Liz's Magazine
To listen, click the image.
7/1/15
Liz at a glance
My wife Liz is your typical, Heartland middle-class woman.
She juggles being a wife, mom, business person, backyard gardener, long distance runner.
And if all that isn't enough, she has to deal with a husband who paints houses, listens to Ohio State games while working on the family vehicles and runs for president in his spare time.
"You don't think maybe you could have found another hobby, honey?" Liz has been heard to ask, oh, more than a few times.
Then there are the kids.
All three of them, for instance, play multiple sports. And Liz is often up to her eyeballs in muddy cleats, dirty socks and sweaty uniforms. At the games she cheers loudly, yells at the refs occasionally, and when its her night, she makes a mean bratwurst in the concession stand.
"Do you want that with mustard?" She'll ask, in this really cute New Zealand accent.
That's where she's from, New Zealand. Actually, I'm not sure if we've ever had a Kiwi in the White House.
Anyway....
Liz was a public relations consultant in New Zealand. And now in America, she publishes two local magazines. (Actually, former First Lady Jaqueline Kennedy Onasis worked for years as an editor in the publishing field for Viking Press, and later Doubleday Press after D.C. Apparently Liz just wanted to get a jump on all this.)
When Liz isn't doing all the other things, she tends a rather large backyard garden. Not to keep dropping First Lady names, but Liz's garden, I'm sure, would probably rival Michelle Obama's White House garden. What's more, Liz probably works in her garden way more than Michelle works in hers.
And for exercise (and I'm sure to get some space from me at times), Liz trains for marathons.
*For an update, see below.
Liz does sports…
Liz has been active in sports her entire life. As a youth, she excelled at gymnastics. Then she went on to coach gymnastics for a time.
Liz also played soccer. And when we were in Cleveland, she helped coach a Rec. Center indoor soccer team in a rather hardscrabble neighborhood – where the Rec. Center was one of a few relatively safe havens for kids.
Later, Liz took up bicycling. And perhaps the epic journey in all that was a 2,000 mile campaign bicycle tour we did through the Midwest – with our kids. This rather, oh, extreme aerobic activity that summer paved the way for Liz to also enter the ‘running world.’
She initially did a few 10ks. Then a few half marathons. And finally, a full marathon. In it all, probably the most memorable was Liz’s “Publix Half Marathon” in Atlanta, Georgia, with: Ira – a former homeless man.
To learn more about all that, and about Liz and her sports pursuits in general, please click the microphone for audio and pictures.
--Joe
The 'Almost First Couple'
Liz endorses Joe (sort of)
First Lady?
2/1/20 Four years ago, Liz took a job as a "Major Gift Officer" at Franciscan University of Steubenville. (It is considered to be one of the top Catholic universities in America.) Liz travels extensively across the country meeting with FUS alumnus, corporate representatives, and so on, to raise donations for the university. She has also been quite involved with multiple committees at FUS. And she is pursuing a Masters in Business at FUS as well.