Lauren Ruth Wiener was born in New York City in the summer of 1953. Riding the Cyclone is the story of her first eighteen years. From 1971-75 she attended Reed College in Portland, Oregon. After graduating with that distinctive certificate of the screwed-up, a bachelor's degree in psychology, she taught English as a second language in Japan, then pursued a master's in linguistics, first at Brown University, and then the University of Pennsylvania. Proudly clutching her nearly useless degree, she moved back to Portland, Oregon, where she taught English to foreign students and took care of reptiles and lost all perspective at the thought of never moving again. And thereby hangs a tale. Next....