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Hi there! I’m a fortysomething, crazy cat lady, currently living and working in the Northeast Atlanta metro area, even though I’m originally from eastern North Carolina. Yes, I have an accent, although it’s pretty mild. No, I’m not a redneck, although I will correct anyone who even suggests that barbecue could be red. That includes my husband.
Note: my given name is Catherine and my surname is Collingwood Estes (two words). However, I don’t mind the use of shortened versions of my surname.
I’m the administrator and primary author of the Stannum Enterprises web site, including most of its blog posts. The short bio that I use in many places around the web, including the bottom of my posts here, comes straight to the point:
Catholic, distributist, employee benefits specialist, gardener, new feminist, photographer, speculative fiction fan, stepmom, student, writer. Originally from eastern North Carolina; has lived and worked in the northeast Atlanta Metro since 2009.
That sums it up, but it also leaves out a lot of details. Here’s the full story.
First and foremost, I am a Catholic. I was baptized when I was three weeks old and made First Communion when I was seven, but in my mid- and late teens I fell away from the faith. It just plain didn’t make sense to me at the time, particularly given that I was still dealing with the loss of a parent while in high school. I also subscribed to many of the criticisms that are flung at the Church by others.
But I never lost my basic Catholic worldview, and as I got older and gained more experience, the teachings began to make sense again. The clincher came from one of the most controversial ones: the prohibition against artificial birth control. When I realized that the Church’s teaching on that issue made an incredible amount of sense, I understood that the Church was probably right on many other topics. (It certainly was right about God.)
In the fall of 2001, I enrolled in an RCIA class for reverting Catholics, and I received the Sacrament of Confirmation the following Easter. As a follow-up, I completed the JustFaith Series during 2002-03. I have been at odds with the Church several times since then — the faithful life is rarely a smooth one — and my parish participation has varied, but I’ve never walked away again, and I do not expect I ever will.
As of mid-2022, I am a parishioner at St. Margaret of Scotland Catholic Church in Flowery Branch, Georgia, where I sometimes serve as a Reader of Scripture. St. Margaret is under the canonical supervision of the Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter.
Second, I am a writer. According to my family, I’ve been stringing words into sentences ever since I was old enough to talk, and I wrote my first story at the venerable age of three. I don’t remember ever not being a writer, and asking me not to do so is akin to asking me not to breathe. It’ll also be about as successful.
My non-fiction work is primarily in the forms of articles, proposals, and instructional material. While I primarily write about human resources, employee benefits and health insurance, I also write about Catholic living, spirituality and childlessness.
I’ve kept journals since childhood, and I’ve had an online blog in one format or another since 2001. My personal blog, where I spout off about all sorts of random topics, is currently located at The Scratch Post.
I also write both fiction and fan fiction. I got serious about learning the craft while in my teens, but it wasn’t until my twenties that I began sharing it outside of my immediate family. Because I use my real name for non-fiction, most of my fiction is written using the name Catherine Badger-Windau. In fan fiction circles, I’m known as Cat Lady Firebird.
I keep my official writing portfolio, which includes a list of related skills, on this page of the Stannum Enterprises web site. For simplicity’s sake, my portfolio can also be accessed using the shorter URL of https://collingwest.com.
Third, I am an employee benefits specialist. I began on the human resources side, working in both the government and corporate sectors, before taking a brief foray into email/web marketing and then switching over to the brokerage side. I spent about ten years in each of the two phases of my career, and then in early 2023, began a third phase: I took a job as a product specialist with a general agent. My complete résumé is available on LinkedIn.
I often speak about my career using vocational language. That’s quite intentional; the career field found me as opposed to me finding it. In fact, the first time a supervisor suggested I train on employee benefits, I was opposed: it sounded incredibly boring. (Initial hesitation or resistance is sometimes a sign that a vocation is a true one.)
Fourth, I am a student. I am currently studying at Georgia State University’s Perimeter College, with a declared pathway in Spanish with Business/Economics. I will finish most of the coursework in August 2024; after that, I plan to transfer into a bachelor’s program emphasizing writing, most likely at Middle Georgia State University.
By political persuasion, I’m a distributist. In terms of economics, this means I support the widespread, small-scale ownership of business and production as opposed to large national or multi-national corporations. In terms of social issues, I am a pacifist (not to be mistaken for passivism) and support comprehensive pro-life and pro-family policies, also sometimes known as “seamless garment theory.”
I am also a feminist, but by this I mean that I support the equality of women while recognizing (and opposing) the existence of male privilege, patriarchy and rape culture. However, I don’t accept modern gender theory or the notion that either sex is superior. They’re just different. This take on feminism is sometimes called new feminism, and I also support fathers’ rights.
My social, economic and political positions don’t neatly line up with either of the two major political parties in the United States. I’m neither Democrat nor Republican; neither communist, socialist nor capitalist; and neither conservative nor liberal. Further, I will not support the lesser of two evils; such a position is still support of evil. We can, and should, do better.
My first experience with photography came when I was about eight and I set foot inside a darkroom for the first time. When I was ten, I won my first 35mm camera in a drawing, and I haven’t looked back since. I’ve deliberately kept photography as a hobby instead of attempting to turn professional, but that doesn’t mean I’m not serious about doing it well.
I also occasionally do vocal and voice-over work. It’s fun, I have talent, and I don’t intend to stop unless and until I have to. That said, I’m honest with myself and others about not having the drive to make it a primary pursuit.
Elsewhere in my personal life, I dabble in gardening and homesteading. Other hobbies include (in no particular order):
- Reading and enjoying speculative fiction, including participation in online and real-life fandom. I try to go to DragonCon every year, although COVID has played havoc with that during the last couple of events.
- Participation and promotion of cat rescue, care and adoption, including trap-neuter-return programs.
- Traveling, although budget and time considerations mean I don’t get to do as much of that as I’d like.
I am originally from eastern North Carolina. I wasn’t born there, but my family moved to Pitt County just before I turned four, and I grew up partly in Eastern Pines (between Greenville and Simpson) and partly in Farmville. I attended Farmville Central High School before graduating from the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics in Durham, and go to high school class reunions at both.
As an adult, I briefly lived in Greenville proper, and completed most of the coursework for an associate degree in human resources at Pitt Community College. I then moved to the Raleigh area, where I lived for several years, and I finished the last few courses for my associate degree online. While I lived in Raleigh, it became my unofficial adopted hometown, which is a designation it still holds. To date, it’s the only place for which I have ever felt homesick.
Despite that emotional connection, a shift in personal circumstances during my early thirties meant I needed to get away from Raleigh for a few years. I started looking for jobs in four potential destinations: Charlotte, Atlanta, Norfolk/Hampton Roads and Washington, DC. The first job offer came from a firm in Atlanta, so that was where I ended up going. I initially lived and worked in the Old Fourth Ward, but in 2007 I landed a job in Peachtree Corners. I moved there in 2009, seeking a shorter commute, and have lived in Gwinnett County, in the northeast Atlanta metro, ever since.
At this point, both Will and I are planning to finish our careers as residents of the northeast Atlanta metro, in either Gwinnett or Hall Counties. We’re thus building our lives here. However, we haven’t ruled out a move back to North Carolina after we retire. That’s still another couple of decades into the future, though, so it’s not a part of any current planning.
I was married and divorced in early adulthood, and that produced no children although it had a significant impact on my life. Following that divorce, I was single for two decades and had begun functioning on the assumption that that wouldn’t change. But God had the last laugh, because he sent Will back across my path in 2018. We ended up getting married in January 2019, when both of us were in our early forties.
Those two decades happened, though, and they mean I don’t have any children of my own. However, as a result of my two marriages, I’m the stepmom to five great people, three of whom are still minors.
As you can tell, I’m fairly busy, and I have an active online presence. You can find me at various social media sites but the ones updated most frequently are Twitter and Facebook. I also keep my LinkedIn profile up to date. Please check me out there or feel free to drop me a line if you’d like to chat more. Thanks again for stopping by!