexico in 2004. I a...Expand for more