March 2025 Story Sparks
Making a Difference
Some years ago, the state of Hawaii published a long-term study about families. With permission, they followed many families for 30 years trying to identify what qualities enable some kids to “make it as adults” despite the challenges their family might have faced through divorce or drug-use or mental illness or economic issues. They wanted to know why some kids never ended up in the court system or living on the streets while other kids went on to be contributing citizens with healthy adult relationships, raising families.
Several qualities were listed but one I remember was that each child who “made it” could name someone in their lives that they knew would always be there for them, who “saw them” who cared about them, no matter what. Most often it was a parent or grandparent. Teachers were frequently named. But one occupation that stood out for me was “the bus driver.”
I’ve never forgotten that because it seems like a role that is limited in a child’s life. And yet I remember my bus driver from school, his name, Tom, and that he remembered mine. He always asked me about my day. Sometimes even wondered if I was feeling alright if I was especially quiet. In less rural areas, this person might be the janitor who sees kids every day. At my great niece’s high school graduation in Sisters, Oregon a few years back, part of the ceremony included honoring the janitor! I loved that! Like janitors, bus drivers may seem invisible, but they can make or break a kid’s day.
So it is with no small pleasure that I share that our granddaughter Mariah (mother of two whose partner Richard is proud of her too!) has just passed her CDL test and can now drive the school bus. She trained, learned the routes, is looking forward to making a difference for the kiddos on her bus. Right now, she’s just a sub (and she does door dash and uber driving and child care on-call, too). But soon those kiddos will be fortunate to meet up with a brave young woman who twice lived with us for a short time while growing up. She brought joy to the ranch and she learned to drive a car and truck on the reptile road known as Starvation Lane. (See Homestead for more details). Perhaps that early driving on the narrow gravel road with 16% grades in places, spurred her on. However she decided to become a bus driver, she’ll be one of those people who makes a difference in the lives of the kids she transports. More than transports, who sees them through the lens of love and that the love and care of all kids belong to all of us. Here’s their youngest, Ayvra, on a parked bus. Such a sweet picture. More importantly, there are kids in your life, some not related to you, for whom your seeing them might well make the difference between them checking out and checking in. All kids belong to all of us.
Women in History Month
Fair warning: Sharing an opinion you may not like. I read recently that references to women (and black and Hispanic and Native American code talkers) veterans have been removed from Arlington National Cemetery informational material. This is supposedly in compliance with the erasure of DEI references from our military history but it basically – in my opinion – leaves military history as belonging solely to white males and our history is more than that. Women played a major role in the military from the time some served in the Revolutionary War dressed as boys so they could fight, to women in combat in contemporary times and all the women in between who transported planes for male fighter pilots during WWII or the black women who got mail sorted, their story appearing in an inspiring movie the The Six Tripple Eight. These women (I’m focused on women because it’s Women in History Month) demonstrated courage and creativity. It’s a sad day to me when recognizing such acts of bravery, perseverance and intelligence is somehow considered inappropriate or that honoring their sacrifices is seen as diminishing to men. Do men really believe that honoring their mothers or sisters or daughters for whatever work they did/do is somehow unpatriotic? I don’t believe it. So I will continue to write about remarkable women – early business partners (Letitia Carson, Jane Sherar, Jessie Bauer), scientists, healers of bodies and minds (Hulda Klager, Dr. Jennie Picket Parrish, Dorothea Dix ), journalists and reformers (Carrie Strahorn, Abigail Scott Duniway, Natalie Curtis), teachers and organizers of schools and universities (Tabitha Moffat Brown, Ivy Stranahan), intrepid interpreters, explorers, loving aunties and sacrificing wives and mothers (Marie Dorion, Emma Giesy, Helga and Clara Estby, Eliza Spaulding Warren, Eva Bruner, Mollie Ronan ), Volunteers for WWI European Refugees (Cassie Simpson) and deliverer of the mail (Mary Gerritse. You haven’t met Mary yet but will in Across the Crying Sands.) Even the fictional characters (Mazy, Asiam, Sunmeit, Ruth and others) represent women of different ethnicities, immigrants, native women and their contributions to the arts, to history, to the stories that D.H. Lawrence said “tell us who are and who we will become.” Gosh, how fortunate I’ve been in being able to share with you the lives of these remarkable women. Don’t forget the history of the women in your own families. They are all worthy of remembering every month. They all made a difference in someone’s life, especially women in the military.
Word Whisperings
Miss Leoparda
Written and illustrated by Natalie Shaloshvili, translated from the Russian by Lena Traer.
Enchanted Lion Books, 2024.
I heard about this book the very day our granddaughter sent a text saying she’d passed her CDL test and could become a bus driver. This is a children’s book with gorgeous illustrations. It’s about…a bus driver and how her life changed when cars began flooding the roads as she drove “animals around doing their animal business.” Our granddaughter is an artist too and I thought she’d enjoy the luscious drawings with animal facial expressions so, well, expressive. The reviewer made note of something author James Baldwin wrote in times of trial: “Don’t complain, create.” I love that! And more, I love this precious book about how Miss Leoparda dealt with her challenges and changed the world around her. All good children’s books speak to adults too. I had a copy sent to our granddaughter and she said, “It warms my heart.” She’s going to have her oldest daughter Adeline read it to her. Jerry and I read it together. It’s a book to share.
Events
Book Release event at Paulina Springs Books
May 20, 2025 Release Day! – 6:30pm Paulina Springs Books, 252 West Hood, Sisters, Oregon, presentation and signing – Release Date of Across the Crying Sands
Book signing event at Waucoma Books
May 31, 2025 – 12:00 – 2:00pmHood River, Oregon. from 12:00 – 2:00pm
Book Signing event at Cannon Beach Museum
June 7, 2025 – Cannon Beach Museum, Cannon Beach. Presentation and signing. Books provided by Cannon Beach Book Co. – Join Jane and poet Dana Huneke-Stone, author of Amuse Bouche a Taste of Melancholy #sticksandstonespress. With permission, Jane used one of Dana’s poems in Across the Crying Sands. Dana, a local coastal poet, will share some of her wonderful poems along with Jane telling stories!
Book signing event at Tillamook Library
June 13, 2025 – 5:00pm – 5:00pm – Tillamook Library – presentation, book sales and signing. Join Jane and poet Dana Huneke-Stone, author of Amuse Bouche a Taste of Melancholy #sticksandstonespress
Book signing event at Beach Books
June 14, 2025 – 11-2:00 Beach Books, Seaside, OR. Signing and chatting.
Don’t forget that if you are subscribed to this newsletter to your email, you are on the list for the fun drawing of goodies including a beautiful print by Cannon Beach award-winning artist, Jeffery Hull, a pair of sea glass 14 Karat Gold earrings, puffin glassware and of course a copy of Across the Crying Sands among other treasures. If you’re not subscribed, please do so to enter and invite your friends to sign up for Story Sparks and they’ll have a chance to win, too!
Rupie’s Renderings
“Aha! I bet you thought my mom had forgotten me. Never. I once heard her tell a neighbor that I was a “benign narcissist.” If I knew how to look things up, I’d check on what that meant but she smiled as she said it so it’s probably a compliment. It’s been a great month for me. My dad’s been at home for three weeks now and a special bed sits in the living room so I can watch out the window on it, looking at all the activities in my parents’ village – and at him. His bed snores. Not too loudly but it does. My dad says it’s air being pumped into the mattress and that it’ll help prevent bedsores. Snores and bedsores. Hey, I’m a poet. He’s been sleeping better even though the bed is in the living room! I sleep in the living room too but on the couch. At night, I sleep close to my mom. Things are different but okay. So Far. Dad is getting something called hospice care. He says that means he doesn’t have to get hauled to the Emergency Room or be hospitalized over and over. Nurses and doctors come to him. Seems like a good thing. People come and go. (I sniff them out, provide security). He felt well enough to go outside in his wheelchair. My mom says she’s waiting for her editor to let her know what needs to change in her second book in a series. I’m not sure what a series is, but we’re taking extra walks to help her ants-iety she says. Ants bother me too. I put my foot down on them. You put your foot down on things that make you ants-iexty. Don’t complain, create. See you next month!”
Last month, many of you sent notes about your own gifts of confidence-giving which warmed my heart. After posting a video of Rupie on our walking path, a reader in Washington State recognized the trail. Their gift earlier this month was meeting up with us with their Shelties Marcie and Ella. Thanks to Ken Lewis for the photo of the “herd” with Jan and me. Something about that sweet meet-up reminded me of what we in our church in Oregon refer to as Spacious Christianity. One definition is creating spaces of grace for hope, healing and purpose so that all may flourish. Your gifts of confidence to me and others make a difference in the spirit that fills the world, a spirit of love and generosity in the times of trials. Thank you. Carry on.
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Warmly,
P.S. I often get requests from those wishing a book list of my titles. Incidentally, Wikipedia has some errors. Visit my Bibliography webpage for the real scoop.
