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Janis F. Kearney |
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In This Issue:
Politics and Prose...a Riveting Combination
Photo Gallery - Author's Photos
A Questions and Answers Session with Janis F. Kearney, author of Something to Write Home About: Memories from a Presidential Diarist
Photo Gallery - Something to Write Home About: Memories from a Presidential Diarist
A Question/Answer Session with J.F. Kearney, Author, Once Upon a Time There was a Girl: A Murder at Mobile Bay
top of pagePolitics and Prose...a Riveting Combination
Talk about "a time for all things!" We Americans are riding a months-long tide of political excitement, and finding ourselves in the middle of what might be the most historical presidential election in American history. Amazingly, it has been that way from the beginning — almost a year ago, when America’s first serious female, and African American presidential candidates were announced.
Who has time to read — or write when this political season offers us front row seats to history? Who knows if we’ll ever have such an opportunity again; if there will ever be a time when the world is universally consumed by America’s presidential race, and this year’s presidential election.
What a wonderful year to regain one’s pride in our country, and hope for the political process. Where else in this world could such an history-making election take place? Yes...this political season is most assuredly one for the books.
And, speaking of books...even as the excitement swirls around us; we writers are offered yet another opportunity to pull out our pens, pencils or keyboards and start putting words onto slate. There’s a lot to talk about...more to write about than any of us have the time or space, to write. This is one socio-political event that will never die, thanks to writers who document it in their own words — in short stories, novels, nonfictions, essays, editorials...or, even our personal blogs. No matter what your writing genre we must not let this season pass us by.
And finally, let’s talk socio-political events. I am so excited about my second memoir, Something to Write Home About: Memories from a Presidential Diarist, which debuts November 2008. I hope you will find the time to pick up a copy of this literary journey into the extraordinary world of the White House – seen through the wide eyes of a sharecropper’s daughter.
Also, in November I debut my first novel, Once Upon a Time There was a Girl: A Murder at Mobile Bay, under my pseudonym, J.F. Kearney. In this modern-day suspense novel about race and murder in Mobile Bay, Alabama, readers will be introduced to some wonderful characters, including Police Chief Tom Mallory, who those mystery lovers out there will get to know very well as he stars in a series of my new imprint - Cajun Lawman Books.
Happy Political Season to All. Don’t forget to Vote...and I look forward to visiting your community and meeting many of you during my book tour, beginning November, 2008.
Photo Gallery: Author's Photostop of page
Great-grand dad with author's grandtwins Sana'a and Darryl
Birthday boy shops for summer snack
Lunon twins' dedication at Rankin Chapel Church
Blessings abound in 2008-DK and family at law school graduation
Big Sister Jamie enjoys Reunion reception
Dia, Lydia and Kenya Kearney
top of pageA Questions and Answers Session with Janis F. Kearney, author of Something to Write Home About: Memories from a Presidential Diarist
QYour first Memoir, Cotton Field of Dreams was centered on your coming of age in the pre-civil rights south. And, though your childhood mirrored the lives of other black families during that time, few black youths today—whether they reside in the south, or other parts of the country—can identify with such an existence of dire poverty. Your new memoir, Something to Write Home About, also strains believability for most black Americans, as you write about your role serving as a diarist to the President of the United States. What is the correlating thread between these two stories, and these two levels of existence?
AYou are so right. Cotton Field of Dreams, and this second memoir do represent two extreme opposites of existence—at one extreme, my environment was poverty and need; in the other,I am surrounded by power. Yet, in fact, they both prove one truism—the American dream is alive and well. I am saddened to know so many young people no longer believe there is such a thing available to them. I’m always hopeful, though, that many of them will realize that no one person or group of people have claim to the American dream. It’s up for grabs, to any of us willing to go for it. It doesn’t matter if you’re dreaming about making it to the end of the week with a few dollars in your pocket, or one day working for the President of the United States. My life story proves this is as true today, as it was one hundred years ago.
Author with then Arkansas Governor William Clinton - Photo courtesy of William J. Clinton Presidential Library
QOn January 20, 2001, you and hundreds of others left the White House, as a new President and his aides took over. You had served in the administration for the entire eight years—five of those years inside the White House as the personal diarist to President Clinton. What was it like to step outside of that kind of experience, back into the "real," world?
AIt was such an amazing eight years for us. And, then came the end of it. First, none of us expected to be turning over the White House to the new President, and I think that was the first shocker. But, then came the actual walking out of that bubble. What an unexpected experience, those six or eight months afterwards. I think most of us were hoping we could just close the door to our offices or cubicles; turn in our blue badges, say goodbye to those civil servants who would stay behind, and not ever really have to think about the experience again, unless we chose to.
The opposite is what actually happens. Working in the White House, or for a President... for most of the people I worked with; it changes your life for that time in big and small ways. It is almost true that you breathe a different air. That position is the reason you get up each morning; what keeps your adrenaline pumping. And, even while we all thought we were prepared—had actually started preparing months earlier; January 20th is still a surprise. It was as if our lives came to an abrupt halt. On January 21, we were suddenly at a very strange, awkward, almost painful juncture in our lives, knowing we had to move forward—but not really having the inertia to do so. We hadn’t realized how much of everything we’d devoted to that place and time. It absolutely takes most people six months, to get the experience out of their systems; to move forward, to get on with life, realigning with people and places that were a part of your life before the White House experience.
QWhat was the greatest challenge for you, as a woman and a minority who worked in the White House, and for theClinton Administration? What advice would you give young women who are drawn to politics or government?
Author with Senator and former Presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton - Photo courtesy of William J. Clinton Presidential Library
AI wish I could tell you something concrete such as blatant racism or sexism...those things we all know still exist, but I can honestly say I wasn’t aware of it on a day-to-day basis. My challenges were more personal, like being able to maintain who I was in the midst of what I found myself in the middle of. I don’t mean the negative things that came and went, but side effects of that aphrodisiac-like allure of power and prestige. Those things that can taint your integrity, and your sense of who you really are, if we’re not careful. As I said earlier, it is actually a little like breathing a different air. Even when you may not believe there is anything special about you, others are convinced there must be; and begin to treat you that way. So, simply keeping my head, and making sure my feet stayed on solid ground...that was my challenge: remembering from whence I came, and how many people had sacrificed so that I could sit where I sat each day. My challenge was to constantly remind myself that I wasn’t there because I was so special, or smart or indispensable.
What would I advise young women seeking roles in politics or government? I’d say Hurrah! Go for it, and never let anyone tell you that you can’t or shouldn’t pursue your goal. America needs more good politicians and a more diverse array of good politicians. Women have to be committed, they have to be willing to learn, and willing to work very, very hard. With those values in place, there is no reason they can’t do or be whatever they desire.
QWhy did you take seven years to write this second installment of your memoir?
A Actually, I began working on this book immediately after I left the White House. It just turned out that I had two other books already in the hopper that needed to be told first. As publisher of a small press, in addition to being the primary author; I find myself making decisions constantly as to which stories have to be told, and when. It’s as if I’m placing them on a mental assembly line and plucking them off only when that little voice tells me their time has come. I must say, there are lots of reasons I believe this story is important now—in the midst of so much dismal news, and hopelessness. I pray that my story touches young people; that those interested in politics find some redemption here, and come away knowing that there is so much good "mere" politicians can do if only they will.
Kearney family reunion at the White House, 1999 - Photos courtesy of William J. Clinton Presidential Library
Photo Gallery: Something to Write Home About: Memories from a Presidential Diaristtop of page
Janis F. Kearney talks with mentor and legendary civil rights activist Daisy Bates
Janis F. Kearney with Betty Currie
Janis F. Kearney with son D.K., and his wife, Pam
Janis F. Kearney with civil rights icon Rosa Parks
Janis F. Kearney with legendary Bluesman B.B. King
Janis F. Kearney poses with General and Alma Powell, with husband and fellow Arkansan Carol Willis
A Questions and Answer Session with J.F. Kearney, Author, Once Upon a Time There was a Girl: A Murder at Mobile Baytop of page
QWhat initially inspired you to write this story?
AI think most writers can relate to this fact: no story remains "as is" throughout the process of writing it. This story started out something quite different—closer to a real murder case that I knew quite well. One in which I knew the family of the victim. I wanted to write that story because in meeting them, and some of the people of that town I saw how that one murder had in many ways torn the town apart—left questions and doubts in its wake.
But, writing is such a powerful medium. The process made me realize that I should leave that story where it lay, that I was in fact honoring that family in another way by telling a completely fictional tale about a murder in a special town.
QWhy did you write a novel where the lead character is white? Do you consider Tom Mallory white? Does his character?
APolice Chief Tom Mallory is an extremely interesting, complex character—and those kinds of characters come in all colors. He is considered white, although he has a black great grandmother, and a rich Louisiana Cajun ancestry. So, we see he is a hybrid of cultures. But, his whiteness is important to this story more so, because the victim is black, and the town has a history of trying to bypass the pain of racial conflicts. This is a very pivotal time for the town, and for Tom. I simply needed that contrast to play up some emotions and conflicts.
QDo you believe the townspeople of Daphne did Angel Jackson a disservice by their collective infatuation with her, and her living among them as an object of their enchantment?
AThis is an interesting question because I hadn’t thought of it that way, at all. I do know she struggled to "grow up," in her mother’s eyes—and there is some sense that her mother, in particular, wants to hold onto her daughter’s innocence…keep her the "little black Angel" she’d been as a child. And, yes, the townspeople are also enchanted with the young woman, who most see as a cross between a woman and a child. They are drawn to her innocence, and goodness; and, in a way I think they believed that her goodness would protect her. Maybe this is the reason they find such personal pain in her death, and why they grapple so with such an unlikely murder as hers.
QOther than Chief Mallory, who are the heroes in this story? There is a cast of five characters whose lives are intertwined; but who stands out as the person who will play the most important role in pulling the community past this tragedy?
AI would have to say that while Angel’s mother, Clarice, is the most vulnerable, and has been hit hardest by this tragedy; she is also a strong character. She can be a catalyst for change in the community on many levels. We see her finally accept some hard truths about what she could have done differently as a mother. That gives me hope that she can now take that next step of forgiving and moving past the tragedy, to help mend the community. I think she will work closely with Mayor Simmonds, Reverend Manley and Chief Mallory to make Daphne as good or better than it was before this tragedy.