User:Ljbriner/sandbox

Laura J. Briner
Laura J. Briner (born sometime during the 20th century) is a non-traditional student at the University of Southern Indiana. She also works locally as a processor of liquid infant formula for a global infant nutrition company. She decided to go back to college in the fall of 2008 upon the realization that market demand for liquid infant formula products were going the way of the Titanic. She is trying to decide exactly what she wants to be when she grows up, but knows it probably isn't a factory shift-worker.

Biography
Laura J. Briner was born in Evansville, Indiana. She is the oldest of five siblings. Her father was a farmer and truck driver, her mother a homemaker. She attended a small parochial grade school. Her graduating class had 10 students. She still remembers all of her classmates first and middle names and their birth dates. She graduated form a large high school in Evansville and remembers no one from her class. She worked every night during her high school years as a dishwasher/grill cook for a local tavern and loved it. She continued working there part time for 15 years ending her time their as a waitress/bartender when the owners sold to retire. She also entered the full-time workaday world after high school and has been there ever since holding various jobs. She has been with her current employer for 14 years.

Interests
Briner showed an interest in music at an early age. At the age of three she went with her parents to pick up a carry-out order from the local tavern and serenaded the bar patrons with her rendition of Let Me Call You Sweetheart while standing on the bar in her nightie. Miraculously she did not grow up to become a floozy. She became interested in Bluegrass music around the age of six and wanted to learn to play the banjo. She soon learned that the banjo was bossy and loud and well, she wasn't. She settled on acoustic guitar and fiddle both of which she plays passably unless you know anything about truly good musicianship in which case she will leave them in their respective cases and stick to what she does best, singing. Briner began her public singing career for a wedding at the age of 14. She sang for weddings for nearly 25 years before retiring from the business. Her true love is singing bluegrass and country (and by country she means pre-Garth Brooks), but has also been known to cover Etta James, Stevie Nicks, Bonnie Raitt and Janis Joplin. Briner's many other interest include:
 * animal welfare including supporting local animal shelters and spay and neuter programs
 * history, especially of the American West and Native American cultures
 * gardening
 * distance running

Personal Life
Briner is married to a wonderful husband. They live in the country with their four Labs and three cats all of whom are rescued animals. Briner is a vegetarian but agrees to feed her husband meat and potatoes because she loves him. She hopes to continue working full time while attending college in the hope of someday attaining a degree.