I'm A Fan: Dr. Amy K. Milligan.

I am starting a new series of blog posts today called "I'm A Fan."  The last time I tried to start a "series" it ended up consisting of exactly 1 post.  What I'm hoping to do this time around is, from time to time, introduce you to people I know who I deem as exemplary humans.

I have so many really, really, really cool people in my life.  Sometimes I think about the span of my life and all of the friends I have made along the way and it is really awesome.  I've got friends from when I was growing up, from singing & playing, from college, grad school, teaching, being a mom & doing mom things, friends through Dada...it's zany!  It's zany-in-a-fun-way, until I think about hosting an event with people from all of these different parts of my life in attendance and then it becomes more zany-in-a-panic-attack-way.  I will gladly have you all over at my house, but not if I have to bridge social gaps between you all.  It's much easier to keep you compartmentalized.  But enough of my OCD-tinged hostessing techniques.

I am pleased to introduce to you, my inaugural fan-ee, Dr. Amy K. Milligan, Adjunct Professor of Women & Gender Studies and Religious Studies at Elizabethtown College.  Dr. Milligan is also the advisor to the Campus's Allies.

I have known Amy since I was in high school.  We met on the ol' PMEA District Chorus/Band circuit, schlepping whatever instrument we were playing at the time (or our soprano vocal cords--talk about high maintenance equipment) to a new gig every other weekend.  We were both tall.  We noticed each other.  We were noticeable to others.

While Amy and I were not conventional "friends" in high school, she was always a familiar and friendly face at these festivals, and it was lovely to see her at Elizabethtown College as we started our freshman year together in the fall of 2000!  Etown was not a huge school (it crested 2,000 students during the time we were there) and I loved it for that, but it was really nice to see someone around campus that I knew from my previous life.

I have watched Amy become a multi-faceted, worldly, open-minded, peace-centered woman.  She, in my eyes, has become a champion for the LGBTQ Allies, a group of students that she fervently supports on Elizabethtown's campus.  Amy has inspired me to continue to think differently about people and how my place in the world meshes with that of those around me.  

I love Facebook for allowing us to stay connected and see what each other is getting into next. Facebook is also fun for being able to see pictures of Amy's dog and her funny & charming German husband.


I am a fan of Dr. Amy K. Milligan, Woman Extraordinaire.

The only one I had.  Please forgive me.  Winter 2012.

We are so artsy with our colored glasses frames.  So watch out.