Monday, May 27, 2019

Podcast and Video Interviews of Shirley Keller May 2019

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 the future generation and when I left felt so hopeful for the future of our world. I keep meeting people in their 20-30's who think, ask questions, are open to differences, are excited to participate in their interests. They all have cell phones, and yes, look at them often. But when I am talking with them they put the cells down. She was so interesting I couldn't stop asking questions about her, her family and back ground, and her point of view about many topics. I had to remind myself, she is working on the podcast and I should focus.

The link below is to Visalia's Podcasts. You can download Visalia's Podcasts from any where you get podcasts, for free. She does a new one each week, and they are posted Friday evenings.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/visalias-podcast/id1405884519#episodeGuid=1662fa0b-4081-dc4f-5c11-77aa6d24ac14

The second interview was done in Fresno, Tower District for Central Valley Talk: Artists & Authors section. Carol Love Forbes did the interview. When she asked me to sit down next to her I found myself staring at a very large microphone. She had one in front of her. There was a desk with computers, cameras, and more, hiding a young man who did the filming, computer work, and editing.

Carol told me something was wrong with her. She was having trouble focusing and seemed really concerned. She did me a favor. As soon as she finished talking all my nervous worry about not remembering my name let alone to do a good job about my book disappeared. I kept an eye on her, and if there was a sign that she seemed off, just continued with the book, hoping we were ok. Since seeing the clips below, I could tell the difference in her that she wasn't as sharp as her normal interviews. I watched at least 20 of them in preparation for coming  to be interviewed. But nothing serious emerged. Maybe she was just tired, and has done this so much, you cannot be perfect every single time. I was grateful to have had the experience and it all worked out.

The three links below are the same interview, but at different social media sights. I recommend seeing the YouTube one unless you like the other two sights.

 https://youtu.be/xhjM54fHMFw

The above link is YouTube post for Central Valley Talk Radio-Artists and Authors.

 https://twitter.com/CVTalk/status/1132089224700653569


The above link is a Twitter post for Central Valley Talk Radio - Artists & Authors Interviews.

https://www.instagram.com/centralvalleytalk/

The above is the link to Instagram where the Interview by Carol Love Forbes is done for Central Valley Talk.

Monday, May 20, 2019

Eileen Brilliant's Celebration of Life May, 2019

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 friendship when their children were 3 years old and have spent a lifetime in friendship, both in and out of Synanon.

Many  shared stories of friendship which must include laughter because being a friend of Eileen's it is mandatory, as well as the hikes in hills covered by wildflowers that we were all taught to revere, as she did. And life has a way of bring tears and since Eileen had more experience in that area than most, she taught many of us how to deal with tough times, and to not just survive, but thrive.

Those of us who were very close over the last few years know the care Larry gave to Eileen as her illness progressed. We express our gratitude and love for him and know he will restart and continue his life "carrying the love he learned how to express from Eileen being herself," to use his words.

Heather Edwards used her talent and love of flowers to add special touches to the celebration. She made two amazing bouquets with sunflowers, roses and more. But the bouquet that touched me the most was the small batch of Farewell to Spring she placed in a blue glass vase. She stopped along the Lake on the way to our home to pick these flowers. She knew first hand the love Eileen had of the wildflowers and on one hike described Eileen as bending down, picking one Baby blue-eyes flower and kissing it, explaining to Heather this was her favorite of all the wildflowers. Heather, when invited to this Celebration, planted baby blue-eyes with the hopes to share them with us on this day. But they refused to grow. Wildflowers do seem to want to be wildly grown. So she stopped for the Farewell to Spring along the lake and shared them instead. It was like having Eileen here with us in person.

Actually, some of us felt she was. The weatherman had for days predicted stormy weather for the entire weekend. But what we got was sun, wispy clouds blown through the blue sky by a gentle breeze. So a story started of Eileen confronting Mother Nature and making sure the weather was as we needed it to be, so all who came, 40-50 souls, would be able to enjoy the outdoor deck, to the sounds of the bubbly pond, wind chimes, and rustling leaves.

I'd say goodbye to Eileen but I know from loosing loved ones that I can play with her any time I want. That memory helps us keep friends and family with us and can be recalled, sometimes planned, but most of the time at the crazy moments of our life. She is always welcomed in my heart. So I refuse to say goodbye.

Memory Garden of Shirley Keller, Spirit Hill, Three Rivers, CA

When Veronika called to suggest the Celebration for Eileen be held at our home, it was because she and my son, JP, had a conversation about ashes and what to do with them. My mother asked to be sprinkled here, Karen Harvey is partially sprinkled here, and Anthony, my nephew, is here also. Bruce named our property Spirit Hill from the day in 2002 we landed here. So it seems the name is turning into more than just a name. We host people to meditate, to appreciate art, and now multiple Celebrations for friends who died seem to happen here. 

The ashes of Eileen though have another plan. Larry and Veronika will go to a Lake in July, near Reno, that is covered in wildflowers at that time of year being higher elevation. And that is where her ashes will land, among the flowers she loved. 

I had to do something for myself. Eileen has been apart of any major anything in my life since Richie was 3. Many conversations of taking care of each others children if one of us should die before they were grown took place. Veronika calls me Mom#2. This loss is big for me. So I planted a Redbud for Eileen instead of her ashes, in the Memory Garden that has been developing over time. Rocks painted with beloved people's names on them, sculpted masks to represent various people, etc. And now a Redbud we hope will bush out, grow, and flower in the Spring. With Bruce's help with his amazing green thumb, I am sure will be beautiful.

Tuesday, May 14, 2019

"But What About The Children?" Published, February 2019


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, are living characters in my story. I also was a volunteer, then lived and worked in Synanon, a rehabilitation community. Controversial and troubling, and yet, relationships developed that lasted a lifetime.  






To tell you a little more about me: 
Writing journals led me to doing art late in life. I was widowed, children grown, living in small circumstances and able to cover basic expenses, but, no cash for entertainment. I bought a cheap pen with black ink, a composition book, and began a process of writing morning pages. I was so entertained that I rushed home each night after work, ate a quick dinner, asleep as soon as possible, to wake at 4 am to write before work. This became my lovely life.

One night I had a dream of seeing a quilt on a wall of a museum. When I went up close, I saw it was not made of cloth, but more like collages of photos and art, each patch in white wood frames and were illustrations of the stories I had been writing. In stead of cloth stitching the quilting was done in ink. The next day I began to make what I call Ink Quilts. The Ink Quilts are in the book, in black and white, along with some family photos.
  

Ceramic mask making emerged from a friendship with Marn Reich, an acqaintence from Synanon. I raised kids in the Synanon School. She worked in the law office. We had little in common. We both ended up in Three Rivers living 2 minutes from one another. I pledged to go 3x’s when she invited me to join her to attend a weekly ceramic workshop. That was over ten years ago. I am in love with mask making and still excited with each new lump of clay that leads me to the next mask.





Over time I explored many art forms: photography, clay-mono-printing, black ink drawings. The art form I have fallen in love with is exploring dot art, mixed with recycling old things and turning them into art pieces. One of the favorite canvases are hubcaps found in the streets.