Harris, Myleigh
From Spearfish Lake Tales Wiki
Myleigh Harris was born summer of 1975. She is the main character in Blue Beauty and has a major role in Dawnwalker. She briefly appears in Alone TogetherAT18 and Facing the StormFtS40. As of 2001, Myleigh is a literature professor at Weatherford College as well as a professional musician with multiple albums.
Myleigh is described as petite, shapely, neat, vivacious with black hair and big round glasses, with a midwestern accent. She was particularly driven to succeed through education as she attended Northern Michigan University in Marquette, Michigan for her BA and subsequently attending grad school at Cornell University (Ithaca, NY) while rooming with Paula Ackerman. She studied at Oxford University in the UK in summer of 1998, and got her PHD in English Literature from Athens University, where her roomate was a radical lesbian. Upon receiving her degree, she joined the faculty at Marienthal College (supposed to be near Kansas City, Kansas).
Myleigh prefers reading British fiction from before 1850, and has a superb command of the English language. She is a Virtuoso on her Celtic Harp (which she calls "Blue Beauty"). She sings in the alto range, with very precise enunciation. Myleigh snoring was amazing and she denies it until Blake Walworth confronts her with a 12 track recording. An operation was scheduled for spring break 2000 to cure the problem.
Myleigh's parents were alcoholics, who thought that her lot in life should be to provide them with more money to buy beer or liquor, whether by holding down a job or getting pregnant and going on welfare to bring in child support payments. Needless to say, they offered her no support with her education. She had a rough time in High School; one teacher tried unsuccessfully to prevent her from being Valedictorian. Her speech was short and to the point: "Students and staff of Franklin High School, I have a message to you from the bottom of my heart: fuck you!" She hid after that until she could sneak back into her house, pick up a few belongings (including, of course, Blue Beauty) and hitchhiked to the home of an elderly distant cousin.
Myleigh's first good friend was her roommate at NMU, Crystal Chladek, an unlikely pairing but proven strong. She overcame her shyness and a history of distrust to have her first boyfriend be Randy Clark. By the time she graduated NMU, she had a new found confidence that allowed her to make new friends, although not necessarily closer ones. With these new friends, she pushes her boundaries, even taking up surfing. Buddha called her Hodad until she learned to surf; after which she was "Surfer Girl". Making music with Randy was an activity that allowed her to relax and distract her mind, but it soon developed into more, especially under the tutelage of Blake and Jennifer Walworth.
While teaching at Marienthal College, she got to know Trey Hartwell, first as her student before her became her de facto roadie. It was his determined effort that rescued Blue Beauty when it was lost by an airline, resulting in her calling him "My Hero". Her development as a musician and their romance is covered in Blue Beauty. She is offered a full time position at Weatherford College and Trey will be working with Blake and Jennifer. They buy a house and marry on December 29th, 2001 at the Walworth's home in Spearfish Lake.
She was a vegetarian in 1995,DW1 but was fairly relaxed about it by 1999.AT18
