Debra Swan-Christian

I’ve been a flight attendant with AA for 40 years and not retired yet. Married and mother of 2 beautiful daughters and a dog. I went to Monmouth college in NJ where I majored in art education , pottery being my favorite art form at the time. I was an art teacher for grades k-8 at st. Mary’s in west allenhurst NJ near asbury park. I currently live in the Boston area and commute to Philadelphia where I’m based. I fly international trips only, work the galley, (cook food ) and spend time looking out the window looking down at the world below. My first job ever in the 11 grade was working for a small airline, suburban airlines , in red bank NJ. I did reservations, ticketing, announced flights, they were small planes with no flight attendants but my best friend and I who I worked with got to fly for free and sit in second seat in cockpit and fly the plane for 30 seconds or so.I worked there till about my second year of college too. I was born in sunset park Brooklyn back when it was all Norwegians and Finnish people. Lived there until I went into the first grade. The city life made me enjoy tall buildings with rooftops you could hang around on and fire escapes to sit upon. Have never stopped my love of New York City. My job has enabled me to see so many cities in the world. Ivd spent my layover walking through every street in these cities. Before my airline ( I worked for Piedmont airlines that merged snd became Usairways and then merged with AA) before I flew international I had layovers in the US , islands, Mexico City LAX , SFO etc….I’ve brought my needle felting supplies with me to work on while in hotels( in hotels in Phl mainly when I had 2 trips in a row and had to spend the night there). When I was a toddler and began watching cartoons I called them Tinkabunnies ! Not cartoons. I’d screech “I want to watch Tinkabunnies!” I know this because my mom reminded me of it my entire life. So when I opened a Instagram account to show my needle felted animals I called them Tinkabunnies because that’s what they are to me. I loved the black and white cartoons , a lot of farmer grey and Warner brothers mostly set to music but so amazing . I work best in 3-D which is why I needle felt. I loved working in pottery in college using the wheel and hand building things. Needle felting is the same as clay to me. You can form things with your hands and shape the wool any way you want. I first discovered needle felting in Amsterdam . Found a store that sold kits of wool meant for mending holes in sweaters but found the wool was excellent for needle felting. I saw a small kit in a toy store( my favorite kind of store) and realized that this was how all the little dogs snd cows I saw in a store were made and needle felting was a great medium for me. Can’t carry clay in a suitcase. And like you Gary baseman I’ve had a love for Warner brothers because of it’s cartoons and my beloved uncle worked for warner brothers. I have his cuff links , a pin and a watch with the Warner brothers big W logo and the pin has all the cartoon characters on it!
My mom was in plays and musicals in Red bank nj. My dad worked for bell labs. My husband does brain research in Cambridge doing schizophrenia drug research now but soon to take on Timothy Leary’s study of mushrooms. Art keeps me sane and has gotten me through awful times. I create my own little worlds with my needle felted tinkabunnies …