Trish unknowingly became an Activist while imprisoned at Catholic school. Her best friend, a Jewish girl, was tormented by students, while the teachers and principal refused to stop it. Even when trish went to the principal, he said, "That's just kids being kids, now run along to class." Such was trish's introduction to blatant religious intolerance. 

At 17, trish met Antonio Mark Lopez, a principal dancer with San Francisco Ballet, at the USA International Ballet Competition in Jackson, MS. He had created the lead role in Michael Smuin's ballet, Song For a Dead Warrior, on PBS, held membership in SAG and AFTRA, and seemed to have accomplished all the things trish wanted to do -- dance and get her union card. He was also a poet who wrote about his American Indian heritage, in particular, his Bear totem. 

Mandatory Mississippi History classes in 5th and 9th grades introduced trish to the tribes that inhabited the land when French explorers landed on the now Mississippi Gulf Coast in 1699: the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Biloxi, Pascagoula, to name a few. However, the current American Indian existence intrigued trish enough to become an Indian Rights activist. She joined activist groups Camp Justice and the Dakota-Lakota-Nakota Human Rights Advocacy Coalition. In 2001, She traveled to three South Dakota reservations and explored the subject in her full-length screenplay, Voices On The Wind. American Indians face so many discriminations, hindered by the Wannabees who watched Dances With Wolves too many times. (Note: If you're not Indian, get your ass out of the sweat lodge.) ... (...rant...rant...rant...)

While trish was moved by Antonio's writings and felt a kinship with them, she is not Indian. He suggested she go to her family roots in Ireland. There she discovered the ancient wisdom of her ancestors in Ireland and Scotland, the revered status of women within the spirituality and culture (rather than second-class citizenship and "weaker sex" bullshit). She knew her soul had found its home. Ireland, Scotland, gods, goddesses, warrior queens, Mother Earth, Mother Nature, the Cosmos, the Energy that creates and connects us all, and men who wear nothing under their skirts... ahhhhh... This jaunt into Women's History and Scotland's history led to her Broad'pera, Witchcraze, as well as her musical for children, Herstory.

Trish has encountered discrimination for years. The first time trish's writing was censored was at Catholic school, while theatre provided a way of expressing and exploring different characters. She appreciates the ancient spiritualities of the Gaelic, Hindu, and Buddhist philosophies combined with the latest findings regarding the universe and energy in quantum physics. Being weird like this, trish devotes most of her original work to the protection of the First Amendment.

in 2006, trish was hired by the ACLU of Mississippi to monitor the rebuilding process of the Mississippi Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina and verify all residents had equal access to government to get help. She traveled all over the Coast to talk with residents and attend City Council, Unified Command, and Town Hall Meetings. The main observation was that all residents did have equal access to government. However, the local, state, and federal governments and agencies were completely unprepared for Hurricane Katrina (even though the "other" purpose for establishing the Department of Homeland Security was to protect Americans during a natural catastrophe, not just a terrorist attack).

And so, the dawn of a new day offers another opportunity for trish to stick it to the establishment and neo-cons through her writing and compositions -- another day of obliging America's Founding Fathers who said it is the American citizen's responsibility to stand up, speak out, and hold policy-makers accountable when they fail to protect the basic freedoms that are guaranteed to every person on American soil by the United States of America's Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

(Trish is sure the Founding Mothers would have agreed had anyone thought to ask them.)