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Known by her students and friends as The Mixer (or just "Mixer"), Claire Mix has been writing and performing children's music for more than twenty years. Experiencing symptoms of a neurological disorder since 2002, Claire was finally diagnosed as having Parkinson's Disease in 2010. She retired from teaching at the end of the 2011/2012 school year, but has not slowed down much beyond that.
GILA RIVER AND MAMA: THE RUTH MIX STORY
Over a multi-year period of 2008-2010, Claire wrote a screenplay based on the experiences of her mother who, as a 15 year old during WWII, volunteered as a caucasian Nurse’s Aid at Butte Camp Hospital at Gila River Japanese Internment Camp in Arizona.
With a grant from the California State Library through the California Civil Liberties Public Education Program, and additional funding from Transvideo Studios, the film was shot in 2009/2010 and premiered on Sunday, September 26, 2010 at the California Museum Auditorium in Sacramento, CA.
In the spring of 2012 the film was was nominated for a Northern California Emmy Award. That same month it received the recognition of First Place in the Documentary category at the Greater Bay Area Journalism Awards (the Evening of Excellence Dinner) in San Francisco.
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The Mixer Kids choirs were so popular that they were invited to sing for many high profile events in and around Sacramento, including the first inauguration celebration for California State Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger [inaugural party | rally]. Mixer Kids have also sung at the Susan B. Komen "Race for the Cure" at Cal Expo in years past.
 BLAZE'N FOR THE RAISE'N: In 2005 Mixer rode her Rascal mobility scooter from the Golden Gate Bridge to the California State Capitol to help raise awareness of Parkinsons [event blog].
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THE GIRL WITH HAIR LIKE THE SUN
Once the film was wrapped, Claire turned her attention to the young adult novelization of the story and began to write with a passion. By the time she got to the novel, her Parkinson's symptoms had progressed to the point where she could no longer type using both hands. In fact, she would often need to recline and - using an over sized pencil - she would write by typing one single character at a time. Sometimes for hours and hours on end.
In the late winter or early spring of that year, at a point where Claire felt she was about 90 days from completing the draft, something amazing happened that gave her back an ability that the disease had taken from her. She received a gift of Dragon Speaking software for the Mac. On the night the software was installed on her MacBook Pro she finished the chapter she had been tapping at just the day before. After spending a few hours training the software, it took her just a week and a half to finish the first draft of the book. A full two months earlier than she had expected.
Claire's next book, "Escaping Earth", is planned for release by Screaming Dreams Publishing, and she has three other YA science fiction works being prepped for publication.
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