Photos provided
August 29, 2012
Ten Questions With ... Jeanette I. Johnson
Job on campus and department you work in: Web Specialist II, College of Education and Human Services.
How long at SIU Carbondale: Almost 13 years. I started as part-time help in the Curriculum and Instruction department, nearly eight years with the Office of Economic and Regional Development at the Dunn-Richmond Economic Development Center, and five years with the College of Education and Human Services in the Dean's office.
Hometown: Alton
When you were a youngster, what did you want to be when you grew up? A singer and an actress.
If you could choose another profession, what would it be and why? A biologist, because the study of life fascinates me.
What is one random fact about you? I love being outside when a good storm is brewing and tempting faith by taking cover at the very last minute. Feeling the charged atmosphere around me, smelling the ozone that comes with the rain and spying the elusive rainbow that sometimes appears with a storm makes me feel alive.
What is your favorite way to spend a day? A summer day -- boating, relaxing, swimming with family and friends off Flat Rock (my favorite place) in Little Grassy Lake.
If you could take a photograph of your life, what would the picture be? A blurry image of a busy bumblebee flying from one flower to another collecting nectar, because I'm always working and life is a blur and is happening too fast.
What is the best advice you ever received? Be independent and learn a skill to support yourself.
If you could meet an historical person, who would it be and what would you talk about? My husband's great, great, great-Grandpa Wilson, who was hung twice during the Civil War -- by both the Confederate and Union armies -- and survived! I love a good story and I bet he has some stories to tell.
Favorite TV show (still running or ended)? Modern Family is my favorite because it makes me laugh. It shows that all families have their idiosyncrasies and are dysfunctional to some degree or another. But it also shows that it is one's family who will rally around when you need help.
What is your pet peeve? Plastic waste, everywhere!
What would you like your gravestone to say about you? My sons equate me to being a mother hen and tease me by cackling at me when I begin to worry about something. So it would be fitting for my gravestone to say, "Matriarch of her flock, strong and intelligent, not gullible, yet lovable and a champion for others."