who is penhooligan?

"Penhooligan" is a name I created for myself in my late teen years. I was trying to achieve a certain connection or image with these things, these others that were a part of Kara but weren't the same. Indeed it is based on several things. I am a Pennsylvanian. I felt that Pen was a good way to show that. Indeed I use a pen a lot in my artwork and it was actually the pen and paper that originally got me exploring these sides of myself. I was also an avid reader and had read Le Morte D'Artur... and liked the play on the last name of Arthur, pendragon. So I felt a connection with penhooligan from the first. "Hooligan" of course makes me laugh. I had always considered myself a bit of trouble so it fit me at least in my mind. This persona I created, my alternate "me", my creative alter ego, she was a friend and continues to be the well from which I search and reach for all the images and stories and experiences coming through. She is my creative lightning rod. Without pen, I would certainly be out of juice. Perhaps I created this for myself because I was alone a lot as a youngster and only had a few close friends through the teen years. I was lonely back then. I was in danger of self-destruction and had felt this way (as far as I can recall) from the age of six. So I was in need of a friend. This brave person was pen. This one could escape the small town, the small mind and the decaying background. This one could open up windows, even doors. So I began to rely on this entity for my strength. She was a voice in me that told me I could when I told myself I couldn't or shouldn't. When I convinced myself I shouldn't exist, she took out a pen. The rest for me personally is history.