If you knew you would die tomorrow, how would you spend your
last day?
I would tell all my loved ones
how much I love them and why I love them. And then I would make sure I’m right with
myself. In the end, love is all that remains of us on this earth and it’s all
we bring with us when we go. Our status, our money, our fame, our possessions,
ultimately don’t mean a thing. I truly believe that we are here to learn how to
love.
Children know how to love. As
adults, we need to relearn this. We get lost in chasing after dreams,
ambitions, money, status…and of course making a living is important, but we
often elevate it into becoming our identity.
I had to step back from my
“dreams” and start learning how to live in each moment again. The hardest work
I’ve done as an adult is to circle back to what I knew as a child.
Who is your hero and why?
Martin Luther King Jr. and
Vincent Van Gogh, both for wildly different reasons. Even though I am a white
woman, Martin Luther King Jr showed me a clear example of courage, of striving
to live a life of service. As a child, I felt deeply moved by his example and
his purpose-filled life inspired me. He suffered terribly and yet would not
relent and take the easier route. He followed the calling of his conscience. He
was one of the finest human beings to ever walk this planet and the world is
better for having him in it. He was a man who sacrificed his life for unity and
who dreamed of a glorious day when children of all skin colours would hold
hands in friendship, a day of equality and human dignity.
Vincent Van Gogh inspires me as
an artist. He doubted himself and suffered from mental illness, which I know
all about (I have had PTSD since I was 5) and hardly received any attention at
all for his art. And although he received little recognition, he created art
anyway, from his very soul. He was the essence of what it means to truly be an
artist: to make art because of love, not for thought of outcome or reward. He
was a delicate, sensitive man who painted with light and with his whole being.
And yet even as he doubted himself and wondered why he couldn’t make a living
from his art, he never gave up. I love him for that. If artists had patron
saints, I would nominate him. St. Vincent, the patron saint of artists.
What kind of world ruler would you be?
I wouldn’t be. I believe that any
one person who has too much power, is going to be corrupted by that power. I
believe there must be a collective body that governs, whose members are elected
by secret ballot. The credentials for nomination would be quality of character,
honesty, being of service, and believing in the unity of humanity.
As a writer, what would you choose as your
mascot/avatar/spirit animal?
I would love to say I would be a
wolf. Sleek, mysterious, beautiful…a symbol of wild energy. But I’m not. I’m
more like a bear. Often a grumpy bear. I have bursts of energy followed by
times where I pretty much hibernate. Bears aren’t elegant or mysterious and
they don’t run in packs. I do a pretty good impression of a mama bear too.
Once, I was walking with my children (then small) in a parking lot. A car came
whizzing around the corner straight at us. I roared “STOP!” this guttural,
straight from the depths roar, and I swear I could have stopped that car with
my body. I planted myself in front of my kids (too late to jump, and I would’ve
left my child in the stroller behind). I was so loud, and my energy so
aggressive, that the driver looked frightened of me. He stopped, and waved
feebly, as if to say, please don’t hurt me. I have done those roars from my
soul several times, and it can be embarrassing. They come from deep within when
someone I love is threatened and is not something I can control!
What inspired you to write this book?
I had a dream in which I couldn’t
remember what colour skin I had. In my dream, I took a guess that I had dark
brown skin. I was walking down this dirt road, and as I walked, I was a black
woman. When I woke up, I realized it was the first time that I just felt like
“me” without the label of whiteness, and without any kind of visual cue. I was
me. I had just become a Baha’i and the teachings stress the unity of humanity,
and how we are all one people; the concept of unity in diversity. I had
obviously been thinking a lot about this when I had the dream.
I wanted to write a story that
conveyed that feeling to children, so that they understand that they are
beautiful just as they are. We have been deluged with images of what
beauty is; the images have been so steeped in the dominant/domineering culture,
that people of colour have felt invisible, as if only people with white/light
skin can be beautiful.
It is up to all of us, as human
beings, to further the cause of unity, especially with children. Children need
to know in their very bones that they are precious, just as they are.
They also need to know that their neighbour is beautiful, too, just as they
are. The old ideas of beauty and worth need to be taken out with last
week’s trash. They are dangerous and corrosive, not just to people of colour
but to every single one of us. How many of us can look in the mirror and go,
“You are good just as you are.” Most of us have to work at feeling like we
measure up.
A flower garden is beautiful
because of the variety of colours, shapes, and sizes of flowers. Can you
imagine walking into a garden with only white tulips? Or only orange marigolds?
We’d think the gardener had a problem. The human race is like a beautiful flower
garden. We are elevated and strengthened by our diversity. This isn’t
white-knuckled “tolerance” which is still about an “us and them” scenario.
Unity in diversity is about the full-on joy in recognizing the beauty inherent
in every single human being. Sometimes I find my breath taken away by
it!
What did you enjoy most about writing this book?
I found writing and illustrating
the book to be really hard. It took ages for it to feel right. When I say
“ages,” I mean years and years and years. I first came up with the story 30
years ago. What I LOVE about the book now though, is presenting it to school
children. When they hear the refrain, “Brothers and sisters we shall be, stars
of one sky, leaves of one tree,” they begin to LIGHT UP. By the end, they say
it with me, completely spontaneously, a crowd of diverse school children, speaking
of unity together. It makes my heart almost burst with joy! And I’m not
exaggerating when I say the children light up. It almost seems like there is a
light or an energy that is released with the power of unity. I see it over and
over again in the presentations. I have another presentation of it later this
month, and I’m looking forward to it. It will be the first time I’ve presented
it virtually, due to the pandemic, so it will be a learning experience.
Who designed your book covers?
I did. I drew the cover and
helped pick out the font and consulted on the final design. When the book had
to be reprinted (the first publisher shut their doors due to health issues) I
had complete control over the design.
$10
Amazon giftcard – 1 winner,
Signed Softcover of The Nightingale's
Song – 3 winners,
PDF of The Nightingale's Song – 10 winners
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