Hi! I'm Nif – and I'm living in New Orleans, LA w/my partner S, who is going back to get his PhD in Linguistic Anthro at Tulane, and my son L (born 4/03). I'm originally a Nu Yawker, met up w/S in DC and had L while living in Cville VA. I LOVE Nola, this is the most vibrant, crazy, friendly, scary place I've ever lived. I fit in well down here – everyone likes to visit & hang out, and having a costume closet is "normal". We live Uptown, in The Compound (cottage in back, FEMA trailer out front), all occupied by grad students. I'm a bellydance teacher, a pagan, a bisexual activist and a friend to many folks scattered across the globe whom I miss more often than you'd think from my correspondence. I've never grown out of my love for *good* fantasy/sci-fi, tho I have put on hiatus my gaming and SCA habits. I am hoping that as L gets older, I will have more time for my poetry. In my professional life (which is also on hiatus for awhile), I am a certified post-partum doula, trained to be a lactation consultant, and a former development professional for non-profits. Yep, I lead a simple life: quiet, no drama, no glitter…HA! Oh, did I mention my son has a Lord of the Rings addiction? And there are still 3 cats in the household – they evacuated with us under protest last summer and we've now dragged them across the US three times in a year, so they're happy with our lush garden. I have lots of issues which I continually work on (sometimes more successfully than others). So that's Nif!
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May 2, 2007 at 3:41 am
nolanif
Update on About Me as of May 2007:
FEMA trailer is gone, leaving a large patch of dead grass, a ring in the sidewalk and grateful neighbors since we put in a decorative fence with beautiful roses courtesy of our Rose-Crazed neighbor Mike.
Queen passed away in July 2006, leaving us with two sweet kitties OoLi and Hari (who still barfs a lot and pees on the floor…sigh)
S is still going for his PhD, but maybe not in Ling. Anthro. Stay tuned-in, tru believers!
I am becoming a SalesPerson. I hope that I will be very very good at it. I’m tired of being only “ok” at things, I want to be exceptional!
May 2, 2007 at 3:46 am
nolanif
A Note on MIS-SPELLINGS and PUNCTUATION:
I found to my horror that googling some terms resulted in my humble blog coming up in the search. UG! This is mainly intended as a way to keep my scattered friends updated on my life and times, not that I don’t welcome yet-unmet friends. SOO, in order to beat the search engines, I am mis-typing and otherwise making non-standard spellings, etc on the most obvious searchable terms, such as A.Beon.A House. I know it’s not fool-proof, but it’s the most simple option I can think of. I apologize if it makes it harder to read, and I assure you that no, I’m not THAT poor a writer or a typist!
In closing, I beg your indulgence.
November 19, 2007 at 6:25 pm
Nif @ Work
Ok, I just realized I haven’t updated anything since the spring, so this is a summary of where our family is at:
We’re still living in Uptown NOLA, but have become discouraged at the lack of acceptable alternative educational options for L here. So we’ve decided to sell our house and move to Portland OR! We’ll miss NOLA a lot, and have mixed feelings about leaving, but it’s simple: we can’t afford to stay here on one income. So L needs to be in school. And schools here aren’t ok for him – he’s doing much better since getting the soy out of his diet, but he’s still behind developmentally and socially, and definitely doesn’t thrive in a large group setting.
My partner, S, has had a horrible series of encounters with a Professor and had to leave grad school (in a nutshell, he failed S for no reason, and then wouldn’t sign off on a medical withdrawal that was approved by the Dean & the Health Center due to the shoulder surgery). So now he’s an anthropologist without the degree, and homeschooling L while trying to do prep the house for sale. I don’t know what path he’ll choose after we move, since he’s talented in many areas – but it’s taken awhile for him to heal from the betrayal of this experience. Me? I’m torn between wanting to sue the a-hole and siccing the local voodoo priestess on him! (I’m not a very mellow person.)
And I, you ask?
I am a Catalyst with sales techniques – and I’m enjoying saying “Hi! I’m Nif and I sell people!”. I don’t know what the future holds for us in the Pacific NW, except that it doesn’t involve Fire Antz, thank the goddess! I’m still a Mama, though working full-time is making that harder than I’d ever imagined.
Stay tuned, true believers!
May 2, 2008 at 11:39 pm
Andrew Hoerner
Hi Nif!
I heard from Loraine that you are moving to my current coast, the Left. Cool! How the heck are you? What are your plans?
Any chance you would be interested in an SF Bay job as a development director — mainly large donor work — for a cool organization?
Affectionately,
Andrew
May 8, 2008 at 2:14 pm
nolanif
Hey Andrew- great to hear from you! I’ll drop you an email, ok?
June 23, 2008 at 9:27 pm
nif at pdx
eek! ok everyone – we’ve arrived in PDX, we haven’t killed each other, we’re exhausted & I ha 2 more minutes on the free library access.
more later, about the vomiting childe, the hole in the AC in TX, the “hot spots” on hari’s leg, the cute malamute, the wonderful friends (and grumpy family) the weird hotels. SoCA. Etc. later….