Bio Poem

I used to teach a poetry unit to my high school English classes and one of the first easy- to- write poems I’d assign to give my students confidence they could be poets was the Bio Poem.

Here’s a version I wrote this morning. I’ve written this poem for myself often over the years and it’s always changing.

MaryLou

Greying hair, pink glasses, wears jewelry every day, a piece of a pencil in her knee

Partner of a man who just had hip surgery

Likes finding a new author to enjoy, discovering interesting pieces of public art, having stimulating conversations with strangers

Feels peaceful when she visits a cemetery, nervous driving with her husband in the passenger seat and sad when she visits her Dad in the nursing home

Needs to be less intense about certain relationships, work at her physical health in a serious fashion, temper her emotional responses

Is good at writing all kinds of things, getting a job done, rising early

Is afraid of disappointing those she loves most, riding roller coasters and violent films and movies

Would like to learn to speak French, visit South America and write a book that is wildly successful

Resident in a warehouse built in 1895

Driedger

Here is the pattern to follow if you would like to try writing a bio poem. I’d love to read it !

Line 1- First name only

Line 2- Four words or phrases that describe your physical appearance.

Line 3- Brother/sister of or son/daughter niece/nephew of

Line 4- Likes………. (three things you enjoy doing)

Line 5 – Feels………. (three things) some emotion words that might help begin your phrases are happy, sad, anxious, nervous, worried, optimistic, hopeful, excited, upset, angry, surprised, glad, good, bad, confident, concerned.

Line 6- Needs……… (three things you need to do or changes you would like to make in your life)

Line 7- Is good at………. (three things that are your gifts or talents)

Line 8- Is afraid of………. (three things that scare or frighten you)

Line 9- Would like to …… (three things you would like to learn to do, places you’d like to visit, famous people you’d like to meet, goals you have for your future)

Line 10 – Resident of………. (where do you live- could be your town, building, or something else)

Line 11- Last name only

Other poems I’ve written……….

Ageing

Where I’m From

Dancing in Shangra-Li

Saving Beatrice- A Netflix Series I’m Enjoying

A friend recommended a Quebec television series on Netflix called Au Secours de Beatrice (Saving Beatrice) about an emergency room doctor in her forties who begins to experience some rather mysterious health symptoms and turns to a therapist for help in uncovering their cause.

I am enjoying the show for three reasons.

1. Many of the episodes deal with real issues that make you think.

There’s a storyline about an extremely qualified doctor from Haiti who ends up initially working in the emergency department as a security guard because his foreign qualifications as a medical professional aren’t recognized in Canada.

There’s another storyline about a young boy who lives in Beatrice’s apartment building who is dealing with OCD(Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) and we see how OCD impacts his life.

A storyline that spans quite a few episodes shows Beatrice torn about whether to report a mother who is a drug addict and whose behaviour Beatrice feels is endangering her teen age daughter’s life. Should she breach patient confidentiality to help the daughter?

There’s a storyline about the competition between private and public health care.

And then of course there is the whole issue of doctor shortages and doctor’s being overworked that Dr. Jillian Horton addressed in her popular book We Are All Perfectly Fine.

Sophie Lorain is both the actor playing Beatrice as well as the producer of the show

2. About a quarter to a third of each episode shows Beatrice with her therapist talking about the issues in her life and in particular how her life has been influenced by her childhood.

I have never been to therapy so the show provides for me a fascinating look at how one can view things from different angles and with renewed perspective after discussing it with a professional therapist.

It makes me wonder if that kind of introspective analysis of one’s life could be helpful and meaningful for me.

3. The acting on the show is stellar and I am enjoying the story arcs of the various characters. It makes the series a nice little get away for me when I’m too tired to do writing work or need a little break from household chores.

Saving Beatrice is a Canadian drama filmed in Montreal in French with English subtitles.

There are four seasons each with some 24 episodes. I am only on Season 2 and I’m not binge watching so Au Secours de Beatrice should provide me with engaging entertainment for quite a while yet.

Other posts…………

Would You Want Your Child to Be A Doctor?

An Extraordinary Netflix Series

An Ingenious Delicacy

Women Who Have Won the Nobel Peace Prize

I’m giving a talk next Sunday about female peacemakers and so I did a little research about the 19 women who have won the Nobel Peace Prize.

I knew about Jane Addams, Mother Theresa and Malala Yousafzai but the other sixteen winners were new names to me.

Here are six of those sixteen.

Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan -Nobel Peace Prize 1976

Together Betsy Williams and Mairead Corrigan founded the organization Peace People in Ireland after Betty witnessed the tragic shooting of Mariead’s two nephews and her niece because of the violent conflict between Protestants and Catholic.

Betty and Mairead set up local peace groups across the country and for four months staged a series of rallies that mobilized hundreds of thousands of people to advocate for peace.

Maria Reesa won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021.

Maria Ressa is a journalist from the Philippines who founded the Rappler online news site in 2012. She has been a fearless defender of freedom of expression exposing the abuse of power, use of violence and increasing authoritarianism of the regime of former President Rodrigo Duterte particularly his murderous anti-drug campaign.

Rappler has repeatedly documented how social media is being used to spread fake news in the Philippines.

Nadia Murad won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2018

Nadia Murad is a member of Iraq’s Yazidis minority who was abducted by militants from the Islamic State in 2014 when she was 21 years old. She was held as a sex slave, raped and threatened with execution before she managed to escape to Germany.

She shared her story with the international community and in 2016 was appointed the United Nations’ first Goodwill Ambassador for the Dignity of Survivors of Human Trafficking. By recounting the atrocities she experienced, Nadia hopes to ensure that future generations of young women do not become victims of sexual violence in war.

Leymah Gbowee won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011

Leymah Gbowee a Liberian social worker, peace activist and women’s rights advocate led a nonviolent movement that brought together Christian and Muslim women.

This organized female campaign played a key role in bringing to an end a devastating fourteen-year civil war in Liberia in 2003 and paved the way for the election of Africa’s first female head of state in 2005, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.

Wangari Maathai won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004

Wangari Maathai a biologist played an active role in the struggle for democracy in Kenya. She started a grass-roots movement to counter the deforestation happening in Kenya which threatened many small farms.

Wangari intiated a campaign to encourage women to plant trees. This campaign spread to other African countries and resulted in the planting over 30 million trees. Wangari was an active spokeswomen for the causes of sustainable development, democracy, women’s rights and international solidarity.

Sadly while 92 men have won the Nobel Peace Prize only 19 women have been deemed worthy. Seems like there is something wrong with that.

Perhaps the Nobel Committee needs to open their eyes a little more widely to see all the good work women are doing around the world for the cause of peace.

Other posts………

Jocelyn Bell Burnell and the Matilda Effect

Hitting the Sweet Spot

Nelson Mandela- He’s Everywhere in Cape Town

Read More Than 30,000 Times

What Does Mother Do?  That was the title of an article I wrote for The Daughters of Sarah, a Christian feminist magazine in 1988.

The editors asked seven-year old Bridget Bernardi of Bloomington, Illinois to illustrate the piece.

Since I first posted it here on my blog in 2012 it has been read more than 30,000 times.

The week before Mother’s Day, in my second-grade classroom, I had asked the children to write a story about something important their mothers did. “Try to think”, I said, “of one of the most important things your mother does.”

The stories seemed easy to write, and within ten minutes or so my desktop was covered with literary efforts. That evening after supper I began to read the stories. 

“My mother cooks….. My mother makes the beds….. My mother vacuums…… My mother washes dishes….. My mother does the laundry….. My mom makes my lunch……My mom looks after our baby….. My mother cleans up.”

The next morning I sat down with the children on the rug at the front of our classroom.

“I realize,” I said to my students,” that all these things you have written about are things you see your mother do all the time. You like it very much that she does these things for your family.

But I want you to write your stories again and this time I want you to think of something your mother does that has nothing to do with housework. Think of something really special your mother can do that maybe no one else’s  mom can do.”

The children returned to their seats. My new assignment didn’t seem as easy as the first. Pencils gripped tightly in sweaty little hands moved almost painstakingly across the page. Tongues were sticking out and perspiration glistened on some brows.

By the end of the day however, I was able to leave for home with twenty-five new stories in my backpack. 

I had an enjoyable evening reading their new efforts.  “My mom can turn somersaults… My mom can play the piano…. My mother grows beautiful plants…..My mother is a teacher…….. My mother works in a nursing home……..My mom sews dresses for brides…..My mother can draw just excellent!”

Two stories really stuck in my mind. Two girls wrote about the work their mothers did on the family farm. Their combined efforts went something like this. 

“My mother works on our farm. She feeds the animals and looks after them. When one of the cows has babies, she helps. My mom mows all the grass on our big farmyard. She helped my dad pour the concrete for the floor of our new barn. She drives the truck when we combine. She gathers eggs and milks the cows. Sometimes she even manures out the barn. Mother does lots of important work on our farm. “

That year my students and I prepared lunch on the Friday before Mother’s Day and invited our moms to school to share it with us. After the meal, we put on a little program.

One of the girls read her story about “My Mother the Farmer.” I watched tears trickle down her mother’s cheeks as her daughter described the work her mom did on the farm. The mom told me later she had been touched to realize that her daughter had actually  noticed the many jobs she did on the farm. 

The next year I happened to teach the younger sister of one of the girls who had written about the contribution her mother made to the family farm. At the beginning of the year, I sent home the standard form to be filled out asking for birth dates, parents’ occupations, and other necessary information.  

The previous year the mother had written ‘housewife’ in the blank beside ‘mother’s occupation.’ This year when the form was returned it said in the same blank in capital letters, FARMER. 

Other posts………….

Mothers in Art and Life

Mothers at the Met

Mothers in Our Family

Gertrude is An Inspiration

I have this sepia coloured photograph on my bedroom dresser.  It was taken in Moscow during World War I. The beautiful brown-eyed young woman in it with her fashionable dress and hair piled high is my husband’s maternal grandmother Gertrude Unruh.

She was married to Heinrich Enns who sits to her immediate right in his military medical uniform. You can see the Red Cross on his hat on the table.

The other two men are Gertrude’s brothers-in-law.  Peter Enns to her left was obviously in military service too and Cornelius Neufeld to her right with the accounting book ran the families vast land holdings in Siberia and other parts of Ukraine. 

My husband’s grandfather and his family on the lake in front of their estate in Ukraine.

Heinrich’s family owned a large estate in Kowalicha, Ukraine and while the men of the family were away serving in the Russian army’s medical corps Gertrude was left alone to run the family’s massive estate and deal with her irascible mother-in-law who objected to her son’s marriage to Gertrude because Gertrude’s family wasn’t rich enough.

Gertrude came from the small village of Rudneweide where her family had a modest farm. Her wealthy husband had met her while on a visit to the village with a friend.  

Gertrude with her four sons.

Gertrude had four little boys and with her husband far away working on the trains transporting the wounded from the battlefront to Moscow, Gertrude was single parenting and making all the decisions about the education and upbringing of her children.

There were labour shortages as estate servants left their jobs to join the army. The weather had damaged some crops, and roving bandits had been seen on the estates’ far-flung properties.

Gertrude decided she needed to go to Moscow and meet with her husband Heinrich and her brothers-in-law to get some advice about what to do. That’s when the photo of Gertrude at a family business meeting was taken.

I never met my husband’s grandmother Gertrude but whenever I begin to feel overwhelmed by my responsibilities I look at Gertrude’s photo.

I think about how a girl from a small village farm ran a huge business all on her own and cared for her children and mother-in-law while the men in her family were away at war and times were incredibly tough.

Gertrude inspires me!

Other posts………

Luxury Car- A Family Story

Remembering

Mothers in Our Family

Public Garden Day

Today is Public Garden Day a way to recognize the beauty of public gardens and how they enrich our quality of life. Here are some public gardens that have enriched my life.

My husband Dave and our friend Rebekah hiding in some flowers in Winnipeg’s Leo Mol Sculpture Garden.

In Strawberry Fields, a public garden that pays tribute to John Lennon in New York

Posing with my novel in the Tuileries Garden in Paris.

Visiting the Red Hills Desert Garden in St. George Utah with my friends and spotting a dinosaur footprint.

Posing with a Henry Moore creation in the sculpture garden at the Lisbon Art Gallery.

Dave on the tree canopy walkway in the Kirstenbosch Gardens in Cape Town South Africa.

With my friends in the garden at the Pink Ivy Tea House near Winnipeg.

Having lunch in the Phoenix Botanical Garden with our friends John and Chris.

With my parents and my sister in the Assiniboine Park English Gardens in Winnipeg.

My husband Dave hiding in some flowers in a public garden in Savannah Georgia.

Other posts………..

Rooted in Love

Foiled By a Car Race We Go Gardening

First Look At the Leaf

A New Job

I started a new job at the beginning of March.

My church congregation’s communications committee decided to hire an official storyteller and offered me the job.

It’s so interesting and suits me to a tee!

One of my tasks is interviewing different folks in the congregation about their careers, hobbies, travel experiences, service work, collections, activities and unique experiences. I write stories about them for our church’s weekly newsletter.

This has been fascinating!

My first interview was with John Wiens who writes opinion pieces for the Winnipeg Free Press.

I’ve interviewed a Free Press writer, a support worker for foreign students, a couple who rebuilt houses for folks after Hurricane Katrina, volunteers at a seniors’ complex, an inventor and a man who collects books of political cartoons.

Authors, Manitoba Harvest volunteers, tutors, musicians, science researchers, a teenage phenom, and art collectors are on the list for upcoming interviews. I’ve been so pleased with people’s willingness to be interviewed and have their stories shared.

I used this 1887 painting called The Shepherd Girl by Hungarian artist András Markó to introduce stories about female shepherds

Another task of mine is to tell stories during our church worship services. I did that for the first time a couple of Sundays ago when I told five stories about female shepherds. You can watch that here.

I am also tasked with telling stories to the children in our church once a month and preparing for that has been lots of fun too.

Some of the folks at my writing workshop share stories with each other

Another job of mine is running workshops for congregation members to help them write their own stories. I had a dozen amazing people turn up for my April workshop so I’m looking forward to future ones.

In the last couple of years, I’ve retired from two jobs I loved, one as a mentor for education students at the University of Winnipeg and another as a tour guide and workshop facilitator at the Winnipeg Art Gallery.

This new job has come along at the perfect time.

It has the flexibility I need to give me time to attend to other responsibilities.

It is also giving me a chance to use my writing skills in new ways.

Other posts……….

Picking a Church Out Of A Cereal Bowl

13 Reasons Why I Go To Church

More Than A Library

Smile- Winnipeg Wall Art

On Monday I saw a mural I’d never noticed before on the side wall of the Food Fare Store on the corner of Westminster and Maryland Street. It said SMILE in big huge letters.

It made me smile.

And that was the intent of its creators Tierney Milne and Brother Jopa from Vancouver. They said they wanted to bring a pop of colour and joy to passers-by and inspire them to connect with their inner child.

Tierney Milne has studied psychology and has a particular interest in how colours and shapes can impact our sense of well-being. Brother Jopa is a lettering artist. The two created the SMILE wall in 2019.

Looking at the wall earlier this week I was reminded of a poem by Jez Alborough

Smiling is infectious,
you catch it like the flu,
When someone smiled at me today,
I started smiling too.

I passed around the corner
and someone saw my grin.
When he smiled I realized
I’d passed it on to him.

I thought about that smile,
then I realized its worth.
A single smile, just like mine
could travel round the earth.

So, if you feel a smile begin,
don’t leave it undetected.
Let’s start an epidemic quick,
and get the world infected!

Many scientists believe smiling is actually contagious and that it does make us feel better.

Hopefully, The Smile mural on Westminster Avenue in Winnipeg has made lots of people smile since it was created five years ago and will continue to make folks smile for many years to come.

Other posts about Winnipeg murals………

We Are All Related

The Guess Who On the Wall

Gunn’s Bakery

Gentle Gems

I just finished two books that were gentle gems. I had never read a novel by Elizabeth Berg before but a 2023 release called Earth’s the Right Place for Love caught my eye at the library because I recognized the title as a phrase from Robert Frost’s poem Birches.

The story is set in 1947 and Arthur Moses the main character is sixteen and in love with Nola the most beautiful girl in his class. Arthur’s a bit shy and not into sports like his popular handsome older brother Frank who is about to graduate from high school.

Arthur and Frank are best friends though, and share their frustrations, joys and worries with one another. Their mother is a sweetheart but their Dad has real anger management issues and that can make their home life challenging.

Earth’s The Right Place for Love has just enough plot twists and complications to keep you engaged in Arthur’s coming-of-age story. I LOVED Arthur! He had just the kindest, gentlest soul.

When I finished Earth’s The Right Place for Love, I found out that it was actually a prequel to another book Elizabeth Berg had written called The Story of Arthur Truluv. I ordered it immediately.

It was utterly heartwarming. Here was a hopeful narrative of redemption woven together with Elizabeth Berg’s exquisite writing. The story was a vivid illustration of how important human connections are to us all.

In The Story of Arthur Truluv, Arthur Moses, the young boy from Earth’s The Right Place for Love is in his 80s feeling pretty lost and alone. He meets a teenage girl at the cemetery while visiting his wife’s grave and the two begin to share a bond that will change their lives for the better.

And…………. I’ve just now discovered that there’s a sequel to The Story of Arthur Truluv called Night of Miracles. It’s already on my Kindle and I can’t wait to read it.

The painting on the left is by our grandson-The painting between the books is by our friend Les Brandt

If you’re looking for some gentle gems to read, try Elizabeth Berg’s lilting and lovely novels.

Other posts………..

A Book About Beetles But Not Really

Small Things Like These- A Moving Story

A Town Called Solace

1974- An Important Year For Women

In 1974 women were given the right to have their own credit card. It is only in the last 50 years that women have been free to control their own spending decisions.

Although women in Canada could open a bank account without their husband’s signature beginning in 1964 if they wanted a credit card they could be subjected to a battery of intrusive questions like whether they were married or planned to have children.

If a woman was married she could get a credit card along with her husband but……… if she was single, divorced or widowed she had to find another man to cosign her credit card application form.

Woman using a credit card in the 1970s- photo from IBM

Women were treated more like children who weren’t capable of controlling their own money or making their own decisions about their personal finances. It was a way to keep them under a man’s control.

I need to remember that within my lifetime women were excluded from having personal control of their finances. Women’s current financial independence should not be taken for granted. It is a right that requires vigilant protection.

In some places in our world women’s rights are moving backwards instead of forwards and we must never assume that couldn’t happen in Canada too.

Other posts……….

May 24th An Important Day for Canadian Women

Complementarianism

Way Ahead of Their Time