A Puzzle Piece: One Singer’s Journey

“We are each a personal puzzle piece: each unique…and necessary for this world,” singer/songwriter, Monica Jensen says about her song, “Puzzle Piece.” “A puzzle piece isn’t meant to stand on its own either. We need each other to share in our strengths, helping in our weaknesses. ..on a journey to our fit.” Finding where we fit in the greater picture is an enigma to many. But for Monica, answers lie in her calling as a teacher and as a musical artist.

Monica Jensen, a California native who was raised in San Luis Obispo, has always been drawn to music. From a young age she studied instruments as diverse as piano and the drums all the while developing her own style of singing. As a child she worked on her craft rehearsing for recitals or experimenting with new genres until finally venturing out to perform in college. There she also studied music theory as she further honed her skills.

Fast forward many years to Monica as an elementary school teacher in a Title I district. When she encountered students from diverse and challenging backgrounds, she decided to seek out ways to impact their lives in a positive way. It was this desire that lead her to write her popular rap song, “Puzzle Piece.” “I use my songs to acknowledge some of the social/emotional difficulties my students face in life and to present alternative ways to handle them.”

Listen to “Puzzle Piece” here.

When asked about her musical influences, Monica’s tastes are eclectic. “I enjoy listening to new independent artists on Reverbnation.com and also love world music (especially certain Middle Eastern and European sounds), big band and the classics such as Frank Sinatra.” She also listens to oldies from rock and roll’s beginnings, music of the Romantic Era, modern film scores, and the Christian music artists Toby Mac and Plumb.

What message does she want to convey through her art? “Life presents challenge, but there is always hope. We have a choice in how we respond.” Her inspiration stems from working through the turmoil of life, observing others’ journeys, as well as the developing her relationship with God.

Today Monica is excited to be collaborating with national speaker, producer and publisher, Blake Brandes. With his musical influence, she was able to develop “Puzzle Piece” into more than just a vision she shared in the classroom. It now could have widespread exposure. Because Brandes’s work is all about inspiration and taking a positive outlook, she requested he rap the verses. They recorded the song professionally and now are sharing it with others through Reverbnation.com and hearnow.com.

For Monica, life may have its share of jagged edges, but when we find our voice, the vibrations help then all to come together for an amazing cohesive whole.

You can find more information about Monica on:

Aqueous Militia: A Poem

The roar of an army of insects invades my sleep

Marching upon the roof in lockstep

The vaporous hordes attack my home with icy droplets

With reinforcements pelting the window glass

To wax and wane on the ever-changing wind

Until the Light brigade breaks through

And the battalion recedes to a horizon

In need of an aqueous militia.

A teacher, Laurie Woodward is the author of several novels including Forest Secrets, and the fantasy series The Artania Chronicles. She also cowrote Dean and JoJo: The Dolphin Legacy and was a collaborator on the popular anti-bullying DVD Resolutions. Bullied as a child, Laurie is now an award-winning peace consultant and blogger who helps teach children how to avoid arguments, stop bullying, and maintain healthy friendships. She writes her novels on the Central Coast of California.

Laurie Reads Chapter 3

Here I read Chapter 3 of Artania: The Pharaoh’s Cry. Enjoy!

Advice from Kipling

It is time to support good candidates. I’m donating to candidates that I believe have integrity. At the same time I keep remembering what I read about civil disobedience and the most effective way to effect change is to do so with humanity. The Ghandis and Kings of history fought long and hard, with peace and civility. We can rise up and still be kind.

Rudyard Kipling said it best in the following poem to his son in his Rewards and Fairies novel:

If

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too.
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster,
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make a heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

Storyteller

“Story transmits deep wisdom and insight through its imagery. The archetypes in the story are a part of the collective unconscious of all of humanity…” says Zette Harbour, award-winning storyteller, life coach, and visionary. So many of us are struggling to create a story that fulfills a deep sense of purpose, but don’t envision, much less write the tales our psyches need. Zette Harbour understands this, and has made it her life mission to empower others to discover their purpose and to live with passion.

What does it mean to be a storyteller? For Zette, storytelling is a time to connect with others, to go beyond mere words and travel into the heart and mind. As she performs at festivals, in programs, and workshops, people are able to experience shared laughter and joy in ways as ancient as humanity. Her stories are as diverse as the human landscape ranging from traditional Christmas tales to native people’s myths to modern women navigating their way through an ever more complex society. But whatever story Zette tells, her goal remains constant: be present.

I remember attending one story telling festival where Zette Harbour performed, my seven-year-old son at my side and my toddling daughter snug in my lap. We sat on wooden benches in the shade of pines as she came up and told of a time before. A time of the ancients. Both of my kids were mesmerized as Zette tiptoed, strolled, and hopped from one end of this natural stage to the other. The warmth and intimacy of that day is a memory I still cherish.

A native New Yorker that grew up in Pennsylvania, Suzette Harbour has always been enchanted by stories and spent her childhood immersed in books. Fast forward many years to 1992 and being a mother reading to four-year-old. It was then that she realized the power story could have and began her journey into storytelling. For the past twenty years she has performed, workshopped, and recorded a multitude of tales all the while honing in on her own personal voice.

In today’s digital world the idea of coming together to listen to a story might seem alien. I mean, why not just watch a video or tune into one of the hundreds of channels now available? Zette has a poignant answer to this. It has been her experience that people are looking for the shared, authentic, emotional connection that participating in storytelling brings to community. Even the word community comes from two principles essential in the human experience: commune, or come together, and unity, make as one.

For Zette that is her story in spades. Create a community and all will feel like one.

For more information about Zette Harbour’s work see: http://www.successfulawakenings.com/ or http://www.zetteharbour.com/

Battle of the Books: Summer Reads

Are your kids bored? Saying that they have nothing to do this summer. Are you ready to pull out your hair one strand at a time waiting for school to start? I remember those long summer vacations trying to find activities to fill my munchkins’ days. I signed them up for everything from art classes and karate to swimming and tap dancing. But a favorite activity was a trip to the local library.

At Nipomo’s one room library in our small town, Nick and Jess would stroll past the shelves looking for that special book which piqued their interest. And usually they’d find one to curl up on the bean bags with. However, on some days there were no books that called to them.

That’s when I wished I had a list of interesting books for them to read like the lists on America’s Battle of the Books. But back then I wasn’t a coach for my school, like I am now.

What is Battle of the Books? It is a reading incentive program for students in 3rd thru 12th grades. Students read books from a pre-selected list of highly-regarded children’s authors and come together usually in groups to test their knowledge of the books they have read. School districts then host competitions in a Family Feud/Jeopardy type contest.

I’ve been coaching my school’s team for 6 years now and have loved watching the students grow as they’re exposed to great children’s literature. We meet weekly to discuss the books, play games to memorize authors, and read some of the books together. All the while, each child’s confidence grows both in reading and in his/her ability to work with others and contribute to a team.

Finally, at the end of the school year we get ready to participate in the district wide battle to compete against other schools. Every year I get choked up watching my team. Although they come from diverse backgrounds and have challenges that range from learning disabilities to homelessness and neighborhood violence, these kids put their heads together to answer every difficult question. With pride.

Reading rocks!

If you’d like more information about this wonderful non-profit organization, how you can organize a team at your school, or simply would like to peruse their website’s book selection lists for different ages see: http://www.battleofthebooks.org/