Creative Play

Interviewing for my book "But What About The Children?" is a new experience. One venue was a podcast which is an audio interview. The Interviewer also has an Instagram page that is linked from podcast to Instagram and linked back to podcast. I sent her photos of the book, ink quilts and other artwork I have done, and she posted those on Instagram. That forced me to join Instagram if I was to see what she did. Confusing but I did it, or at least I think I did. So many have told me Facebook is out of interest to young people. They only like Instagram. I will bet by the time I feel comfortable using Instagram, the young will find another venue to love. I  can barely keep up!!! HA! Jessica Delgado was the young woman who interviewed me. I met her at the mechanics shop of her husband, Emmanuel Delgado. They have three children, two boys and a girl, lovely kids. Emmanuel took the kids to the Children's Museum while Jessica interviewed me. What a dear heart she is. She is ...

Farewell to Spring May 11, 2019 Celebration of Life for Eileen Marie Gavin Gates Brilliant February 8, 1934-March 18, 2019 Spirit Hill - Home of Bruce and Shirley Keller in Three Rivers, CA 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM The Celebration was planned by Veronika Kelley, Eileen's most wonderful daughter. Her two children Trevor and Chloe were present, as were cousins, family of the heart, and friends. Buddy Jones Welcomed everyone, and of course, had his butt drum and played along with the bubbling pond and wind chimes, and rustling of leaves in the trees. One of the guests remarked later that the chimes stopped when Buddy played, then he'd slow and listen, and the chimes returned, then he played and they stopped, and so on.  Shirley Keller and Carol Jean James told stories of their friendships with Eileen. Carol Jean lived in the same neighborhood as Eileen, babysat for Veronika, and was Mentored and then later became an adult friend with Eileen. Shirley began frie...

Mid-February 2019 I Finally Published with Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) But What About the Children?  Diversity is Life: A Memoir by Shirley A. Blair Keller You may purchase this book on Amazon in Paperback or Kindle Trying to stop my mother from marrying a black man, my grandfather asked Mother, “If you do not care about yourself, what about the children?” It didn’t stop the marriage. I lived with the question a lifetime and decided to write an answer to my grandfather.   Struggles were a plenty with parents who were social activists, in a time of segregation, anti-immigration, and religious bigotry prevalent in the majority culture of the land.   Families come in many forms: blood, by marriage, by adoptions, adding siblings that are birth, steps, halves, and relationships-of-the-heart. Secrets and lies are a part of the tapestry. Figures like Paul Robeson and Josephine Baker, heroes in the movement for equality and justice, ar...