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Monday, November 9, 2009
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A life's journey, legacy EVERYDAY PEOPLE Senior Reporter Mark Twain once said "the difference between the almost right and the right word" is the "difference between the lightning bug and the lightning."
Prose poet Joan Wiesner of Brainerd searched, prodded and poured over the right words to say exactly what she felt. And from those creations came selected writings for a book. In the end, she captured a life's journey on the printed page. More than just her own story, Wiesner's book, "Out on a Limb," is designed as a legacy.
Proceeds are going to fund a Central Lakes College scholarship for a non-traditional student pursuing an educational degree.
The paragraphed personal capsules at the start of the book boil down decades of living into sparse sentences where despair and discovery trade highlights. But the underlying message may be hope.
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Brainerd prose poet Joan Wiesner's book examines a full life, and she hopes to leave a legacy for future generations. Brainerd Dispatch/Renee Richardson
» Purchase reprints of this photo.
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"Every morning I look out and I love everything I see," Wiesner said as she gazed out a window to her backyard. "I see it's a cold, gloomy day and I love it."
Wiesner kept every dollar she made through her writings, including $5 for a poem that won third place in a contest. The poem led to publications in the Lake Country Journal magazine and others.
She didn't start writing in earnest until she was already collecting Social Security. Behind her lies a difficult childhood, failed marriages, personal struggles and sheer determination to carve a career in business.
She wondered whether the right paths had been taken in the forks in the road of her life. She questioned her own life's purpose. And then, when she was on her own, she booked a trip to Africa. At the thunderous Victoria Falls on the Zambezi River she found an answer.
Joan Wiesner
Trait most valued in a friend: Resilience.
Favorite words: Truth and hope.
A perfect day: One where you wake up.
Admired trait: A sense of humor.
Reading right now: The Measure of my Days by Florida Scott-Maxwell.
Guests for a dream dinner party: Walt Whitman, Mary Oliver, Carol Bly and George Carlin.
Dream occupation: To be Shirley MacLaine, because of her spirit and ability to dance, sing and act, as well as her travel to such places as Tibet.
Words to live by: On all things it is better to hope than to despair. - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
Historical figure to identify with: Eleanor Roosevelt.
Family: As a dog and cat lover, she shares her home with two of each - two dogs and two cats.
Passions: Nature, animals, music, good food and to feel hope.
Books to have on hand: Oxford Dictionary and Thesaurus. Carol Bly's The Passionate Accurate Story: Making Your Heart's Truth into Literature. William Zinsser's On Writing Well.
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"I leaned over the observation rail, felt the forceful spray of cold water slap against my face, sensed the energy, the power that surrounded the whole African experience and thought how glad I was to have been born," Wiesner wrote. "I've been grateful ever since."
Coming back to her life in the United States, Wiesner said she was a changed person infused with the courage to tackle her life's challenges. As a way to give back, she and her husband later hosted three foreign exchange students for a year each. They came from Japan, Denmark and Kenya.
After pneumonia put Wiesner in the hospital at Christmas, she felt an urgency to do what friends had been nudging her toward - to gather selected writings into a book.
"That's what's in this book - my heart, my mind, my soul," she said.
When Wiesner and her late husband Dean moved to Brainerd in 1992, they quickly sought out Central Lakes College. Wiesner signed up for women's studies classes. An instructor, Susan Bentley McCahan, encouraged Wiesner to become a writer. So she added classes in literature, creative writing and poetry.
"It was the happiest time of my life, being over at the college," she said.
McCahan remembers an enthusiastic Wiesner entering her classroom.
"She still knocks my socks off, just like the first day she walked into my classroom," McCahan stated. "Joan is so full of life and spirit that it feels like a fresh breeze filled with energy and excitement is surrounding you when you're near her. ... Little did I know then that she would become a published writer. ... She'll always be one of my very 'favorite students,' even though she's probably taught me far more than I ever taught her."
Well-worn books about the craft of writing are in residence on Wiesner's dining room table. Paper clips cling to book pages, drawing attention to thoughts and words and ideas of note.
Now 80, Wiesner walks between rooms tethered to an oxygen tank because of her emphysema - a lung disease that makes it difficult to breathe. A woman once came up to her at Target and thanked her for the sign on her traveling oxygen bag. It says "ex-smoker."
Through writing and publishing the book, Wiesner said she gained a realization of how beautiful people are.
After putting the book together, creating seven drafts to try to get just the right words, she prayed to live long enough to complete the task.
"It's given me a life, an extra life," she said. "I find I have this optimism. ... I have all these things I want to do. The book makes you feel alive. The way people are reacting to it, that's what's given me the power surge.
"I'm not afraid anymore. Whatever time I've got, it's OK and I'm enjoying every minute of it. I love being alive."
RENEE RICHARDSON may be reached at renee.richardson@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5852.
Book signing event planned Thursday
Joan Wiesner will be signing her new book, Out on a Limb, at a fundraising event with the Central Lakes College Foundation with wine tasting and hors d'oeuvres from 4:30-6:30 p.m. Thursday at Prairie Bay restaurant in Baxter, 15115 Edgewood Drive.
The event will include musical entertainment.
A tax-deductible minimum donation of $15 will be accepted at the door for the Second Thursday event. Wiesner established a non-traditional student scholarship fund with the Central Lakes College Foundation, which is also the beneficiary of the Prairie Bay event. Wiesner is donating the proceeds from her book to the scholarship fund. The book is offered in exchange for a suggested tax-deductible donation of $20 or more. The Wiesner Scholarship Fund will assist a non-traditional student at CLC who is age 25 or older, who is a second semester student with a minimum grade-point average of 2.50, who has need, and who is working toward a degree in elementary or secondary education. RSVPs are requested by calling (218) 824-6444 or by going online to events@prairiebay.com.
Every second Thursday during the winter, Prairie Bay donates seasonal hors d'oeuvres and labor and Cash Wise Liquors donates complimentary wine for tasting to celebrate the work of area nonprofits.
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