Arborwood Press

Arborwood Press Authors present their works at the River Rim Coffee House Dec. 15 5-8:00 P.M.

2011-12-12T15:03:00.000-08:00

The River Rim Coffee House is located on Amber Meadow Dr. in the Brookswood Meadows Village. From the Old Mill District take Brookswood Blvd about 3 miles to Amber Meadow Dr. Turn right to the entrance to the shopping area and the River Rim Coffee House is right there. If you go out third street, turn on Powers west to Brookswood Blvd. Amber Meadow Dr. is just past the elementary school.

Arborwood Press authors at Bend's River Rim Coffee House Dec. 15th

2011-11-30T07:54:00.000-08:00

Kenneth Fenter, Jim Henson and Linda Mitchell Maddox will appear in a new event at the River Rim Coffee House on Dec. 15 from 5-8:00 p.m. The local Bend authors will read and discuss their recent books in Bend's favorite gathering place an already familiar place to meet for open mic, date night, and music. December 15 will be the first time for local authors to their literary work. A link to the River Rim Coffee House.

Linda Maddox rolls out her debut novel Resonating the Sound. The novel appeals to all audiences but will be an especially appropriate Christmas gift for any middle school or young adult person on your list. It is an inspirational story of an eighth grader who is in her second year of recovery from traumatic brain injury. She is well on the road to recovery in her motor skills. She is yet to recover her ability to speak. Through an "augmentative communication device" and the help of a classmate with Gifted Asperger's syndrome, she explores ways of overcoming this last obstacle.

Linda, speech language pathology assistant for Bend-LaPine Schools, works with middle school students on a daily basis and captures the way students interact to create a beautiful story of student life.

Jim Henson, retired mental health clinician, has two non-fiction “Metaphorical memoirs”. The first, Pee Up A Tree: A Mental Health Memoir, released in 2010, is about his first four years’ practice in Oregon in the Umpqua Valley. The second book, Satisfaction Guaranteed: In Chicago which is actual a prequell, released May 2011, is a humorous story of young lovers from California who trek across Canada to Chicago in the mid-60’s and encounter a diverse landscape filled with warm, passionate and strange characters whose customs entertain and mystify. Survivors of the Democratic National Convention/police riot, the terrifying aftermath of the death of Martin Luther King Jr., and the biggest snow fall in the history of Chicago.

Jim writes in a humorous, engaging storytelling style that entertains as he educates the reader to how the community health worker goes about the task of helping people cope with living in our modern world.

Kenneth Fenter will be at River Rim Coffee House with his two novels: The Ruin: A boy’s quest to rebuild his self-worth by seeking refuge in the wilderness; released in 2010 and the sequel The Bee Tree: A novel of friendship and self-discovery, 2011. The two novels’ main character is Cliff, a 14-year-old boy in The Ruin who flees to an Anasazi cliff dwelling after persistent long time bullying. The sequel has Cliff, now 15, as he re-enters society after his experience in the ruin. Both are set in SW Colorado near Mesa Verde Ntl. Park. Bullying and regaining self-worth are the main themes.

Fenter grew up near Mesa Verde and uses his memories of his youth in writing the novels although they are not biographical.

The Arborwood Press authors invite you to come out to River Rim Coffee House to join us for conversation, hear us present from our newest books. Our books both new and earlier editions will be sale. We will be glad to autograph them for you. Books are always welcome gifts for Christmas and are seldom returned.

Kenneth Fenter

Resonating the Sound by Linda Mitchell Maddox Available Nov. 14

2011-11-21T11:02:00.000-08:00

Resonating the Sound by Linda Mitchell Maddox became available on the morning of November 14. The debut novel is about an eighth grade girl who has suffered a traumatic brain injury during sixth grade. After two years of therapy and recovery she has regained the ability to walk with help of braces and can attend school with her friends. However, she has not regained her voice. Finally in the latter part of her final year of middle school, she agrees to try the latest technology, an "augmentative communication device."
Through that device she begins to communicate again in a more normal way, and in the process a special relationship develops between her and a boy in her class who has Gifted Aspergers. He plays a major role in helping her to learn the use of her augmentative communication device and in altering the device which gives the main character access to pieces of a dream she thinks are lost forever.
It is a touching story, with a few lessons, in tolerance, and perspective into the ordeal of a person going through recovery from traumatic brain injury.

Perhaps the quote from author Rachael Schuetz, author of Long Road to Change says it best: "Resonating the Sound wraps you up into the world of Jana, a middle schooler, who barely survives a tragic accident. Her recovery path is brightened by unique perspectives, unexpected friendships, and unrelenting perseverance. Capturing teens and adults alike, this beautiful story encourages us to see beyond any limitation."

Linda's book is now available at: Linda's e-store or Amazon

Kenneth Fenter

Janelle Rebick Featured Quilter November at Quilt Works, Bend

2011-11-05T11:33:00.000-07:00

Central Oregon Quilters displaying Holiday Quilts at Quilt Works. In time for the holiday season the upstairs gallary at Quilt Works displays quilts of the holidays. Among the quilters featured are

l to r: Catherine Essary, Susan Beyer, Sue Jorgensen, Jill Monley, Janelle Rebick, Kristin Shields, Pat Jones, Marilyn Will, Marilyn Ulrich, and Toni Morris. Visit Quilt Works.

Quilt Works owners Dave and Marilyn Ulrich
with Featured Quilter Janelle Rebick.

The Quilt Works 926 Greenwood in Bend introduced Janelle Rebick as the November featured Quilter showing 19 of her favorite quilts and holiday season quilts by 9 talented Bend Quilters. In first Friday tradition, refreshments prizes added to the festivities.

Oh Christmas Tree, 2010, Janelle Rebick
a Christmas present for sister-in-law Lisa
Elegant for its simplicity.
Fused and free motion stitched.
Janelle's own hand dyed fabrics.
It took two large cones of thread to quilt the pebbles.

Hawaiian Star, 2008, Janelle Rebick
Following her first major paper pieced quilt Janelle swore off
paper piecing until she saw this pattern and fell in love
with it. The back is made from her hand dyes and really
shows off the quilting which she did on her
domestic machine. She finished it just in time for
the 2008 Sister's Outdoor Quilt Show.

Folded Log Cabin, 2007, Janelle Rebick,
Sarah Kaufman class. Machine pieced.

Laughing Leaves, 2011, Janelle Rebick,
Frieda Anderson class at Quilter's Affair.
Fusing. Stitching came with quilting.
Fused, free motion quilted and embroidered.

Bird in Hand, 2008, Janelle Rebick,
Jane Davila class at Quilter's Affair.
Quilt from a proverb.
Time constraint challenge.
Janelle's hand dyed fabrics.
Machine appliqued and free motion quilted.

Modern Square, 2011, Janelle Rebick.
Hand dyed fabrics.
Machine pieced and free motion quilted.

Long Time Coming, 2007, Janelle Rebick
Paper Pieced and free motion quilted.

What is Beer but Liquid Grain
An image from the book,
The Good Pig, by Sy Montgomery.
Janelle tried new techniques
such as caveman piecing, weaving,
Texture Magic, and heavy thread painting.
Machine pieced, appliqued and quilted.

Hide and Go Seek, 2006, Janelle Rebick
Wendy Butler Berns at Quilter's Affair.
Photo of Janelle's son Connor
hiding behind a tree in the backyard.
It is Janelle's way to scrapbook. It features
some of her hand dyed and hand
painted fabrics.
Machine appliqued and quilted.

Dylan at the High Desert Museum, 2007, Janelle Rebick
The second quilt based on the Wendy Butler Berns class.
Dylan, Janelle's youngest son looks into the pond at the Museum.
Machine appliqued and quilted

The Moon Knows, 2011, Janelle Rebick
The second quilt for the Undercover Quilters Book Club. Based on
the novel, On the Divinity of Second Chances, by Kaya McLaren.
Machine pieced, appliqued and quilted

Pink Lemonade, 2010, Janelle Rebick
Machine pieced and quilted

Earl and Jewell, 2010, Janelle Rebick
Photos of Janelle' Grandparents printed on fabric.
Mixed media quilt. Hand dyed fabrics.
Machine quilted

Heliconia, 2009, Janelle Rebick
A pattern from a book called Black and White.
Paper pieced.
Red fabric is silk-cotton blend that is soft.
Paper pieced and quilted

The Ruin, 2010, Janelle Rebick
Janelle's commemorative quilt of her father's novel The Ruin
which takes place near Mesa Verde Ntl. Park.
All hand dyed and hand painted fabrics.
Machine pieced and quilted

Ginko, 2009, Janelle Rebick
Two classes from Barb Shapel at the Quilter's Affair 2009.
One was machine quilting and one was the Ginko class.
All Janelle's hand dyed fabrics. As much time in the
quilting as in putting the top together.
Machine appliqued and quilted

Goose Chase, 2008, Janelle Rebick
Guild Challenge Quilt - Flying Geese.
"Traditional flying geese in a realistic representation of a goose."
Machine pieced and quilted.

Couch Quilt, 2010, Janelle Rebick
A quilt to snuggle in.
Machine pieced and free motion quilted

The Good Pasture Covered Bridge, 2007, Janelle Rebick
For a few years Janelle's father made stained glass windows. In 2007 when her parents were out of state for awhile
She "borrowed" the original design. This quilt hangs in her parent's home close to the original stained glass window.
Machine appliqued and quilted by Janelle.

Photos of Janelle's show presented by a proud dad,

Kenneth Fenter

Audio version of The Ruin and The Bee Tree? Use the Kindle or IPad Audible Audiobooks

2011-09-08T08:39:00.000-07:00

My Aunt Vee who turns 97 on 9/11 and who is blind relies on technology for her reading material. She has a better memory than I do, is confined to an electric wheelchair and wheels about her assisted living facility in Billings, Montana like the matriarch of the Fenter family that she is. Her blindness is the result of Macular Degeneration which gives her slight peripheral vision so she can make out just enough of her surroundings that she can navigate.

Her sons have fixed her up with a program through the state that provide her the resources available to those like her whose access to the world is through her auditory rather than visual sense, the talking book.

I suggested to them the Kindle with sound enabled and was told that the kindle had been disabled by the major publishers because they had the resources to hire actors to record their works on audio. Too bad for us independent publishers who don't have that kind of resource. Of course, I could sit down and record it myself. An an earlier age, I would have found that a challenge. My radio days ended years ago, however and I don't find that a challenge anymore.

Today, however, when I checked my e-mail, I got a note from Amazon advertising a new feature called Audible Audiobooks. That led me to do a little digging.

I found that when Apple released the IPad 1 they didn't go along with the request to disable the audio function on their e-book function and if you use the "voice-over" function of the device, it will read the e-book to you. So in effect turning your kindle download or any other e-book download into an audio book. The Audioble Audiobooks program is to enable the audio function in the first generation Kindle. Apparently the second, third, generation Kindles have been able to read the book aloud. I don't have a Kindle, so I can't verify all that. What I read was that the publisher had to choose whether to allow their content to be audible or not. If that is the case, I don't remember being given that choice when uploading my books. If it was there, I would not have checked to disable it as I had no intent of creating an audio book in the near future.

So there you have it. If you try it works, contact me so I can pass the word along to my Aunt Vee who can finally hear my book. Thanks.

Kenneth Fenter

View YouTube videos of Atlatl the weapon used in The Ruin by Kenneth Fenter

2011-09-06T09:44:00.000-07:00

I checked out the Trailer for The Ruin that I posted on YouTube this summer (Ruin Trailer) and found that quite a few videos of the atlatl are linked to the Trailer. It was really interesting to watch them. One was on the history of the atlatl going back to the Aztec. The name "atlatl" comes from the Aztec. In The Ruin, Cliff the main character makes an atlatl, spear thrower, from a pamphlet he has picked up at Mesa Verde National Park. He learns to use the weapon to hunt rabbits and even brings down a deer with it.

There are fine examples of the atlatl that the Ancestral Puebloans used in the museum at Mesa Verde National Park and at the Anasazi Cultural Center at Dolores Colorado.

Atlatl at the museum at Mesa Verde National Park.

Atlatl in a case at the Anasazi Cultural Center at Dolores Colorado.

Kenneth Fenter

Under Covers Book Club interpret Divinity of Second Chances in Quilts

2011-08-25T15:21:00.000-07:00

This is part two of the Under Covers Book Club Quilts and their interpretation of a novel. This year the Bend book club read the novel by Kaya McLaren, The Divinity of Second Chances. Each year they choose a book with the mission of each member interpreting the book with her quilt in time for the outdoor quilt show in August. I'm showing the quilts in my blog because I find it fascinating how if you give a group of people the same book, each one will come away with a different message or it will affect him or her in a different way. That is what makes the creative process so fascinating to an author.
(Note: I originally used the quilts from the outdoor show and the provances that were pinned to the quilts. On Friday, Sept. 2 the quilts and an updated provenance opened for a month long showing at The Quilt Works, on Greenwood in Bend. I have updated this post with new photos and the updated provenance. The showing will be in the Quiltworks through the month of September.)

Several of the quilters wrote fairly extensive provenance to go along with her quilt. I took close ups of those to run along with the quilt so you can share them.

Jane put mental images of settings into her quilt.

Susan used a quilting technique to represent characters in the book.

Martha's "Second Chance" is in the Sunflower....

Cindy liked a personification of the moon...

Kristin used the first line of the book On the Divinity of Second Chances

Betty focused on an item very important the widow Pearl

Sally used an excerpt from the book and featured the ancient cottonwood in her quilt.

Erin's quilt represents some of the things that stood out for her.

Janelle's quilt is in story quilt form.

Lani's quilt sees the light at the end of the tunnel.

Wanda's quilt represents her personal journey.

Kaya's quilt tells the story in quilt form.

The talented ladies who made the quilts.

If you live in the Bend area or are visiting the area during the month of September, the quilts based on the Kaya McLaren book On the Divinity of Second Chances will be featured up stairs at the Quiltworks Quiltshop-fabric store located on 926 Greenwood in Bend. Find Kaya's book at Barnes and Noble and other local book stores in Bend.

Kenneth Fenter,

proud father of a member of The Under Covers Book Club

Interpreting a book through a quilt. Undercovers Book Club Quilts

2011-08-25T10:45:00.000-07:00

(Click On any of these photos click on it and it will go to full screen to read the provenance or study photo detail. Escape will return to normal.)

Last Christmas my daughter presented me with a beautiful quilt that interpreted the cliff dwelling from my novel The Ruin. When I asked the designer to create a cover for the sequel, The Bee Tree she used the image of this quilt. I was delighted with the whole concept, of course.

Not long before the unveiling of the Ruin quilt, I had the very high pleasure of being the guest of her book club, The Under Covers Book Club. It was interesting to see what each person homed in on when they read the book. One of the reasons the book club was formed was a common interest besides reading books. They are quilters. (Thus the clever double meaning name – Under Covers) Each year they choose a book to use as a central theme for a quilt. Each member reads the same book and from the thing they focus on in the book, or the ideas they like in the book, they create a quilt. The first year they did Sy Montgomery's book The Good Pig. It is a fascinating idea. The idea did not originate with this club. There are other book clubs around who have been doing this for some time and their results are really interesting.

Book reviews are always illuminating, and these quilts are a kind of visual book review. I thought I'd share some of them with you. The book the Under Covers Book Club chose this past year was The Divinity of Second Chances by Kaya McLaren. The title in itself is a wonderful theme and is the theme in the two novels that I've written.

There are too many photos and their provenance to present all at once here. I will feature a couple or three at a time.

Kaya McLaren is an elementary teacher Washington, quilter, and gifted writer of Church of the Dog, On The Divinity of Second Chances and is working on her current novel Embers. This is the author Kaya McLaren's own quilt and provenance explaining her thoughts on her quilt.

This was my daughter Janelle's approach to portraying the book as she explains in her provenance. Her original design is 51 x 61.

Wanda, on the other hand, read the book and it sent her on her own personal journey of second chances which she shares in the provenance.

The quilts based on Kaya McLaren's book are on display at Quiltworks at 926 Greenwood, Bend for the entire month of September 2011.

More later. If you are interested in how to set up a quilters/book club, leave a comment and I'll forward it to the Under Covers Book Club. They'll help you get started.

My best wishes,

Kenneth Fenter

Third book in Kenneth Fenter's "Ruin", "Bee Tree" series in re-write stage

2011-08-07T09:57:00.000-07:00

I have begun the second phase in the process of writing the third novel in the series that began with The Ruin: A boy's quest to rebuild his self-worth by seeking refuge in the wilderness.

A story of any kind goes through many steps. First comes the idea. Then writing the idea down. Forming it into the story. In the beginning it might be a short story. In the case of The ruin it began with a short story about a boy being chased down the road one night by his brother and a neighbor. That led to a short story about a fight at the grade school. In the beginning these were autobiographical and were used as samples to get a writing group started. Over a period of time the number of these short stories grew, still autobiographical.

At some point the kernel of an idea began forming of a novel. Many of the short stories became the basis of ideas in the novel, but could not be used in the novel. Those short stories, however were used in association with other short stories written by my siblings and formed a body of work which we published about my families history over the 17 year period we owned a farm on Summit Ridge Colorado. Which incidentally became the setting for the novels that I did end up writing.

The process.

Once the story or idea is on paper then the decision has to be made. It is going to remain a short story, turned into a poem, fleshed out into a full novel with sub-plots, full cast of characters, message, scope, etc.

The next step is the first full draft. This may be written in parts and assembled in various orders until it fits, or it may be written from start to finish with tweaking after it is done.

And then the hard part. Re-writing. How many re-writes depends on many factors. In the bee tree it took many. The first draft was a short story with only the main conflict. Then a re-write with the bee-tree and swarm capture, and third major re-write the quinceañera ceremony.

Finally comes fleshing out and proofing ad nauseam.

So now I have the first rough draft of the manuscript done and on the first re-write. Some chapters may disappear. Some new chapters may be written. Some characters may be created, names change, situations change, plots twist differently. It is now time to ask myself "what were you thinking two months ago when you wrote this?" check facts again, again, and again.

coffee break is over....

best wishes,
Kenneth Fenter

Get The Ruin and The Bee Tree at The Lane County Fair

2011-08-05T12:41:00.000-07:00

Meet me at the Lane County Fair Author's Table August, 17, 18, and 19. I will be there for the 11:00 to 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. shifts each day. The author's tables will be located indoors at the southern end of the air-conditioned main exhibit hall.

There will be 37 Oregon authors in attendance this year so I'll be in great company this year. It will be the first time I will attend since 1986. I'm looking forward to it.

If you are in the Eugene area I'd enjoy visiting with you. I'll have special pricing for the Fair.

Kenneth Fenter

Know Local Authors Deschutes Public Library Sat and Sun Aug 12 & 13

2011-08-05T12:30:00.000-07:00

Meet me at the Know Your Local Authors at the Deschutes Public Library Saturday and Sunday August 12th and 13th.

On Saturday, August 13, 2011, participants will share and sell their work from 12:00 pm 4:00 at the East Bend Public Lirary.

On Sunday, August 14, 2011, participants will share and sell their works from 12:30-4:00 at the downtown Public Library.

I will be reading from both The Ruin and The Bee Tree from 2:45 to 3:00 at the Downtown Public Library on Sunday, August 14, 2011.

I will be at both locations on both days with both books.

Hope to meet you there.
Kenneth Fenter

Bee Tree receives 4 star review on Live to Read blog

2011-08-03T09:38:00.000-07:00

     The Bee Tree received a 4 star review from Krystal on the Live to Read blog this week to follow up on her review of The Ruin. The link to the review is: Live to Read . I've nearly given up on the newspapers as a place to let readers know about the books. Even in my own community of Bend Oregon, the only books that attract attention of the page editors are reviews from mainstream publishers with million dollar advertising campaigns and books already on the NY times best seller lists. But the people who spread the word about the vital world of new ideas and books that are being written by the next generation of authors are the book bloggers.
     Several hundred avid readers, collectors, lifelong students of literature, homebound reviewers, you name it, spend their spare time, blogging books. Some have a genre they pursue. Some range far afield. Some manage huge data bases of reviews, reading lists, etc. such as Goodreads.
     I invite you to click on the Live to Read blog and check out Krystal's review of The Bee Tree and The Ruin and then go ahead and see what she has to say about the many other books she has reviewed. She indicates she has read several thousand in her short life span.

   My best wishes,
   Kenneth Fenter

Excellent review of The Ruin by Kenneth Fenter on "Live To Read" Blog.

2011-07-13T07:39:00.000-07:00

"This is a very impressive plot line. The reader will be immediately drawn in to the novel. What 14 year old boy goes into the wild by choice? The author highlights the issue at hand: bullying. He does it very tactfully and manages to sound diplomatic. The main character is a very intriguing young man who has many of the survival skills necessary to live in the wild with no supervision; in this day and age, that is incredibly impressive. The idea that a potential shooting incident was averted because the poor character being picked on and bullied chose self-exile is shocking to say the least-most people would not think that that was a solution. However, the author shows how therapeutic and healing the self-imposed exile is. The details of the main character's time in the wild will keep the reader interested throughout the novel. This book is recommended for young adults/adults who enjoy inspiring novels." This is the summary of her review of The Ruin by Kenneth Fenter posted by Krystal on the Blog Live To Read Monday night.

An excellent review appeared Monday night on The Live To Read Book Review Blog posted by Krystal. The link for the review is Live To Read: Kenneth Fenter Krystal went on to post an abbreviated review on Amazon. She has asked for a copy of The Bee Tree to review which I'm sending out today.
I recently became aware of the book blog community which is huge in the wide wide world, a diverse group of folk who love to read and put that love of literature together with their interest in sharing their thoughts on a genre, time period, or just want to share their reading with others.

I invite you to read her entire review on the Live To Read blog site. Follow the link above.

With my very best wishes,

Kenneth Fenter

Trailer for The Ruin by Kenneth Fenter now viewing on YouTube

2011-07-07T15:42:00.000-07:00

I'm trying something new with a book trailer for The Ruin: a boy's quest to rebuild his self worth by seeking refuge in the wilderness on YouTube. It seems to be the going thing these days. Just like advertising the latest movies. Here is the link http://youtu.be/fdnbVTsMMUU Check it out and let me know what you think. I didn't have the big bucks that usually go to make such a production so tried my hand in it. May try some more. Thought about getting my grand kids to bully each other then thought better of it. Along with it there are plenty of really good films on Mesa Verde that automatically come up you can also check out, a couple on the atlatl, almost any of the topics I tagged it with.

Kenneth

Five Star Review of The Bee Tree by Kenneth Fenter

2011-07-01T09:04:00.000-07:00

The Bee Tree has pulled down its first Five Star Review on GoodReads by Reviewer Teresa. She reviewed The Ruin on June 26 and returns with her review of the Sequel The Bee Tree. Here is her review.

Title: The Bee Tree
Author: Kenneth Fenter
Publisher: Arborwood Press
Book URL: http://www.arborwoodpress.com
Release Date: available Now
ISBN: 978-1461093473
Format: Print; Electronic
Page Count: 284
Genre: Young Adult
Reviewer: Teresa
Rating: 5

The Bee Tree by Kenneth Fenter is the sequel to his earlier book The Ruin about how one young man overcame abusive bullying by spending a year in the wilds of Mesa Verde finding his true strength of character. As the story unfolds the tragedy in 2000 affects Cliff as he remembers his past and how it affected the rest of his life.

Cliff has recently returned home from his journey in the wilds to the life and family he left behind. Cliff finds changes at home, but the biggest difference is how he sees things. Cliff learned to not only overcome his fears, but how to survive in ways that most people would never understand. Cliff learns that Hector, his old bully, has not only changed, but asks if Cliff could help him learn to read. Cliff gets in contact with Angelina, a girl he never forgot, and to his surprise she wants to resume their friendship. Cliff fits back into his family, but when his old enemy, Larry, returns Cliff knows that he will need everything he learned to protect the people he cares for.

In 2000, Cliff remembers his childhood as he and Angelina, his wife, return home to reconnect with their past. Cliff returns to the Mesa to find many changes, but the atmosphere and peace is still there. The feeling of being one with the Earth and all of creation once again gives Cliff the peace he needs to deal with the school killings and how his own childhood could have been destroyed by the same action.

Mr. Fenter has continued his earlier book with this incredible story. I loved how the story continues incorporating Cliff’s past and present as they intersect. The difficulties that Cliff dwelt with as a child are very similar to the school shooting with one exception; Cliff chose to withdraw instead of retaliating against his abusers. It was wonderful how the Sheriff took up the cause for Larry getting him the help he needed instead of just letting justice take place. After taking so much abuse, people can snap and do things that they never would in their right minds. Children need to learn and explore their world in an environment that is safe and secure. I was difficult to watch Cliff review his past, but it was wonderful how he learned, adapted and took control of his life. These two books were inspiring and should be read by young adults to help them see that they are not alone and that their actions can affect the rest of their lives. Help is available for children if adults are willing to step forward getting them the help they need. I can’t wait to read more books by this creative and wonderful author.

The Ruin: A boy's quest to rebuild his self-worth by seeking refuge in the wilderness available globally

2011-06-26T11:57:00.000-07:00

I thought it would be fun to spend a few minutes this morning to Google my novel The Ruin: A boy's quest to rebuild his self-worth by seeking refuge in the wilderness and see what what was happening with it. This was partly because in early June a new blitz went out to media around the country that included a large number of "book bloggers". I've discovered a world of book lovers out there who have linked together to share their love of literature of all kinds. The age seems to be from very young adult to my own generation and beyond. All genera are covered.

Getting back to Google. I typed in the title and multiple pages came up, not all originating with this blog attached. I soon learned that it is for sale in most countries of the world including South Africa, India, New Zealand, Japan, Germany, Great Britain, Norway, Sweden, and so on. The currency made it difficult to tell exactly what it was selling for. And it is all online, so they aren't walking into stores and buying copies off the shelf. It is truly a global online economy.

It takes awhile for reviews to start coming in. One of the first is in the post just preceding this this from a lady named Teresa. She requested a copy of The Bee Tree. It seems from her note to me that she writes for a number of outlets, rather than her own blog.

I visited the blogs of all those who requested a copy of the book to review and the profiles of the individual bloggers. What an interesting group of folk. A community who link together to share like a huge book club.

It is a new dimension to this field that I wish I'd discovered a long time ago.

My best to you,

Kenneth Fenter

Five Star Review of the Ruin by GoodReads Reviewer

2011-06-26T11:33:00.000-07:00

Here is the 5 Star Review by GoodReads Reviewer Teresa.
She is now reading The Bee Tree.

Title: The Ruin
Author: Kenneth Fenter
Publisher: Arborwood Press
Book URL: http://arborwoodpress.com/
Release Date: Available Now
ISBN: 978-1-4536-5992-2
Format: e-book; Trade Paperback
Page Count: 415
Genre: Young Adult - And Mature
Reviewer: Teresa
Rating: 5

Cliff Kelly is about to retire from his teaching position when the last day of school is destroyed by an act of terror. He learns that a student in a nearby school who brought a gun to school after killing his mother leaving an unknown number of students hurt. Cliff has not only to deal with his students grief, but it brings up one day that was the turning point in his life. As Cliff reflects about his youth, his past unfolds revealing a history similar to the young man above.

Cliff was harassed throughout grade school not only by the students, but for a long time by his teacher until Mrs. Campbell took over. In her he found a mentor and some level of protection until he decided one day to stand up for himself. Unfortunately, Hector, a student, taught him a lesson that ended up with Cliff beaten. Cliff ran off and in his anger decided he would get even, but something kept him from acting on his anger driving him to run away into the Mesa Verde hills that he loves so much. Thus begins Cliff’s journey to find himself as he struggles to heal himself through the beauty and wildness of nature.

Mr. Fenter’s story The Ruin is a beautiful and inspiring saga that taught me not only the beauty of nature, but how it can help to heal a broken soul. It was incredible how Cliff made a home in an Anasazi ruin in spite of the odds. It was moving watching Cliff struggle to survive fighting his own fears and in the end triumphing, finding peace. I loved experiencing the Mesa Verde through Cliff’s eyes as it’s beauty unfolds. It was hard to watch the agony Cliff’s family went through, but it was wonderful how the community came together to help them. Hector’s life was also changed by Cliff’s absence as he struggled with his actions and learned how what he did effected others. I look forward to reading “The Bee Tree” the sequel to “The Ruin“. Mr. Fenter’s ability to incorporate the past and nature into a contemporary story is riveting and inspirational.

The Bee Tree File Updated

2011-06-21T08:59:00.000-07:00

     On June 12, an updated file for The Bee Tree was uploaded to the printers correcting a series of typographical errors. Copies ordered from the original file distributed to selected readers discovered errors not found in the original final reading by our proofing staff. This updated file should have eliminated this condition. We have records from Create Space for the number of copies purchased between May 5, and June 12 and because it had not been advertised, it is not significant. However if you are one of those and wish to return the book for a copy of the updated edition, we will be glad to swap it. The updated file has already replaced the original file in all e-book editions as of June 16. I apologize for this inconvenience.
     We use a print on demand service. It is environmentally responsible. I upload the file and can order a few copies instead of thousands that sit in a storage facility gathering dust and mold while I market them. If it is successful, they eventually are out in the world. If it is an unsuccessful gamble, trees were sacrificed for nothing. Using the POD method, if it doesn't go, nothing is wasted but my time. Unfortunately, in a spiral bound form, a manuscript can be read by seasoned readers and brought to a finely tuned point. In the case of The Bee Tree this amounted of months of rewriting, editing, re-editing, proofing, reading by a number of individuals who have not seen the manuscript before. All errors, marked by yellow tabs, are carefully entered, and the final product again read by new eyes.
     When the file is uploaded a few copies are ordered and distributed to new readers where typos jump out, if they were missed, and that comes back. Fingers are crossed that there will be no yellow tabs protruding, but alas this time that was not so. A new file was uploaded.

This wasn't meant to be a rationalization for sloppiness. At Arborwood Press we face the same problem that all small presses face. We operate with each of us doing multi roles. Author, editor, designer, publisher, market planner.

In an ideal world there would be a department for each of those functions. The author would spend his/her time creating and handing the product to the editor who makes it coherent. From there the design-printers-and public relations people do their jobs and turn it into a best seller.

Oh well.
I, along with thousands of others who wear all the hats of getting our books to print, am having fun at this time while I can.
Kenneth Fenter

The Ruin featured on Midsummer eve Blog Hop

2011-06-21T08:15:00.000-07:00

Win a copy of The Ruin this week, June 21-27, in the Midsummer Eve Blog Hop. Go to The Literary Imaginarium Blog. The site hosted by Zoe Rayne is featuring several items you can win such as a $10 gift certificate to Amazon, Grave Robbers by Samantha Bayarr and The Ruin by Kenneth Fenter. You have a chance to win one of the items.
But wait! The Literary Imaginarium Blog this week is linked with over 200 other book blogs during the Midsummer Eve Blog Hop to offer books that you can also take a chance on winning. At the end of the week an independent service will choose the winners and publishers sucn as Arborwood Press will send your book to you. So click on the link above and have a ball.

With my best wishes
Kenneth Fenter

The Kirkus Indie Review is In on the The Bee Tree

2011-06-03T10:50:00.000-07:00

Here is the Kirkus Indie Review on The Bee Tree in its entirety.

Teenager Cliff Kelly learns to balance his family’s values with a newfound independence in Fenter’s sequel to 2010’s The Ruin.

        The novel begins in 1955, as Cliff returns home after spending a year living alone in a cliff dwelling near the rural Colorado community in which he grew up. After this period of self-reflection, Cliff resumes life armed with stronger character and confidence.
        These values are immediately tested when he deepens his relationship with Angelina, whose Catholic upbringing and Latino heritage clash with the Anglo-Christian Kelly family.
        Cliff befriends his former nemesis Hector and their relationship brings closure to events preceding his sojourn in the wilderness.
        Cliff’s family is a minority in the predominantly Latino area, and his outsider status lessens as Hector and Angelina educate Cliff on their culture’s customs and language. Cliff returns their favors by helping Hector with his schoolwork and showing Angelina the survival skills he cultivated during his solitude. Cliff introduces Angelina to beekeeping and the two work on capturing a swarm.
        During the process, Larry, a mentally unsound young man, threatens Cliff and Angelina, and the danger they encounter ultimately intensifies their bond.
        Cliff is a great role model for the book’s young adult audience, though parts involving Larry may not be appropriate for all readers.
        Teenagers will relate to Cliff’s struggles as he moves into adulthood and admire the mature choices he makes when confronts challenges. The book can also benefit parents raising kids coming of age in adverse societies.
       Yet the book’s pith—the importance of forgiveness, of forging common ground no matter how extreme the difference—become buried in longueurs describing the Colorado land, farming methods and bee-keeping procedures. The veracity of these expositions is undisputed, but they draw readers away from the nexus of messages Fenter imparts. The plot’s climactic moments slow from prolix dialogue; the cast of diverse characters all speak in the same formal, long-winded style. This implausible phrasing enervates the compelling, emotional moments between Cliff and Angelina—nevertheless, their relationship is inspiring.
        Fenter provides worthy social commentary tucked inside this tender tale, but a languid delivery keeps the message from fully resonating.

Fenter, Kenneth

THE BEE TREE: A Novel of Friendship and Self-Discovery
CreateSpace (298 pp.)
$17.95 paperback
$9.95 e-book
April 13, 2011
ISBN: 978-1461093473

ForWord Clarion Review of The Bee Tree

2011-06-03T10:24:00.000-07:00

The First Review is in For The Bee Tree. Here is the Review from ForWord Clarion Review of The Bee Tree. I'm presenting it here exactly as it came in, good with the bad. Every reviewer looks for something different. It is a measure of how the book measures up to the other novels out there. I was generally pleased with it and on the weak spots... That is something that we're working on. The arborwood e-mail address is on the website and we invite feedback on any of the things the reviewer brings up or if you read the book, you would like to add as a criticism or observation. Also at the bottom of each post is a spot to add comment or for that matter, if a reader sees an error and forwards that to us, those are compiled and will be corrected with a new upload when it appears we have them all. Kind of like an update in software. No change in story, but fix in bug. Here is the ForeWord Clarion Review. Next post will be the Kirkus Indie Review.

ForeWord Clarion Review

FICTION: ACTION & ADVENTURE
The Bee Tree
Kenneth Fenter
CreateSpace
978-1-4610-9347-3
Four Stars (out of Five)

Set in rural southwestern Colorado in 1955, The Bee Tree is the sequel to Kenneth Fenter’s 2010 novel, The Ruin, in which readers first met Clifton Kelly, a young boy who runs away from home to escape being maliciously bullied at school and in the community; his year-long solitude in an ancient and previously undiscovered Anasazi cliff dwelling puts him on intimate terms with nature and the spiritual world and teaches him about life-saving survival skills. The Bee Tree takes readers back and forth through time as Cliff, recently retired from his teaching career and attempting to recover from the memory of a school shooting, recalls how his Anasazi experience had equipped him to return to his family’s farm a year away, and confront his tormentors with a maturity and spiritual depth far beyond his years.

       Teen readers will be able to empathize with Cliff, who not only was ostracized and bullied for being an Anglo child in a predominantly Hispanic school, but was also tormented by an older, emotionally disturbed Anglo youth, Larry Harris. When Cliff returns from his wilderness sojourn, he befriends Hector Rodriguez, the Hispanic bully, but finds himself in a life-and-death conflict with Harris. Now a young soldier injured in the Korean War, Larry Harris is AWOL, armed, and angry, and he seeks to destroy both Cliff and Angelina, whose friendship would grow into love and, later, marriage.
        Fenter is a gifted storyteller with an engaging writing style and a seemingly natural sense for effective plot and pacing. Blessed with a good eye for detail, he is able to impart a sense of place and landscape without overwhelming the reader with elaborate descriptions. Although his handling of the information about the background of the area, its farming culture, and bee-keeping can occasionally be a bit didactic, Fenter does engage the reader in the lives and concerns of his characters and the history of the place they call home.
        The Bee Tree addresses topics as wide-ranging and timely as racial and cultural relations, religious intolerance, the horrors of war, bullying, mental illness, and illiteracy. Its protagonists thrive and prevail because of their strength and resilience, clear thinking, willingness to take risks, and respect for the human and natural worlds. A hint of magic helps, too. Fenter beautifully describes both the blossoming of teen love based on honor and respect and the love between family members that enables them to surmount their differences.
          The book is marred by typographical errors, misspellings, missing or incorrect punctuation, a few awkward scene changes that leave the reader disoriented, and even a name change that throws the wrong antagonist into a scene. That it remained an enjoyable read despite such errors demonstrates Fenter’s ability to create a real page-turner that will be enjoyed by young adult and mature readers alike.
          Fenter is a retired high school language arts teacher and the author of numerous short stories and a series of three nonfiction books under the heading An American Family in Japan. He is co-editor of an anthology of Fenter family history.
         Kristine Morris

Meet Kenneth Fenter at Art and the Vineyard Festival July 3&4 In Eugene

2011-05-27T10:34:00.000-07:00

Come see me at Alton Baker Park in Eugene July 3 and 4 at the Oregon Author Table at the 14th annual Art & Vineyard Festival in Eugene. I'll be there along with 34 Oregon Authors with The Ruin, The Bee Tree and Gaijin! Gaijin! Third Edition. I'm really excited to be back in home territory to hopefully see old friends and maybe meet a few new ones. My shift is from 11:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. both days. There will be a variety of authors there with their books and also there will be a poets corner on Sunday afternoon. I'm honored to be there among some of Oregon's most respected authors. Really looking forward to in.
My books are already in the Eugene Public Library and the Springfield Public Library and when I dropped of The Bee Tree on Wednesday, May 25, The Ruin was checked out that day. I was glad that it was being circulated regularly over there.
When we lived in Springfield up until 2004, the Art and & Vineyard Festival was a must go event culminated by the fireworks festival at Autzen stadium. On the fourth we quit in time for everyone to mosey on over for a picnic and seating in preparation for the fireworks.
Later in the summer I'll also be at the Lane County Fair for three days on the 17, 18, and 19. More on that later. The times on my shifts at the fair are currently set for 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. all three days.
For both events watch the newspaper and supplements for a complete listing of authors, times, and sampling of books that will be featured. This summer is shaping up to be an exciting season for the very active Oregon writing and publishing colony.

The Bee Tree, Satisfaction Guaranteed Now Available on Nook

2011-05-24T10:01:00.000-07:00

Arborwood Press is proud to announce that we have joined independent publishers everywhere in publishing our books with Barnes and Noble on the Nook platform. Of course they are also on the Kindle as in the past.

E-readers now have a choice: the Kindle from Amazon, the Nook, including the new Color Nook tablet, or the older versions, as well as the IPad and Zoom to enjoy our editions of The Bee Tree, The Ruin, Gaijin! Gaijin! Pee Up a Tree, and Satisfaction Guaranteed: In Chicago.

The IPad, Nook Tablet, Zoom, all have aps to run each other's formats. Download them free from either Barns and Noble or Amazon and purchase which ever version you prefer to support.

In our case and I suppose most of the publishers we have set the same price and we have uploaded the same file to be converted to the Kindle platform and to the Nook platform.

I purchased an IPad for my wife for her birthday. I got to see how our Kindle file as well as EPUB files look on it. They were very pleasing, if I say so myself. I have to say it is very enjoyable to read a book on the electronic reader. I still like the feel of a paper book, but for my wife whose hands are now having trouble holding a book, to be able to prop the e-book and touch the screen, is a boon.

Enjoy,
Kenneth Fenter

The Bee Tree officially launched on Cinco de Mayo

2011-05-05T11:39:00.000-07:00

“The Bee Tree is a terrific mix of promising adventure and cliff-hanging danger. Social and emotional maturation arise out of friendship and survival. You will be informed and entertained by this multi-cultural, multi-generational narrative.” Jim Henson, LCSW, author of Pee Up a Tree: A Mental Health Memoir

I asked my friend Jim Henson who can say more in the fewest words of any one I know to sum up my new novel The Bee Tree for me.

The paragraph above is what he came up with. He has been with this project since it was basically a short story consisting only of the main conflict of the story. The novel stripped of the sub plots.

Because of the cross cultural aspect of this story, it is fitting that it is now available on Amazon, Create Space, or Arborwoodpress beginng on May 5, Cinco de Mayo. A large component in the story is the relationship between Cliff, and his nemisis Hector and his growing friendship with Angelina Martinez. I hope you will enjoy this new chapter in the life of Clifton Kelly.

The Bee Tree is available in Kindle and print editions.

Kenneth Fenter

The Bee Tree Available now for Kindle

2011-05-01T09:32:00.000-07:00

It's finished! Minutes ago I uploaded the finished novel to Amazon for the Kindle. The print edition proof is winging it's way across the country as I write this. It should arrive on Tuesday. If all is well It will be available the minute I push the "approve" button. The awesome cover is the handiwork of graphic designer Allison Rogers here in Bend. I worked with her at the High Desert Museum from 2006 to 2008 when I stopped taking photos there to devote full time on The Ruin. I admired the meticulous work she and the design team there did with the graphics they did for the Museum. She took my daughter Janelle's quilt rendering of the cliff dwelling and incorporated it into the core theme of The Bee Tree. The thing I admired about the design team at the Museum was the way their minds worked. Totally different than mine. They see the world on such a different level than the rest of us.
I am pleased to have this story launched. I hope that you like it. Cliff and Hector move their relationship forward on a more positive level. Angelina becomes a major force in Cliff's life. A character introduced in the Ruin returns in a more sinister role to threaten the growing friendship between Cliff and Angelina. Don't want to give it away.
Both book and Kindle will be up on Amazon in a day or two and are available on our website as soon as I can get the page functioning.

My best to everyone.
Kenneth Fenter

The Bee Tree in final stage. Sequel to the Ruin

2011-04-13T09:50:00.000-07:00

working cover

Lora, My bride of 50 years come June, waited most of the day last Friday to hear the loud whoop from my office signifying the last page had been orally proofed. That happened about 5:15 in timed to grab out coats and head out to celebrate.

THE BEE TREE actually began on May 30, 2010 with an e-mail to my sister....

Hi sister,

Just sitting here cleaning up some scanned copy and thinking.

What if.......

What if I wrote a story about A young man who had just lived a year in a cave getting his self esteem back,

Working for his dad on a farm during the summer....

Facing going to school in the fall....

Kind of wanting to take up where he left off with the girl across the canyon the summer of his seventh grade year....

A girl he had promised to go looking for bee trees....

He now has lots of things to share with her besides just looking for bee trees....

What if it were called The Ruin Revisited.... or something even more exciting.....

The idea perked through the summer. I had quite a bit to do in trying to market THE RUIN, help Jim Henson get Pee UP A Tree out and out usual daily life. But the subconscious had been set free to work on it. It kept nagging at me. Looking for bee trees in itself is not very exciting. Somewhere along about November I was working on redesigning THE RUIN for a little cleaner look when I re-read the chapter about Cliff being chased down the road by his neighbor and brother. The subconscious picked up on that and worked it into the cogs. Along about the week between Christmas and New Years I woke up one night and had the central plot worked out. I got up and jotted it down before it slipped away. On New Years Day I began writing a short story with just the central conflict and shared it with my friend Jim Henson. He took it along with him to San Diego when he and his bride visited their daughter.

He called back a few days later. He said he liked it.

One of the criticisms that Gary Presley who wrote the fine review of THE RUIN had was that there were loose ends. What happened to Hector? Angelina?

The subplots should answer those questions in the Bee Tree.

I used the day yesterday trying to summarize the book for the back cover. It is difficult to reduce a hundred ninety thousand words into 187. But this is what I came up with.

About The Bee Tree

The sequel to The Ruin begins a week after Cliff emerges from the Anasazi cliff dwelling with a sense of purpose and dignity to resume his place on the family farm. After a year of solitude, he is eager to make friends. He reaches out to a neighbor, Angelina Martinez, who has befriended him in the past. Their mutual interest in bees lead to the capture of a monster swarm from a bee tree.

As they monitor the tree and prepare to capture the swarm, Angelina tells Cliff of her coming of Age ceremony, the Quince Años, and jokingly asks him to be her escort. He accepts in the spirit of the invitation. However, Cliff’s father refuses to let him attend because it is a religious observance. In anger, Cliff returns to the cliff dwelling. While there, he is warned in a dream that Angelina is being stalked and is in danger.

Cliff’s newfound confidence, survival instincts, spiritual concepts and personal values are tested to the limit as he struggles to keep Angelina away from a man who intends to destroy them both.

Release date is set for June 1.

I hope you will enjoy it.

Kenneth

The Ruin a year later

2011-04-13T08:54:00.000-07:00

This morning I did a search to see what was happing with the book THE RUIN. It was interesting to see what came up. There were a number of references to the review that Gary Presley did of it. Both on his web site, in Clarion Review, and other sites that refered to it. Various bookstores are now carrying it around the world under categories ranging from "young adult" to "modern crime-thrillers" in Brittain-UK. I couldn't tell the category in Pakistan. It is selling for 25 kr per bok there. What a hoot it is to google it.

One of the really interesting Internet sites to come up is one called MQ Mall http://mqmall.com/data/atlatl/ This internet site sells almost anything you want if you go to the home page. When I checked out the link to THE Ruin the ATLATL page came up with various books and related items to the ATLATL. There are page that feature items that might be difficult to find locally if you wanted to try making an ATLATL like the one Cliff makes in THE RUIN or a stone knapped point for the Spear dart. There is a page featuring various kind of CHERT (flint) from various points in the United States. For International customers the MQ Mall uses borderlinx to facilitate shopping. I checked out the information on this service and it seemed on the up and up.

THE RUIN also showed up on MQ Mall's page under CLIFF DWELLINGS featuring many books, post cards, and memorabilia. If you click on a item you are directed to a seller on e-bay or Amazon or various sources. Interesting.

Kenneth

Homecoming Tour planned for Pee Up A Tree author Jim Henson

2011-04-13T07:33:00.000-07:00

Jim Henson will take his book Pee Up A Tree: A Mental Health Memoir to Southern Oregon with stops in Medford, Ashland and Roseburg. He begins April 27 at Ashland's Bloomsbury Books bookstore and 290 E. Main St.. He will meet fans and autograph his book from 7 until 8 p.m. there. So if you live in the Ashland area don't miss this opportunity.

The next day, April 28, he motors up to Medford and that night visits a bookclub. Members of the club have been reading Pee Up a Tree and are ready for a lively discussion based on the questions posted on this blog plus many of their on observations. It should be a fun evening for Jim in his home town.

On April 29th he journeys to Roseburg for a 4 to 6 book talk at the While-Away-Bookstore at 932 W. Harvard Ave. After that event he re-unites with several of his former colleagues and families that he worked at in the clinic all those years ago in the Umpqua Valley where Pee Up a Tree is set.

I guess this tour should be called a Homecoming tour.
Jim's good friend Marthanne Dedrick posted five photos of places that Jim mentions in his book Pee Up a Tree. I'm running the photos here with her captions

The little town...that would benefit from the widsom an guidance from Jim Henson

One of the more elegant homes in Drain, Oregon

Main Street of Yoncalla, Oregon

Yoncalla Elementary School

Yoncalla High School, where Jim, would set up student counseling sessions...

Kenneth

A letter from Sendai Japan

2011-03-19T18:19:00.000-07:00

This letter was forwarded to me by a friend. I think it should be shared. I am posting it here. I also saw a video that my daughter posted on her facebook page that Japanese Television ran showing where the tsumani had hit the Japanese shores. Interestingly I had not seen the same map overlay on our own television news. The Japanese television map showed major tsunami flooding along the entire coast from Hokkaido south to islands south of Kyushu.
Kenneth Fenter

Here is a e-mail Reverend Komeiji's cousin in Japan forwarded him. It is very heartwarming.

This needs to be shared...

Subject: Fwd: A note from Sendai...

First person report from someone in Sendai...amazing attitude in the face of adversity, destruction, devastation...

Hello My Lovely Family and Friends,

First I want to thank you so very much for your concern for me. I am very touched. I also wish to apologize for a generic message to you all. But it seems the best way at the moment to get my message to you.

Things here in Sendai have been rather surreal. But I am very blessed to
have wonderful friends who are helping me a lot. Since my shack is even
more worthy of that name, I am now staying at a friend's home. We share
supplies like water, food and a kerosene heater. We sleep lined up in one room, eat by candlelight, share stories. It is warm, friendly, and beautiful.

During the day we help each other clean up the mess in our homes. People sit in their cars, looking at news on their navigation screens, or line up to get drinking water when a source is open. If someone has water running in their home, they put out sign so people can come to fill up their jugs
and buckets.

Utterly amazingly where I am there has been no looting, no pushing in
lines. People leave their front door open, as it is safer when an
earthquake strikes. People keep saying, "Oh, this is how it used to be in the old days when everyone helped one another."

Quakes keep coming. Last night they struck about every 15 minutes. Sirens
are constant and helicopters pass overhead often.

We got water for a few hours in our homes last night, and now it is for
half a day. Electricity came on this afternoon. Gas has not yet come on.

But all of this is by area. Some people have these things, others do not.
No one has washed for several days. We feel grubby, but there are so much
more important concerns than that for us now. I love this peeling away of
non-essentials. Living fully on the level of instinct, of intuition, of caring, of what is needed for survival, not just of me, but of the entire group.

There are strange parallel universes happening. Houses a mess in some
places, yet then a house with futons or laundry out drying in the sun.

People lining up for water and food, and yet a few people out walking
their dogs. All happening at the same time.

Other unexpected touches of beauty are first, the silence at night. No
cars. No one out on the streets. And the heavens at night are scattered
with stars. I usually can see about two, but now the whole sky is filled.

The mountains above Sendai are solid and with the crisp air we can see them
silhouetted against the sky magnificently.

And the Japanese themselves are so wonderful. I come back to my shack to
check on it each day, now to send this e-mail since the electricity is on,
and I find food and water left in my entrance way. I have no idea from
whom, but it is there. Old men in green hats go from door to door checking
to see if everyone is OK. People talk to complete strangers asking if they
need help. I see no signs of fear. Resignation, yes, but fear or panic,
no.

They tell us we can expect aftershocks, and even other major quakes, for another month or more. And we are getting constant tremors, rolls, shaking, rumbling. I am blessed in that I live in a part of Sendai that is
a bit elevated, a bit more solid than other parts. So, so far this area is
better off than others. Last night my friend's husband came in from the
country, bringing food and water. Blessed again.

Somehow at this time I realize from direct experience that there is indeed
an enormous Cosmic evolutionary step that is occurring all over the world
right at this moment. And somehow as I experience the events happening now
in Japan, I can feel my heart opening very wide. My brother asked me if I
felt so small because of all that is happening. I don't. Rather, I feel as
part of something happening that much larger than myself. This wave of
birthing (worldwide) is hard, and yet magnificent.

Thank you again for your care and Love of me,

With Love in return, to you all,

Gaijin! Gaijin! Third Edition by Kenneth Fenter just released! Jan. 24, 2011

2011-01-24T08:23:00.000-08:00

   I am proud to announce the release of Gaijin! Gaijin! An American Family in Japan, Third Edition. I approved the proof this morning and it is available for sale on my printer's website. (printer website) It will be available by the end of the week on Amazon, and on the Arborwoodpress.com website as soon as I get the page updated.
   I'm excited to get this edition back into circulation. I periodically get requests for it from folk who are heading off to teach in Japan or who are doing a home stay or other cultural exchange. Even after all this time the feedback I get is that it holds up.
   I wrote some additional comments in the Introduction. Put many more photos in the chapters where they fit. Photos are from the slides that I took at the time and now I wish I had had the equipment then that I have now. Digitizing slides is an art in itself and to do it well requires specialized equipment. Mine does so so. If I could have afforded to do the book in color, I might have gone the extra mile.
   Unfortunately the printing costs have gone up since 1987 so I can no longer offer it at the price I did back then, but I held it as close as I could at $19.95. The Print on Demand industry lets us do this now without investing on boxes of books mildewing in the garage.
   I put the e-book out there a month or so ago, so that is also an option. Unfortunately it does not have the photos as there is a file size limit that I had to adhere to. Someday that may change and when it does I'll change the e-file to be the same as the print file.
   So to those who would recommend this book to a friend who is interested in the Japanese Culture or who is studying the Japanese language, "Dōmo arigato gozaimasu."

Respectfully,
Gaijin, Kenneth Fenter

The Under Cover Quilters Bookclub reviews The Ruin and enjoys food from The Ruin

2011-01-19T17:04:00.001-08:00

The Under Cover Quilters Bookclub reviewed my novel The Ruin. This was quite a honor for me to meet with a group of creative and inquisitive women who gather each month to share two common interests, books and quilting.

My daughter is an avid quilter and books are a large part of her life both in her profession as a teacher and in her leisure time. She was hostess to the club for this meeting.

The group Under Cover Quilters take their book interests a step further in integrating book and quilts. The club began at the first of the year with a book called "The Good Pig" by Sy Montgomery. The subtitle is "The extraordinary life of Christopher Hogwood. Members of the club spoke with Ms. Montgomery by phone to get her insight into the book as they embarked on their club idea. Then each member designed a quilt on their own depicting something they took from the book: an idea, a scene, a collage, a character. The goal was to have the quilt ready for the Mt. Bachelor Quilters Guild Outdoor Quilt Show in August. They all came up with delightful interpretations of the book with their quilts.

Of course it took only a month to read and discuss the book and it took from January to August to do the quilts. In the intervening months the group read a variety of other books.

The members represent a cross section of ages and walks of life, from young mothers to grandmothers; occupations include a teacher, couple of home-school teacher/mothers, a B&N bookstore employee, Habitat for Humanity employee, and several retirees. It is obvious when you are around them that whatever the day-job, they enjoy themselves when they relax with their quilting and books. Their quilts reflect that and their conversation reflects that. Over the year they progressed from snacks to a potluck with each meeting, particularly if there was any food component in the book.

The meeting began with dinner. A potluck with food that reflected the book. In The Ruin the main character Cliff flees home to take refuge in a cliff dwelling abandoned some 700 years in the past by the Ancestral Puebloans sometimes referred to as the Anasazi. The location is the high plateau at the foot of Mesa Verde National Park in SW Colorado. During the year that the boy hides out in the canyon and cliff dwelling, the boy eats what he can gather, hunt, or glean by the light of the moon from his parent's fields after harvest. He has also abandoned his mother's richly laden table of farm cooking.

The ladies outdid themselves with two different kinds of cornbread, (much better than Cliff is able to make on the primitive grindstone and cooking stone in the ruin), elk meat in a wonderful gravy (Cliff hunts venison with an atlatl and makes stew and jerky), honey in the comb (as good as the tamarack and clover honey from the bee tree), porcupine meatballs, um good (Cliff made jerky out of his porcupine), biscuits (just like Cliff's mom's) asparagus (This asparagus had butter on it and a little seasoning. Cliff would have died for a little of that on what he gathered and ate raw), nuts and wild berries, (different kind of nuts and berries but the same idea), and enchiladas (just like those brought by Hector's mom to the planting party noon meal ). The idea of bringing food particular to the book was fun and added a special touch to the evening.

It was a special evening. I had anticipated many of the questions: was it autobiographical, were the characters based on actual persons, did I have an eighth grade sweetheart named Angela Martinez. But one question, I wasn't prepared for.

Most if not all of the women in the group are mothers and some are grandmothers. Several expressed the thought that if their son or grandson were to disappear, run off and not be found or not communicate for an extended time as in the book, they would be devastated. How could I live with the situation I had created, taking a boy away from the mother that I had created?

While there is a coming of age, adventure component in the book, it has a serious message.

The character Cliff is torn by his decision to stay away, but he knows he must. He has reached a state that many young men and women reach after persistent bullying and after they have asked for help and it hasn't come in either the form of human or spiritual help. He removes himself from the situation until he feels it is safe to reach out when he begins to feel there is no hope for himself. And at various times in the book, his mother senses that he is nearby.

In the real world, young men and women who are hardly old enough to be considered men or women are not taking the route that the character in The Ruin took and are not as successful as he is, and are giving up and taking their own lives. In this past year the number of instances that have hit the national media have grown to alarming proportions.

And in spite of the fact that schools across the country are making it a priority to combat bullying in the schools, and celebrities are joining campaigns to educate both victims and the public about bullying of gays and those who feel "different", the numbers keep climbing.

I wasn't and am not sure how to answer the question, "Did you really have to separate a Mother as caring as Etta Mae from her son like that for so long?" They are not real people, they are figments of my imagination, and I treated them way I felt I needed to to tell the story. I had to wrestle with this question as I worked on the story. I wanted to make the point, but not be cruel about it, wasn't it kinder to have them separated for a long period than to separate them permanently by having him kill himself over being bullied as so many young men or young women are doing today?

Respectfully submitted,

Kenneth Fenter

Help a young man experience the culture of Japan

2011-01-18T16:57:00.000-08:00

In recent posts on this Blog, I have recounted some of the adventures of my son Philip and daughter Janelle in the two years we lived in Japan. I recounted those adventures in the book Gaijin! Gaijin! MoIchido: Once More, and Stained Glass. The proof copy of Gaijin! is due to arrive on Friday for my approval. If it passes it will go on sale next week on Amazon and shortly thereafter in any bookstore in the United in Third Edition.

My daughter, who has benefited in so many ways from her experience living in Japan, is now a master third grade teacher at the newest elementary school in Bend, Oregon. She received and forwarded the following letter to us this afternoon. I will send a donation and I thought I'd pass it along. If there is anyone reading his blog who agrees with it and who would like to help this young man realize his dream, the information is at the end of the note. In our times, it is more and more difficult for single parents to provide opportunities for this kind of extra opportunity when just meeting day to day essentials are often a challenge. This young man has tackled learning one of the most difficult foreign languages offered. It would be wonderful if he could see a payoff for all his hard work. Obviously he is putting his sweat equity into it as well as the study time that went into the book and extra study time to get to the level where he is. Here is the letter from a former mentor at the high school he attended in Bend, Summit High School.
According to the contact at Bend's Summit High School, the funds must be presented to the sponsor by Mid March. Thank you for your consideration.
Ken

Dear Community Member,

It is my honor to introduce you to a special guy named Jeff Chavez. I met Jeff two years ago through my work at Summit High School and have very much enjoyed getting to know this quiet, gentle young man.

Jeff comes from a low-income family and lives in a small apartment with his mother, but that doesn't keep him from dreaming big. Despite having never traveled farther than the Oregon coast, Jeff has long held a passion for Japanese language and culture. He started taking Japanese at his high school in 2008 and is now in level three and continuing to excel.

Because of his obvious commitment to all things Japanese, Jeff is included in an exclusive group of high school students invited to travel to Japan this summer. The three-week trip includes living with a host family, attending the local high school, and visiting various museums and cultural centers.

Undeterred by his family's lack of financial resources, Jeff has been working constantly to earn the funds needed for the trip. This summer Jeff earned nearly $1500 cleaning up parks and building trails with YCC. Despite his best efforts, Jeff is still several hundred dollars short of the $2300 needed to pay for the trip. He continues to look for work to pay for the funds, but as payment deadlines approach, Jeff is going to need some help from the others in this community.

Please consider supporting this young man as he attempts to significantly expand his worldview with this once in a lifetime experience, either through hiring him to do odd jobs (he's up for just about anything) or through a direct donation to his travel fund. While times are hard for everyone right now, even a small donation will help significantly.

If you'd like to support Jeff, checks can be made out to Summit High School. I'd be happy to pick them up or they can be mailed to:

Summit High School, ATTN: Chrissi Wright

2855 NW Clearwater Drive

Bend, OR 97701

Respectfully submitted,

Kenneth Fenter

A sequel for The Ruin by Kenneth Fenter

2011-01-14T07:12:00.000-08:00

   I am working on a sequel for the novel The Ruin. The Ruin: Subtitled A boy's quest to rebuild his self-worth by seeking refuge in the wilderness, was launched by Arborwood Press in February of last year. My main character Cliff emerged from his self imposed exile stronger and more self assured than he had been at any time since he was 4 years old. Because the book is presented in semi-flashback we can assume that he remained that way. But as one reviewer commented there were a number of questions left hanging. What of the immediate future for him. How did he cope immediately with the "real" world? There were still "demons" out there he was no longer in an environment where he could hide. So since February it has been perking in the subconscious.
   My wife was putting together a couple of "one a day Christmas bags" for our daughter and daughter-in-law. Those are bags with an undetermined number of wrapped gifts of feel good items that are to be opened, one a day in the days following Christmas until the bag is empty. She didn't count them but thought each bag had around 25. Things like note pads, lent removers rollers and refills, chap-stick... you get the picture. It is unwrapping he gift that counts. One of the gifts was a steno pad wire bound down the side instead of across the top. When my wife does this shopping she does much of i at the Dollar store and she buys them in sets of two so that neither girl is slighted. When she saw the notebooks, she bought several.
   She gave one to me. I love those. It went by my chair and in it went the first paragraphs of the as yet un titled sequel to The Ruin. Actually that is the working title: Sequel to The Ruin. Somewhere a phrase will jump out and it will shout USE ME FOR THE TITLE.
   When I read books by my favorite authors I look for those passages that jumped out at their creators and shouted out at them. I love sharing those moments with the author. I can picture the author stopping, laying down pen, taking a sip of coffee, considering it and underlining it, maybe writing it on a post-it and pressing it against the outside of their pad, or if they are working at their computer, putting it on the bottom of their monitor so they can study it as they work.
   Then maybe they have that all figured out and write their story around the title. I had several titles for my novel before I settled on the simple core feature The Ruin.

   When I wrote The Ruin, I wanted it to be, although fiction, to be realistic. I did not want it to be fantasy. It dealt with real themes. I tested everything that my 14 turning 15 year old main character did against whether he could realistically do that. I used as the measure boys of the same age that I knew during the time period in which it was placed, doing the kinds of work that I had him doing.
   I work with an author Jim Henson who is a retired mental health professional who in his practice specialized in dream therapy. Dreams were a component of my novel and through the development of that part of the book I consulted with Jim to see if this was plausible.
   He and I were discussing the difference in writing this kind of fiction yesterday and the kind of fiction that both of us are use to reading. The book that I had just finished was exciting and has sold hundreds of thousands of copies, but I knew as I went along that it was more fantasy than reality. The author could suspend reality and create situations and men and women who had traits that wouldn't meet the test. Nor did they really need to to tell an exciting story, a "page turner" if you will.
   The sequel to The Ruin will meet the same requirements as did The Ruin. It will meet the test. It takes a little longer to do it this way as I have to really weigh the ramification of each action because some actions truly take a suspension of reality to get him out of it, thus thinking through an alternate course of action which in the long run usually makes a better story. Sometimes I have to let it lie move to another section and let the subconscious figure it out... I don't know why but that solution seems to usually happen sometime in the middle of the night.

I'll let you know from time to time how the sequel is progressing.
Respectfully submitted,

Kenneth Fenter

Discussion questions for Jim Henson's Pee Up A Tree: A Mental Health Memoir

2011-01-06T15:26:00.000-08:00

As I read Barbara Kingsolver's novel The Lacuna I became fascinated not only with the story but the history and when she got to the times in which I was young and became a student in college and the House Un-American Activities Committee was in full swing my curiosity of at full mast. Out of curiosity I turned to the end of the book to see read her author's comments and to my delight I found a rather extensive section, an actual discussion guide for book clubs who might be using the book as their monthly selection. The points it raised added depth to the understanding of the story and of the times in which it was set.

The publisher of the edition I read also printed an interview with Ms. Kingsolver answering some of the questions I had about her research and the characters.

The data on some of our well known historical figures, some that have become "heroic" was dismaying. Not common information in our history books, or not at least in the ones I had read.

The point I'm working toward is the value that a simple discussion guide can play in the back of a book. It is to this point that Jim Henson has directed his attention in submitting the following to go along with his non-fiction book: Pee Up a Tree: A Mental Health Memoir. It has been chosen by several book clubs and he has developed a set of questions that he is sending along with the book. I suggested that he share the questions here for those who have already read the book, may be in the midst of reading it or who might be contemplating reading it.

If you have read Jim's book and would like to submit a thought to add to the list then feel free to contact us at Arborwood Press and we will pass it on to Jim.

PEE UP A TREE

Book Group Discussion Questions

Has 40 years of the feminist movement eliminated or reduced the male child bias in our culture?
How important is mentoring to the task of professional development?
What is it about human personality or human nature that makes it easier to see the imperfections of others more easily than our own?
What do you think the most pressing mental health issues in your own community might be?
What is the good news and the bad news about addiction?
What has been your own experience with regard to the value and meaning of dreams?
Do people usually reach their counseling goal as rapidly as it appears a couple of characters do early in the book?
Is there a place for humor in the counseling setting? If so, what is it?
Having read this book, do you have a more or less favorable view of the mental health profession? What passages nudge you in that direction?
If you decided that you wanted to see a mental health professional, how would you go about selecting one?

Respectfully submitted,

Kenneth Fenter

Arborwood Press

Ruin commemorative quilt

2011-01-02T09:40:00.000-08:00

When I began to think about a cover for the novel The Ruin, I thought seriously about approaching my daughter about creating a quilt that I could photograph and use as the cover design. What I had in mind was a dream scene in the book. I had tried to make it a psychedelic sunrise over the canyon with the boy Cliff and an Indian who appears to him on the rimrock. But I thought, although I knew she could do it and it would be beautiful, it would take her weeks, perhaps months to design, dye fabric, and execute. She is an elementary teacher and a project such as that would require too heavy a drain on her time and was unrealistic.

So consider my amazement when at our family Christmas get together I began opening a box and became obvious that the box contained a quilt. With anxious fingers I untied a cloth band that held the rolled about 25 inch wide quilt and began to unroll it. Across the room my daughter watched as well as the rest of the assembled family. Her son held his new video camera with the red light blinking. A greenish background held an earthtone square with a depiction of a cave and The Ruin nestled in a dark cave. I turned it over and read the inscription. "The Ruin in honor of the publication of your book. Pieced and quilted by Janelle Rebick, December 2010. Intuitive piecing with hand dyed fabric."

She had captured the color and feeling of the sandstone canyon and ruin of the book so well and with such simplicity. If there is a future issue of the book, it will surely be the cover.

Respectfully,
Kenneth Fenter

Happy New Year from Arborwood Press: A New Year Story of Japan

2011-01-01T09:01:00.000-08:00

Last night we watched the million revelers bundled against the cold and the ball drop on Times Square

as the clock there struck midnight ushering in 2011. It was convenient to those of us on the west coast

as we could turn in shortly afterward and get up early to watch the Rose Parade.

My thoughts this morning, this New Year's morning 2011 to New Year's morning 1978 at our home in Isahaya, Japan. I thought I'd share that occasion with you. Following is the chapter from my book Gaijin! Gaijin! The photo is of Janelle and students at Chinzei Gakuin taken a couple of nights before at the college making mochi, a pounded glutinous rice and patted into rice balls which were used as part of the New Year's celebrations.

New Year’s

Chapter 44

While Christmas to the Japanese was more of an excuse for a party than a religious observance, New Year’s loomed as the primary national holiday: part religious, part traditional and part superstition. Although it seemed impossible to push another customer into department stores, the crowds continued to grow in density, and the shopping pace became more frantic.

The week between Christmas and New Year climaxed the oseibo (year-end gift exchange.) The gifts were from household to household; children presented a gift to their parent’s household; employers sent gifts to employees; students of traditional arts to their teachers; the parents of apprentices to the master artisan; patients to doctors; and on and on. Often, the person receiving the gift sent a return gift.

Big department stores such as UNeed, Nichidai, Okamasa, or Hamaya devoted major space to displays of year-end gifts, and a host of specialty stores had suddenly appeared around the first of December to capitalize on the season. Attractively arranged gift wrapped boxes with a variety of food such as canned hams, dried mushrooms, dried fruits, dried persimmons, fish, small jars of varieties of coffee, varieties of tea, jars of flavored sugars, packages of unusual delicacies, candies, even packages of bar soaps, and towels were available for year-end gifts. Because they usually consisted of several different varieties of mushroom, or ham, etc. they were called gift sets. Stores attached coupons to the samples, to be filled out by the customer with the name of the recipient and their address. Customers paid for the respective gifts, and the store would deliver them, with appropriate messages, by January first.

Several times during December, Bill had come to school hung-over and sleepyeyed from a year-end party the night before. “It’s kind of interesting, but it’s one of the times I glad I’m not Japanese. Some of my friends have been to a party almost every night,” he said one morning. “People just seem to like to get together and renew friendships, and if they’ve had any disagreements it seems to be a time to forget about them and let bygones be bygones and repay any kindnesses received during the year. I guess it’s really complicated,” he laughed, “knowing what obligations have been incurred during the year. Boy I’m not sure how many year-end parties I could take.” He rubbed his temples and made another cup of instant coffee. “You know, people here must keep a journal of all their social obligations,” he laughed.

“You might want to write down the greetings you should give on New Year ’s Day,” he said. He wrote, Akemashita omedetō gozaimasu kyūnen chu wa iro to ōse wa ni narimashita honnen mo yoroshiku onegai tashimas. “This means, ‘New Year congratulations! Thank you for your kindness to me throughout last year! Please give me your kindness during the present year.’ If you can’t remember all that, just say the first three words.”

The post office sold special cards with a lottery number printed on the bottom. They either had pre-printed greetings or were blank for the purchaser’s personal message. The post office held the cards and delivered all of them on New Year’s Day. Television and newspapers announced the winning lottery numbers, and card recipients checked to see if they had received a card worth a few cents or hundreds of dollars. We usually received our mail at the college, but that day a bundle of cards were delivered to the door. The logistics of collecting cards for every household in the nation and delivering them all in one day, must have been horrendous. I had seen people buying cards by the hundreds for businesses to send out to customers, so the volume was extraordinary.

Mrs. Tsunō warned us to stock up on food and necessities such as heating oil, as everyone, including the housewives, would be on holiday from January first to the third. Even the dairies took time off. We asked about what happened to all the milk and eggs, but never found out.

Saturday morning, New Year’s Eve, Toshio called from Nagasaki to ask if he could call on us. When he arrived, he carried two loaded shopping bags. After he congratulated us on the purchase of our new kotatsu (our family Christmas gift to ourselves) and was comfortably seated at it and served tea, he began unloading the shopping bags and explaining the contents.

“New Year is the most important time for us,” Toshio said. “So Yoko and I thought I should come here and teach you about this important custom. Some of it is religious, and some is superstitious. If you believe in superstition perhaps it will be beneficial to you too,” he laughed.

“This week my family has been cleaning the house. You have the custom of spring housecleaning. However, we must clean out all dust of the old year, and the clothes must be washed so we can welcome the New Year in fresh clean garments. And if I have any debt, I must repay it. Of course, it is not the law, but if I have some unpaid debt my reputation may be damaged,” he said.

“You will hear the temple bells ringing tonight, and you must complete all your duties of the year before the bells finish ringing 108 times. Well, you know, there are 108 misfortunes that may befall you in the year. The ringing of the bell is similar to baptism of your Christian religion. When the tolling is finished and the New Year begins, everyone begins again. Because you begin fresh, you must observe many things to be assured success in the New Year. For example, please don’t sweep your house on the first day or you may sweep out the good luck. And you should not be unpleasant or have a quarrel with your family or you will have a year of unpleasantness. To assure happiness we have many games that we play to keep amused and happy.

“If you watch you can see your fortune. If your first caller has a good reputation and much money, you will have good fortune. But I pity you if the first caller is a beggar,” he said quite seriously. “And the night of New Year ’s Day is very important, because you must have good dreams to begin the year. If you have a nightmare, your nights will be sleepless all year.”

From his shopping bags, Toshio took out paper or plastic ornaments that were symbolic decorations to be used for New Years. On the table, he put a small set of decorations called kado matsu, a sprig of pine backed with three stalks of bamboo. “This smooth bark stands for the female, and this rough bark stands for the male. You should place one on each side of the gate, or if you have no gate, then on each side of the door. The temples will have a very large version of this decoration. This pine tree means long life, and the bamboo is for virtue. The word for virtue is a pun on the name for bamboo. And here is a sprig of fern. It has many leaves, so it means good fortune throughout all the days of the year.”

Another decorator item consisted of two white mochi cakes. They had been round when fresh, and one was smaller than the other. The small one had been attached to the top of the larger, and both had dried into a hard cake. “This is called kagami mochi. Kagami means mirror, and mochi means long life. It represents the sacred mirror of the Emperor. It should be put in the place of honor in the tokonoma.”

Next to come out of the bag was a plastic lobster. “This lobster has a bent body like the old man. For New Year, it means long life. But the lobster has a bent back even when it is very young, so it means to have youthfulness even with old age. And you must have this orange. It is a very special bitter orange called the daidai. That word is a pun as it means the same as the Chinese word for generation to generation.”

Last to come out of the bag was a beautifully lacquered three tier box. Boxes made to carry lunches were called obento. These could be simple throw away boxes that one picked up at the train station or bus station kiosk, or it could be a more permanent box of wood, plastic, or metal that a person carried each day, the equivalent of the western school lunch box, or brown bag. Obento were sectioned to help keep portions separate. Usually, they had a large space for rice and sections for a piece of fish or chicken, beans or vegetables, pickle, a slice of pink fish protein cake called kamaboko and some seaweed strips called konbu. Most of the foods were selected for their ability to stay fresh without special refrigeration.

“Well, you know, in Japan it is the daily task for the housewife or mother to cook for her family. There is no vacation from this task. Even on the holidays people must eat. But on New Year’s, even the housewife must have a vacation, so today the housewives of Japan are cooking a special lunch box like this that will have special foods to last for the three days. The first meal we will have is very important. Yoko will serve a dish called ozone. It is a soup with mochi and vegetables.”

He opened the top tier of the obento. Inside was an assortment of foods, prepared and arranged much too prettily to disturb. “This is special rice called sekihan with red bean. Here is the meat of the carp. This fish is very strong and has great determination and long life. These black beans have the same name as the word that means robust. And here is konbu sea weed for happiness and lotus root which is considered a sacred plant. And Yoko has added some red radish cut like a flower and a boiled egg made to look like a bunny and some greens to make it more beautiful. These foods, you can see, have special meanings. Yoko and my mother made these sample obento for you. Of course they are just a sample. For our family, it is more extensive as we must take all our meals for three days from this obento.

“Of course, to have the days of vacation, Yoko and my mother have to work extra hard to cook these special obento. Everything is very pretty, of course, and so it takes a long time to cut this egg to look like a rabbit. Or this radish to look like a flower. So Yoko complains it takes three days to rest up from preparing for it,” he laughed.

We admired the layers of the obento and appreciated the extra hours required just to prepare the sample.

“Of course besides this, we must be prepared for many guests. You may have visitors tomorrow. It is customary to visit your friends. If they come, please offer them tea. If you have some snack to offer, it is O.K. I think you don’t have to worry about it. It is a quiet day, and you will be interested, I think,” Toshio said.

“Tonight if you want, why don’t you go to the temple and help to ring the bell. There are many temples in Isahaya. You may go to any of them. The bell must be rung 108 times, one for each vice.”

“Is that right?” Lora interrupted. “One hundred eight vices? We have been taught there are only 10. We Westerners must be missing a lot!”

“Well, you know, there are many misfortunes in life. The 108 are said to be the vices and misfortunes. After the bell has been rung, then you must be careful to avoid misfortune in the future. When you ring the bell you may be disappointed. You know the temple bell in Japan is different from those in your country and in Europe. It is cast to make the after-sound, not the initial sound. You see, it is most beautiful to hear the sound as it begins and fades and after it is gone, the silence is heard too. You must experience the silence as well as the sound.”

When he prepared to leave he said, “The ornaments are for your souvenir of Japan. The obento boxes are real lacquer-ware and are our family treasure. They are to be considered a loan. Please save them for me, and I will collect them when you have eaten the sample.”

That night the television networks featured special variety shows for the countdown to midnight. NHK had the most elaborate program with most of the nation’s top popular and traditional singers who formed into two groups and competed good- naturedly for audience approval.

There were several different levels of music: popular rock and roll with clean cut young men and women, many still of high school age; older singers who had graduated from hard rock music and were becoming the more mellow professionals who sang the popular songs that were imitated by business men in the singing bars; and the traditional singers of all ages who kept the traditional folk-music alive.

The young rock singers were dressed in everything from tux to drag. The middle group dressed in a variety of fashions with many of the women in kimono while the traditional group, men and women, wore kimono or the dance costumes associated with particular folk dances and songs.

The entertainers divided into two groups who competed by doing songs and comedy sketches. The studio and home audiences voted for their favorites. It was designed to culminate at the stroke of midnight. During the program, the network stations would feed live reports on New Year activities around the country, spotlighting local customs.

In the mid-evening Philip, Janelle and I went to a temple in town and joined the people who wanted to ring the bell. In the courtyard of the temple, a small bonfire burned to warm the visitors. People lined up to take their turns. A small square tower held the bell which was thimble shaped rather than flanged at the bottom. The bell hung in the center of the tower.

On one side of the bell, suspended from lines attached at both ends and to the ceiling, hung a pole about six inches in diameter. From the center of the pole, a single rope hung to the platform. Visitors grasped the rope, pulled the pole back from the bell, then swung the pole against the bell as forcefully as possible producing a dull gong sound.

Visitors straggled in and joined the line, gave their turn at the bell, ringing it once, then moving on out to give the next person a try. Although it was to be rung 108 times, no one seemed to keep count.

On our way to and from the temple, we passed by other temples where people rang that temple’s bell. Although the bells ranged from 24 to 48 inches high, they produced relatively little sound. Wood on metal and the thick wall of the bells produced a quiet, muted gong and sustained reverberation rather than a loud piercing clang as produced by a metal clapper. They could be heard close to the temple, and there were temples scattered all through the town so one could hear a bell ringing from almost any place in town, but not a great deal of overlapping sound.

New Year’s morning the town was quiet. The sounds of buses, cars and trucks, that usually created a buzzing presence even away from the highways, was absent. The wheels of industry and commerce had stopped. The crowds were gone from the stores. The world seemed to have stopped.

Early in the morning, I rode to the large temple at the foot of Isahaya park, next to the Megane Bashi stone bridge. Even early in the morning, with a touch of frost still lingering, men, women, and children were strolling from town to the temple.

At the main gate were large versions of the bamboo and pine arrangements that Toshio had brought for the entryway. A six inch diameter braided rice straw rope hung from the cross bar of the torii (gate). People rinsed their mouths from a fountain at the entrance to purify themselves, visited with friends and went to the front of the temple to invoke the spirits by clapping their hands three times. Most people tossed coins and paper money into a canvas at the foot of the altar. Then they moved to a stand to the side of the temple to buy decorated arrows and paper strips with fortunes written on them. The paper strips were tied to bushes and trees on the temple grounds.

Most of the women wore traditional kimono. Men were dressed in hakama or business suits. The kimono added brilliant color to the bare midwinter landscape and were a strong contrast to the grey, natural weathered wood of the temple. In only two weeks, the girls who turned twenty-one would be dressed in the most colorful kimono they would ever own. Many of them were out on New Year’s to show off their new kimono ahead of time. I enjoyed that aspect of New Year very much. During most of the rest of the year, we did not see kimono as women wore them only for extra special occasions or for performances.

I had been back at the house only a little while that morning when Dr. Mori and his entire family arrived. Mrs. Mori and the three girls were dressed in kimono, Dr. Mori in hakama. Dr. Mori carried a bushel carton full of mikan oranges which he left in the genkan.

We served tea and some of Janelle’s homemade cookies and visited for a few minutes before they left to continue calling on friends and relatives. Because Dr. Mori was a bright, industrious young doctor who was becoming influential among the community and was already recognized for his skill in cardiovascular research and surgical skill, we were honored that he was the first visitor of the year and looked forward to good fortune.

Several people dropped by. Mr. Nakano and his wife knocked at the door, but did not come in. They handed Janelle and Philip envelopes with woven rice ribbon decorations on them.

“This good tradition for children, otoshidama,” he explained haltingly. Inside each envelope were one thousand yen notes.

Janelle and Philip both went out to visit or to play with their friends and later in the day returned with several more otoshidama envelopes with money in them. They both thought we should adopt this particular New Year custom.

Happy New Year

Kenneth Fenter

Lend your Kindle Book: New program from Amazon

2011-01-01T08:37:00.000-08:00

I received an e-mail from Amazon Digital Books this week telling about the new Kindle e-book progam that allows Kindle book owners to lend copies of their downloaded books. Barns and Noble Nook owners have had that ability for some time. It is a neat feature. I'm glad that the Kindle has come aboard. If you have a Kindle and have purchased an e-edition Kindle copy of my novel The Ruin, Japanese non-fiction book Gaijin! Gaijin! or Jim Henson's Pee Up a Tree from Amazon check with Amazon to see how to enable that feature. It makes having an e-book more flexible and lets you loan one out to a family member much as you do a print copy.

Santa Claus in Japan, Santa needs a new suit

2010-12-17T10:43:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time I was called upon to play Santa Claus and in front of my friends and family. It should have been fun. I'm not too sure at the time that it really was. Well I must confess all the folk there had a good time, I just wasn't sure they were laughing with me, rather than at me. I'll share the story here from the book Gaijin! Gaijin! which just a few moments ago was uploaded in Kindle format to Amazon and should become available to anyone interested by tomorrow, Dec. 18, just in time for Christmas for anyone on your list who has or who is getting a Kindle in their stocking. But here is the story......

   Santa Claus suits were not that readily available. The week before I had been Santa at the foreigner’s fellowship held at the home of Baptist missionary, Pratt Dean. That particular foreigner’s meeting was better attended than most, because the main dish was roast turkey. Turkeys were not common in Japan, at least not in the outback areas.
   “This evening we should thank Father Aguilar for his contribution to this dinner,” Pratt had said as he pointed to the two turkeys.
   Aguilar had stood and bowed to the group. “Enjoy this feast tonight because it is getting more difficult to get them from the base at Sasebo. It is only by the grace of God that the chaplain there is willing to cooperate with us poor misplaced gaijins in Nagasaki. So tonight you might want to say a prayer for the U.S. Navy also!” he had laughed.
   After Pratt’s invocation, everyone had filled their plates with the turkey and side dishes. Even though we might not have eaten turkey more often than once a year if we were in the states, it seemed extra special to have turkey that night.
   The program was to be a piano solo by the music teacher who taught at Kwassui. As we began to find places to relax and enjoy the music, Aguilar had taken me by the arm and drawn me into another room. “We have decided that the delegation from Isahaya should be Santa Claus this year,” he said. “Would you mind?”
Everyone had been instructed to bring a gift for the tree–something of less than 500 yen value and marked for a male or female.
   “I’m the only one here who has children. Won’t they be suspicious? I think they still believe in Santa Claus!” I had argued in vain.
   “Come on now,” Aguilar had laughed. “And besides, they’ll never recognize you in the suit the good Lord has provided.”
   He set a box on the bed. “I think everything is here. If you will go ahead and put on the costume, we will be ready when the music is finished.” He went out and shut the door just as the piano solo began.
   I had spread pieces of the costume on the bed. At one time it had been a Santa outfit. But moths, time, moisture, mildew, and inadequate storage had reduced the costume to shreds of red and white.
The door opened, “You might need this,” Aguilar had said as an afterthought as he handed me a roll of transparent tape, “God also provides the patching.”
   Patches and wads of stiff yellowed tape covered almost every square inch of the tattered outfit. I put the trousers on over my slacks to retain my modesty and put on the tattered red coat. I had tried to tape the tearing cloth back together the best I could, but the least stress tore it in another place. It was so rotten it almost disintegrated in my hands.
   The beard and wig were in like disrepair. I taped them back together the best I could, put them on and looked into the mirror. It was ghastly! It was like staring at an apparition from a horror movie, the ghost of Christmas past, a leper with the skin falling away! I didn’t know whether I should go into the other room shouting Ho! Ho! Ho! or Unclean! Unclean! Unclean! My impulse had been to tear the outfit off, join the others and say Santa couldn’t find us there in Japan. But it was hard to be too serious about the situation on a stomach stuffed with turkey, candied sweet potatoes, fruit salad, squash pie and hot rolls. I sat on the bed and waited. The piano solo was followed by applause and shouts of “More! More!” I had dimly heard the piano begin another solo and yet another piece as I steadily grew colder. Thirty minutes later, I still sat shivering in the unheated room, dressed like a mummy from King Tut’s grave, waiting to be an absolute complete fool in front of my new found foreign friends and a family who would probably never let me forget it.
   At long last, Father Jose Aguilar, who was a dead ringer for actor Peter Sellers, had opened the door, taken a look and doubled over with laughter. “I think we are ready for you now,” he gasped between laughing fits. He pushed me ahead of him into the front room where we were met with similar laughter and merriment at my expense.

Actually at the moment it was a little embarrassing, but I hope in retrospect that I hid it. We were all a long way from home in a land very different from our own cultures and an evening of speaking our own languages and letting down our hair without too much restraint was a Christmas gift in itself.

May this holiday season be without too much stress and your lives be fulfilled with good feelings toward your fellow man.
Respectfully,
Kenneth Fenter

Our Ikebana Christmas Tree, from Arborwood Press

2010-12-13T08:38:00.000-08:00

   I'm in the process of re-issuing my book Gaijin! Gaijin! the first of the three part series An American Family In Japan which I published in the mid 1980's. I thought you might enjoy a story from Gaijin! about our first Christmas in Japan.

   For a Christmas tree, Philip and I pruned a pine branch that hung over the sidewalk leading to the house, put it in one of Lora’s Ikebana vases and tied it flat against the wall. We referred to it as our Ikebana Christmas tree.
Janelle folded paper origami cranes and other bird-like figures and hung them on the tree to supplement the few ornaments we had carried to Japan.
   One of the students had made a tape of Christmas carols for Mr. Uramatsu’s Christmas party. I had made a copy of the tape, and we listened to it repeatedly as we wrapped the gifts. When we finished, the floor around the tiny tree was covered with gifts. We actually hadn’t bought many of them. Most were from the children’s friends, people at the college and a box from home sent by Cinda.

   I had just finished my bath, and Lora was taking her turn at the ofuro when the phone rang. “Hello,” I answered. If I were to use the Japanese phone greeting of “Moshi, moshi,” the caller might think I were fluent enough to speak in Japanese.
   “Herro,” a male voice said.
I waited for a moment for the voice to continue, but it did not. “Hello,” I repeated.
   “Herro,” it repeated. I could tell the caller was male, and I could hear store sounds in the background.
I waited for a while longer. I was almost ready to hang up. I assumed it was a crank caller or one of the calls we occasionally received from someone on the other end who lost his nerve after hearing English.
   I said “Hello,” once again.
   “Herro, Kitaura here,” he said finally. He paused again. If it were the Kitaura we knew from Chinzei, he could speak only a little English and only when he had quite a bit to drink. “I come your house.”
   “Tonight?”
   “Yes. Good-bye!” He hung up.
   I didn’t know what to do. Lora had wanted a quiet evening at home. I told her about the phone call, and she cut her soak short. We thought perhaps like Mr. Nakano, Mr. Kitaura would stop for a moment and leave again. I had also given him a Christmas card. Also I didn’t know from where Mr. Kitaura was calling. He lived in Nagasaki nearly an hour away by train or bus. He could have been calling from Nagasaki or from Chinzei.
   A half hour passed, and we still waited. Philip and then Janelle took their turns at the ofuro. At 8:30 the buzzer sounded, and I opened the door to find Mr. Kitaura standing outside, balancing a large boxed Christmas cake in one hand and a bag of bottles in the other.
   “Merry Kurisimasu,” he said. He handed me the box. I invited him in. He kicked off his shoes, donned slippers and pushed his way into the living room. He had been there often before on school business and knew his way around. He promptly sat down in the middle of the floor on the carpet and began taking the five bottles of juice and three quarts of beer out of the shopping bag. He lined them up in front of him and then opened the cake box to take out a large white cake decorated with a cookie house, candy Santa, candy tree, the words Merry Christmas and a packet of candles.
   Lora and the children gathered around Mr. Kitaura to pose for pictures, then he insisted I join the family while he took pictures.
   Through all this no English words were exchanged. Mr. Kitaura did not speak English except after drinking, and he had not begun that yet. For most Japanese men, it was necessary to relax the tongue with a few beers before they lost their inhibitions, then alcohol could be blamed for any mistakes in grammar or pronunciation.
Janelle cut the cake and set a plate in front of him but he didn’t touch it.
   “Keki wa tabe masu.” (Eat the cake,) Janelle said.
   “I drink, no eat, Japanese Christmas party,” he laughed. He spoke rapidly in Japanese to Janelle. She understood and answered in Japanese.
   I understood neither the question nor the answer. She went to the kitchen for glasses and an opener.
   “Nijuu hachi, to my house?” he asked Philip. He had made an arrangement for the children to go to his house in Nagasaki on the 28th to meet his son and daughter who were the same ages.
   “Yes,” Philip said. “We meet you at Nagasaki station.”
   “Yes. Come back Chinzei, taxi. I bring,” he said.
   “Put them on the train,” Lora said.
   “We, Janelle, me, go train, Nagasaki, very easy,” Philip explained to Mr. Kitaura in his own brand of special English.
   Kitaura listened and asked a couple of questions in Japanese. Janelle answered. He shook his head and said. “Taxi better.” A one-way trip to Nagasaki by taxi cost nearly 5,000 yen or 25 dollars. He drank his beer and poured for us. We sipped while he drank deeply.
   Janelle brought out a Japanese card game, and he instantly took charge of it. The game consisted of two sets of cards; one set was spread out on the floor. Each card had a picture and a hiragana symbol as a clue. The leader read from another card, which contained the description of a card on the floor and had the hiragana sound as a clue. Lora, Philip and Janelle had been studying the writing system every day and had an advantage over me. I had studied them and memorized them and had forgotten them several times.
   Kitaura read the Japanese, and we searched for the matching picture card. Philip recognized most of them first, and Mr. Kitaura began trying to arrange it so that Janelle could win at least one. He roared “Goot! Goot! Goot!” each time anyone recognized the hiragana. “Jōzu ne!” (Very skillful,) he would say and point to the winner.
   “Japanese Christmas party,” he laughed many times. It was nearly ten thirty when the game ended. We sent the children to bed, “to wait for Santa,” we told him. I thought perhaps he would take the hint that it was getting late, and he should make his way home to Nagasaki. At the faculty party at Shimabara, he had become a little too bold with Lora after a certain point in the evening and after he had a certain amount to drink.
   “I hope... I want you stay Chinzei... two year...,” he said.
   I smiled and nodded. We had already decided to stay only for the one year originally contracted, but it wasn’t a good time to tell him.
   “I am sorry... visa paper,” he said.
   I wasn’t too sure what he was talking about. He had been in charge of our papers, which were two weeks late in arriving in the summer. Perhaps he was trying to tell us he was responsible for the lateness and was sorry. Maybe he was talking about Bill’s papers, which had come the last day before he almost had to leave the country.
   “Mama san, sing White Kurisimasu,” he said. While we visited, the tape played in the background. When either “Silent Night” or “White Christmas” came on, he’d break into song, perfectly imitating Bing Crosby’s voice and inflection. “Bing Crosby,” he said. “‘White Christmas, I’m dreaming of a white Kurisimasu....’” his voice was deep, strong.... “‘just like the ones I used to know...’ In Japan, no white Kurisimasu for you... I’m sorry.”
   As we listened to the music, and he sang, Lora got out the children’s stockings, a couple of large wool socks that had red and white trim she had bought that morning.
   Kitaura was fascinated as he watched Lora fill the sock. In his notebook, he listed everything Lora put into the stockings: peanuts, a couple of Australian kiwi fruit, a small package of English walnuts, origami paper, stocking stuffer toys, candy and a mikan orange. The more Lora stuffed into the stockings, the more excited Kitaura became. He pulled out his wallet. “I am Santa,” he said. He stuffed a one thousand yen note into each sock. “For books,” he said. “Phirip kun bery goot hiragana. Phirip kun good ping-pong,” he said, using the familiar term for boys, “kun”, instead of the more formal “san”.
   Philip played table tennis during his study and lunch breaks and had begun earning a reputation at Chinzei.
“I ping-pong champion, Kyushu,” he said proudly. He pointed to his nose, a gesture with the same meaning as pointing to yourself in the chest with your thumb. “I want go America. Play ping-pong champ. When I am in college... not study English... play ping-pong,” he laughed. He checked his notebook and read down the list, “peanuts, kiwi, walnuts, mikan” We had to spell the English for some of the words, and beside each, he wrote the katakana sounds for his further reference. “I make my kids.”
   Lora hung the stockings on the back of a chair near the little tree.
   He applauded gustily, “Very good. Santa Claus Mama,” he laughed.
  It suddenly began to get quite cold in the room. Both kerosene stoves were out of fuel. Our reserve fuel cans were also empty. We had not planned to be up so late and had thought there would be enough fuel to last until about noon on Christmas day. Unfortunately, the fuel delivery would not be made on Sunday. Lora pulled a coat on over her sweater to keep warm. Kitaura seemed not to notice the cold.
   He poured again, “Japanese Kurisimasu party. Drink. ‘I’m Dreaming of a White Kurisimasu....’” he glanced at his watch. It was past 11 p.m. “I must go back home, Nagasaki,” he said.
   “How do you go home?” I asked. “By train?”
   “No, by car.”
   “Do you drive?”
   “No. I am drink. I go taxi.”
   He continued to sit in the same spot he had occupied all night, the empty bottles of beer to his side, the last glass of beer in his hand. He was a middle-aged man still in his business suit. He was tall, a little heavy, robust, his head was shaved. He had a round face with very oriental eyes and high cheekbones. His cheeks were quite flushed from the alcohol.
   He glanced at his watch again, but made no move toward the phone. “You must learn Nihongo-Japanese language,” he said. “In office, girls, men, no can’t speak English. ‘Tegami’ you say. Don’t know you want. You must Nihongo. I teach. OK?”
   “OK,” Lora said. He coached her on what to say to the office girl when asking if the mail had come or when we needed to order propane.
   Lora repeated his phrases to his satisfaction.
   The tape of Andy Williams made it around to “White Christmas” again.
   “Sing mama, papa,” he said. We all sang with Andy for probably the tenth time that night. The song ended, and he checked his last bottle of beer. It was empty. He stood, “I must go Nagasaki.”
   “Shall I call a taxi?” Lora offered.
   “No. I call,” he said.
   He hung up the phone and rejoined us in the front room to inspect the stockings and the stack of gifts under the tree. “Very nice Japanese Kurisimasu party,” he said. “Now I go home Nagasaki,” he said.
   We led him to the front door. I started to put my shoes on to see him to the street where the taxi would pick him up, but he insisted I stay in the house. It was cold out, and it had begun to drizzle a little as he walked unsteadily up the steps. I watched until he got to the street almost at the same time a taxi pulled up.
   Lora and I picked up the empty glasses and empty beer and juice bottles and put them in the sink. “I think he sensed we were a long way from home and just wanted to be sure we had a party,” I said. “I’m sorry you didn’t have Christmas Eve with just the family here.” I half expected her to be a little angry.
   “Bill said the Japanese celebrate Christmas by getting people together and having a party like a New Year’s Eve party,” Lora said. “I thoroughly enjoyed our little party. I am so touched by his thoughtfulness. The cake box came from Nagasaki. He came all the way from Nagasaki tonight and spent a lot of money and still has an hour to go to get home,” she said. It was then 11:45 P.M.
   As usual, the children were up early Christmas morning. The house was colder than usual, as there had been no oil left from the night before. Philip took the container up to the dormitory to ask if he could borrow a little from Mrs. Yokoyama and soon returned with a full five gallons. With the fire lit and the room beginning to warm up, we began to open the gifts.
   As usual, Lora had lost all self-control and had stocked the kids with socks, sweaters and other clothes. Janelle and Philip had done their shopping a few days before when we went to Nagasaki and Toshio Mita had helped them to find the stores and the bargains.
   Lora and I settled in with our instant coffee and watched as the children each selected gifts and began carefully opening them. Their slow, careful start was in marked contrast to other Christmases when they’d ripped them open with frantic abandon and looked up in horror to ask “is that all there is?” They opened their presents and seemed very satisfied with everything when they were done.
   Many of the gifts were from school friends and from the teachers at Chinzei. When all were opened, there was a large assortment of clothes, eats and books. The children were already reading their books sent by Cinda. Lora thumbed through a big volume of “Complete Course in Japanese Conversation” a gift from Kiyru sensei.
   The last package was one that had been given to us by the Cobleigh Cultural Center where we taught the night class. Michiko Nonaka had handed it to me a week before with the comment, “Perhaps it’s meat.” I had opened the end of the wrapping and read, “ITO HAM PACKAGE.”
The stores were filled with packages of food which were to be given as year-end presents. Presents of ham, fish, dried mushrooms, canned fruits, tea, coffee and soap were attractively gift-wrapped. Because they sat on the store shelves for some time, they were nonperishable until opened. I had opened the package far enough to be satisfied it was nonperishable when I saw the canned ham label.
   I slowly removed the paper and was greeted by a faintly rotten smell. Inside the ham box were six slices of beef–six large three quarter inch thick beefsteaks. They smelled putrid. I separated them one from the other. All were thoroughly spoiled. Apparently, they had been frozen and had thawed, which added to their decay. We hadn’t seen so much beef since we’d left Oregon.
   Lora and the children joined me for a good cry. I slowly took the box outside and buried it. Beef cost about $25 a pound, and I estimated each steak weighed nearly a pound. Perhaps the hardest part would be when we would have to smile and thank the Cobleigh manager very much for the delicious steaks the next time we saw him.

This story is taken out context of the book and so a quick note on the role of alcohol in Japanese culture: The consumption of alcohol in Japanese society is spoken to in much more detail in the book Gaijin! Gaijin! It was our observation, and according to the books we read, alcohol was used to overcome habitations or to relax the very strict social rules which people lived and worked by daily. Under the influence of alcohol individuals were excused for their manners and recriminations for violations were few with exceptions. Laws could not be violated. One could not drive while intoxicated, for example, or commit crimes. One could however, be impolite, speak English without worrying about making mistakes, call without making appointments, tell their boss what they think etc. however.

Have a joyous holiday season and a positive New Year!

Respectfully submitted,

Kenneth Fenter

Jim Henson Reception High Success at Bend Athletic Club!

2010-12-10T16:13:00.000-08:00

A steady flow of friends joined Jim Henson at the Bend Athletic Club in the lovely Fireside Room inside Scanlons on Tuesday night Dec. 7. The weather cooperated by not snowing here in Bend and the roads did not ice up early in the evening.

Perhaps one of the highlights of the evening was when a woman showed up at the sales table and said she wanted to buy a "bunch" of books. Linda who was helping me sell and I didn't know if she was kidding or not, but she didn't seem to be. But she didn't seem to know right off just how many. She wandered over to the table where Jim was still chatting up a friend who had just purchased a copy. A few minutes later I saw him rise greet the woman, then he excitedly gave her a hug and brought her over and introduced her. It took a moment to understand what he was saying, She was introducing her as "Hugh's daughter!"

Then it dawned on me that Hugh was one of the people in his book, Pee Up a Tree: a Mental Health Memoir. Hugh was his Jim's first boss in community health practice in Oregon and according to Jim had a tremendous influence on his later style of management when he took over the Deschutes County Mental Health Department.

There is a note on the preceding blog entry of 11-28 from Jan saying who she was and that she was going to try to come down to it. Unfortunately I did not get a notification that a comment was waiting for posting and I didn't see it until I came on to make this report so we weren't expecting her. It was a total surprise when she walked in.

The rewarding thing for me as a publisher is to see this kind of interaction between the author and an individual who is affected by the book. Jan' Dad passed away some time in the past and this book is a tribute to him in its own way. Her comments about the way that it captured him was a high compliment to Jim. I won't say how many copies she ended up buying because some of the folks who might receive them might read this blog and it might spoil their Christmas. But there will be a number of happy folk who will receive an autographed copy of a very fine book purchased by the daughter of an influential Mental Health Professional who once practiced in the Rogue Valley of Oregon in the early 1970's. Jan had driven 150 miles all the way down from Mosier, Oregon on the Colombia River and had the same return trip the next day. The weather was not ideal for that kind of a drive with the ice, freezing rain and snow that we had experienced all over Central Oregon during the preceding week.

Before leaving talk was made of a follow up gathering down in Roseburg, which she expected could be even larger if she and her friends down there, including her four sisters, got to work on it. Maybe in the spring.

A wonderful evening. The staff at Scanlons and the Bend Athletic Club were charming and efficient hosts and Jim's friends in Bend certainly showed their pride in their own.

Respectfully,
Kenneth Fenter

Jim Henson Reception Dec. 7, at Bend Athletic Club

2010-11-28T08:53:00.000-08:00

Pee Up A Tree: A Mental Health Memoir, Arborwood Press

Fireside Room inside Scanlon’s Restaurant at the Bend Athletic Club

61615 Athletic Club Dr., Bend Oregon

December 7, 2010

4:00 to 6:30 p.m. light refreshments

Booksigning by Author Jim Henson

Books for sale on site

Jim Henson's friends and the public are invited to join Jim at the beautiful Fireside Room at the Bend Athletic Club on December 7 to celebrate his first in the series of Mental Health Memoir Books based on his long career spanning service in Community Outreach in Chicago beginning in the late '60s to private practice in Bend culminating in 2009.

While the book has been out since August and has begun accumulating accolades, this is the first big public appearance with the book in Bend.

Readers from acclaimed author Jane Kirkpatrick to fellow practitioners have added their compliments to Jim's first steps as an author.

Jane Kirkpatrick, A Flickering Light, and An Absence so Great: "Pee up a Tree is authentically Jim Henson -- my former boss. It's inventive, irreverent and therapeutically wise. The characters of Jim's early life in rural community mental health in Oregon are singular and memorable; the trials and triumphs worthy of cheering. This is one man's journey of service through parenting, teaching and healing, acts the world needs more of. Enjoy!"

Barbara Moline, LCSW, Oak Park, IL. Dear Jim, I just finished reading, Pee Up a Tree, bought through Amazon a few weeks ago. I really enjoyed it. There are some wonderful personalities in that book and so many wonderful stories. You brought them all to life. It reminded me again what a gifted therapist you are--that lightening quick perceptiveness and ability to hone in on the essence of someone or a situation, and to articulate it with warmth and gentle humor. I envy that. I also realize how right it was that you moved back to Oregon, as much as I was sorry to see you go so many years ago. You know these people and the culture so well; it is in your bones. That common ground certainly made a difference in your work.

Treeman, (commenting on Amazon.com) Jim Henson is quite a story teller. His love for his work and the people surrounding it came alive for me. I particularly enjoyed reading about how he dealt with his patients in the tiny towns of Oregon. I am looking forward to reading about more adventures in mental health from Jim.

Mark the evening of Tuesday December 7, from 4-6:30 to meet and visit with Jim Henson. If you already have a copy of his book, an autographed copy would make great Christmas reading for a friend.

Best wishes for the season,

Kenneth Fenter

Sometimes Justice seems misguided when it comes to bullying

2010-10-07T07:22:00.000-07:00

Solving the problem of bullying in our schools and on our school buses etc. is perhaps made more complicated in the way justice is applied. In this morning's paper there is the moving story of a 12 year old girl who is becoming a poster girl in the anti-bullying campaign down in Florida. She has cerebral palsy.
Her symptoms are primarily exhibited in speech and posture. She has been relentlessly bullied on the school bus and in school. Kids have been spitting in her hair, calling her names etc. Same ole, same ole. Her parent's complaints have not stopped it.
She has now come forth and is speaking out and of all things, saying to paraphrase her, she is thanking her bullies for bullying her because it has given her the experience so that she can speak out about it.
And now comes the part that I homed in on.
Her father was arrested back in September for boarding her bus, WHICH HAS VIDEO SECURITY CAMERAS ON IT. He berated the students for their harassment of his daughter. He was arrested for his harassment. He is now out on bail.
My question is, IF THAT BUS HAD VIDEO CAMERAS ON IT, WHY WERE KIDS WHO WERE SPITTING ON THE GIRL WITH CEREBRAL PALSY ALLOWED TO DO THAT without being taken to the woodshed!
The bus driver, and the school administration should have been all over that, especially in light of the parent's complaints about the treatment the girl was having with those kids.

As I said in the beginning, we don't solve the problems of bullying when the victim is further punished by drawing attention to the fact rather than shutting down the person(s) who are doing the bullying. Shutting down doesn't imply harming them, but putting up barriers such as we do in every day life when we correct our youngsters or others in society for not following decent concepts of behavior.

Respectfully,
Kenneth Fenter

Has bullying in various forms reached a "Perfect Storm?"

2010-10-06T13:29:00.000-07:00

Suddenly it seems that bullying has reached the "Perfect Storm" level. Four suicides have occured in the last several weeks by youngsters harassed for being "gay". This comes on the heels of the beginning of the year suicide of a high school girl harassed to suicide for "attracting another girl's boyfriend".

From Ellen to the Tim Gunn from Project Runway celebrities are coming forth to reassure young people that there is a life after years of bearing the taunting and harassment.
The Trevor Project

Glee this week took on the subject of youngsters losing their belief in God over their prayers for relief from either themselves or loved ones being relieved of harassment from physical differences.

People magazine's cover story this week explores the national epidemic.

Bullying is the main focus this week of CNN's Anderson Cooper360.

Bullying in all forms is a national focus in the public schools.

In my book The Ruin the main character talks about losing his faith because he realizes he is praying to the same God that his father and his bully is praying to. How can those who are the caretakers in one breath ignore the pleas of those who are being harassed to death, and then ask them to have faith and believe in a higher power taking care of them?

This blog is one year old next month at this time. I was in the final stretch of finishing the The Ruin for publication. It has been the mission from the beginning of the project to help add a voice to the problem, the destructiveness of bullying in the schoolyard. I survived it after a fashion. I was not driven to suicide. I don't hate the ethnic group that my harasser was a member of. But I am still affected by it in many ways.

As an individual now 70 years old I have the advantage of perspective. I can look back to way points in my life and see what directions it took, what detours there were and examine them. In some ways the experiences may have been good in that they directed me in guiding my own children. In some ways, they may have been harmful as they make me intolerant in many ways.

It regulates my voting habits, my shopping habits and the friends that I keep.

In those years I have seen some interesting things happen. In one case I saw a classmate of my brothers who had a hard time of it because of her weight. She was nicknames "buffalo girl" by members of her class. A few years later my dad worked for an organization in town and he recognized her as the bookkeeper. She had blossomed as one of the more attractive young women in that town. He in the course of the next year overheard some of the young men in the lunch room discussing what a stuck up young woman she was. She had turned down all of them when they had many any overtures toward her. When he mentioned this to my brother, he laughed and told our day, it was no wonder, they were the very ones who had branded her as "buffalo" girl back when they were all in high school. You just never know. I think it was on the TV show "Desperate Housewives" that Susan is arrested by a policewoman that she had bullied in high school.

Respectfully submitted,
Kenneth Fenter

Nick Vujicic speaker at "I heart Central Oregon" sets 1700+ hug record

2010-09-27T19:28:00.000-07:00

Nick Vujicic his Life Without Limits
My Son-In-Law- Mike invited me to go with him to an event last Saturday night at the Redmond, Oregon Expo Center. Our wives were in Portland for the quilt expo and the kids with out for their weekend with their birth father so it was just the two of us batching for the weekend. He said we should have sushi and take in the event. He was going to hear Nick Vujicic on Friday at Bend High School. I was pretty sure that my friend "The Happy Hoosier" that I use to hang out with down in Naples at the RV park had heard him and raved about him back in the day.
Mike heard the talk on Friday and was impressed.
The Expo parking lot was getting full when we got there and of course all the handicapped/van parking was full. Mike was getting ready to park like an RV (take up two spaces and hope someone didn't hem him in) when a golf cart pulled up and said to follow him, there were plenty of spaces in back. We followed for about a half mile around the barns practically up to the back door and double wide spaces where Mike could let down the ramp and roll out in his power chair. Although confined to the power chair, Mike still has the use of arms and hands, unlike Nick Vujicic who was born with neither arms feet that were developed past barely a flippers with two toes on the left and we couldn't see what on the right.
We were early. A long line snaked up to give Nick a hug and then file by to fill out a sheet so that they could tally for an attempt at a world record number of hugs in one hour. "He can't shake hands, so give him a hug," the front man on stage kept urging.
The wait grew to one hour stretching the opening past the advertised 7 p.m. to 7:30 and introductions were made for an "Acoustic Rock Band" Elliot. Elliot members have been working since 2007 in the formation of "The Heart Campaign, a campaign for social justice and desire to see positive change in communities where they play. During the day hundreds of redshirted volunteers with "I heart Central Oregon love is action" logos had spread out to the communities of Prineville, Madras, Redmond, Sisters, Bend, LaPine doing good deeds, helping "neighbors" with small and large projects. The event at the Expo center was a celebration and reward. Tickets were free for anyone taking time to pick them up ahead of time, and a token $10 at the door.
I'm not sure what the title "acoustic rock band" means. In my elderly mind acoustic means it isn't amplified and the natural acoustics do the work. Of course that doesn't do much good if you are playing those solid body guitars. Anyway, it was loud. But I took out the hearing aides and the lead singer of Elliot was quite good. I liked it. Mike who likes it that way, kept looking over at me and asking if I was OK.
The ground row seats were arranged in a large block of those who get there early and want to see the stage, stand and wave their arms, maybe dance in the aisles a while. The second block, the main block was separated from the close block by a 20 foot section which provided a walkway between where Nick had been at the end of the "hug line" and where he would go to his "book signing reception line" during the concert.
We were seated on the second row of the second seating section with the 20 aisle walkway in front of us. As Mike said, the people watching couldn't be any better.
During the concert the lights were down up front but not so much by midway back. We couldn't see the stage from back there but two video cameras were putting the main singers and clusters of players up on huge screens so we could see fine. But the action was taking place right in front of us. It was like watching the shore birds on the beach, except these were tiny birds, they were the Junior High School kids, and high school kids in an endless parade going from one side of the arena to the other. They came and went in groups of two five ten, then a singleton, pacing, flocking, swooping, to and fro, ebbing and flowing. It kind of went with the music. When the music reved up and pounded they stopped and faced the stage and bobbed and jumped and waved their arms, when the singer slowed down and sounded as though he was singing something meaningful, the flocking and swooping began all over again.
Until.... the music stopped and Nick Vujicic was introduced.
It was hard to get a perspective on him because of the video projection on the giant screen. But his voice was strong with a slight Aussie accent. He had the audience spellbound in an instant and pretty much kept them there the rest of the evening.
It didn't take long for him to launch into the main theme of his talk and it hit the topic that this blog has been about from the start... to paraphrase him...
"It doesn't take many people telling you are ugly to make you start believing it.... and for every time you hear it, it takes a thousand others telling you you are beautiful to undo it."
He recalled how he had been teased, harassed in school. And the whole litany. It was a classical story of bullying. He had told the same story to the study body at Bend High School, and Summit High in Bend and at Crook County High School on Friday.
My thought at the moment was if a man like Nick Vujicic, born with arms or legs was bullied by kids what chance does a kid who is a little chubby or skinny or whose voice isn't changing quickly enough going to have? I happen to believe that in his case some intervention from people at the schools was called for as it is now. I don't think that faith alone will save a middle school child from committing suicide if she is being bullied to up to a certain point and she sees no support on this earth.
I think that appearances such as he makes helps kids as well as some adults realize better how to react to individuals who have a physical disability.
Sitting in front of us was a woman with a young child, I assumed was preschool. The woman I assumed was in her 20's. The woman took the child to where I think Nick was signing his books. When they came back, there was a conversation between them about people who are different and have to do things differently because of it. It was a good discussion and the child's questions were being answered intelligently.
Nick found an inner strength to survive and faith. It has worked for him. Building on that he has overcome impossible odds to become a successful man, inspirational writer and speaker. His website points to his blog and his books.
If you missed his talk check him out.
Respectfully submitted,
Kenneth Fenter

StepOut Walk to Fight Diabetes in the Eugene, Oregon Oct. 9, 2010 featuring team Savannah

2010-09-16T12:15:00.000-07:00

Jim Henson, his wife Annis and I traveled over the mountain, down the river to Roseburg and up to Umpqua Community College for the 2010 Wine-Art-Music Festival over the 11 and 12 of Sept. to see if we could sell a few of our books. It was a kind of homecoming for Jim as his book Pee Up A Tree takes place in the Umpqua Valley of the early 1970's. I met several of his friends who populated the pages of the book. Even saw the end of one of the canoes that he mentioned their making.

The Umpqua Community College is a beautiful campus and we learned from a former Vice President who stopped by our booth that it was named last year as the 14th ranked community college in the United States, and the only Oregon community college to make the rankings. The fellow, whose name I didn't write down, proved the adage that it is truly a small world. He talked to Jim for a short time and then his eyes fell on the cover of my book, The Ruin. He seemed a little near sighted as he picked the book up and examined it up close and read a little of the Clarion Review on the back. He looked at me and said, "I taught at Cortez at MCHS. Turns out he was an Ag. teacher there in the early '70's. He knew farmers all over Summit Ridge where my book took place, Mancos, Dolores, and Mesa Verde. Small World.

I sold a number of books but the most interesting one of all was to the daughter of the couple who had the booth next door. They sold wooden pens and wine bottle stoppers turned from exotic woods. The daughter, Savannah acted about 6 or so in her politeness and helpfulness in the booth. She was attracted to the portable climbing wall. The thing must have been about two stories tall and the first day her dad said she climbed it seven times. The highest she got was about a third of the way up. In the afternoon she came over and asked me how much my book was. I told her the price. She asked was I sure? She went back and had a conference with her mom. She came back and dug all of her money out of her pocket and put it on the table. Two quarters, a dime, a nickel, and two pennies. I asked her if that was all the money she had. She shook her head yes. So does that mean if you buy this book you can't buy any ice-cream or anything? She didn't seem to be concerned about that. She really wanted that book. I told her that I really couldn't take all of her money. But I said, how about I trade you for a pen and a promise from your mother that she will read the book to you? Her face lit up and she shook her head yes. I said she had better go ask about that. She ran and asked her mom and came right back and asked what pen did I want. My book at the show was priced at $15.50 and their pens ranged from 12.50 to 18.00. I told her it had to be the one that was her favorite. She went back to talk to her dad. Between them they selected one that they thought would be special and a little unusual and it was. He explained that it was a Civil War commemorative pen. The pocket clasp is shaped like a civil war rifle, the point is shaped like a rifle bullet, and the top end is shaped like a pistol bullet. The barrel is short and looks like walnut. Savannah thought it was very special. I had asked if Savannah was named after the famous city of the South. (Now I was pretty sure that this pen was an appropriate choice even though at that moment I didn't realize just how appropriate if one things of the determination of the Southern effort in the Civil War.) And her mom promised to read the book to her. I explained to both parents that the first part of the book was not appropriate for her yet, but that if they read the book first they would see where to begin reading to her. They promised to do that. Sunday morning when we began the day, Mom said she had started reading the book the night before.

On Sunday Savannah began climbing the climbing wall with renewed determination. By the end of the day she had climbed clear to the top. I had watched several teen aged boys who had not made it. A couple of them had made it half way and the young man running the concession had had to help them back down. All of the climbers were in harnesses and were tethered by rope so they couldn't fall.

I think it was during the second day that Savannah, her mom and dad came to the Festival wearing their Team Savannah t-shirts for last year's American Diabetes Association StepOut Walk to Fight Diabetes. They were getting ready to participate in the Eugene, Oregon Oct. 9, 2010, event. Her mom told us Savannah was 5 and had been living with type 1 diabetes all her life.

She was one determined little girl. She had determined to climb the wall and in two days had done what a steady stream of boys and girls of all ages had not. She gave her best each try got back at the end of the line and tried again until she made it to the top and wasn't ready to stop when the day was over. She wanted a book, something that would last for a while, instead of an ice-cream that would be gone in a few moments. Her mom said she wanted to learn to whistle and she kept at it until she had mastered it. You have to admire that kind of spirit.

Respectfully
Kenneth Fenter

Sister defends brother, That's the way it should be.

2010-09-07T08:59:00.000-07:00

It is back to school time here in Oregon. In many parts of the country I understand school has been underway since the middle of August. Here we continue to begin with students the day after Labor Day. This year in Bend school will let out a week early, a result of budget cuts, the result of a continuing tight state economy.
As retired teachers, my wife and I still feel as if we are playing hooky seeing the big yellow buses drive by today and we are going out the door too. We will be over it by mid morning, however, as we go back to the pile of tasks that we have created for ourselves to work on.
With this new school year daunting tasks lie ahead for our nation's schools, administrators, teachers, and the precious students in their care. Besides the obvious task of guiding them through their educations, is assuring that they can learn in a peaceful, safe environment. Considering the energy level, often overcrowded condition, and backgrounds of the students in many classrooms and on playgrounds, maintaining a safe environment is sometimes a near impossible situation.
According to a report on the NBC evening news this past week, a national focus in public schools will be on curbing bullying. The report said that top level conferences had been held this summer to brainstorm ways to combat growing problems in physical, psychological and cyber bullying among elementary, mid-school, and high school students. The statistics given on the show were alarming but not different than what has been presented here, on the Stop Bullying Now web site, and other sites that are linked to on this site.
Emphasized on the report was the new theme, "It is no longer to use the excuse, 'boys will be boys,' 'girls will be girls.'.
It is interesting how subtle, how insidious, that bullying is, and yet how quickly it can be nipped in the bud if a person is vigilant. I saw that the other night at a family gathering. I had called the families together so that I could take photos of my five grand children in the back to school clothes. Two will be a fourth graders, one will a fifth grader, one an eighth grader and one a freshman in high school. In one family is a fourth grader, fifth grader and the freshman. The second family has the fourth grader and eighth grader. I was concentrating on trying to operate a camera that I was unfamiliar with as my own camera was on the fritz. Suddenly I heard my eighth grade grand daughter saying, "Your sarcasm is uncalled for," to her two cousins. I looked up and started to pay attention. Her two cousins, the fifth grader and his brother the freshman were on either side of their fourth grade cousin who was wearing his new school pants which were lime green. The younger cousin was saying, "I'm sorry but they are just not cool!" His older brother was shaking his head in agreement.
The younger cousin stoically looked off into the distance and kept his face straight with a little bit of a smile on it. It had only been a year or so before that he would have gotten up and stomped off in anger. He said, "Your negative humor isn't all that funny." To which his slightly older cousin replied, "Oh, I assure it isn't humor. I'm serious. Not cool."
I shut it down and told my grandson he had no right to talk to his cousin that way. End of conversation. I finished the few shots left and then turned to the eighth grade grand daughter and complimented her for standing up for her brother. I told her she had done exactly the right thing to do, and why. I then turned to the two cousins and told them that I felt they had no right to criticize their cousins choice in school wear. If it didn't match what they would have chosen, that was their right. But they did not have the right to choose for him, and they should stand up for his right to make his own choice, as I hoped he would stand up for their own choices. I then told the cousin that had sat through the hazing and told him how proud of him I was that he had not just sat there silently, but had told his cousin what he thought of their comments calmly without running away.
I was proud that the five of them finished the evening on good terms. They went in to dinner, sat at the same table apart from adults and seemed to enjoy themselves. I saw no evidence that there was any left over animosity, or ill feelings. It is possible that my grand daughter could have taken care of it herself. But I felt that it was worthwhile adding my credibility to the mix. I have a good rapport with my grandchildren because of projects we have done together and that helped.
The point is that hazing, teasing, bullying, whatever name you want to give it can occur in such a subtle way that you are hardly aware that it is going on. Nipped quickly and it can go away. Let to fester, and it can become a cancer.

Growing a novel one book at a time

2010-09-02T09:00:00.000-07:00

In Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe, Topsy a slave girl, says, "I s'pect I just growed. While the character Topsy may have been bewildered about where she came from, the book that spawned the expression exploded on world in 1852 and according to some historians helped to lay the groundwork for the Civil War. It became the the best selling novel of the 19th Century and the second best selling of book of the 1800's following the Bible. To "grow like Topsy" became a common phrase.

Well, I can't exactly say that my novel is in that category of "growing like Topsy" yet. But it is fun to see it grow and spread. In some ways I can chart it's growth, but once a book leaves my door and heads toward a reader's hands, it is out of sight. From there, I have no idea whether the person who requested it, either with an order or who just asked for as a friend, will actually read it, start it and lay it aside after a few pages, read it in a few days, read it over a long time, or what. And then what happens to it? Does it get put onto a shelf? Is it put into a sack to go to Goodwill? Put into the recycle bin? Recycled along with a box of other books at used bookstore by trading for other books? Handed to a friend? Given to a local library?

All of the above paragraph describe the things that my wife and I do with the books that we buy.

Last night when I checked out what was going on with The Ruin on Amazon I was delighted to see the first used copies hit. What surprised was that the used copies are listed at a higher price than the new copies! The thing about those first hundred copies or so that went out was that they were printed here in my facilities and were each individually handled and mostly signed. Maybe that makes them collectors items.

The thing that pleased me though was it indicates to me the book has a life of its own.
That makes me feel good about it.

Respectfully,
Kenneth Fenter

Overcoming fear through singing

2010-08-26T11:12:00.000-07:00

"Stand By Me" The Lancaster Boys Choir I commented on the BBC network program "The Choir" on this blog on July 31. In the series, Concert Master Gareth Malone who conducts the London Symphony Orchestra Community Choir attempts to create choirs in the most unlikely settings. In the first season he went to Northolt High School a school with no music program and recruited a choir that he took to the World Choir Olympics in China. The project took one year. A year later he went back to see what affect the experience had on the participants. In the second season that is airing now Malone went to Lancaster High School one of the largest boys schools in the United Kingdom an athletic oriented school with no choir singing program and began putting together a boys choir. The goal was to present his choir at a music festival at the prestigious Royal Albert Hall in London. To make it into the festival the choir must be assessed and pass rigid standards.
He has to overcome the boy's perception, shared by many on the staff, that singing is not for boys (men). It is only for sissies, and gays. The boys who do enjoy singing do it in private. A group of rappers do their thing off to the side.
Slowly Malone draws a few boys to the choir and rehearsals begin. He begins a choir among the staff and starts a campaign for the head physical education coach. At first he seems to have one of the rappers interested but the boy, Imran turns against him.
They make it into the festival and rehearsals begin after summer break with only half the choir returning. He begins a phone campaign and gets them all back plus a few more. Finally Malone convinces the rappers to listen to a professional group of musicians who perform much like the boy's own style and draw them in.
The BBC crew does a masterful job of drawing individual boys aside to pull their feelings out as the story develops. We get to see how the choir is affecting them. One boy who does not learn well finally admits he can't read the music and gets help. He realizes he can do it, and stays. The pride on his face is amazing. Other boys begin to exhibit changed behavior as they are drawn into the group experience.
We hear Imran tell about why he has dropped out of the choir in the beginning. It had to do with going to the karaoke with his dad or friend and hearing someone say he wasn't that good. It shut him down. In his group of rappers he is o.k. but not in front of an audience.
After Malone draws his rap group called the Beatboxers into the choir with the introduction of the professional group doing a similar type of music, Imran begins to get his confidence back. Malone convinces him he could sing a solo in the Royal Albert Hall performance. You see the result at the end of the YouTube video above.
I love the show. I like Glee for the entertainment value and the music the kids perform. But I have to admit when I watched "The Choir" this morning and the kids began to sing, I had a hard time seeing the screen through the tears. Seeing 150 boys and their teachers on the stage in the Royal Albert Hall singing like.
The kids themselves admitted that it had brought them together. The Beatboxers were hugging the timid kids that they intimidated just a year before.
Next Wednesday's show will be about Gareth Malone's reunion with boys and staff one year later. Was there carry over in his absence? Did the experience last? It will be interesting to find out.

Respectfully,
Kenneth Fenter

ForeWord Clarion Review gives The Ruin four Stars

2010-08-24T11:06:00.000-07:00

ForeWord Clarion Review
FICTION
The Ruin
Kenneth Fenter
Arborwood Press
978-1-4536-5992-2
Four Stars (out of Five)
Kenneth Fenter’s The Ruin is part coming-of-age novel, part Robinson Crusoe, part history lesson, and wholly deserving of an audience of both adults and teenagers.
The novel follows Clifton Kelly, as an eighth-grade farm boy living in the southwest corner of Colorado in the early 1950’s, as well as an adult celebrating his last day of teaching. Cliff's retirement day turns tragic when a fellow teacher is murdered by her own son, who then goes to Cliff's sister school and kills students there. The boy’s bloody response to bullying triggers Cliff's memories of being bullied during school.
Cliff didn’t shoot his nemesis, Hector Rodriquez, even though he had his rifle in hand after a violent encounter. Instead, he sought refuge in a cave dwelling of ancient Puebloans, the Anasazi. There he learns to survive in the fashion of the First People – making fire from flint, fiber from plants, clothes from pelts, and food from cattails, dandelions, and the game he could bring down with his atlatl, a spear-thrower. From an ancient hunter, who appears in a dream, he learns “Adversity presents unique opportunity, a moment of time in God’s wilderness, use the time wisely.”
The Ruin encompasses ninety-one chapters, most dealing with Cliff’s year in the cave dwelling. Within that narrative there are flashbacks to his school years, his farm life, and to his relationship with his hard-working, highly religious, and overly strict father. Interspersed are short chapters dealing with the adult Cliff’s reactions to the school shooting.
Fenter's research, the breadth of his knowledge about the ancient Puebloans, and his familiarity with farm life are superb. But Fenter’s exposition does slow the story. For example, in his narration of Cliff’s initial explorations of the cave, Fenter uses several hundred words to describe the youngster’s search to find a bee hive. The novel, in fact, is filled with such mini-essays, with Fenter providing lessons about Native American life, bee-keeping, farming, and assorted other subjects. While interesting in its own right, the information sometimes buries the drama of Cliff’s saga, including the most emotionally powerful element, Cliff’s reconciliation with his father: “Dad, when I left, I was very angry at everyone. I had to get away and figure out how to control that. I also needed time to figure out just who I was and how I wanted to live my life.”
The author of the An American Family in Japan series, Fenter is a retired schoolteacher who served in the Springfield, Oregon community, the location of a tragic 1998 school shooting. The Ruin requires patience, but it is both satisfying and interesting, and well worth recommending to a teen reader.
Gary Presley

Combating cyber bullying with information an important first step.

2010-08-14T13:54:00.000-07:00

Here is a link to a blog with important information on combating cyber bullying that any parent or grandparent should take a look at. cyberbullyinghelp.com

The Blog is written by Judy H. Wright. Judy is a parent educator, family coach, and personal historian who has written more than 20 books, hundreds of articles and speaks internationally on family issues, including care giving.

She is trained as a ready to learn consultant, she works with Head Start organizations and child care resource centers.

I found her blog to be informative and chock full of information. She hits the sensitive issues surrounding bullying middle school and high school years and has suggestions for parents and children alike on how to work through the issues.

A new school year is just around the corner. My wife made her yearly pilgrimage to Freddys this week to buy crayons, notebooks, and folders for our daughter the third grade teacher to use in her class room. Old habits die hard. This will be our eleventh year of retirement and it is still hard to watch the preparations begin for a new year to begin without feeling like we need to rush around and finish the summer jobs because time is running out. Usually my wife buys an extra bag of pencils, crayons, folders, notebooks etc. and drops them off at the neighborhood elementary office to dole out to children who did not have a budget to buy supplies with.

This year our oldest grand child is a freshman in high school. Next is an eighth grader. There will be two fourth graders and a fifth grader.

I dealt with direct physical bullying from teacher and kids when I was in grade school. It was overt. I could see who was coming at me. I'm afraid that as often as not now days my grandchildren may have to deal with threats from kids they may not see, may not even know, through their cell phones.

I know the affect it had on me 55-60 years ago, I can't imaging what this additional level of stress is adding to the youngsters today and what their lives will be like 55 years from now as a result.

The best prevention is education. Links like the one above and resources that Judy Wright and other links elsewhere on this blog can point you to can help.

Respectfully submitted,
Kenneth Fenter

Announcing Pee Up A Tree: A Mental Health Memoir by Jim Henson

2010-08-12T09:17:00.000-07:00

Pee Up a Tree: A Mental Health Memoir by Jim Henson is in production!
The hard copy proof is en-route as I write this. The Kindle edition is uploaded and will appear in the Kindle store momentarily on Amazon. I'm updating the Arborwood.com website to begin taking orders for this new offering by Arborwood Press. Keep checking. If you are a reviewer and would like to request a review copy, you can contact me immediately by clicking on the comment button at the bottom of this posting. I'll get right back to you.

Why should you read a Memoir? Here is an excerpt from the Forward by Mary Lee Fitzsimmons, PhD, former Executive Director of One World Health Centers.

"Whatever the motivation leading you to pick up this memoir, you will find a multi-layered commentary on the first few years of someone dedicated to his clients, dedicated to the community, who is not afraid to laugh at himself or at the irony in his environment.

Perhaps you are a student of social work theory and are interested in what University of Chicago was teaching as state of the art social work theory in the late 60’s? If so, you will not be disappointed. Vignettes illustrating key social work principles abound. Honoring the client’s definition of the therapeutic agenda, facilitating a focus on behavior change, a practical approach to empathy, learning from non-verbal expression, and avoidance of enmeshment are but a few of the social work concepts illustrated here in humorous and delightful stories. All of us who graduated from that august institution in the 60’s knew we were going to save the world and knew we had the tools we needed to succeed. We did not end up saving the world but the stories here show that the concepts we were taught, when used skillfully, could help.

I have worked in community-based programming for over thirty years. It is hard work. It requires patience, respect for those you are trying to serve, and a clear focus on the community or client’s definition of the problem. It requires the willingness to spend the time and energy necessary to form quality relationships and it requires a high degree of skilled professionalism. The stories in this memoir illustrate all of these concepts. What the stories most illustrate however is that a key requisite is the ability to have fun while valuing the effort required. Whatever your reasons for picking up Jim Henson’s memoir, what you will find most worthwhile is the sense of enjoyment and of fulfillment that comes when community based programming is done well. You can expect to find good humor, good will, a healthy dose of common sense and a very good read."

August 6, is the 65 anniversary of the A-bombing of Hiroshima, Sunday the 9th, Nagasaki

2010-08-06T16:09:00.000-07:00

For the past week I have been editing my 1985 book Gaijin! Gaijin! for re-issue. The chapter I began working on a few minutes ago was "Enrollment in Schools, Chapter 11. In that chapter we formally enrolled Philip and Janelle into the public schools of Isahaya, Japan about 15 miles away from Nagasaki. I came to the following passage where we were on the way to our son Philip's Junior High School Kita Isahaya Chu gakku, North Isahaya Junior High School. Walking with us and to do the introduction was Miss Ueda. As we walked, the elderly matron told us about herself and why her legs were bad. You will see in a moment why it suddenly hit me what day it is and the irony that out of a 365 page book this passage would come along today.

As we walked, Miss Ueda told us more about herself.
   “I was born and spent my first years as a child in Arizona. My parents wanted me to be fluent in English so I learned to speak English before Japanese. That was very convenient for me when I returned to Japan. It was very easy for me to become an English teacher at Kwassui women’s school in Nagasaki.
   “During the war, English was discontinued for a few years, so I taught other subjects. I was teaching at Kwassui the morning the bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. Many of our students were working at the factories near the harbor. It was required of all students, you see. They had to help the war effort.
   “I heard the air raid sirens and rushed into the hallway with some of the students. I saw the flash of the bomb on the wall and could hear it. It was as if the end of the world had come. I was fortunate to be protected by the hallway, but one of my colleagues who was still in her classroom died a few months later from the burns.”
   The children, Lora and I were quiet. She spoke matter of fact, seeming without bitterness.
   “Chinzei you know, was near the center of the blast. Most of its teachers, and students died instantly. We were told that it was some kind of new bomb, and none of the officials of town knew that it was radioactive. For days, I would walk down to Urakami to look for the students who had been working there. But, while I walked down there among the buildings looking for my students, I became poisoned by this radiation disease. At first, my hair fell out, and my gums bled. Also, I suffered from diarrhea for the first two months. Now I look big and fat and heavy, but after a few months then, I was only skin and bones. The doctors treated me and other victims, and after a few years some of the symptoms went away. But, even today, I tire easily, and since then, I can only work for one day and must take a rest the next day.
   “About twenty years ago, everyone had to submit to an extensive physical examination. During that examination the doctor discovered my liver had been badly damaged by the radiation disease. So, even today, I must take some medication. It has helped over the years, but I am still under the doctor’s care and must rest several hours each day,” Miss Ueda said quietly.
     Before that conversation, we had not really thought about the after effects of the bomb. The immediate death and short range death had been well publicized. I wondered how many thousands or hundreds of thousands were still disabled or suffering after 35 years. When she stopped talking, we walked in silence until we reached the school.

Respectfully submitted,Publish Post
Kenneth Fenter

“Pee up a Tree is authentically Jim Henson..." Jane Kirkpatrick bestselling award-winning author of All Together in One Place

2010-08-03T11:40:00.000-07:00

“Pee up a Tree is authentically Jim Henson -- my former boss. It’s inventive, irreverent and therapeutically wise. The characters of Jim’s early life in rural community mental health in Oregon are singular and memorable; the trials and triumphs worthy of cheering. This is one man’s journey of service through parenting, teaching and healing, acts the world needs more of. Enjoy!” Jane Kirkpatrick, bestselling award-winning author of the non fiction, Homestead: Modern Pioneers Pursuing the Edge of Possibility, and novels A Tendering in the Storm and A Flickering Light.

Jim Henson and Arborwood Press thank Jane Kirkpatrick, author of 19 books to date. Jane Kirkpatrick's A Tendering in the Storm won the 2007 WILLA Literary Award for Best Original Paperback and A Flickering Light, a story based on her grandmother’s life as a turn of the century photographer, was named to Library Journal’s Best Books of 2009. Her just released book An Absence So Great, is the sequel to A Flickering Light.

Jane's endorsement of Jim's work is huge coming from an author who is so successful. My wife and I read her works as they come out. We attended her "book talks" when she visits the High Desert Museum periodically and come away, enlightened, and entertained.

We are about a day away from the final piece on Jim's book and announcing the availability of it.
We have review copies available now. If your hometown newspaper has a book section and you can help us connect with it for a review, how about contacting us.

Jim's book will available soon on the Arborwoodpress.com website and in short order on Amazon.com.

National Guard Youth Challenge Builds Self-Worth

2010-07-31T08:02:00.000-07:00

This week Adam Aaro, an anchor on the evening news at the NBC affiliate KDVZ in Bend ran a multi-part series The National Guard Youth Challenge. Yesterday I wrote about The Choir, a BBC program that builds self worth among youth in British Schools who do not have a choir singing program.

While the Youth Challenge takes a different approach by basically running troubled teens through a bootcamp type program. The end result is the same.

If you live out of the Bend area you can watch and read the series by following the link above. It is an inspiring story. As Aaro points out in the first installment "The next two weeks will greatly challenge these 150 plus cadets -- and some might not make it."

Respectfully,

Kenneth Fenter

Note: The following comment came in this morning (Aug. 2). Please note the date. Ken

August 9th Frank A. Strupith, Admissions Counselor
Oregon National Guard Youth Challenge Program
www.oycp.com
frank.a.strupith@mil.state.or.us
541-317-9623 ext. 223

Frank will be a guest on LATalkradio.com with Host Dore Frances of Bend, Oregon. The show airs live at 12 noon PST. Just go to LATalkradio.com to listen live.

Call in and ask questions live on the air.

The Choir: A BBC program that proves the power of music in self-esteem building

2010-07-31T07:51:00.000-07:00

"Hallelujah" led by choirmaster Gareth Malone This link will take you to the BBC website of the program "The Choir". In the video clip the Community Choir of the London Symphony Orchestra sings my favorite song the Leonard Cohen version. The choir is made up of people of all races, all ages, and from all walks of life.

In the week just past (July, 25-30) the BBC in the program "Choir" documents Northholt High School, a Baccalaureate with Technical College, as Gareth Malone recruits 25 students to be Britain's entry into the China World Choir Olympics. Northholt High School was described by Malone as a choir singing alien school.

When Malone addressed the students they were skeptical. If you watched the video clip and focused on the young man who did the opening solo, I am sure it was he, back in 2006 when the documentary was done, who said, "choir singing is for people in posh schools who played a lot of classical music and played violins and so forth.." A girl who in the beginning was very plain, timid, seemingly almost afraid of her shadow, said, "choir singing is for old, posh, or boring people."

The tryouts began and they were awkward to say the least. Maybe to us, but out of the 120 students who showed up to tryout, he was able to see the potential he was looking for in his starting 25.

Thus began the task of shaping a cohesive group of singers out of kids who had never had the chance to sing together, or it seemed to do anything together.
One of the first signs of trouble was absenteeism. The worst offender was Chloe. Malone locates her and questions her about her attendance and attitude and persuades her to rejoin the group.

At one point the young man who sang the solo in the video clip of Hallelujah broke, stormed out of rehearsal and slammed the door.

He takes them into the studio to record their CD. He admits they aren't ready, but the group does its best, the CD is cut and mailed along with the entry form. A three month wait ensues.
Of course they are selected to represent Great Britain.

The students are in awe when they arrive in China. But when they see and hear the competition they begin to wilt. It isn't until they are on the bus to their performance and one of the members takes the bus microphone and gives an impromptu speech ending with "formost of all we do for ourselves!" They sing and do well, but with virtually every nation on earth represented there can be four choirs advanced to the final level. They are not among the four.

A year later Gareth Malone and the BBC crew revisit Northholt High School to see what affect the experience has had on the 25 choir members.

Chloe, the shy, girl is shown applying a touch of makeup to her now radiant face and well groomed hair. She is on her way to present a Power Point presentation to a community group. The clip of her presentation shows a poised young woman, who speaks knowledgeably and without hesitation to an adult group.

Several of the choir members have sought singing outlets of their own in community choirs, church choirs, and in one case his own band. Others expressed a new appreciation for music in general and including classical. Several students changed their course of study to advance on to the University system rather than enter the adjoining technical college.

The level of camaraderie and friendship was still high a year later. The choir met with Malone and for old time's sake they sang their signature Simon and Garfunkle song, "Bridge over Trouble Waters." During the singing, Malone picked on a couple of individuals to sing solo, including Cloe, who sounded like an angel.

I thought the hour long show was great. The concept is interesting. This week, (First week in August). Malone goes to a different school, forms a different choir to compete in a different competition.

His point is that every child should sing in a choir. I think that could be expanded to ...play in a band... be on a team.

In my book The Ruin, the main character has to re-build his self-esteem on his own. It was a different time and a different place. Students now are attending schools which once had music, choirs, bands, teams. And now for various reasons those are the first things cut when there is a crunch. Maybe in a world such as we have right now, those should be the last things to be cut.

Respectfully,
Kenneth Fenter

Stephan Zacharias, the old timer in The Ruin, full page in East Oregonian

2010-07-30T06:51:00.000-07:00

I got my copy of the Pendleton, Oregon East Oregonian newspaper last night and the full page feature on my friend Stephan Zacharias. Stephan is on special assignment to the Denali National Park this summer through September playing the role of a Forest Ranger circa 1920's.

Many of you have followed his daily postings with wonderful photos of moose in the front yard, bear, and the spectacular scenery of the park. Stephan plays an important role in interpreting historical figures. I video taped several of his performances at the High Desert Museum (which you can view on his website. There is a link on this blog.) Stephan explains in the newspaper feature and told me at the time we did the videos that he spends a tremendous amount of time researching the historical figures that he portrays. From all that he can glean from the archives, he writes a monologue that runs from 15 to 30 minutes. Not only does he become the character, he makes himself up and wardrobes himself historically correctly to portray the character he is portraying.

When you get to Denali or to Colonial Williamsburg, be sure to seek out and enjoy a performance by Stephan Zacharias.

I think I've mentioned before on this blog that Stephan, inadvertently, provided valuable research for my novel The Ruin. I watched Stephan tanning deer hides at the High Desert Museum and asked questions about the process he was going through and he and fellow historical interpreter Bill Armstrong, who now produces programs for the History Channel, talked about brain tanning.

When I needed an old timer to quote in a newspaper article that my character could later use to help understand what he needed to do to tan a deer hide, Stephan graciously consented to let his name be used.
Well the city of Pendleton may be proud of their son, but there are many more Oregonians and now people from all over the world who visit Denali and Colonial Williamsburg who are proud of this young man and the amazing job that he so enthusiastically does.

Respectfully,
Kenneth Fenter

Dr. Phil talks to Bullied Girl 20 Years Later

2010-07-24T08:23:00.000-07:00

Like Clifton Kelley in The Ruin, a woman named Renee flashed back to her experience in grade school as an adult. In Renee's case she broke down when she saw a photo of her 7th grade tormentor on Face Book. Renee was a guest on the July 21 edition of the Dr. Phil syndicated television program. The quite attractive woman told Dr. Phil that when she saw the now adult woman on Face Book she suddenly broke down. She had never told her husband about being bullied in grade school. When he asked her why she had reacted the way she did, she told him it was nothing but then she began to sub uncontrollably.

In 7th grade her bully had told Renee she was, "Too ugly to live." and called her, "butter teeth" because of a yellow tint that her teeth had, a genetic condition.

Even though Renee had not told others about the bullying in grade school, she admitted to Dr. Phil that it had affected her life and was controlling how she treated her two daughters. She home schools her daughters so that they are protected from bullying at school. They suffer from the same genetic condition causing a yellow tint to their teeth so she uses whitener on them, even though it is their baby teeth.

Renee also did modeling after she graduated from school to prove to herself that she was not "too ugly to live" but still can't look in the mirror and believe that she is attractive. Dr. Phil asked the audience what they thought. The obviously beautiful woman drew unanimous approval from both audience and her husband. "Why can't I let it go?" she asked Dr. Phil.

Dr. Phil explained that bullying sets up a "toxic dialog" within the victim. He said in effect that if Renee had been told that she was "too ugly to live" once it would set up an "internal dialog" that told herself "50,000 times" that she was "too ugly to live".

On the show this Wednesday he did not bring up the case of the high school girl Phoebe Prince (see my blog of April 16). Is this what happened to her? The girls of South Hadley told her that for three months. Multiply that by 5o,000 time of "internal dialog."

Dr. Phil also talked about the "Toxic legacy that spreads". The after affects such as the sheltering that Renee was exhibiting by home schooling and the teeth whitening.

Dr. Phil put a graphic on the screen that he went over with Renee and the audience that I have seen variations on about the effects of bullying, whether it be in the workplace, at school, or at home: The Victim:

1. Experience doubts about self-worth/unclear identity.
2. Internalize the toxic message. Take over for the bully.
3. Unwillingness to test the message against reality. Unwillingness to generate alternative reality based internal dialog.

Dr. Phil ended the segment with the admonition that it takes "one thousand 'atta' boys to erase one 'you idiot'.

Updating Gaijin! Gaijin! for re-issue

2010-07-22T14:21:00.000-07:00

We are waiting for that final piece to finish Jim Henson's book, Pee Up a Tree: A Mental Health Memoir, so that we can send it off to the printers. As a respected practitioner in his field, Jin has several fellows who are recognized for their work and who have offered to contribute to his book. We have saved a spot for the first one to respond. Now we play the waiting game as his friends read his book to see how they wish to respond.

In the meantime there is time here at my desk to re-visit an old friend and fond memories. I have begun the process of scanning and touching up my first book on my family's sojourn in Japan. The book Gaijin! Gaijin! which came out in 1985 went through two editions. The first was typeset on a Brother proportional space disk typewriter that used carbon ribbons. The page design program was Microsoft Word that could feed proportional spaced lines to it and recognized the font.

Unfortunately, for the preceding seven years my English had taken a beating with verbalizing in "Communication English" in Japan, both while we lived there and especially for the following three years while I criss-crossed the Pacific ocean with stained glass for my friends in the Nagasaki area.

The stained glass business came to an abrupt halt following a tumble from our roof when the ladder went out from under me, During that long convalescence, the Japanese journals came out and two books were born: Gaijin! Gaijin! and MoIchi Do; Once More.

Back to the "Communication English". The reviews on the first edition of Gaijin! Gaijin! came back with some interesting feedback. Words like "judicious editing" were among the kindest. People loved the story, but some were appalled at the "Communication English". With some help I re-edited Gaijin! for the second edition, re-typset it and re-issued it. I sold it mostly by telephone to the Japanese bookstores in the United States and by attending language related workshops and by visiting libraries.

All three books are still out there and occasionally I still get a note about one or the other. They are still being traded on the used book market. I have begun the scanning and am editing I scan. I hope to have all three books ready again soon.

It is interesting to see what we were doing 33 years ago as I read about our experience. My children are now at the same age, just a couple of years older, than we were when we took them to Japan. They both have children who are the same age as they were when we went. I look at them and wonder how they would do under the same circumstances.

Knowing what we do now, would we do it? Wow, probably not. We were so naive. I just read the fourth chapter about the boat ride from Okinawa to Kagoshima. We did that rather than fly, which most people would have done. As I read the pages, the images come back as clearly as if we were still walking among the tatami mats on the boat. We were on that boat August 16, 1977, when we heard on the boat p.a. that Elvis was dead.

On the boat we met a priest who had lived in Japan for many years. He asked us what we were doing. Lora and I told him. He shook his head in pity and he said, "good thing you don't have children." I told him, "Well, we have two children." His pity turned to anger. We had not landed on the main Islands of Japan and he was planting the seeds of immense doubt about what we had gotten ourselves and our 9 year old daughter and 12 year old son into.

Coming soon from Arborwood Press: Pee Up a Tree by Jim Henson

2010-07-12T08:28:00.000-07:00

Pee Up A Tree: A Mental Health Memoir

With an early 1970s setting in Oregon’s Umpqua River valley, this book shares the courage, wisdom, humor and folly of ordinary people through the extraordinary lens of a youthful mental health professional. Author Jim Henson draws upon 40 years of professional experience as a clinical social worker in the process of illuminating the lives of clinic employees and the individuals and families they served. The readers of this book will enjoy this unique opportunity to be observers inside the community, inside the clinic and inside the personal connections between client and clinician. Think Garrison Keillor’s Lake Wobegon or James Herriot’s Yorkshire countryside and you are almost there.

I'm excited to announce that we are in the final launching stage of a new non-fiction release of Jim Henson's first book, Pee Up a Tree: A Mental Health Memoir. The book is based on his start in Oregon three years out of graduate school. as a young mental health professional in Oregon's Umpqua River Valley.

After that stint in the early 70's Jim has resided and practiced in Central Oregon first as Director of Mental Health Services for Deschutes County, and later in private practice. He retired last year and has devoted the past year to travel and finishing his manuscript.

Jim joined a group of us at the Bend Senior Center where he began sharing chapters of his story. We called ourselves a group who were "Writing for Fun". The group began in 2005 and continued until last fall when key members reached a point in their lives where it was very difficult to attend. The oldest member of the group by that time was 92. In the time she was able to attend the weekly sessions, she published three books!

During the first year that Jim attended the group, while he was winding down his practice in 2006-2007, we put together an anthology called "Writing for Fun: featuring 12 of Bend's Senior Authors. Jim contributed "The Landing" the move from Chicago. It was to later became the first chapter of his book, Pee Up a Tree.

In the following three years, I finished my novel, The Ruin. Jim's insight into Dream Therapy, played a role in my novel as my character Cliff has a series of significant dreams. Jim and the senior group listened to the group offered valuable feedback on that aspect of the book. In Jim's book he delves into dream therapy among many other aspects of situations that arose in Douglas County from Roseburg to Drain.

Our group was entertained each week by each other's stories and Jim was a cheerleader to each individual in the group. We are all now cheering Jim on in the result of his putting down on paper, much in the manner that he speaks in person his sometimes faltering steps as he ventured out on into his career and listened as patients sometimes seemed to find solutions to their own problems under Jim's guidance.

We will keep you advised as to the release date of this new offering by Arborwood Press.

Respectfully,

Kenneth Fenter

The Ruin Now on Amazon.com in Second Edition

2010-07-12T07:58:00.000-07:00

Well The Ruin is now available on Amazon.com in Second Edition. This edition is available nationally and internationally through wholesale channels and expands the availability to libraries and bookstores worldwide.
The story is the same. The cover is different. Check it out on Amazon.com.

I'm still printing and binding the original edition at Arborwood Press. Bookclubs interested in the book should go to Arborwoodpress.com for special pricing.

Readers comments on The Ruin: "It is an incredible book."

2010-07-07T07:02:00.000-07:00

Although an "official" book review has not appeared in a newspaper that I know of, I've received communication from those who have read The Ruin or who are in the process of reading it. These are the book reviews that count, as far as I'm concerned. I get it, that a favorable book review by a person who works for a newspaper or who writes book also, will help spur sales. But if a reader with similar taste in books tells someone else they have just finished a good read, that is a good book review.

The communications I get come either directly, by mail, e-mail, FaceBook, phone, or some indirectly as in the case of the first one below, which was sent to my daughter. Some communications have come in personal letters which have shared experiences of bullying and go on to share what the book meant to them. They are too personal to use to promote a book. I will cherish those letters forever. As with most of the thousands of first time novels that are published each year, The Ruin will have a long way to go to earn more than it takes to keep it out there. But in terms of making a difference in lives of those who have carried a weight for most of their lives, it may already be making a slight difference. That makes it worth the effort.

"So exciting, Janelle! I'm up to page 266. It is an incredible book. Did your dad already know all of the "how to...survival" topics that he tells us about through Cliff before he wrote the book? It is such a good story and so informational... plus I had to think of Moombeam the other night when my husband and son observed our little backyard skunk beginning his evening meal with our compost goodies. I am sure Moonbeam is a lot cuter though."

"Hey Ken, from the first page of "The Ruin" I have not been able to put it down! Great book! My Jim can probably do all of the things Clifton does ... but he doesn't get the book until I am finished! You rock, Ken!"

For those of you who have communicated your thoughts on The Ruin, many thanks! Your thoughts are keeping it going.

Respectfully,
Kenneth Fenter

The Bend Bulletin Visits the Ruin!

2010-07-05T14:10:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning I woke earlier than usual and waited impatiently for the familiar sound of the newspaper to land on the driveway. It usually makes it's arrival long before daylight during the weekdays but a little later on the weekends. I went out and searched the drive by the porch and light over the garage doors. No paper yet. Started the coffee and settled back for the the final chapter of another self published book the autobiography of Darcy Wingo, Vietnam veteran and career helicopter pilot. Six AM. First cup of coffee finished. Checked the driveway once again. It's there! I slip the plastic rain cover off and unfold it as I walk back to the house. Above The Bulletin mast head is a small photo of a hand holding an untrimmed copy of The Ruin and next to it in 36pt red type the heading "Books made by hand" and the sub head "Local writer takes self-publishing to its extreme-community, B1.
I force myself to pour a second cup of coffee as I turn to the Community section and there are the center four columns with a photo of the author of The Ruin holding a copy on his knee with a grin and below a story by Bulletin feature writer David Jasper. As usual David wrote a very well tailored story of my novel and my efforts to bring the novel to life through the self publishing process with my own twist.

I would love to re-produce the story here but copyright laws and ethics prevent that. However if you would like to see the original feature you can go to www.bendbulletin.com/communitylife It is free if you are a current print subscriber to the Bulletin. It does cost 50 cents to access the online newspaper for one day, if you are not a subscriber to the print edition or are not an online subscriber. The article appeared in the Saturday, May 15, 2010 edition.
I didn't realize people were so interested in the fact that I was doing my own printing and binding. That has drawn quite a bit of attention.

The Ruin National Edition ready for debut on Amazon, National, Library, International channels

2010-07-05T14:02:00.000-07:00

I will receive the proof copy of The Ruin this week for the National Edition of the Ruin. If it meets the standards I expect it to, then I will give the go ahead for it to featured on Amazon.com and to enter the wholesale market for distribution to bookstores throughout the United States and abroad. This will also make it available for sale to the library trade. Book fulfillment will be handled by CreateSpace, a subsidiary of Amazon.

Arborwood Press will continue to publish limited quantities of the original edition of The Ruin at its facilities in Bend, Oregon and market them through the website arborwoodpress.com and at the original price. The books I print at Arborwood Press are special to me. I do the printing, binding, packaging, and autograph each one. Usually I know the person the book goes out to. Often I hear back from that reader and the reader shares their story with me.

That is not to say that the reader who buys a copy from Barnes and Noble in Bar Harbor, Maine or the Corner Book Store in Naples, Florida can't sit down and write an e-mail or even call me and share their story. I'd love that. My e-mail is in the back of the book. Comments are welcome on the blog also. None have been rejected so far.

I'm excited about the book's availability to the national audience. I had resisted because I wanted to keep the price down. In order to make it available to the wholesale trade, I had to raise the price about five dollars to bring it in line with books of similar page count. The alternative was cut the page count. I did not want to do that to the story. The e-editions of the book remain the same, whether at the Kindle Store, or directly from my web site.
Respectfully submitted,
Kenneth Fenter

The Ruin Selection for Two Book Clubs!

2010-06-22T12:25:00.000-07:00

This week came the exciting news that two book clubs have selected The Ruin for coming months. A book club in Eugene, Oregon of retired teachers, a librarian and a science professor will read and discuss the book at their August meeting. I've been invited to sit in on the meeting if I can get over the mountain for that.

The second notice came this morning from a club of teachers in the Bend, Oregon area who have selected the book for their October meeting. My wife and I have been invited to sit in on that meeting as well.

I am thrilled at the idea of my novel having been selected as a book club read. And to sit in on the discussion, even if as a fly on the wall. I have never belonged to a book club, but have attended a meeting or two that my wife belonged to, and found them to be freewheeling, thought provoking events. It will be interesting to hear their take on my book.

Any group who is interested in the book as a book club selection should e-mai arborwoodpress@aol.com and ask about special pricing.

Respectfully,
Kenneth Fenter

Share Alaskan Adventure With Stephan Zacharias

2010-06-22T10:55:00.000-07:00

Information for writing the novel The Ruin came from many places, personal experiences over a 70 year lifetime, observations, watching and listening to rangers at national parks, monuments, and people who have made recreation of history their passion. One such person is my friend Stephan Zacharias. I became acquainted with him when he became a living history interpreter at the High Desert Museum here at Bend, Oregon. Stephan re-created historical figures such as John Day, Explorer Jim Bridger, John Beeson, an early advocate for civil rights for the Native Americans, and other Northwest figures. He also participated in fur trader encampments, and in between his presentations, he donned farmer garb and worked around the homestead doing chores including tanning deer hides etc.

In short, Steve did many of the things that my character Cliff does in his struggle to survive during his stay in the cliff dwelling in the Ruin. Thanks Stephan for showing me how to do some of those things. Well, now Stephan is on a leave from his current assignment at Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia to play the part as a historical forest ranger at Denali National Park in Alaska. You can follow his adventure on Stephan's Blog by following the link on this blog. He posts photos almost every day of the wildlife and scenery up there. It is spectacular of course. Right now he is commenting on the hundreds of forest fires.

Thanks for your enthusiasm and keeping us in the loop Stephan.

Your friend,
Kenneth
Stephan's Alaskan Adventure

Kindle Edition now on Amazon.com

2010-06-14T14:41:00.000-07:00

Just posted on Amazon.com Kindle store, The Ruin, by Kenneth Fenter! How about that. For you Kindle owners who have been waiting to order directly from Amazon, The Ruin went on sale there today. I was able to upload it over the weekend and got the official announcement this afternoon. We are moving forward. Barnes and Noble announced the other day that they are making it possible to upload to their site momentarily and I've signed up to do that as soon as they are ready. The file is formatted and ready for them.
In the meantime if you have an electronic reading device (e-reader) i.e., sony reader, nook, ipad, kendle and are comfortable with downloading from the arborwood.com site, the book is ready for your device there. The same price, same format. Just 9.99.

Say Goodbye to Law and Order with a School Shooting

2010-05-28T11:50:00.000-07:00

This week we said goodbye to Television's 20 year long run of Law and Order. There have been so many amazing stories and situations. It was interesting that the plot of the finale was a shooting in a public school. The show was broadcast on May 24, 12 years and 3 days after the shooting at Thurston High School in Springfield, Oregon and 11 years 34 days after Columbine High School in Littleton Colorado. In the Law and Order episode the shooter was a ruined teacher not a student.
A couple of frightening statistics: Since 1998 there are 119 students and adult deaths in shootings at schools. Those shootings were during a total of 54 shootings in American schools.
As per the usual Law and Order program the setting of the final episode was New York City and in this case the New York Public Schools. It was dramatic in emphasizing our American approach to most things including critical issues such as school shootings, we are reactive rather than proactive. Wait until the shooter is in the building before we try to prevent it.
An interesting part of the plot in the final episode was the "rubber room" maintained by the New York City school system where teachers were required to report and spend all day waiting for their "day in court" for "infractions". The interviewed teachers had in one case defended herself from a student who was beating her, in another had refused a student permission to go to the bathroom five minutes before the end of the period so the student urinated in the trash can in the front of the room and when the teacher approached him the student charged him with sexual harassment. Similar statements went on and on to the dumbfounded district attorney lawyers. Some of the teachers had been in the "rubber room" for two years waiting for their hearing.
I had heard about the "rubber room" from a retired teacher of the New York system. He had not been confined to it, thank goodness. But he had had some choice words to say about conditions that led to teachers landing there.
I can't help but think that this in itself leads to part of the problems kids have who are being harassed. I wonder if a child is having trouble with a bully, can he or she go to a teacher for help, if he or she sees that the very teacher that might give that help is powerless against those same bullies to provide the help. Is the teacher going to be thinking, "Will I end up in the rubber room if I tell Hector to lay off and leave Cliff walk down the hall in peace!"
Fortunately my daughter and daughter-in-law both teach in systems where they don't have to worry about that yet.
Respectfully submitted,
Kenneth Fenter

The Ruin E-Book Editions Now Available

2010-05-19T10:08:00.000-07:00

E-book Editions of The Ruin went on sale today online in all formats. The final conversion into the Kindle with the table of contents took place yesterday. I had been worried that the original formatting might not hold but the Kindle for PC viewer showed all the formatting that I wanted to be in place. All that I required was the original use of italics. The main character Clifton's thought process is shown in italic type face in the hard copy. I wanted to retain that in the E-edition. That was relatively easy in the EPUB format through InDesign. The tutorials cast doubt on the Kindle conversions retaining the formatting. But it seemed to work just fine.
Order information is available on the website.
I'll guarantee the performance on your device, or your purchase will be refunded.

Nice write up this past Saturday by feature writer David Jasper of the Bend daily Bulletin and photographer Ryan Brennecke. One thing that makes Bend, Oregon such a desirable place to live is the support that the community gives to the arts. The Bulletin is no exception. I was afraid that my book might not get much attention because it is a novel that is self published. The fact that it is not only self published but published in house seems to be part of what caught the Bulletin's attention. The fact that the book can be done in one spot, start to finish, and be on the shelf indistinguishable from the books coming out of the big publishing houses.

It is a fascinating process to see it grow and to see how far it can go, step by step, inch by inch.

Three local bookstores took it last week, Paulina Springs in Sisters and Redmond Oregon and Between the Covers in Bend, Oregon. The nice thing about those three bookstores is that they are small independent bookstores that know their customers, have repeat customers, don't even try to compete with the big box stores in volume. They probably don't have the book you might have heard of, but go in and ask for it and they'll get it for you.

The Deschutes Public Library is cataloging it. As soon as that process is complete, it will be in the data base that is subscribed to by virtually every library in the US.

Step by step, inch by inch.

It is a timeless story. Right now I'm not going anywhere. Just having a good time.
Respectfully submitted,
Kenneth Fenter