Jennifer P. Tanabe

I was born and raised in Scotland, and still have family there so I get to visit quite often. Scotland seems so much more picturesque when you live somewhere else! Even memories of the weather (so often cold and wet and grey, even in summer) fade, although they are quite revived by watching such events as the British Open Golf held in St Andrews! St Andrews being the place of my birth, and where I lived during my early years and then visited frequently when my family moved to Dundee, is quite familiar you see.

I lived in Dundee during my school years, attending the High School of Dundee – the one with the famous pillars – and then moved to Edinburgh to study at the University. I started as a science major, since I had been good at Maths and Chemistry in high school, pretty much the only girl with such interest and ability, but quickly changed to Psychology after taking it as an elective (and discovering that I knew all I really wanted to about Maths and Chemistry!) . I didn’t get bored with Psychology and stayed to complete my Ph.D. before moving to the States to pursue postdoctoral studies at the Institute of Child Development in the University of Minnesota.

I knew next to nothing about Minneapolis before moving there, but was pleasantly surprised by the rather good “quality of life.” Even the winters were enjoyable – you just need to wear lots of warm clothes and don’t stay outside very long unless participating in some strenuous activity like cross-country skiing. I especially enjoyed the Guthrie Theater where I was fortunate enough to see Leonard Nimoy perform his one man show about Vincent Van Gogh – it was outstanding!

While I was there I met some members of Reverend Sun Myung Moon’s Unification Church, an interesting and international group of young people. I had been an atheist for many years, not impressed by the Calvinistic predestination of the Church of Scotland nor the answers that other versions of Christianity and other faiths that I had encountered offered to questions about life, and so I was initially disappointed to find that they were religious! But putting aside my belief in no God and listening to their teachings I had deep experiences, coming to know the true heart of God regarding Jesus and fallen humankind. Although I had not considered myself on a spiritual quest, I had always been a seeker of truth and Reverend Moon’s teachings answered so many of my questions. So I joined them, and continue to be a Unificationist to this day.

I’m still interested in Psychology, added a spiritual/parapsychological focus with my involvement in spiritual activities. I’m married to a Japanese guy (yes, Reverend Moon introduced us and married us), and we have one daughter. And we have cats!

My current writing interests include the paranormal, indigenous peoples and cultures (especially Native Americans and Celts), mythical creatures (I’m a dragon in the Chinese zodiac and I love Loch Ness and Nessie, so I just keep going from there!) music, movies, food, and tea (I’m British so of course!).