Oscar Jimenez makes costumes. He won the Miss Gay Tucson America gender illusion contest in 2006 as Heather Boa. He is currently in the process of creating a 12 piece fashion collection that will be featured in his short film Esmeralda Del Desierto, www.myspace.com/coolplanetfilms, which he is shooting in late April and May. He works at Wingspan, www.wingspan.org, Southern Arizona's LGBT community center as manager of Anti-Violence Programs. He has a niece and two nephews. He never lives in the same house for more that a year. He is queer, he likes guys. He is letting his hair grow long. He was born in Ajo, Arizona. He loves Tucson. He is currently taking a college scene design class. He is messy and unorganized. Oh, and he's happy.
ODYSSEY STORYTELLING PHOTOS and BIOS
APRIL 12, 2008 - "The Seven Dwarfs"
Doug Cornell recently escaped from a huge multinational financial company. He had been lured into working there by flexible hours and underground parking, which meant he could take naps in his car. However, the noise of company politics and adverse publicity sometimes got so loud it woke him up. For a while he tolerated nappus interruptus, but eventually his differences with management cost him too many z's. So he finally quit and was born again running his own company. He is much happier now, mainly because he has a nap chair right in his office. He hopes to be awake in time for Odyssey Storytelling.
Bette Shapiro: As far back as memory can reach, I've loved books and the words within them. My mother read to me when I was a small child and I've continued this tradition with my daughter and grandson. I began writing poetry and essays as a teenager. I've preformed with the Five Points Poets and the Dead Poets at various venues in Tucson. While a student at the University of Arizona, I had the opportunity to go to various middle schools as the "Poetry Lady". I also was paid to do a "voice-over" in a recruitment video for the Department of Social Sciences. I'm a poet, watercolorist, papermaker, and bookmaker. Someday I'll combine all of these crafts into a finished work, that is whenever I decide to slow down on volunteer work, get out of the garden, stop taking so many classes and workshops, and stay put in Tucson long enough to do so!
Odyssey Storytelling has awakened the monster named Simon Donovan. Formerly known solely as an artist of the visual ilk - he now craves the limelight of the stage - the boy won't shut up. Some are now fearing he may next try to sing.
Maurice Grossman, is an award winning artist, teacher, Professor Emeritus, University of Arizona, Fulbright scholar to Japan, lover of jazz and folk music, drama and dance, involved in the local art scene and a political activist with the Stonewall Democrats, http://www.azdem.org/page/event/detail/other/4jvcg.
At 80, he is still a happy world traveler.
Lori Riegel is a marketing consultant with the Arizona Jewish Post. Riegel is a busy lady, and doesn't sit still for long. She also teaches Hebrew at Temple Emanu-El and leads worship services at Handmaker. Lori is the proud mother of two four-legged children and one two-legged child. She is vice-president of her BNI chapter (Business Networking International) and Events Ambassador for BNI Southwest. She was the recipient of the Grinspoon-Steinhardt Award for Outstanding Jewish Educators, and the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Outstanding Jewish Educator of the Year. Lori is also proud to be "organizer-emeritus" of VDay Tucson.
Denise DeSio spends her free time twisting real-life experiences into not so tall tales that accentuate the absurdities of everyday life. Just ask her and she'll insist that a bad vacation, a birthday gone wrong, or a serious medical problem can all be cured after the fact with a healthy dose of the wacky. She makes it a point to apologize in advance to Carol, her partner in crime and in life, for exploiting private moments that make other people laugh until they pee. With that in mind, she requests that audience members empty their bladders before her performance. To read about some of her adventures visit members.cox.net/thebee and click on "my escapades".