Topic: Areas of expertise?

[DeirdreK]

If anyone needs help with Greek, Latin, The ancient world,  and especially Sophocles, I'm your woman.

Also Catholic theology stuff, because what I don't know I can find in our book collection, and early church history (my husband's passion.)

Not that we're total dorks or anything.....  of course not!

Also, I'm pretty good on Chicago (lived there 6 years as an adult), Indiana (lived there the last seven years, husband's a native) and the DC suburbs.

And I spent a term in Greece, so I can give firsthand (albeit 10 years ago) experience.

[Barbara Eveleth]

Then: Languages, namely French and German
English History
Art namely illustration, design and typography
Creative, spare writing and storytelling
Dance namely jazz, theater and modern
Sociology
Theater namely musical comedy
Puppetry
Costuming
Crossword puzzles (NYT Sunday)
Choral and small group singing
music appreciation
painting birds

Now: Driving
Child and teen psychology
Diplomacy
Interior design and decorating
Baking
Cleanliness
Art namely illustration, design and typography, storytelling
Creative, spare writing and storytelling
Sociology
Automatic teller moming
time and people management
listening, sighing and giving in
crossword puzzles (New York Magazine) requiring less time to complete
singing when no one is home
dancing when no one is home
music appreciation
painting and collaging birds
restoring a real fixer upper of an old house (almost done)

[DeirdreK]

Cleanliness!!?!?!?!  I wish that was one of my areas! Still working on it, though.....

[JoS]

Languages - Fluent French and English and learning Kanji - I am about a grade 1 level on a good day but I can help you find what you need in terms of names etc.
Studies: Almost anything you want to know about Japanese culture - including details of the tea ceremony.  I am your girl for japanese research. 
World mythology.
Arthurian and Medieval literature.
Anything about Joan of Arc or William Blake.
Religious and cultural studies - Hindu, Buddhist, Shinto, Christian, Jewish, Sufi, Muslim, and on. 
Alchemy and Tarot.
Fashion, and Haute Couture - (former fashion designer) know the business inside and out - glad I'm out but if you need to know something...
Branding, Graphic Design, Logo development, illustration, typography. (Former creative director)
I know clay sculpting, and bit about pottery.
Also I am an armchair GUT and TOE theorist - so I dabble - but seem to understand well enough -cause it blew my mind straight to God - Quantum Mechanics, Large and small scale physics, Black Holes, various theories...
(GUT - Grand Unified Theory, TOE  - Theory of Everything).
I know a lot about bees. Dawn, I am going to want to keep in touch with you! I want an apiary too!!! Have you read Maurice Maeterlink's book The Life of the Bee? It is amazing!
And Martha Flynn!  I am certain we could eat a meal together! I used to freak my sister out with the things I would eat. Just for the fun of it. I'd try almost anything once. I love Klingon food! I have eaten quite a lot of exotic food.
Robust knowledge of the blues. (in more ways than one!)
I can also add that I am an expert at living with chronic pain, being bedridden for 3 years with a back disability, losing feeling in one half of my leg, (as well as my fashion career) then gaining everything back and being completely healed  - (now here of course is my story...and it all healed when I  started writing again - which I had given up in high school.) Awesome life. All of it.

I am an expert at ignoring messes, and anything else that might take me away from writing, illustrating, or anything else that is more fun than cleaning - which to me is pretty much everything. 

I am also pretty expert at spotting frogs. :frog which is entirely different than watching birds. ;-)

I am best though at daydreaming. I do lots and lots of it.

 jo

[Amanda Coppedge]

I know a lot about wild animals--my family ran a wildlife rehabilitation center when I was a child.

We also had a horse ranch.  I was never into the horses that much (long story) but I could tell you what it's like to be part of a family who makes their living boarding, breeding, hosting horse shows, etc.

I am a teen librarian and my kids are kind of like the characters in a John Green story--super-smart, a bit on the sarcastic side.  (One of the reasons I love his books so much--I know these people!)  I have brought writers' questions to my teen advisory group and asked for input or a show of hands so if you need a poll of teenagers I can oblige (within reason).

[KCHWriter]

Wow, I love this thread!

Let's see....

Ballet
New York City cultural institutions (especially the American Museum of Natural History--I worked there for years!)
Grantwriting
The Civil War but especially the Battle of Gettysburg
Both the book and movie GONE WITH THE WIND (how weird is that?!)
NASCAR racing

And I had brain surgery (to remove a non-cancerous tumor), so I know way more about that than anyone should.

[lizstraw]

I don't know if I am an expert, but these are my area of interest:

Nancy Drew, Trixie Beldon and old girl detective series
Scrapbooking
Rubber Stamping
Old Post Cards
Blue Fire-King Kitchen ware (some green)
Buffalo Ware Dishes
Women's Westward Diaries/Journal
American Architecture
Roadside Architecture - motels, etc from before the interstate and chain motels
Golf trivia (no I do not play golf, but I know some of the strangest trivia about it)
I have been a teacher
Worked in factories
Prepared in-flight Meals for airplanes (1970s)
Long distance bike riding
Collage
Used to play clarinet/bass clarinet
know something about Alto Recorder
Play Hand Bells
Know how to make simple books
Love computer games (E ratings, not into blood and guts)
Knitting Instructor - specialty is socks
Genealogy
Collect dictionaries of all sorts - I just love words and their odd meaning and origins
Collect Quote books
Depression
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
Malignant Melanoma
Skin allergies
Migraines - I can give myself shots
I have had enough surgery that I can tell the doctors and nurses what the procedure will be during the pre-op session they make you go to (True story, I had surgery in Indiana around 12 years later and I have no idea how many surgeries later in Tennessee; when the anesthesiologist was asking what operations I had - he had been the anesthesiologist for the surgery in Indiana!)
Trivial facts no one needs to know most of the time.
I collect Chickens :cuccoan:

There may be more, but that's enough for now.


I want to learn to play the trumpet and I want to learn to speak Spanish.

Liz :

I should add sleep apnea
dating photographs
Museum curatorial procedures (I have several friends that are curators)
Some antique/collectibles - low end bargin hunting
American Indian collectibles (which I could afford some!)
rug hooking (the real thing, not the yarn stuff)

I think my brain is overcrowded.  Perhaps someone has a pensive and wand I could buy so I could put some of it aside until I need it...

[rvnmaiden]

crazy in love with history. Worked (still do) in medicine for 20 years. Credits towards my MD. Amateur chemist. Autism, aspergers sensory integration. Neuroscience in general. And how to cope with living with all testosterone all the time for 20 years.(house full of males)

[myriad_of_colors]

I'm not really an expert at anything except for moving (shrug). So if anyone needs advice from a military brat who has moved upwards of 15 times and gone to about 9 public schools, I'm your girl!

[dewsanddamps]

I teach college history, and would be happy to answer whatever questions I can.

[Iris]

The plight of stray/street dogs and cats in Greece, Romania and Bulgaria
Arthoropod-borne disease in companion animals, particularly leishmaniasis and the treatments
Travelling about Europe with companion animals by van, ferry or plane, including checkpoints and the passport system
Horses.

[jojocookie]

Cookies

The Holocaust

Sign Language

Deaf culture

The universe

[Victoria]

Swing dancing (the dance itself and the current community)
Knitting

I'm not the be all, end all of experts on those, but I know my fair share!

[RaeE]

Thanks for bumping this thread, Victoria!

I know how to make the best gooey brownies ever.
I teach piano lessons.
I can put any baby (except for one of my own) to sleep in minutes through absolute mind control. (Maybe not mind control, but aside from the brownies it's my best skill.)
I'm learning about the Twice-Exceptional (gifted/talented + special needs) world
Sensory Integration Disorder
Dairy Allergies
Vegetarian cooking
How to spend time in nature while having a mild panic attack about the possible presence of wild animals and still look like you're having fun

[Bobi Martin]

Keeping 30 children mostly quiet and fairly productive in a school library (6-8 times a day!).
Margarita ice cream
How it feels to be bumped around a lot as a child.
What it's like to live with people you know, but who are not your parents.
Pretty strong in grammar and punctuation.
I wrote for a dog magazine for eight years; I was a staff writer for them for six of those years and covered dog shows in San Francisco and Beverly Hills.

[chip.amber]

mainly:

medicine
pediatrics
science communication
journalism
martial arts
world cultures and languages (English, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, plus basic French, German and Japanese)
Photography and AV editing