Deirdre Keating is a photographer, free-lance writer and mother of three. She enjoys stand-up comedy and would like to have the power to freeze time.
1) What initially brought you to Moab?
At age 34, the job I had loved for years lost its allure because I really wanted to be home with my toddler. My husband, Brian, got a job offer here.
2) What do you love most about living in Moab?
I love the pace of life, the quiet of the red rocks, and the lack of obsessive consumerism.
3) What do you dislike about living in Moab?
I’m a city girl at heart, so I can get a bit of island fever here.
4) What is your occupation?
I own a small photography business (www.deirdreokeating.com), specializing in newborn and family portraits. I’m also a free-lance writer and a teacher, but I am occupied most with my job as mom to three boys.
5) If you could have any job in the world, what would you most like to do?
I’d like to own a small tea shop where we’d sell used books, handmade toys and baked goods.
6) Describe a typical day in your life.
Get out with our dog Duke before the boys wake up. Rush to make lunches and get the boys out the door. Four precious hours when I try to do my shooting, editing, writing, coding for my site. Afternoons, I volunteer at HMK, leading BEACON’s Comic Creators, then homework help and cooking.
7) Some people have bumper stickers on their car that reads: I’d Rather be Sailing. What would your bumper sticker read?
I’d Rather Be…at home.
8) Tell us one thing people don’t usually know about you.
I’m slightly obsessed with stand-up comedy.
8) In high school, you would have been considered the person most likely to…
Become a writer.
9) What is your favorite Moab activity?
Taking Duke off-leash up at Sand Flats. My boys love the river, but I love reconnecting with friends in the shade of Old City Park.
10) Tell us your favorite non-Moab place to visit.
We’ve just returned from a week in Puerto Morelos, Mexico, which is basically paradise. Chicago, our hometown, is still my favorite though, for amazing food & art & energy, plus most of the people I love.
11) What do you consider your greatest achievement in life?
Staying open-minded, not just to other points of view, but to unexpected turns.
12) If you were President, what’s the first thing you’d do to make life better in America?
If I could be dictator for a day, I’d create term-limits and re-draw districting lines into grids, so that people would have to work together.
13) What superhero power would you most like to have?
Is time-travel a super power? Either way, I’d like to be able to, which probably explains my passion for photography – it’s as close we can get to freezing a moment in time.
14) f you could be an animal, what would it be? Why?
A bald eagle – they mate for life and seem to be having fun soaring up there.
15) What is your all time favorite movie?
“It’s a Wonderful Life”
16) And, your all time favorite book?
It’s impossible to pick one: “Out of Africa,” by Isak Dinesen, “Anna Karenina,” by Lev Tolstoy, “Man’s Search for Meaning,” by Viktor Frankl, and too many more.
17) If you were stranded on a desert island, which three albums would you want to have with you?
Paul Simon’s “Graceland,” Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here,” and K.D. Lang’s “Hymns of the 49th Parallel.”
18) If you could have dinner with anyone, living or dead, who would it be? Why?
My grandmothers, Kate O’Malley and Mary Ellen McMahon, because I adored them, and thrived in their presence. I’d love to cook for them after enjoying so many meals at their table as a child, and as Kate lived in Ireland and Mary Ellen lived in Chicago, I never got to see them interact.
18) What is your life philosophy?
Be kind and choose joy.
