Greetings!
If you've landed here, I assume you may want to know a thing or two about me. Here are a few "quick facts":
I have been teaching one thing or another for over 30 years. I have taught
The Reading
I enjoy nonfiction -- particularly biographies, histories, and food-related writing -- as well as political humor & satire, historical fiction, and some of what falls into the general category of "women's fiction" but not romance!
The Computer
Do you know what a Kaypro is/was? Then you know when/how I got started. Of course, that's just personal computing. Before that, there was this:

The Dance
The older I get, the more I feel that "dance" is a thing of the past. But, still, up until about a year ago, I was still doing complicated hip-hop routines on a regular basis. In the more distant past, I have designed stage lighting, performed dances, and choreographed pieces for
I was also the dance critic for Willamette Week for a period of time back in the 1980s. Free tickets to everything!
The Cooking
Ah. Well, I'm mostly Italian, but also have some French in me. Part of my family is also from Hong Kong -- so Cantonese is on the menu, too. And, since I lived in Greece for a couple of years, I can put together a pretty good Greek feast. Mostly, anything Mediterranean, and you'll find it on my table, along with a nice bottle of red wine, a good loaf of bread, and a deep, dark chocolate dessert.
Then there is the fact that part of my household is vegan. So, at this point I can take pretty much any dish and veganize it. We often have two versions of the same dish for dinner (dairy macaroni and cheese in one casserole, vegan mac-n-cheeze in the other). I love the challenge of special-diet cooking.
I used to enjoy weight training and tae kwan do -- but I've suffered several sports-related injuries that now make many of these activities (including dance) all but impossible. So, I spend my "free time" (?) reading (often about cooking), listening to hip hop and jazz, watching a wide variety of films, from sf to "urban" to indie and anything I think I can use in teaching (I love experimenting with creative approaches to teaching, whether through music, slam poetry, or film). I also have children. And cats. 'Nuff said.
I've traveled through the Mediterranean, lived in Athens, and road-tripped through America's national parks (Western states only). Most of my extended family lives back east, so I have traveled to New York, New Jersey, and Baltimore a lot over the years. New York is my favorite place on earth, other than Santorini, Greece. I don't ski, but I love rustic mountain cabins (as long as there's Internet access, at least for my Palm Treo).
You can read more about my teaching style, interests, research, and publications by looking at my curriculum vitae.
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Return to Martha J. Bianco's Home Page
If you must, check out MySpace (I can't keep up with all the spaces, spots, and 'sters; my MySpace account is a rather lame attempt for me to stay "connected" with people half my age -- and, oh, yeah, to find out about music, too). And, yes, I have a Facebook presence, too -- but my site there is even more lame than my MySpace page.
Write me at biancom@q7.com
The last time I updated this was September 1, 2008.