Dorsetta Hale • Enjoys the outdoors and once camped on the streets of Los Angeles to see Mel Gibson. • Spent a romantic weekend with her husband at the city dump. • Went to a rock concert on a prison island. • Loves Christmas but not in September. • Is not a cat person. As a child, Dorsetta Hale had 36 first cousins. She was the oldest of three sisters at the time, a rarity in her huge extended family in which males dominated the sibling order. She grew up feeling warm and protected. Her parents were raised in segregation and saw the world in black and white. She saw the world in shades of gray. Her children see the world in color. The Coast Is Clear is her collection of first person essays that blend wit with bittersweet undercurrents.