(Photos by Andrea Hahn)
February 15, 2012
Ten questions with ... Amy J. Etcheson
Job on campus/department you work in: Marketing and sales manager, Southern Illinois University Press
How long at SIU Carbondale: 1 year as an employee, 2 prior years as a freelance writer and consultant
Hometown: Jasper, Mo.
When you were a youngster, what did you want to be when you grew up? Oh, what didn’t I want to be? A singer, a doctor, a writer, but mostly I wanted to work for the CIA like my uncle.
People don’t know that you … Sang in a rockabilly band in Boston before having kids. (Actually, several of my friends do know that.)
If you could choose another profession, what would it be and why? I would be a children’s book author by day and a lounge singer by night. The “why” seems self-explanatory.
What is something you still want to accomplish in life? I would like to hike to the bottom of the Grand Canyon (and to the top again, obviously.)
What was the first “album” you ever bought, and was it an LP, 8-track or CD? The first album I ever owned (though my father purchased it for me) was an LP of Zenyatta Mondatta.
What is one random fact about you? I’m a great whistler.
Cats or dogs? Both! We have one of each in our house.
What is your favorite food and why? I’m kind of a health nut, so I’ll have to say “Savory Sauce,” which is equal parts Bragg’s Liquid Amino Acids, flax seed oil, and nutritional yeast, mixed well. My family will eat anything healthy with this on it.
Who has inspired you, and how? My mother. I’ve never met a more genuine, hard-working, or fun-loving person. Also, my husband, Grant Miller, assistant professor of curriculum and instruction. He has taught me (among other things) that happy people can be happy anywhere.
What would you like your gravestone to say about you? She laughed a lot. She loved her family. She inspired her kids.