Posts Tagged ‘senior citizens’
Happy new year, everyone! It feels especially poignant to begin the first post of the year with a special Author Q&A. More than a decade ago, before I formally began my coaching practice, I taught creativity workshops at UNC-Chapel Hill’s The Friday Center. They had a thriving adult enrichment program. My classes were popular and I met and coached people from all backgrounds. It is always a delight to run into people many years later and hear about their creative adventures.
Two months ago at the North Carolina Writers’ Conference, out the corner of my I saw a distinguished-looking woman. Her face looked familiar, but I only caught a glimpse before moving on to my next panel. To my great delight and surprise, this same woman came up to me at the reception. We immediately recognized each other. She had taken one of my classes at the Friday Center and credited me with planting a seed of creative possibility! At the time, she did not know that she even wanted to write a book. Yet, as she stood there, we both rejoiced about her newly published book, Stories from the Tenth-Floor Clinic: A Nurse Practitioner Remembers. It was a joyous moment to celebrate this accomplishment with her. When I heard about the subject matter of her book, I couldn’t wait to invite her for an interview. I also was curious (as always) about what being on this writing journey has meant to her.
Aging is a reality. Needing competent and compassionate healthcare as we age is a reality. I just turned 50 last year and I often think about what the next 30 years (or more) of my life will be like. I think about the importance of personal health and also a health care system than can work for all. My mother passed away at 56 and I often think about what kind of care she might have received as a senior citizen, if she had lived. The quality of care that our elders receive is of paramount importance. Nurse practitioners play a vital role in helping us navigate the demographic shift of aging Boomers that is already under way.
Marianna Crane became one of the first gerontological nurse practitioners in the early 1980s. A nurse for more than forty years, she has worked in hospitals, clinics, home care, and hospice settings. She writes to educate the public about what nurses really do. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Eno River Literary Journal, Examined Life Journal, Hospital Drive, Stories That Need to be Told: A Tulip Tree Anthology, and Pulse: Voices from the Heart of Medicine.
I honored to welcome Marianna Crane to The Practice of Creativity.
-Why did you write Stories from the Tenth-Floor Clinic: A Nurse Practitioner Remembers? What’s in store for readers?
I wrote the book because I had to. The patients I cared for hounded me for years until I finally told their stories. I also wanted to show the emergence of the nurse practitioner role.
The problems facing the underserved elderly are depicted. Unfortunately, the issues are not too different with the issues this population still faces today
I was the first coordinator of the Senior Clinic, which was located in a one-bedroom apartment in a Chicago housing high-rise for low-income elderly. It was novel to have a clinic for the elderly housed in a building where they lived. Each day was a total surprise. Folks walked into the clinic for a routine medical appointment or with a life-threatening illness or carrying a loaf of zucchini bread. The reader will meet these colorful characters as well as the opinionated staff that challenged me to rethink my values.
-What did you learn about yourself as a writer while you worked on the memoir?
I learned that what I wrote initially in the book was not a clear map of what I wanted to convey. I just wanted to tell this story. But what story? My memory cast my co-workers in roles that inhibited my progress. With each rewrite, I softened my harsh critique of others and uncovered some detrimental actions that I had initiated. My insight became sharper when I let the story percolate in my head rather than rushing to rewrite. Reflection and patience, albeit over seven years, finally enabled me to be truthful to what happened in the tenth-floor clinic.
-You were one of the pioneering nurse practitioners (NP) in geriatric care. Given the upcoming demographic shifts happening in the U.S. (e.g. Baby Boomer retirement) what expanded role might NPs play in helping the public to navigate this change?
Physicians tend to choose specialties that they feel are more exciting and well-paid than geriatrics. To offset the deficit of physicians that care for the elderly, NPs could step into the role of primary care provider. They are educated to see the total patient, not just physical illness. It’s important to note, however, that not one health care professional is optimal in delivering care to the elderly. An interdisciplinary care team working to address social, economic, mental, functional, and physical problems has been shown to be most helpful. The NP could coordinate this effort.
–Who would you love to know was reading your book?
Oprah Winfrey.
-What’s been the most fun or surprising thing about being a new author?
Having the license and permission to talk about nursing and the care of the elderly as a trusted narrator. Telling how the role of the NP developed and the barriers that new NPs faced 30 years ago when physicians felt threatened is especially satisfying when other nurses are in attendance and we relive our shared history.
I am humbled that in various settings when I speak about my book, the fact that I am a nurse holds weight and credibility.
-What’s your best writing tip that you’d like to share?
I am speaking of creative nonfiction, specifically the memoir.
Don’t be too sure you know what you are writing about in the beginning. Let it evolve. Trust that you have a story inside you that will declare itself. Step aside and let it unfold.
In retrospect, I see that having a preconceived notion of what I wanted to write had caused me to miss what was behind the real story—my belief about the stories from the tenth-floor clinic stemmed from what I remembered—my truth at that moment. The passage of time has a way of rearranging recollections. It was only after re-examining my place in my memoir that I uncovered what the story was really about, even if I had already lived it.
Stories from the Tenth-Floor Clinic: A Nurse Practitioner Remembers is Marianna Crane’s first book. It is published by She Writes Press. Find out more her at here.
Art at Last–Secrets to Creating In Our Later Years: Author Interview with Mariah Wheeler
Posted on: October 8, 2018
Mariah Wheeler has had the grand privilege of living, working, and playing, with artists for the last twenty-four years. She represents a life of “art at last,” having invented her own muse-inspired career later in life.
At age 58, Mariah opened the Joyful Jewel, a 300-square foot art gallery in the small, but vibrant town of Pittsboro, North Carolina where I reside. By the age of 61, Mariah had moved the Joyful Jewel to a 2,000-square-foot space, which currently sells the work of 170 local artists. The Joyful Jewel has become a destination to explore, marvel over and buy works of art.
Her deep passion for art and supporting artists has enriched the community. She believes that everyone has at least one creative gene, and that it is never too late to start developing it!
Over the past several years, Mariah has nurtured her own creative spark to write. Her new book Art at Last: It’s Never Too Late to Create has recently been published by Lystra Books. Reading Art at Last will convince you that “It’s never too late to create!” These inspiring memoirs are of thirteen artists who began their careers late in life and became successful.
I’m delighted to welcome Mariah Wheeler to The Practice of Creativity.
-Why did you write Art at Last? What’s in store for readers?
I started in my own art so late in life. I found so much joy and pleasure in something that I never expected or thought about doing before it happened to me. I wondered who else had found this amazing quest at retirement age, too. As I began to ask people, I heard inspiring stories from people with diverse backgrounds and in a variety of media. To a person, when asked, what they are doing now that they never thought they would do, they said “Be an artist.” I wanted to share the stories in hopes that members of the general population would be willing to take this challenge themselves. I don’t expect many to strive for the level of perfection or dedication as those in the book Art at Last but know, without a doubt, that focusing on creative pursuits can greatly enrich anyone’s life.
-How did this project stretch you? What did you learn about yourself as an editor while working on this collection?
I learned that writing and publishing a book is not a short-term project. I found that I was perfectly capable of working on this anyway, until it was done! It was a labor of love, yet one that surprised me in many ways. The biggest surprise was how many mistakes I could make, as even through ten or fifteen revisions, I still found things that needed to be changed! I really thought I was more careful than that – a bit of a letdown. Just getting the book in a format for publication had many challenges, from obvious things like making sure that the flow of the pages made sense, to unexpected troubles in getting the page numbers on the right edge of the page. I found that the time needed after writing the book was no longer than the time afterward in getting it ready for publication.
-Where does someone who wants to pursue an artistic path, but keeps hearing their inner critic tell them that they are “too old”, begin?
The only thing I really can say to the common problem of getting beyond the inner critic is just to do it anyway. Don’t let yourself think about what the product looks like at first, just keep doing something. Like they often say to writers, do your morning pages – these are not for publication, and the art is not for showing others or for sale – but they get you in the habit of creating. You WILL meet your Muse. When you set that critic aside, you may want to try several different media until one just grabs you and makes you pay attention to it. That’s the one to keep doing.
-In Art at Last you declare that art can change the world. What can you share with us about the transformative power of art?
One of the biggest things that art can do is bring new ways of looking at problems. This may change the world for the person creating the art, and when shared can affect the larger community. This happens even when we aren’t doing art, such as later in time, to answer problems or change the world. I have a hard time knowing how to explain it, but I think you get in touch with the Muse, the Divine, the Collective Unconscious, whatever word you use. It’s a place that is outside of everyday consciousness, and once you have gone there, it’s easier the next time to get there. Maybe it’s like a dream that tells you about something you hadn’t yet seen in your life. I think of it as insight that comes at us sideways, as Rumi says, it enters from the window rather than the door.
-What’s your next creative project? What are you working on right now?
I have been doing research on another book. I’m not sure the format, maybe historical fiction. I want to write about the poet Ella Wheeler Wilcox (who I have always thought I was related to) who lived 1850 – 1919, and had a very interesting life. She wrote “Poems of Passion” which created a bit of a stir in her time, was a New Thought pioneer, and was very very prolific. Her best known poem begins “Laugh and the world laughs with you, weep and you weep alone . . . “
– What’s your best writing tip that you’d like to share?
Similar to my suggestion for other types of creative expression, just do it! There is no time like the present. You have nothing to lose and much to gain. This is true whether you do it just for yourself or in hopes of a larger audience. You may not know what you want to do with your writing, but you can still begin.
Mariah Wheeler has had the grand privilege of living, working, and playing, with artists for the last twenty-four years. She represents a life of “art at last,” having invented her own muse-inspired career later in life.
She is the owner of the Joyful Jewel Gallery in Pittsboro, North Carolina. The Joyful Jewel is dedicated to bringing the spirit of creativity to all, artists and patrons alike. They offer “local art, fresh from the heart” in a wide variety of media, styles, and prices, each creation made with care, skill and inspiration.
Mariah, along with poet Sheridan Bushnell, conceived of the idea of inviting writers to come to the gallery and write about art. Their idea developed into the much anticipated annual ‘Vision and Voice’ event where writers are asked to read what they wrote after their visit and the corresponding artists are asked to display their objects and say a few words about the art-making process.
Find out more about Mariah by visiting her at The Joyful Jewel. Pick up her book at the Joyful Jewel.
*She would prefer folks not get her book from Amazon because it isn’t the same quality, and it is also more expensive. She is more than happy to mail a book to anyone who asks for one and can call with credit card info. or would mail a check. The book is $28.50, with tax for NC $30.42 and mailing is $2. She can be contacted via email or phone through The Joyful Jewel.
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