Janine Stanley-Dunham, 15 FEB 2007



After graduation, I briefly attended Geneseo State University but had to drop out because the idiotic infirmary doctors couldn't detect that I had pneumonia--it was so bad, in fact, that it settled in the lower lobe of my left lung. I married (Ricky Pozsar), graduated from college (Rockland Community Colleges associate's degree; Dominican College, Bachelor's in English), and began working at Business Review Newspaper in New City as an associate editor. In the meantime I had gotten divorced. I was cocktail waitressing at the Marriot in Tarrytown and going to grad school (Long Island University, C.W. Post Center, Palmer Graduate School; master's of science, library & information science) when I met my current husband, Joe Costa, a singer-songwriter who owned his own limousine.

We lived together for about seven years before marrying (for the health benefits!!!) and will celebrate knowing each other for 25 years this Memorial Day weekend. I have worked in publishing all of my adult life, first at the Business Review Newspaper, then as an associate editor for the Wilson Library Bulletin (H. W. Wilson Company, New York, NY) and a senior editor and the copy chief of Encyclopedia Americana (Scholastic Publishing, formerly Grolier, Danbury, CT), for the latter of which we moved to Connecticut. After experiencing two layoffs following nearly ten years at both Wilson and Scholastic, we decided to leave the area for a quieter way of life. In October 2005, we moved to Vershire, VT (population 620), where I established a freelance editorial business and enjoy working from the home. Joe's second CD has just come out, and we're busy taking care of our new joy, a rescued dog from Louisiana who just can't get used to the snow and cold. I have never owned a cell phone, and now I won't have to: there is no cell tower in the area and thus no signal!

I have been a vegetarian for 30 years this September and in the 1980s co-founded an animal-protection organization in Rockland and Westchester counties (Animal Welfare Alliance, now defunct). I have always believed that our humanity will never be fully realized until we truly care for and protect those who share the planet with us, rather than viewing them as objects to serve our needs.

Greetings to all. I carry fond memories of you in my heart.

Janine