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I was born in South Connellsville, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, on December 13, 1954, which makes me a Sagittarius, if you believe in such things. For those who look to eastern tradition, I was born in the Year of the Horse. My mother wanted to name me "Tamara," but the nurse who filled out my birth certificate had never heard of such a fancy name (we are talking Pennsylvania coal country in the 1950s), so she misspelled it, and I legitimately became Tamora (pronounced like "camera"). I actually like it better than Tamara, which means "graceful" and & "a palm tree," and is the name of a Russian saint. I am none of these things. |
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I was my parents' first child, born into a long, proud line of hillbillies on my dad's side of the family (the Pierces and the Prices, the best people on earth), and a family which was ashamed of its hillbilly roots and told my mother she married beneath her. (They know who they are.) I was five when my sister Kimberly came along (the one I based on Alanna), and six when Melanie was born. My dad worked for the telephone company while my mother did something pretty unusual for that time and place: she went to college for her degree in English, intending to become a teacher. |
