On Writing: The Art of Story Blog

Ok so it’s about 10:30PM.  Husband’s away taking care of his father in the nursing home.  I finish the chapter of Lee Child’s “61 Hours” (a nice read for this hot summer in Georgia, especially since it’s set in a snowstorm of South Dakota), turn off the light and do my deep-breathing-instead-of-Ambien routine (works well and does not cause a bad mood in the morning).  Next thing I know, the dog is frantic and there’s a POP POP POP and I tell myself not to get up because it couldn’t possibly be gunfire.  But it does turn out to be, in fact, gunfire. 

My daughter hits the floor so as not to be struck down by any stray bullets.  My son goes directly to the window so he can see the whole thing.  A gender thing, maybe?  My 82 year old mother joins us and we end up on the front lawn meeting the neighbors for the first time and try to figure out what happend.  Turns out, there was a high speed chase and the perp made the unfortunate decision to turn into our neighborhood, which is a dead end.     Bad move.

According to my son, the guy got out of the car and started running through the backyards, then across our lawn.  The cop in pursuit ordered him to stop.  He didn’t so he got shot.  Our whole street is a crime scene.

Who said living in the South would be boring?

When Frank and I worked with the adjudicated teenagers at Palama Settlement, we included movies in our curriculum.  “Little Miss Sunshine” was cool (although the kids thought Grandpa was the main character because he of course was their favorite, which can be attributed to his substance abuse issues and foul language) and although I frowned upon adding to their daily quotient of violence, Frank insisted upon “Kill Bill” and of course they loved that too.

One absolute from the kids was that they did not want to see any film in black and white.  It had to be in color or they refused to watch it.  Taking this as the dare it was intended to be, I forced them to watch “It’s a Wonderful Life,” in all its original black and white glory.  They sat stock still for the whole two hours and twelve minutes.  They laughed.  They cried.  They learned it’s okay to be flawed and it’s even better to overcome that flaw.  They learned the transcendent power of story.  All in black and white.

I just came from the Hawaii Women’s Fund Tea and Champagne Event because they gave Learning for a Lifetime a grant for Girls Day at Palama Settlement.   Board members Barbara Kozlovich, Donna Ambrose, Kristin Jackson and I drank champagne in the daytime!   

 It was so great to see these amazing women, all devoted to making the world a better place.  Not too long ago, a woman needed to marry well.  You were considered a failure if you were unmarried at twenty-two.  So you got a low-paying job as a teacher, or —as in the case with my people—you became a nun.

 Things have changed.  Women have choices.   All the women I know have ability and opportunity.  Also, some of them married well.  (For sure, their husbands married well.)  In any case, women today do not have to join a convent if no one will marry them.  That’s a good thing.  And yet, look.  Even with all our opportunity, women do good works.  At Learning for a Lifetime, we keep an eye on the kids who have nobody looking out for them.   Gwen and Momi stopped by to read stories.  Suzan taught about fractions and money one day.  Rayna brought the Hawaii Potters in to run a free pinch pot workshop.   When we help these girls, we give them the tools to turn around and help the next generaton, and the next.        

 Mother Theresa said, “Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.”  And sure enough, that’s what the Hawaii Women’s Fund is all about.  On behalf of girls everywhere, thank you for making Wednesday Girls Day at Palama Settlement.   And thanks for the champagne!