AC_1965_Web

192 AN T I OC H CO L L E G E C L A S S O F 19 6 5 5 0 t h A N N I V E R S A R Y B O O K W E I S S WEISS SALLY ZIMMERMAN THEN AND NOW 4 B.A. Literature ADDRESS 4 58 Birch Springs Rd. Waynesville, NC 28786 CONTACT 828 734-6945 smokymtnwoman8010@yahoo.com I T D I D N ’ T S E E M so at the time, but looking back from ’65 to the present my personal life and career turn out to have been oddly congru- ent.Three themes: writing, children and disability. Nolan Miller pointed me toward editing, or at the very least stick- ing with nonfiction, as we worked on the Antioch Review . Upon gradua- tion (and marriage) I started work as a writer and editor, first with HMCo editing a K–6 reading se- ries; then with the Child and Family Division of Abt Associates; the na- tional office of United Cerebral Palsy Associations; and currently with the Southeast ADA Center, one of 10 re- gional centers promoting voluntary compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act—that other Civil Rights Act. The children’s father and I also began adopting transracially in l969. It had always been our plan to have two biological children and adopt at least two more, in no particular or- der.With no biological children mak- ing their appearance, we continued adopting until we had five.As it turns out, family planning adoption style is no better than the rhythm method: four of our five children clustered closely in age, yet never managed to be on the same soccer team or in the same elementary,middle or high school in any given year. Our family consists of three sons and two daughters. Three of our children are black (their term), one is Filipino and one, our foster daugh- ter who recruited us when she was 16 and has been ours ever since, is white. We figure it’s not her fault: she was born that way. Our children managed to thrive.Our marriage did not, but their father and I remain friends and share a passion for our grandchildren and (hush!) great- grandchildren. I have been active in the disabil- ity community since 1974—as a par- ent, as a person with a disability, and as a professional. I have also been active in a 12-step program since 1986. In 2002 one son and I moved to the beautiful Smoky Mountains in North Carolina where we do ad hoc animal rescue.When I retire in a year or so, we will train our dogs as therapy animals.The cats will do as they please. These various victo- ries for humanity notwithstanding, I have no intention of dying before I am at least 90. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z