Darlene Olivo is a native New Orleanian who was schooled by nuns from pre-K at Our Lady of Lourdes through Mercy Hospital School of Nursing, so she was raised right and should have known better than to put a cherry bomb under the toilet seat in the dorm’s completely tiled bathroom. Nor would the nuns have approved of her throwing a raw pork loin on the floor over and over, relishing in the sound of muscle against wood while venting her well-deserved anger at her late ex-husband. (Thanks to David Martin for suggesting I clarify the lack of correlation between said roast and the ex-husband's demise.) That said ex-husband made mention of its particular tenderness when he ate it did not abate her ire, however. She earned her BA in Liberal Arts (Concentration in Art) at Goddard College, as well as her MFA in Creative Writing, and she’s but a semester shy of completing an MA in Visual Art. In 2004 she left her native land to follow her daughters in New England; however, six years later, within a week of one another, they left, one for Maryland, the other for California. (Note to self: Do Not Follow Your Children!) Currently she lives in a plant-filled cottage in Concord, NH with her beloved dog Lucy and two orange tabbies, Honeycat and Marmalade, and in the summer, tends her perennials and annuals, and grows fabulous Brandywine and Sun Gold cherry tomatoes (and other veggies) in straw bales. |