In the second of two interviews, Janet Riehl, author of the book Sightlines: A Poet's Diary and the audio book Sightlines: A Family Love Story in Poetry and Music, discusses how her parents inspired her to see creativity as a natural part of living, her experiences in Africa and her dedication to promoting the arts through her website and community involvement in St. Louis, Missouri.
Family Inspiration
Suite 101: How did the way you were raised affect your attitude toward creativity?
Riehl: Hard work and discipline filled my childhood. We grew, picked, and put-up all our food. Our family was self-sustaining without any fuss about it.
Throughout his life my father wrote, played music, carved critters, and called square dances. My mother taught, cooked, traveled, sewed, knitted, painted, and quilted. Their creative activities were part of practical life rather than set apart. The premise that a creative person is at heart “a maker” who works hard gave me a strong base.
Suite 101: You are closely connected with your father, now 94. How does he continue to inspire you?
Riehl: We work on creative projects together publishing books, playing music in nursing homes, and appearing at public events. He continues to write, play music, carve, and work hard outside on our land. That’s what kept him going—the feeling of being useful.
Website for Writers and Artists and African Influence
Suite 101 :Your website Riehl Life: Village Wisdom for the 21st Century has developed a community of writers and visual artists. How does it support the arts?
Riehl: The website is dedicated to creating connections through the arts and across cultures. That gives me a big field to roam.
These days Riehlife is a blog-magazine that I edit and publish. There’s a theme for each month, and I publish poems, stories, and articles on creativity. The announcement section promotes art exhibits, dance and theater, and book launches.
Suite 101: There’s an “Ah, Africa” category for your website. As a young woman you worked in Botswana and Gana for five years-- volunteering for the Peace Corps and funded by British Quakers. How does this experience still affect you?
Riehl: My work in Africa infused the rest of my life with meaning, shape, and difficulty. Wherever I worked and traveled remain places of the heart. I came into my own as a grown-up woman who knew her worth on her own terms. Everything I’ve done since springs from being included in community, and receiving such graciousness and generosity.
I began drawing, composing music, and journaling. I led a puppetry troupe for participatory education in villages. I edited a country-wide newsletter. I learned how to teach and lead community development projects. I felt that if I could think it, then I could do it. That’s powerful.
In 1990 I mounted my first art show Celebrating an African Experience. Currently I’m writing a memoir Finding My African Heart: A Village of Stories.
Returning to Africa
Suite 101: In 2008 you returned to Botswana and Ghana after 30 years. What did you find?
Riehl: Naturally things had changed! I’d worried about this before I left, but friends assured me that though Africa had changed, the hearts of the people hadn’t. They predicted that no matter what I saw on the surface, I’d move comfortably and easily in the places I’d come to love.
These two trips balanced my memories and longing. To take this renewed strength into my future was a huge creative act—one not written between the covers of a book.
St. Louis Art and Community
Suite 101: What is especially vibrant about the cultural life of St. Louis?
Riehl: St. Louis, the 16th largest city in the United States, is really a big small town. As soon as I arrived I began promoting African-American arts and culture on Riehlife. That mission allowed me to meet cultural, business and political leaders in this community.
Suite 101: What projects are you looking forward to?
Riehl: I’ll continue doing what I’ve started—Riehlife, creative projects with my father, and writing a monthly “Creative Catalyst” column for Telling Her Stories: The Broad View.
“Finding My African Heart: A Village of Stories” is my long term project. This summer in southern California, I’ll promote the anthology Spirit of a Woman: Stories to Empower and Inspire. published by Santa Monica Press. My essay “Sliding Glass Door” is one of a dozen in the book. Coolest thing of all? My name is on the cover with well-known women authors I admire.
Links:
Interview 1: Janet Riehl: Healing Grief Through Poetry
Riehl Life: Village Wisdom for the 21st Century: www.riehlife.com
Sightlines: A Poet's Diary amzn.to/do2Mug
Sightlines: A Family Love Story in Poetry and Music www.cdbaby.com/cd/janetgraceriehl
Telling Her Stories: The Broad View: http://storycircle.typepad.com/scn/creativity
Spirit of a Woman: Stories to Empower and Inspire: womens-spirit.com
Sources:
Riehl, Janet, Sightlines: A Poet's Diary, iUniverse, 2006Riehl, Janet Sightlines: A Family Love Story in Poetry and Music, Independent project copyrighted by Janet Grace Riehl 2008. Manufactured and printed by Disc Makers, Pennsauken, NJ
László-Gopadze, Terry (editor), Spirit of a Woman: Stories to Empower and Inspire, Santa Monica Press, Santa Monica, 2010
Alethea Eason - Alethea Eason is a writer, teacher and free-lance editor. Hungry, her humorous middle grade science fiction novel was published by ...
