Tracey D. Hooper

 I grew up on the west coast of Canada listening to crashing waves and fierce winter storms. I blame that pounding surf and those howling winds for my restless spirit. It is a spirit driven by the need to explore and discover my world. My early explorations through Europe, China, the Caribbean, and Canada were written into pint-sized novels crammed onto postcards that were sent home to family and friends. A novice I was, for I rarely remembered to stick the stamp before I wrote my story. How many great climaxes, how many crucial turning points were obliterated by those stamps, I shudder to think. My audience, however, remained true and proclaimed with every postcard received that "that girl should be a writer."

I chose to see myself though, as more of a Renaissance woman. After studying the arts, conquering the great outdoors, pursuing lady-like activities, and emersing myself in myth and mysticism, I moved on to sciences. I earned myself the lofty titles of "Bachelor and Master of Science", and worked for years as a wildlife biologist and grassland ecologist. But all of this was not enough to satisfy. A recent trip to Italy reawakened my restless spirit. All that history, all that magnificent architecture, all that beautiful artwork (or was it all those bottles of wine) have stirred me to write again. This time, I’ll take it a little more seriously. And if it doesn’t work out? -- I’ll pursue a career in alchemy. I hear there’s a future in that sort of thing.

Appearances in Reflections on Water