Atlanta College of Art

Letter from my University President: March 24, 1989

When I was nineteen years old and living in Alabama I received the letter below from Fred Whiddon, President of the University of South Alabama. My GPA, along with my parents divorce, and a burning desire to get the heck out of Mobile were motivating factors in my decision to leave the Gulf Coast.

The spring of 89 I won a scholarship, that summer I moved to Georgia to attend the Atlanta College of Art at the Woodruff Art Center for the fall semester. Living in Atlanta was a turning point, I met LGBTQ friends and came out as a lesbian. My first art school friend was Matthew Jones from Greenville, South Carolina, we were both second year transfer students. To pay the rent while attending school I worked part-time as a commercial photographic printer, photographers assistant, photographer, and video editor.

After completing my BA degree I drove my Chevy S-10 west to Sebastopol, CA. I lived with my aunt Sarah in Sebastopol for about six months before moving into a red barn on Bohemian Highway in Occidental, CA for about a year. I love Sonoma County, however the need for stable work made San Francisco the obvious next step.

I enjoyed my flat in the Western Addition neighborhood for five years, started my company Digital Fusion Media in a spare bedroom in 98, eventually got tired of looking for parking, and bought a house in the Seal Cove neighborhood of Moss Beach in 99.