Mara C. Johnson
Crew
Mara is currently living in Minnesota studying psychology and working as a banker, though her long term plans involve becoming a psychiatric nurse. But as she says, “dreams and aspirations aside goals do have their challenges. Adversity is neither unusual nor unexpected, even with MS my passions and efforts toward them remain unhindered. Everything can be reframed if viewed in the proper light.”
When asked about her background, she says, “I was born not long after I didn’t exist at all. The circumstances of my birth included: Scotland, U.S. Naval defense and cryptology, and the former Soviet Union. No, my father is not Sean Connery, and yes, my life less ‘Red October’ than alluded to”. Stationed in the damp northern shores of the U.K her father served the U.S. Navy, during which she arrived on this Earth, “so, separatism may not run in my blood, but that certainly does not detract from the fact that independence and strength are of my best qualities. I have always marched to the beat of my own drum, though my instrument of choice is the guitar, which pounded upon hard enough can serve a similar purpose”.
Mara is looking forward to the upcoming maritime adventure, “but never have I been cast away (Tom Hanks style or other) and my fate left for the ocean to decide”. She has experience sailing but on a much smaller scale, or in her own words “smaller than open ocean, but larger than the bathtub or local pool”. When asked about what she is looking forward to about the adventure, she says “the friendships that lie in wait (much like the way a stalking tiger does not), and adding a stoic, soggy, spirited, and slightly salty supplement chapter to my life. If winds are unfavorable at sea I will be neither cynic nor optimist. I will expect not that the winds will remain poor or change for the better. As a realist I will simply adjust the sails”.