I sat beside a young girl on Sunday morning. Her dad was teaching Sunday School and wanted her to sit in the main service, so we sat together taking notes. Her amazement at my copious writing led to a beautiful conversation, which I wrote about here.
The conversation filled me with wonder. I loved telling her dad about it later, feeling as if I was a real partner in the work of raising this child. The night before, the girl and I had been doing crafts. Crafts can be delightful bonding times, but ultimately the bonding reinforces trust that leads to conversations that really matter.
Sometimes those conversations need to happen with a woman. There is nothing like guidance and love from a devoted, attentive dad. Females need healthy input from stable men. But girls and young women also need the companionship and instruction from older women. And I'm to grateful I got to be there for one of those conversations on this week.
Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Child of My Heart: Awards & Fan Faves
I’ve been asked to sing “Child of My Heart” at The Word Guild Awards Gala in Mississauga, Ontario on June 16th. My parents are donating Aeroplan miles for the flight so I can share this song.
In the fall of 2008, I co-wrote this song with Lisa Cornish, Dara Hallett, and my mom, Betty Taylor, for a fundraising banquet for OptionS Pregnancy Centre in Regina.
In January 2009, Dara and I sang it on our Minus 40 Tour. In May 2009, Lisa and I sang it for the Mother’s Day banquet at Arlington Beach Camp.
Last spring we won Award of Merit for song lyrics and this year I’ve been asked to sing it. I hope and pray that this song is used more and more widely for the glory of God and for the freedom of endless women and children!
For the month of May, “Child of My Heart” will be on IndieHeaven’s Fan Faves Chart. Click on www.indieheaven.com/fanfaves, select SONGWRITER in the dropdown box, the click the VIEW button. Add your vote by clicking on a star to rate the song.
Thanks for your support and prayers!
More crisis pregnancy resources:
http://www.lifesitenews.com/gethelp/pregnancysupport/canada.html
Friday, September 11, 2009
Tribute to Jean (nee Whittaker) Rohde Mahn
A Tribute to Jean (nee Whittaker) Rohde Mahn
September 10, 2009
In his book, Telling Secrets, Frederick Buechner writes of the importance of personal history:
Maybe nothing is more important than that we keep track, you and I, of these stories of who we are and where we have come from and the people we have met along the way because it is precisely through these stories in all their particularity, as I have long believed and often said, that God makes himself known to each of us most powerfully and personally. If this is true, it means that to lose track of our stories is to be profoundly impoverished not only humanly but also spiritually (p. 30).
In the fall of 2004 I began to work on keeping track of such stories through a Master’s thesis, collecting oral histories of a handful of women from the early days of Briercrest College & Seminary. Jean Rohde Mahn was one of the five women I interviewed. She invited me to stay overnight in her lovely Athens, Ohio home, which I did in June 2005—an elegant and gracious home, full of antiques and memories. We had nearly 24 hours together. I met her darling dog Muffy, two of her caregivers and one good friend. We went to the gym where she rode a recumbent bike, and she proudly toured me around Athens, especially the university. Meeting Jean was one of the great serendipities of my graduate studies.
Jean’s early life involved many sacrifices in and for Briercrest, while her later life led to unimagined opportunities. She had a career in higher education, followed by two special marriages, first to Tom Rohde, a Wall Street lawyer, and later to Bob Mahn, a faculty member at Ohio University. Keenly interested in matters of historical record, Jean was eager to meet with me. She remained connected with Briercrest throughout her life, as a supporter, an encourager, and sometimes challenger. During one life season, Jean and Bob lived in Moose Jaw and ate frequently at the former Pilgrim Restaurant.
Jean Mahn’s life is a story of reversed fortunes. As a girl in the 1930s involved in a fledgling college, she felt that she suffered and sacrificed many things by someone else’s choosing, yet these things were returned to her and multiplied later in life. She told me her father could have been a millionaire, but that he gave it all away to the school; later in life she would associate with millionaires, naming one as a best friend and, with her second husband, would give a $1 million gift to support Ohio University Libraries. Denied a bicycle in her teens, she flew on the Concorde jet in her seventies. She went from cleaning up Briercrest’s Yale Hotel in the 1930s and working into her 50s to support herself and supplement her parents’ pension, to marrying—for the first time at 53—a husband who, she said, “did not want me to work.” From giving up her bed for countless guests in her teens, to being “able to stay at [New York's] Waldorf Astoria any time, any weekend” because of her first husband’s job. Both husbands took care of her and helped to provide for her parents. Jean Mahn’s life is a great reversal: closed and “governed” at first, but ever expanding.
In spite of marrying so late in life, Jean’s husbands occupy a prominent place in her narrative. During her single years, Jean did some things she had always dreamed of, like learning to dance, but it was after she married that she really felt she began to have “an exciting life.” Near the end of her interview, Jean told me, “I have a lot to be thankful for, that I had such good friends and I don’t suppose anyone’s had the privileges that I’ve had in my later life.” Indeed, few people experience such dramatic shifts in a lifetime.
Jean met her first husband through a chance encounter, meeting Tom Rohde at Le Moal Restaurant in New York City through a stranger who very kindly invited her to share his taxi when she was stranded due to a snowstorm at La Guardia Airport.
She met her second husband through similar happenstance. Jean had always tried to follow her father’s advice: “Anytime you go to a strange city, be sure to take a bus trip if you can.” This is how she met her second husband, Bob Mahn, whom she married twenty years later. She was able to convalesce in her final home in Athens, Ohio thanks to Bob, who had arranged 24-hour live-in care for her after he died.
Jean basked in the companionship and privileges that came with both of her marriages, yet she remained quite independent. For example, refusing to cancel a lunch date when Bob Mahn came from the States to visit her in Moose Jaw, then putting off marriage to him until after a pre-planned trip on the Queen Mary to the British Isles.
Very interested in historical records, Jean referred often to her late husband Bob’s archival work at Ohio University. In fact, because of their separate academic careers they often consulted with each other in the 20 years between meeting and marrying. As you know, together they founded the Robert E. and Jean R. Mahn Center for Archives and Special Collections at the Ohio University Libraries. Jean used our visit very intentionally to provide me with as much material as possible to support my research: letters, newspaper clippings, other writings, and pictures.
I emerged from my research with a sense of wonder at being entrusted with precious memories, living connections to history that enrich the particular story of Briercrest and the wider stories of women in Saskatchewan and North America. Perhaps in Jean Rohde Mahn’s story someone will, as Frederich Buechner hopes, “recognize that in many ways it is also” theirs. Certainly, in Jean’s life we can see the active hand of God. To have known Jean, even for 24 hours, and to have been entrusted with her story has enriched my life.
Friday, August 14, 2009
BlueBeary: Langley Advance and Arts Alive
Today Kathleen McMillan and BlueBeary have been given a full-page feature in the Langley Advance!
Tomorrow
BlueBeary storytime at Arts Alive in Langley, Aug 15th
Host: Open Eyes Books & BlueBeary
Time: 9:00AM Saturday, August 15th
Location: Downtown Langley, BC
Future
Aug 16 Children's Day at WhiteRock Farmers' Market
Become a fan of BlueBeary
Future
Aug 16 Children's Day at WhiteRock Farmers' Market
Aug 19 Surrey Urban Market
Aug 20 Royal City Farmers' Market
Aug 22 Burnaby Farmers' Market
Aug 26 Langley Farmers' Market
Become a fan of BlueBearyOpen Eyes Books & BlueBeary on Facebook
Monday, August 10, 2009
vote for the new cover
er
I've been a bit pre-occupied with the Open Eyes book series. Here's what's been going on:
Oh, and I've joined Twitter, so if I can figure out how to send tweets to the blog, maybe this thing will update more often! If you know something I don't about how this works, please let me know!
I've been a bit pre-occupied with the Open Eyes book series. Here's what's been going on:
- Samantha's Story (September) is almost ready to go to the printer. We can't decide between two covers, so we're taking a poll. Cast your vote and be entered to win a copy of the new book: www.openeyes.ca/cover_contest.html.
- Angels and orders welcome!
- One small, brutal fact about the new book: financing. We could use some orders, preferably subscriptions, to help get the ball rolling. We've been promoting, but we've really just gotten started, so the flywheel is still turning slowly. We can't send to the printer until the money is in hand. Please recommend it to anyone and everyone you can think of. We think the subscription option is a great deal: 11 books for $100+tax = one free book and free shipping. Want several copies of the same book? We'll give bulk prices! You could also use the book for fundraisers. Other ideas? We're open.
- BlueBeary has his own Facebook page. Become a fan and enter to win prizes!
Open Eyes Books & BlueBeary on Facebook
Oh, and I've joined Twitter, so if I can figure out how to send tweets to the blog, maybe this thing will update more often! If you know something I don't about how this works, please let me know!
Monday, June 8, 2009
legally blind can read new font
My recently published book project, Notes from Over the Hill, involved hiring a designer to develop a new font that was both readable and aesthetically pleasing. My author and publisher and a few other people were skeptical: "Why do we need to pay for a new font? Can't we just use something like Helvetica? Who buys fonts anyway?" My designer, Travis, and I had lots of rationale, but the bottom line was instinctual and unexplainable: this font was necessary and important.
In the process of designing, Travis researched design elements that influence readability and we tested the font with several people, including some with poor eyesight. However, nothing could have prepared me for this feedback from the author, who lives in a large seniors' residence in Saskatoon:
------------------------------------------------------------
Everybody who buys it and who stops to chat about it comments on the font. People are interested in the font.
In fact--this is hard to believe but it's true. Two ladies here who are legally blind and have to have things read to them, bought the book because they find they can read it with the aid of their magnifying glass! One of them even started to read that back page about the font when she bought it, but that was too hard for her without the glass, so I read it to her. Everybody says it is even better than the usual large print because of the spaces between the lines and the extra space between paragraphs.
To these two ladies--and there are other like them--faces are a blur. They recognize people only by their voice or their walk, yet they can read Travis's font. Everybody admires the cover too--they love that old typewriter--but I've told you that before. Congratulations! You have done a splendid job.
Martha
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Friday, June 5, 2009
The Word Guild Awards
The Word Guild Awards will be presented at the Gala June 18, 2009 in Mississauga, Ontario.
Tickets for the event are still available!
Here is the short list of finalists.
It's an honour to be listed, under "general readership" with Angelina Fast-Vlaar and NJ Lindquist, exciting to have "Child of My Heart" listed under "song lyrics," and delightful to be a finalist alongside people like Carolyn Arends, John Stackhouse, Marcia Laycock, Bonnie Grove and, obviously, so many other wonderful people!
I had submitted several articles from my Last Mountain Times portfolio and am glad that the articles shortlisted feature one of my favourite people (my brother Jeffrey) and one of my favourite places (Arlington Beach Camp). I can't imagine that I'll win over Angelina or NJ, but it's just great to be there.
Article, Poetry, Song Lyric & Script Categories
Tickets for the event are still available!
Here is the short list of finalists.
It's an honour to be listed, under "general readership" with Angelina Fast-Vlaar and NJ Lindquist, exciting to have "Child of My Heart" listed under "song lyrics," and delightful to be a finalist alongside people like Carolyn Arends, John Stackhouse, Marcia Laycock, Bonnie Grove and, obviously, so many other wonderful people!
I had submitted several articles from my Last Mountain Times portfolio and am glad that the articles shortlisted feature one of my favourite people (my brother Jeffrey) and one of my favourite places (Arlington Beach Camp). I can't imagine that I'll win over Angelina or NJ, but it's just great to be there.
SHORTLIST OF FINALISTS
THE WORD GUILD 2009 CANADIAN CHRISTIAN WRITING AWARDS
Books
Book—Biblical Studies
Allan Descheneau of
Andrew T. Hawkins of
Eric E. Wright of Colborne, Ont. for Down a
Book—Children
Connie Brummel Crook of
M. D. Meyer of
Book—Christian Living
Carolyn Arends of
(Harvest House Publishers)
Sharon L. Fawcett of Petitcodiac, N.B. for Hope for Wholeness: The Spiritual Path to Freedom from Depression (NavPress)
Tim Huff of
Greg Paul of
Book—Culture
Tim Huff of
Colin McCartney of
Greg Paul of
Book—General Readership
Tim Huff of
Susan Young de Biagi of
Book—Independently Published Non-fiction
Dudley Coles of
Alvin G. Ens of Abbotsford, B.C. for A Kingdom Kite (Ensa Publishing)
Karen Henein of
Peter Slofstra of Courtice, Ont. for In Tandem: a sea to sea cycling odyssey (Essence Publishing)
Book—Leadership/Theoretical
John G. Stackhouse, Jr. of
Robert E. VanderVennen of
Book—Life Stories
Carolyn Arends of
Tricia Kell of
Colin McCartney of
Mary Anne K. Moran of
Book—Special
Barbara Colebrook Peace of
Alvin G. Ens of Abbotsford, B.C. for A Kingdom Kite (Ensa Publishing)
D. S. Martin of
Book—Young Adult
Shelley Adina of
Beverley Boissery of
Novel—Contemporary
Donna Dawson of St. Marys, Ont. for Vengeance (Word Alive Press)
Don Ranney of Arthur, Ont. and Ray Wiseman of Fergus, Ont. for When Cobras Laugh (Capstone Publishing Group)
Novel—Historical
Rob Alloway of
Gloria V. Phillips of Collingwood, Ont. for A Pilgrim Passing Through (Rogdah Publishing)
Shawn J. Pollett of
Susan Young de Biagi of
Novel—Futuristic
Richard Allen Wunderlich of Salmon Arm, B.C. for Tomorrow’s Paper (OakTara Publishers)
Peter Kazmaier of
Novel—Mystery/Suspense
Donna Dawson of St. Marys, Ont. for Vengeance (Word Alive Press)
Shawn J. Pollett of
Article, Poetry, Song Lyric & Script Categories
Article—General Readership (articles that explain or encourage faith for mainstream readers)
Cynthia d'Entremont of
Angelina Fast-Vlaar of
N. J. Lindquist of
Colleen Taylor of Duval,
Colleen Taylor of Duval,
Article—Inspirational/Devotional
N. J. Lindquist of
N. J. Lindquist of
Rose McCormick Brandon of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. for “Discouraged” (Today's Pentecostal Evangel)
Article—News
Debra Fieguth of
Kristine Kruszelnicki of
Article—Personal Experience
Carolyn Arends of
Angelina Fast-Vlaar of
John H. Redekop of Abbotsford, B.C. for “A Reflection on a Spiritual Pilgrimage, or ‘What UBC did to me and for me’” (Direction)
Article—Profile/Human Interest
Dorothy Isted of Invermere, B.C. for “Doris and Borge Langerud's missionary life” (The Columbia Valley Pioneer)
Rose McCormick Brandon of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. for “Out of Her Comfort Zone” (The Pentecostal Testimony)
Janet Seever of
Eleanor Shepherd of
Ray Wiseman of Fergus, Ont. for “Shaken and Stirred” (SEVEN)
Article—Review
Carolyn Arends of
Ross W. Muir of
John H. Redekop of Abbotsford, B.C. for “Is punishment all bad?” (Mennonite Brethren Herald)
Article—Short Feature
Paul M. Beckingham of
John H. Redekop of Abbotsford, B.C. for “Buying Two Farms” (Stillwood, The First 50 Years 1958-2008)
Column/Editorial/First Person Essay (single)
Kurt Armstrong of
Thomas Froese of Ancaster, Ont. for “God is not a black woman.” Or is She?” (ChristianWeek)
Patricia Paddey of
Column/Editorial/First Person Essay (series)
Carolyn Arends of
Rod Barks of
James Beverley of
Violet Nesdoly of Langley, B.C. for “Who'd Want to Read Your Poems” & “Accessible Poetry and Poets” (Utmost Christian Writers)
John H. Redekop of Abbotsford, B.C. for “After two years, how does Harper rate?” & “Tories deserve a B grade” (The Record)
Poetry
Marcia Lee Laycock of Blackfalds, Alta. for “Dying to Live” (Utmost Christian Writers)
Lori Wiens-MacDonald of Courtice, Ont. for “In My Father’s Field” (Canadian Adventist Messenger)
Short Story
Rob Alloway of
Bonnie Grove of
Song Lyrics
Marianne Novoselac of
Colleen Taylor of Duval,
Thursday, May 28, 2009
my wailing wall
A couple of weeks ago over lunch, my friend Sherry and I spoke of the things that we grieve in life. I have a creative career that includes lots and lots of music. She has a husband ("the man of all men," she calls him) and three small, energetic, intelligent children. We marvel at one another ... and often long for each other's lives. I told her that not having children is my chronic grief: my wailing wall. My wailing wall.
Time held its breath and suddenly everything made sense. We agreed that I needed to explore this on my writing retreat.
The first few days were consumed with preparing for studio recording. Then I had a sore throat on recording day and the exertion completely did me in for the last day and a half of retreat, so the new song, "My Wailing Wall," was begun but not even half finished.
Even so, I did a lot of thinking and research about the wailing wall, reading from several angles, especially the Western Wall in Israel and May's wall in The Secret Life of Bees. I dabbled in some musical ideas and even started a different song about Hannah, Samuel's mother. But a song called "My Wailing Wall" was not ready to emerge.
Then something happened a few days later that felt like a crisis, and I spent a full morning anxious and agonizing over many and varied things and pouring it onto several pages in my journal. It was cathartic. It was a form of praying. It sent me to that emotional "wailing wall" that I hadn't been able--or willing--to visit on the retreat.
Today I was aching over that same thing and I heard the Lord whisper, "I want you," but it seemed small comfort at the time.
Today I was aching over that same thing and I heard the Lord whisper, "I want you," but it seemed small comfort at the time.
This evening I turned on my computer, noticed the wailing wall picture on the desktop background, and suddenly understood something else about the wailing wall: it's a place to lean on.
I can just lay my cheek against its cold, rough firmness and rest in knowing that this is a holy place.
Over and over I revisit my aching and grieving. This is my wailing wall. It is a holy place.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
It is thought by Jews to be the most sacred of places, because the temple itself was thought to be the place where God resides on earth. Praying at the Wailing Wall signifies being in the presence of the Divine. Jews from all countries, and as well as tourists of other religious backgrounds, come to pray at the wall, where it is said one immediately has the “ear of god.” Those who cannot pray at the wall can send prayers or ask for the Kaddish to be said for departed loved ones. Prayers sent in are placed into the cracks of the walls and are called tzetzels. (What is the Wailing Wall?)
North of “Barclay’s Gate” is the well-known Wailing-place of the Jews, a small paved area in front of a portion of the retaining wall which is supposed by some writers to be the nearest point, without the enclosure, to the position of the “Holy of Holies.” (The Wailing-Place of the Jews)
I can just lay my cheek against its cold, rough firmness and rest in knowing that this is a holy place.
Over and over I revisit my aching and grieving. This is my wailing wall. It is a holy place.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
It is thought by Jews to be the most sacred of places, because the temple itself was thought to be the place where God resides on earth. Praying at the Wailing Wall signifies being in the presence of the Divine. Jews from all countries, and as well as tourists of other religious backgrounds, come to pray at the wall, where it is said one immediately has the “ear of god.” Those who cannot pray at the wall can send prayers or ask for the Kaddish to be said for departed loved ones. Prayers sent in are placed into the cracks of the walls and are called tzetzels. (What is the Wailing Wall?)
North of “Barclay’s Gate” is the well-known Wailing-place of the Jews, a small paved area in front of a portion of the retaining wall which is supposed by some writers to be the nearest point, without the enclosure, to the position of the “Holy of Holies.” (The Wailing-Place of the Jews)
Thursday, May 21, 2009
writing retreat is over
This is my brother’s cottage at La Casa Resort in the Okanagan. 
This is the place for our retreat, Kathleen and I.
Not a conference.
Not a workshop.
A private, luxurious, blessed retreat.
This is the deck.
This is a view from the deck. We dipped in the pool and hot tub several times.
This is another view from the deck.
This is Kathleen working on the deck.
We like the deck.
I didn’t take a picture of Kathleen exercising on the deck.
This is the hide-a-bed Kathleen slept on.
Those are the ubiquitous, lemon-coloured tulips on the coffee table.
This is the rest of “the great room” …
… and a view into the kitchen/dining area.
This is me playing the borrowed Casio and singing “Maiden Song” in preparation for studio recording in Kelowna on Tuesday, May 19th.
Eat your heart out Debbie Gibson & Celine Dion!
This is me working on two new (sad) songs after the studio recording goal was accomplished.
Good bye, La Casa! Thank you for a wonderful week of retreat!
p.s. This cottage is available for your vacation! Contact me and I’ll put you in touch with my brother.
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