Words of Wisdom

I wandered through Wicker Park yesterday in search of Valentine's Day goodies, and found myself in the middle of a used bookstore. Suddenly it dawned on me that even though it had been a year since I began her class, I had yet to read my last creative writing teacher's best selling book. Sure enough, Myopic Books had The Madonna's of Leningrad, by Debra Dean.



I think about Professor Dean every time I sit down to write. Her class changed my life and helped me to approach writing from several different perspectives as well as a place closer to my heart. While winding down after my classes and running this morning, I came across her publisher's home page where the stories behind her most recent book of short stories, Confessions of a Falling Woman, were posted. Here is an excerpt from the last paragraph of her explanations.

"I went to the graduation last night of a goddaughter whose life Cliff and I have been privileged to share for nearly eighteen years. She is off to college in Ohio, we are off to Miami, and her parents are also moving to another state, so this may well have been the last of many evenings spent talking and laughing around a table together. A life rich with friends and family and interesting work is also, perforce, a life filled with losses. Even the most comic moments are recalled with a catch in the throat. If you are a writer, you save it all."

Thank you, Debra Dean. Thank you for encouraging me. Thank you for nurturing all of us in your classes. And thank you for recognizing the pain behind the need to express.