I was born in 1941 and grew up in Columbus, Ohio, where my sisters and I attended Columbus School for Girls and received grounding in such old-fashioned subjects as Latin, hand-hemming and correct diction. I went to Wellesley College, lived in Italy for a while, and finally graduated from Arizona State University with a degree in English lit. Then I became (oddly) interested in accounting and decided on that as a career. My family moved from Arizona to Alaska in 1977 and I have worked full time in Anchorage as a CPA ever since. Eight years ago I developed (oddly) an interest in mushrooms and have been reading in the field of mycology ever since. I love to lead mushroom walks and give mushroom talks during the summer and I love to write about fungi.

In the course of poking about as an amateur mushroom enthusiast, I happened upon the story of an extraordinary fungus. A rust called Puccinia has developed a survival strategy that is fascinating, complex and gives every appearance of being purposeful. About that time, I learned of a call for essays on the topic of purpose. I thought that the story of Puccinia might serve as an introduction to a meditation on purpose, and especially on human purpose.

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