Caterina d'Alessandro Franceschi da Firenze was born in Florence in 1547 to the merchant Alessandro Franceschi. She was married at age 15, but her first husband died under mysterious circumstances, leaving a series of bad debts behind him in Florence. Fleeing his creditors, Caterina found herself in England at the court of Elizabeth I. Caterina has since remarried Sir John Etcetera, a Baronet with a small estate in Herefordshire, and spends most of her time administering to the estate, which Sir John is unable to do due to his indifferent health. Caterina employs a pageboy named Pier Francesco da Montefiore, whose main claim to fame is that he was born in the worst inn in the Italian Peninsula. Pier Francesco is currently seeking a post on a voyage to the New World, where he hopes to make his fortune. Shannon K. Ward holds a B.A. with Distinction from the University of Calgary. The faculty she graduated from, General Studies, has since been renamed Communications and Culture, and she wishes they could have renamed it earlier, so she wouldn't have to constantly answer the question, "So what can you do with a degree in General Studies anyway?" The answer to that question is, "Go to Law School." Shannon has been studying Law at the University of Victoria since September 2001. In her abundant spare time she enjoys Elizabethan costuming, drinking beer, drinking coffee, and being opinionated.   Opinionated Guests: Eoin of Blackacre is known more for his love of good wine and pretty widows than for his very moderate skills as a Chancery Barrister. He enjoys early vesting, holding property to the use of his clients, and measuring the length of the Chancellor's foot. Owen Kirkaldy is known more for his love of good wine and pretty wenches than for his very moderate grades as a law student at the University of Alberta, and can be found volunteering for anything that will get him free pizza, which keeps him busy most nights of the week during the school year. He enjoys playing guitar, most recently in the Law Show band, violating the rule against perpetuities, and shouting "There was no privity of contract, therefore you must aquit!" while drunk. Manmeet Sabharwal is my roommate.  She spends most of her time doing normal things, like watching law-related movies with our classmates at house parties, not weird things, like Renaissance Dance.  She is originally from Toronto, but we won't hold that against her.  (She says that I'm from Alberta, but she won't hold that against me either) Wayne McCullough is a long-haired, black-trenchcoat-wearing, Ozzy-Osbourne-listening Bio-informatics major. Cormac MacAenghusa is a late 16th/early 17th century (turn of the century man) living in rural Ireland, he is a minor noble of lands. He likes swordplay, warm baths, Irish women, Irish beer, Irish sheep and choclate. His turn offs are... uh wrong ad.... anyhow he is a fop in training. Gord Buck is another UVic Law Drone. He likes to listen to Tom Clancy novels on CD while taking his daily walk through Mt. Tolmie park, and has no use for crazy cultish activities like Renaissance Dancing or Listening to Bagpipe Music. He is a former employee of the Agency Formerly Known as Revenue Canada. He enjoys making outrageous blanket statements to see people’s reactions, and is thus ideally suited to becoming a litigator.     Send your opinions to: opinionatedwench@handlewithcare.co.uk Looking for the SCA?