Hi! My name is Tish Alexander, and I am a master's student in the Technical Communications program at the University of North Texas. I also currently work at UNT in the College of Engineering. I'm an artist, a mom, a wife, a Muppet fan, and a life-long maker and fixer.
As a kid, I was the one with her own tool set that liked to take things apart and put them back together. I started fixing everything from toys to jewelry, then making things. I got a Bachelor of Fine Arts with theatre as a minor and spent the next 20 plus years working in theater and making art. I made the impossible happen onstage as a scenic, props, and costume designer, as well as a stage manager, director, and crew member. Along the way I learned how to make and fix a lot of things – some of them to last at least until the show is over, but many of them to last indefinitely so we can keep using them in other productions. I even had to make figure out how to make a puppet that smoked - that was a fun bit of trial and error, and I settled on baby powder in a squeeze bulb attached to tubing that attached to the puppet's "cigarette."
One of my favorite things is finding new purpose for old items, so even if I can’t fix something, I can try making it into something else. I started a small business where I make and sell nerdy things like gaming accessories, fandom-based artwork and jewelry, and whatever strikes me in the moment. Most of the items that I make are made out of repurposed materials that I sometimes have to fix before I can use.
I broke my leg really badly in 2016, and I even applied this philosophy to my healing journey. I got a bone infection that hid behind the first set of hardware the doctor used. When they removed that hardware and sanitized it, I made it into a necklace as a reminder of what I'd survived. I also added hinges and a closure to the cutout on my cast so it was easier to access the surgery site while it healed. My surgeon was terribly amused.
One of my favorite fixes was replacing the taillight in an old car of mine. It sounds easy, until you find out that you have to remove the whole back bumper to access all the parts you need to reach. No worries - I had a very clear guide that I found to help me through the process. I'm looking forward to being able to provide the same kind of guidance here.