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 Maria Judge Biography Medford resident Maria Judge is a writer, storyteller and educator. Her work has been published in The Boston Irish Reporter, Peace Corps Online, The Merton Seasonal, MIT Tech Talk, Dan Wakefield's The Story of Your Life: Writing a Spiritual Autobiography, and she has been a contributing writer to The Somerville News. Her story I Went and Washed That Hair Right Offa my Head is included in the collection A Cup of Comfort for Breast Cancer Survivors; Inspiring Stories of Courage and Triumph, published by Adams Media. Her cancer story was covered by Oprah Magazine, The Boston Globe and in Alexandra Johnson’s Leaving a Trace: On Keeping a Journal. Fox News, the WB Network and New England Cable News interviewed her about the photo exhibit she created during her treatment. She currently serves as Executive Director of the OCI Healing Research Foundation and previously was Associate Dean at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, Administrative Officer for the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, and Director of Administration at Physicians for Human Rights. She holds degrees from Holy Cross College and Northeastern University, and also studied at St. Louis University in Madrid, Spain. A member of the National Writers Union, Chicks Who Write and Grub Street Writers. She read her stories in Washington D.C. as part of the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Peace Corps. Rave reviews followed her reading during a Holland America Lines Irish music cruise. An experienced public speaker and performer who has served as Vice President of Education and Membership for Toastmasters at MIT, she also has spoken and performed readings in libraries, schools, churches, and pubs. Statement I am the grandchild of immigrants and the daughter of gypsies. My paternal grandfather left his Irish home at the turn of the twentieth century and came to Boston, Massachusetts in search of a better future. My father and mother went the other way. They left their Boston homes at the midpoint of the century and went to Ireland in search of their roots. That journey evolved into a fifteen-year peregrination that ultimately encompassed three continents, four countries, five ocean voyages, six schools, seven houses, ten children and thirteen steamer trunks. As a child, I thought my family was bizarre and never talked about our background and travels. But eventually I discovered that friends, and even strangers, were fascinated by my history and constantly asked me to tell stories. So I gathered them together into a memoir of our global adventures. Carsick, Airsick, Seasick We Travel the World: A Childhood in Motion recounts my family’s wandering years and the seemingly effortless manner in which my parents criss-crossed the globe, each time with another trunk and another child in tow. Beginning with military service in World War II, continuing as American graduate students in Dublin in the 1950’s, moving on to their work with Catholic Relief Service in Germany in the 1950’s and culminating with service in the Peace Corps in Chile in the 1960’s, Eleanor and Jerome Judge participated in some of the major historical events and humanitarian efforts of the twentieth century. When our global adventures ended, we tried to blend into the most foreign country of all, the United States. I look forward to reading selections from the memoir as part of West Medford Open Studios. Readings:
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