Posts Tagged ‘Talking to My Dead Mom’

Sunday, June 21, 2020, 2:00pm-4:30pm PST

via ZOOM and via FACEBOOK LIVE!

KIM MCMILLON’s

“WAKE-UP AMERICA!” Part 1

POETATHON

poster created by Shellee Randol of Randol Graphics

Line-Up of POETS on June 21, 2020, 2:00pm-4:30pm PST

Kim McMillon

John Curl

Rafael J. Gonzalez

Peggy Morrison

Raymond Nat Turner

Zigi Lowenberg

Wanda Sabir

Jose Hector Cadena

Eugene Redmond

Iris De Anda

Sonia Gutierrez

Genny Lim

Avotcja

Kathryn Takara

Kim McMillon, Ph.D. World Cultures emphasis on Black Arts Movement and African American Literature; President of the UC Merced African Diaspora Student Association

 https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85183847427

Meeting ID: 851 8384 7427

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Meeting ID: 851 8384 7427

On June 21, 2020, 2:00pm-4:30pm PST, I, Teresa Jade LeYung, shall be in the audience listening to Kim McMillon, Ph.D. and her fellow poets.

author Teresa Jade LeYung, mask by Emily O, June 2020 COVID-19 pandemic

 

published December  14, 2019

Reading Victoria Sweet, M.D.’s new book SLOW MEDICINE The Way to Healing https://www.victoriasweet.com/ and watching/listening to Carole King (“A Conversation with Carole King” – Veteran journalist Mike Barnicle talks to Ms. King about her memoir A NATURAL  WOMAN at John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum on April 12, 2012) https://www.jfklibrary.org/events-and-awards/forums/2012-04-12-a-conversation-with-carole-king motivated my completing Part 2 of Author Teresa Jade LeYung’s New Monologue “What The Man In 17-B Wanted”

In my blog post http://lovemadeofheart.com/blog/blog-post-3-of-3-papa-makes-decision-while-in-nursing-home-again-by-teresa-jade-leyung/  my father was coping with his circumstances – as a reluctant resident at a nursing home.

This is what happened in November and December 2018.

Remember that piece of paper that I needed to fill out for the nursing home staff? The one about naming a mortuary.  Every resident must fill out that form http://lovemadeofheart.com/blog/author-teresa-jade-leyungs-new-monologue-what-the-man-in-17-b-wanted-part-1/

Well, there is another form to deal with – “Notice to Terminate Lease” -  the agreement between my father and the apartment building property management – that a tenant must give up his lease after six months of absence and vacate his apartment.

I waited for a “good” day to show this second document to my father.  Only his signature would be accepted by the property manager.  That day, Papa appeared to be cheerful, the sun was shining. I said to him: “Papa, remember you went to the hospital in July? You’re safe here with nurses and CNAs who care about you. Your Social Security money is paying for you to be here. There is no money to pay for your apartment too. Also, the lease says that you have to give up the apartment by end of December. I will help you. Don’t worry. I’ll take care of everything. You just have to sign this paper.  Okay?”

He signed.  I don’t know what happened after I said “Goodnight” to him. He probably cried when no one was watching.

What I didn’t have the heart to tell him was that every object which represented his life had to go away – to a storage unit , to a recycling center, or to the dump. If not for my brother’s first wife and four other precious friends, I wouldn’t have been strong enough to take on this job.

What irony for a writer – I (narrator) wanted to give my father (protagonist) what he wanted (to be able to return to the place he called “home”) but he was a fall risk and could no longer live alone.  Because he was relying on me to be his advocate, and,  because he didn’t get what he wanted most, he probably viewed me as an obstacle as well.

Like the son in the movie Garbo Speaks (written by Larry Grusin), I was the daughter who was worn out chasing after something that seemed impossible to obtain.

Back to that first piece of paper that I needed to fill out for the nursing home staff.

I need to do the right thing when Papa dies. Mrs. Chu, the oldest resident at the nursing home, is 107! My father is only 85. He has a long way to go.

Does my father want to be buried or cremated? He won’t talk about illness, certainly not about funeral.  I cannot read his mind.

Thanks to Dr. Amy Grace Lam who said to me “Teresa, you will get your answer not by asking your father but by finding the right person to ask your father.”

The right person would be someone who speaks fluent Cantonese and is the archetype to ask such a question.

On the day when all three Cantonese-speaking team members (nurse, social worker, chaplain) showed up at the nursing home to meet my father and me, Amy Grace Lam’s words replayed in my head.

I showed Chaplain Yuen the piece of paper  and told him: “I want to honor my father’s body and need to know what he wants.”

I did not need to explain any further; the chaplain nodded, and took the paper from my hand.

While he was chatting with my father, I stepped aside to talk to the nurse and social worker.

Fifteen minutes later, I hear Chaplain Yuen telling my father that he would visit again.  As though a director was in the room and we were all rehearsing a scene, a CNA comes into the room to distract my father. The chaplain says to me: “Your father wants burial, not cremation.”  The social worker tells me that she’ll get me a list of mortuaries which will include those catering to families of Chinese heritage.

I got what I wanted – the answer to my question. What more can a daughter ask for.

photo by Teresa Jade LeYung 2018 November 20

I wish you, dear Reader, excellent health.

For other posts in my blog, please go to: https://lovemadeofheart.com/blog

If you’re looking for my blog posts pertaining to our Beautiful Brains and Neuroplasticity… https://lovemadeofheart.com/blog  look at right side of screen, you’ll see the category “Beautiful Brains Neuroplasticity”.  Please click on that category to get those posts.

Sincerely,

Teresa Jade LeYung

Teresa Jade LeYung - photo by Sharon Leong 2019 May 10

As a story theme consultant, award-winning writer, and platform-building coach for pre-published and published authors, Writing Coach TERESA JADE LEYUNG empowers her clients to identify their core themes in their manuscripts and career mapping.
http://lovemadeofheart.com/blog

TERESA JADE LEYUNG (formerly Teresa LeYung-Ryan) is the author of:

Love Made Of Heart

Build Your Writer’s Platform & Fanbase In 22 Days: Attract Agents, Editors, Publishers, Readers, and Media Attention NOW

Talking to My Dead Mom monologues

Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan loves reading, writing, and looking for themes in clients’ manuscripts.

What have I been reading?

“Traveling in Bardo” by Ann Tashi Slater (also the author of Travels Within and Without, a chapbook of  the author’s Tibet-related fiction and non-fiction, produced for “Dreams, Memories, Journeys: Stories of a Tibetan Family,” her multi-media presentation at The Rubin Museum in NYC on July 6, 2016). What is “bardo”? In Tibetan Buddhism – the journey between death and rebirth.

Slow Medicine: The Way to Healing by Dr. Victoria Sweet (also the author of God’s Hotel: A Doctor, a Hospital, and a Pilgrimage to the Heart of Medicine)

The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat: And Other Clinical Tales by Oliver Sacks (also the author of Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain)

And, the book which I have multiple copies of (to lend to friends) is  The Brain’s Way of Healing: Remarkable Discoveries and Recoveries from the Frontiers of Neuroplasticity by Norman Doidge, M.D. (also the author of The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science)

Then there are delicious novels (including sociologist Margaret R. Davis’s The Miranda Affair ) – I shall blog about these novels in another post.

As Platform-Building Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan, I am helping author / sociologist Margaret R. Davis promote her new novel The Miranda Affair -  How does one find happiness as women and men struggle to climb the corporate ladder?

As Theme Consultant Teresa LeYung-Ryan, I am helping my client (who is a chaplain at a hospice) structure his memoir (theme: letting grief ease). Bravo!

My own work in progress is a memoir related to my “Talking to My Dead Mom” monologue series.

Cheering for all story-tellers, writers and readers!

Theme Consultant/Platform-Building Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan who teaches my clients (writers and artists) how to reach out, not stress out, before and after publication –

* identify themes in your manuscripts so that you can rewrite with ease;

* identify themes in your intellectual properties and create scripts for your websites/blogs, pitches, query letters, press releases, talking-points, one-minute videos, photo slideshows, and the all-mighty blog posts.

Coach Teresa’s motto:  “Reach out, not stress out. Help your fans find you BEFORE & AFTER publication”

 Coach Teresa says: “Fortify Your Platform with New Tags for Your Books and All Your Writings.”

How do you attract new fans?  When your friends and colleagues brag about you?  Yes!   What else?  How do you help your prospective fans find you?  By making your name synonymous with the issues / themes / subject matter you write about?  Yes!!  After all, when folks need something, don’t they go to search engines and type keywords and key phrases (aka “tags”) to find what they need?  Those folks will find you through the tags associated with your name!

Here’s an excellent example — let’s look at author Wendy D. Walter and her tags.  Wendy writes fantasy / adventure stories for young adults / teens.  Her protagonist is fourteen-year-old Ambril Derwyn.

I hosted Wendy D. Walter (author of Ambril’s Tale, Return of the Dullaith) in a live-blog event on January 5, 2013.  Nineteen fans (old and new) showed up to greet her and cheer for her and to ask questions.

Thank you, Anne M. Beggs, Bardi Rosman Koodrin, Christopher Wachlin, Deborah Taylor-French, Diane LeBow, Dorcas Cheng-Tozun, Eugenia Budman, Eve Visconti, Janine, Jean Morrow, Kate Farrell, LakshmiLove, Linda C. McCabe, Margie Yee Webb, Maria, Tera, Thonie Hevron, Yolande Barial, for participating on January 5th, 2013!

To see complete questions and answers and  comments from please click on: http://lovemadeofheart.com/blog/please-help-me-welcome-author-wendy-d-walter-to-this-live-blog-appearance/

To read my interview with Wendy, please click on:

http://lovemadeofheart.com/blog/coach-teresas-interview-questions-for-author-wendy-d-walter-ambrils-tale-the-return-of-the-dullaith/

Here are some tags associated with Wendy D. Walter’s writings

• Ambril’s Tale, Return of the Dullaith
• father’s death
• half-truth
• ancient Celtic magic and nature-based magic
• introverts
• Global Warming, rising seas, raging storms
• Utah in the middle of winter
• taking on the bullies
• fictional California town Trelawnyd
• fantasy stories
• monsters
• young adult Y/A
• secret warriors
• human morality

Thank you,Wendy, for having written a compelling story. What a page-turner!

Look for more “tags” in Wendy D. Walter‘s answers to the questions asked by fans:

“My all time favorite writer is Jane Austen. It’s been over 200 years since she was first published and her stories still enthrall me. From her books, I learned that the most important thing a writer can do is to make your readers care about what happens to your character and to never underestimate your reader.”

“I’m also a great admirer of Diana Wynne Jones, my favorite fantasy writer. She also never underestimated her readers and gave us incredibly intricate and original stories. Her books are often funny as well!”

“And that is why Ambril’s Tail has a very robust plot, with lots of twists and turns and strives to be humorous as often as possible!”

“Some of my characters are right out of my imagination, but some of them have roots in mythology. The Aunties, for instance, are the seers of the story, who share one pair of glasses. Perseus runs into three crones who share one eye and a tooth in one of his adventures, but groupings of three witches/hags/seers appear in all sorts of ancient Nordic and Germanic stories as well!”

“The Cerberus, the guardians of the underworld, is one of my favorite Greek legends.”

“I’m not sure why this is, but if you take a simple bullying exchange off the playground in our world and give the characters fangs and fairy wings, the issue becomes much clearer. In fantasy, we get a bit heavy handed at times and tend to make our bullies actual monsters (it’s more fun that way). Also, as bullying is an obvious abuse of power, it works well within worlds where it’s clear who the good and bad guys are, at least most of the time! Check out the Q & A Teresa posted on this blog for more on bullying: http://lovemadeofheart.com/blog/coach-teresas-interview-questions-for-author-wendy-d-walter-ambrils-tale-the-return-of-the-dullaith/  Bullying appears to be a behavior that some mistake for strength, particularly the immature (of all ages).”

“And there is a great male main character called Ygg. My beta readers all chose him as their favorite character!”

“Ambril’s Tale is for the 10-14 marketplace, just right for middle schoolers!”

Get your copy of Wendy D. Walter's book or ask your library to carry it!

Where to Find the book Ambril’s Tale, Return of the Dullaith:

http://www.amazon.com/Ambrils-Tale-Return-Dullaith-ebook/dp/B008EALE3A/

Ambril’s Tale, Return of the Dullaith at Barnes and Noble

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/174750

“Book 2, Ambril’s Tale, Riding the Cursed Shoots, is coming out in March, 2013!”

Cheers to Wendy D. Walter, protagonist Ambril and everyone she cares about!

Sincerely,

Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan says: “Reach out, not stress out, to materialize your dearest dreams.”
http://writingcoachteresa.com

As author of Love Made of Heart, creator of Love Made of Heart gift items and the “Talking to My Dead Mom Monologues,” Teresa encourages writers to speak out (in print) for those who cannot speak for themselves.

As coach and author of Build Your Writer’s Platform & Fanbase In 22 Days: Attract Agents, Editors, Publishers, Readers, and Media Attention NOW , Teresa says: “Whether you are writing fiction or nonfiction, make your name synonymous with the issues you write about.”