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WORK TITLE: Day-Old Child
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WEBSITE: https://carollynnpearson.com/
CITY: Walnut Creek
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COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: American
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BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Kirkus Reviews Apr. 1, 2021, review of Pearson, Carol Lynn: DAY-OLD CHILD. p. NA.
Kirkus Reviews Feb. 15, 2020, , “Pearson, Carol Lynn: I’LL WALK WITH YOU.”.
MBR Bookwatch Mar., 2007. Cowper, Mary. , “No More Goodbyes.”.
Booklist vol. 95 no. 4 Oct. 15, 1998, Hyde, Toni. , “The Modern Magi.”. p. 374.
Publishers Weekly vol. 245 no. 37 Sept. 14, 1998, , “THE MODERN MAGI.”. p. 50.
Publishers Weekly vol. 244 no. 15 Apr. 14, 1997, , “Morning Glory Mother.”.
Publishers Weekly vol. 243 no. 36 Sept. 2, 1996, , “A Stranger for Christmas.”. p. 109.
School Library Journal vol. 67 no. 5 May, 2021. Callegari, Catherine. , “PEARSON, Carol Lynn. Day-Old Child.”. p. 69.
Hi, I’m Carol Lynn—poet, author, playwright, screenwriter, performer, speaker, general free-lance philosopher. Born in Salt Lake City. M.A. in theatre from Brigham Young University. Two bumper stickers over the years are instructive: “Loving Kindness is my Religion”—and “Question Authority.” Life has pushed me onto unexpected paths, and it all works out because…
In fourth grade, in Gusher, Utah, I won four dollars in a school district essay contest on “Why We Should Eat a Better Breakfast.” And yes, this morning I had a bowl of my own excellent granola, followed by a hike in the hills near my home in Walnut Creek, California.
In high school I began writing in earnest. I have now in my files a folder marked “Poetry, Very Bad,” and another, “Poetry, Not Quite So Bad.” Writing served a good purpose for that very dramatic, insecure adolescent. Also at that time I began to keep a diary, which I still maintain and which has been indescribably useful to me both as a writer and as a pilgrim on the earth.
After graduating from Brigham Young University with an MA in theatre, teaching for a year in Utah at Snow College, and traveling for a year, I taught part-time at BYU in the English department and was then hired by the motion picture studio on campus to write educational and religious screenplays.
While performing at the university as Mrs. Antrobus in Thornton Wilder’s “The Skin of Our Teeth,” I met and fell in love with Gerald Pearson, a shining, blond, enthusiastic young man, who fell in love with me and my poems.
“We’ve got to get them published,” he said on our honeymoon, and soon dragged me up to the big city, Salt Lake City, to see who would be first in line to publish them. “Poetry doesn’t sell,” insisted everyone we spoke to, and I, somewhat relieved, put publishing on the list of things to do posthumously.
But not Gerald. “Then I’ll publish them,” he said. Borrowing two thousand dollars, he created a company called “Trilogy Arts” and published two thousand copies of a book called Beginnings, a slim, hard-back volume with a white cover that featured a stunning illustration, “God in Embryo,” by our good friend Trevor Southey, now an internationally known artist. On the day in autumn of 1967 that Gerald delivered the books by truck to our little apartment in Provo, I was terrified. I really had wanted to do this posthumously.
Beginnings
Today
You came running
With a small specked egg
Warm in your hand.
You could barely understand,
I know,
As I told you of Beginnings–
Of egg and bird.
Told, too,
That years ago you began,
Smaller than sight.
And then,
As egg yearns for sky
And seed stretches to tree,
You became–
Like me.
Oh,
But there’s so much more.
You and I, child,
Have just begun.
Think:
Worlds from now
What might we be?–
We, who are seed
Of Deity.
We toted a package of books up to the BYU bookstore, and asked to see the book buyer. “Well,” she said, “nobody ever buys poetry, but since you’re a local person, let me take four on consignment.” As they came in packages of twenty, we persuaded her to take twenty--on consignment. Next day she called and asked, “Those books you brought up here. Do you have any more of them?”
I had anticipated that the two thousand books, now stacked in our little closet and under our bed and in my Daddy’s garage, would last us years and years as wedding presents. But immediately we ordered a second printing. Beginnings sold over 150,000 copies before we gave it to Doubleday and then to Bookcraft.
Beginnings was followed by other volumes of poetry: The Search, The Growing Season, A Widening View, I Can’t Stop Smiling, and Women I Have Known and Been. Most of the poems from the earlier books now appear in a compilation, Beginnings and Beyond. The poems have been widely reprinted in such places as Ann Landers’ column, the second volume of Chicken Soup for the Soul, and college textbooks such as Houghton Mifflin’s Structure and Meaning: an Introduction to Literature. That first little volume of verse, and my husband’s determination, laid the foundation for my entire career.
Another characteristic of my husband was to have a profound effect on both my career and my life. Soon after our engagement, he informed me that homosexual feelings and behavior had been part of his past. But he desperately wanted to do things the “right” way. He loved me and wanted a family. I loved him and knew we could make it work: all that was needed was his repentance and my love.
We each gave the best we had. But after twelve years of marriage and four children, it was evident we were in an impossible situation. We divorced in 1978, remained friends, and six years later I sang to him as he lay on my couch dying of AIDS. It never occurred to me that I would tell that tragic story, but seeing that I was in a position to shed light on a very misunderstood subject, I wrote Goodbye, I Love You, published in 1986 by Random House.
I am fortunate to have been able to support my four children through a writing career marked by a wide variety of books, films, plays, speaking and performing. Those first copies of Beginnings, tucked away in the closet, opened the door to a richly creative life that includes over forty books and plays. For this I am deeply grateful.
Carol Lynn Pearson
Carol Lynn Pearson has established an impressive career as a best-selling author of more than forty books and plays. With Consider the Butterfly, Carol Lynn moves her relationship with readers in a new and more intimate direction, sharing personal stories in "an innocent and awesome show-and-tell" of her experience with the phenomenon of synchronicity. Carol Lynn is the mother of four grown children and lives in Walnut Creek, California.
Genres: Inspirational
Series
Fable
The Lesson (1998)
What Love Is (1999)
Girlfriend, You Are The Best! (2000)
A Strong Man (2001)
Will You Still Be My Daughter? (2001)
The Gift: A Fable for Our Times (2001)
A Sister (2002)
Girlfriend: A Fable for Friends (2010)
aka Girlfriend!
I'll Always be Your Daughter (2010)
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Novels
The Growing Season (1976)
A Lasting Peace (1983)
A Widening View (1983)
A Stranger for Christmas (1984)
The Modern Magi (1994)
The Christmas Thief (1995)
Morning Glory Mother (1997)
Summer of Truth (2007)
The Dance (2007)
The Other Santa (2021)
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Collections
Beginnings (poems) (1967)
The Search (poems) (1970)
Daughters Of Light (poems) (1974)
Call It Mother (poems) (1979)
I Can't Stop Smiling (poems) (1984)
Women I Have Known & Been (poems) (1992)
Picture Windows (poems) (1996)
Beginnings and Beyond (poems) (2005)
In Love Again and Always (poems) (2007)
The Sweet, Still Waters of Home (poems) (2011)
Finding Mother God (poems) (2020)
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Plays
Martyr-in-waiting (1968)
Don't Count Your Chickens Until They Cry Wolf (1979)
I Believe in Make-believe (1984)
Mother Wove the Morning (1992)
Move On! (1995)
No More Goodbyes (2007)
Facing East (2011)
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Picture Books
My Turn On Earth (1977)
The Stocking Stuffer's Story (1998)
The Christmas Play (2004)
The Christmas Moment (2005)
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Novellas
I'll Walk with You (2020)
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Non fiction
The Order Is Love (1971)
The Flight and the Nest (1975)
The Busy Bishop's Notebook (1976)
The Model Mormon Mother's Notebook (1977)
The Model Mormon Missionary's Notebook (1978)
Will I Every Forget This Day? Excerpts from the Diaries of Carol Lynn Pearson (1980)
The Relief Society Sister's Notebook (1981)
Today, Tomorrow and Four Weeks from Tuesday (1983)
Blow Out the Wishbone (1985)
Good-bye, I Love You (1986)
One On the Seesaw (1988)
Fuzzy Red Bathrobe (2000)
Day-old Child (2001)
Consider the Butterfly (2002)
The Runaway Mother (2006)
Embracing Coincidence (2007)
Priceless Moments (2008)
The Lord Is My Shepherd (2009)
In Dog Years I'm Dead (2010)
I'm Still a Hot Babe, But Now It Comes in Flashes (2011)
The Hero's Journey of the Gay and Lesbian Mormon (2012)
The Ghost of Eternal Polygamy (2016)
Carol Lynn Pearson is the author of over 40 books and plays that have together sold over 800,000 copies. Her memoir "Goodbye, I Love You" tells the story of her marriage to a gay man, their divorce, ongoing friendship, and her caring for him as he died of AIDS. This story made her a guest on such programs as "The Oprah Winfrey Show," and "Good Morning, America." She was featured in "People Magazine."
A stage play, "Facing East," the story of a Mormon couple dealing with the suicide of their gay son, premiered in Salt Lake City, had a limited Off-Broadway run and a San Francisco run. She wrote and performed over 300 times internationally a one-woman play, "Mother Wove the Morning," in which she plays sixteen women throughout history in search of the female face of God, and which earned an award from "Booklist" as "one of the top 25 videos of the year."
She has been a featured speaker at numerous events as diverse as the International Conference of the Sisters of Mercy, the National Association of Women Judges, and the International Conference of the Red Hat Society. She lives in Walnut Creek, California. Outside the window of her second-story home office is a magnolia tree, which is always in full bloom on Valentine's Day. Visit her at www.clpearson.com.
Carol Lynn Pearson
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"Carol Pearson" redirects here. For the author of Awakening the Heroes Within, see Carol S. Pearson.
Carol Lynn Pearson
Born December 1, 1939 (age 81)
Rexburg, Madison County, Idaho
Nationality United States
Alma mater Brigham Young University (MA, theatre)
Occupation Poet, playwright, novelist, social critic
Website CarolLynnPearson.com
Carol Lynn Wright Pearson (born December 1, 1939) is an American poet, author, screenwriter, and playwright. A member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), Pearson is best known for her book Goodbye, I Love You, a memoir of her marriage to a gay man who died of AIDS in 1984. She frequently addresses the topics of LGBT acceptance and the role of Latter Day Saint women.
Contents
1 Personal life
2 Works
3 References
4 External links
Personal life
A fourth-generation Latter Day Saint, Pearson was born in Salt Lake City to Lelland Rider Wright and Emeline Sirrine Wright. They would settle in Provo, where Pearson attended Brigham Young High School.[1] Her mother died of breast cancer when Carol Lynn was fifteen. Carol Lynn studied music and theater at Brigham Young University, where she won the award for Best Actress two years in a row.
Pearson married actor, musician, and songwriter Gerald Neils Pearson (1942–1984), whom she had met in a college production of The Skin of Our Teeth, on September 9, 1966 in Salt Lake City, Utah. The two were devout Latter Day Saints who both descended from several generations of Latter-day Saints. They were married for 12 years and had four children together, settling in Provo, Utah.
Gerald had told Carol Lynn while they were engaged that he had had sexual relationships with men, but had left that phase of his life behind. Latter Day Saint authorities also assured the couple that marriage would turn Gerald into a heterosexual.[2] However, he eventually confronted his homosexuality and after a move to California prompted by his desire to explore this side of himself, they separated and were divorced in 1978. He returned to live with her and their children after being diagnosed with AIDS in 1984, and she cared for him until his death. Her book Goodbye, I Love You is about their life together.
Since then, Pearson has become an unofficial spokesperson for acceptance of gay people by their Latter Day Saint families, as well as a stronger leadership role for women in the Latter Day Saint community. Many of her works address these issues, and she speaks on these and related subjects around the country. She notes, "I love the Mormon community ... and I have a unique opportunity to build bridges."
Pearson's daughter Emily (b. 1968) is an actress[3] and writer who is the author of Dancing With Crazy (2011), a memoir of her life and family. Pearson's elder son John (b. 1969) is a professional caricaturist[4] and one of the original animators of The Simpsons; younger son Aaron Pearson (b. 1971) is a rock musician.[5] Her youngest child, Katharine Sirrine "Katy" Pearson Adams (1975–1999), died of a brain tumor at the age of 23. She has four grandchildren. Pearson's former son-in-law, Steven Fales (b. 1970) is an internationally acclaimed solo performance artist most noted for his Mormon Boy Trilogy (2018)[6] that tells his coming-out story. He is the father of two of Pearson's four grandchildren.[7]
Works
Pearson is probably best known for her memoir Goodbye, I Love You and the LDS musical My Turn On Earth. Her play Facing East, about a Latter Day Saint family dealing with the suicide of a gay son, opened Off Broadway on May 29, 2007.[8] She also wrote One On The Seesaw, a lighthearted book about raising a family as a single parent.
Early in her career she published poetry and essays in various venues. Her plays Pegora the Witch and Think Your Way to a Million won statewide contests in Utah; a third, Martyr-in-Waiting, was published by the Mutual Improvement Association. She was employed at this time by Brigham Young University's motion-picture department.[9] Her first book was the poetry collection, Beginnings, published in 1969. Her other works include:
The Search (1970)
The Order is Love (1971)
Daughters of Light (1973)
Cipher in the Snow (screenplay) 1973
The Growing Season (1976)
The Flight and the Nest (1977)
A Widening View (1983)
Blow Out the Wishbone (1985)
Goodbye, I Love You: The Story of a Wife, Her Homosexual Husband, and a Love Honored For Time And All Eternity (1987) ISBN 1-55517-984-3
Lasting Peace (1990)
Mother Wove the Morning (1992)
Women I Have Known and Been (1993)
Picture Windows: A Carol Lynn Pearson Collection (1996)
Morning Glory Mother (1997)
The Lesson: A Fable For Our Times (1998)
What Love Is (1999)
Fuzzy Red Bathrobe: Questions From the Heart For Mothers and Daughters (2000)
Girlfriend, You Are the Best! (2001)
Day-Old Child And Other Celebrations of Motherhood (2001)
Will You Still Be My Daughter? A Fable For Our Times (2001)
A Strong Man: A Fable For Our Times (2001)
The Gift: A Fable For Our Times (2001)
Consider the Butterfly: Transforming Your Life Through Meaningful Coincidence (2002)
A Christmas Thief (2003) ISBN 978-1-59955-184-5
The Modern Magi (2003)
The Christmas Moment (2005) ISBN 1-55517-869-3
Beginnings and Beyond (2005) ISBN 1-55517-870-7
The Model Mormon Mother's Notebook (2005) ISBN 1-55517-858-8
The Runaway Mother (2006) ISBN 1-55517-927-4
A Stranger For Christmas (2007) ISBN 978-1-59955-088-6
In Love Again and Always: Love Poems by Carol Lynn Pearson (2007) ISBN 978-1-59955-042-8
The Dance (2007) ISBN 978-1-59955-097-8
Summer of Truth (2007) ISBN 978-1-59955-046-6
No More Goodbyes: Circling the Wagons Around Our Gay Loved Ones (2007)
Priceless Moments: Snapshots of Motherhood (2008) ISBN 9781599551425
The Sweet, Still Waters of Home: Inspiration for Mothers from the twenty-third Psalm (2011) ISBN 978-1-59955-802-8
The Ghost of Eternal Polygamy: Haunting the Hearts and Heaven of Mormon Women and Men (2016)
I'll Walk With You (2020) ISBN 978-1423653950
Finding Mother God: Poems to Heal the World (2020) ISBN 978-1423656685
Mormon author Carol Lynn Pearson tries to separate church and hate
Steven Winn
,
Chronicle Arts and Culture Critic
Aug. 17, 2007
3
MORMON_007_MBK.JPG Author and playwright Carol Lynn Pearson sits onstage before the start of her play "Facing East" at Theatre Rhinoceros in San Francisco, CA, on Saturday, August, 11, 2007. photo taken: 8/11/07 Mike Kane / The Chronicle **Carol Lynn Pearson Ran on: 08-18-2007 Author and playwright Carol Lynn Pearson says she has a unique opportunity to build bridges between the gay community and the Mormon population.
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3MORMON_007_MBK.JPG Author and playwright Carol Lynn Pearson sits onstage before the start of her play "Facing East" at Theatre Rhinoceros in San Francisco, CA, on Saturday, August, 11, 2007. photo taken: 8/11/07 Mike Kane / The Chronicle **Carol Lynn Pearson Ran on: 08-18-2007 Author and playwright Carol Lynn Pearson says she has &quo;a unique opportunity to build bridges&quo; between the gay community and the Mormon population.MIKE KANE
It's the question Carol Lynn Pearson hears just about every time she appears in public. She heard it again last weekend, during an audience discussion that followed a packed-house performance of her play "Facing East" at Theatre Rhinoceros.
How, one woman asked, could Pearson justify her own membership and involvement in the Mormon church?
The question was prompted by several things. One was the action of "Facing East," which takes place at the funeral of a young gay Mormon man who committed suicide under the shadow of church and family stigma. The other was the story of Pearson's own life, detailed in her 1986 book, "Goodbye, I Love You," and retold in brief, as it was to the Theatre Rhinoceros crowd, many times since. The mother of four young children at the time, Pearson divorced her gay Mormon husband in 1978. He died of AIDS in 1984.
Pearson, a slim, forthright woman of 67 who wears her silvery white hair jauntily short, nodded along as the question was posed. "I love the Mormon community," she responded, "and I have a unique opportunity to build bridges." A number of her church ward leaders, Pearson noted, had attended the opening of "Facing East" the night before. "They've been nothing but supportive," she said. "I believe the Mormon heart is a good heart. I feel comfortable with my role in the Mormon church."
Whether the church and wider Mormon population feel entirely comfortable with her, as an advocate for gay rights and recognition, is another matter. Doctrinally opposed to a "homosexual lifestyle" that is "not normal," as the high-ranking Mormon elder Dallin H. Oaks has put it, the church addresses a reality it would probably just as soon avoid altogether in a carefully constructed way.
A new Mormon church pamphlet on the subject that was issued last month puts the official Mormon position on homosexuality like this: "If you avoid immoral thoughts and actions, you have not transgressed even if you feel such an attraction." The document goes on to advise, "The desire for physical gratification does not authorize immorality for anyone." True happiness, according to the pamphlet, "depends on more than physical urges. These urges diminish as more fundamental emotional needs are met - such as the need to interact with and serve others."
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Pearson, as the Theatre Rhinoceros audience affirmed in a post-play session that soon became more like a tear-filled, pan-denominational testimony meeting, has undeniably served others. One man, a fundamentalist preacher who left his wife and three children 15 years ago when he embraced his own homosexuality, told Pearson she had spoken to him on the phone for an hour at the time and dissuaded him from suicide. "You saved my life," he said. Pearson stepped offstage to hug him.
A gay Mormon whose parents refuse to speak his partner's name said "Facing East," which focuses on the grief-torn mother and father, had helped him see his own parents' perspective. "I've been semi-selfish in my own journey," he said. A woman in the second row stood up to express, between heavy sobs, her gratitude for the play and its author.
Pearson took it all in graciously, with neither self-importance nor false modesty. As a prominent Mormon author of some 40 books and plays, she's been in plenty of crowds like this one over the years. Her sense of purpose is apparent when she ticks off facts about suicide rates in Mormon-dominated Utah - the highest in the country for males ages 15-24. She assesses her own work with straightforward clarity. "I'm not an artist's artist," she says. "Issues are more important to me than art itself."
Pearson's equipoise didn't come easily. In a recent conversation at her ranch house on a sunny cul-de-sac in Walnut Creek, the Utah native and longtime California transplant spun out the improbable narrative of her own life. Born a fourth-generation Mormon in Salt Lake City in 1939, Pearson was a happy and optimistic child, she began. Her family spent some time on a Ute Indian reservation, without electricity or running water, before moving to Provo.
By the time she graduated from Brigham Young High School and went on to Brigham Young University, she was immersed in theater and writing. She met Gerald, her husband to be, when they were both cast in a BYU production of Thornton Wilder's "The Skin of Our Teeth." It was during their engagement that Gerald first told her of his attraction to men.
"This was 1966," Pearson said with a measured sigh. "We were so naive and so Utah. We accepted the promise that you just repent when you get off track and everything will work out."
After an engagement that was broken and resumed, the couple married in Salt Lake's Mormon Temple on Sept. 9, 1966. Their first child was born two years later. By then, Pearson was something of a local celebrity. Her first book of inspirational poems, self-published with Gerald's prodding and a $2,000 loan, sold an impressive 25,000 copies. "Nobody but some outrageously gay man would decide to publish his wife's poems," Pearson said with a laugh. She has supported herself and for many years her entire family as a writer ever since.
Pearson recalled her marriage as one of mutual devotion and fun - "in many ways a cut above the marriages of my friends." But, she added, "what Gerald had hoped would happen didn't." He still wanted to have sex with men. Apprehensive about her marriage ending at the heart of the Mormon world, Pearson proposed that the couple relocate from Utah to California. After they did, Gerald moved to San Francisco while Carol Lynn and the children remained in Walnut Creek.
Pearson maintains a complicated double-view about this fissure in her life. "It was hell," she said, "the resentment, the anger, the confusion, the divorce. But we also remained close. He was a wonderful father." A small smile came and went, ghost-like, across Pearson's face. " 'If I could just find a man like you,' " he often said, " 'I'd be in seventh heaven.' With my interest in women's issues and Gerald's being gay," she said, "it's occurred to me that gender is what brought us together in the first place - possibly, maybe."
After Gerald's AIDS diagnosis, and just a month before his death, Carol Lynn was facing a house payment she couldn't make. An 11th-hour sale of a Christmas story to a Mormon publisher saved the day and proved to be a major financial gusher in the years to come.
Her ex-husband came back to Walnut Creek to die, Pearson said. It happened in the very room where she and her visitor were sitting. Composed in her recounting until this point, Pearson teared up as she began to describe how the members of her Mormon community rose to the occasion. Every night one of her church "visiting teachers" told her to make a list of what she needed the next day.
"It was always done, whatever it was - food, transportation, yard work," said Pearson. "There was no shunning of me or Gerald, not ever, not once. Mormonism can not be easily dismissed in any direction." In Pearson's own cosmology, "we're all in the correct classroom, working out the story problems that we should be doing. And the answer to all of them is: 'How much do you love?' "
With the publication of her marriage memoir, "Goodbye, I Love You," Pearson became a spokeswoman and inspirational leader on homosexuality in the Mormon world. A subsequent book, "No More Goodbyes," tells a range of stories about gay Mormondom. One deals with Bruce Bastian, a married gay Mormon who was also the wealthy co-founder of WordPerfect. Bastian became a confidant and close friend and later a financial angel for "Facing East." The show opened at Salt Lake City's Plan-B Theatre before traveling to New York and San Francisco. Singapore in the next scheduled port of call.
Pearson has never remarried. "That has been a disappointment in my life," she said. There's also been grief along with joy, bafflement and a strange sense of wonder in the lives of her children. One son is an unmarried animator; the other is a rock musician and the divorced father of two. Her youngest child, Katy, died of a brain tumor seven years ago.
As for her oldest, Pearson drew a deep breath before relating this chapter. Like her mother, Emily married a gay man and subsequently divorced him. That man is Steven Fales, creator of the widely traveled solo show "Confessions of a Mormon Boy." Fales performed it locally, at the New Conservatory Theatre Center, in 2002. Emily, hewing to her mother's past, is now writing a book about her life with a gay Mormon husband.
Pearson offered a wry half-smile. "There are days," she said, "when I think that either everything is a very bad joke or everything has a hidden sense to it. I do melt down and rail at the heavens. But I don't stay there long. I always have to come into a place where there is sunlight."
Facing East:
Plays through Aug. 26 at Theatre Rhinoceros, 2926 16th St., San Francisco. Tickets $20. Call (415) 861-5079 or visit www.therhino.org. Playwright Carol Lynn Pearson
will appear in a post-show discussion with the audience following tonight's performance. Learn more about Pearson's work and connect with her at www.clpearson.com.
REVIEWER PALLAS GATES MCCORQUODALE INTERVIEWS CAROL LYNN PEARSON, AUTHOR OF I'LL WALK WITH YOU
I’ll Walk With You Billboard
REVIEWER PALLAS GATES MCCORQUODALE AND HER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS INTERVIEW CAROL LYNN PEARSON, AUTHOR OF I’LL WALK WITH YOU
We can measure the worth of a writer using metrics like number of weeks on bestseller lists and million dollar advances, or we can truly take measure by listening to a writer’s fans. Is she beloved, like a dear old childhood friend? Is she admired, like a legendary grand dame of impeccable character and stateliness? Is she respected, as much for her talent as her decency as a person?
I’ll Walk With You CoverThere’s only a handful of writers who fit that bill, including this week’s guest, Carol Lynn Pearson. Over a handful of decades, Carol Lynn has written dozens of books, collections of poetry, and plays, in addition to countless speaking engagements. She may be best known for Goodbye, I Love You, her groundbreaking 1986 memoir detailing her twelve-year marriage (four children) and separation from a gay man who would eventually die of AIDS. She remained dear friends with him to the end.
I’ll Walk with You is Carol Lynn’s latest, a picture book affirming “the love and acceptance of people of all ages, races, religions, orientations, and social standings,” in the words of Pallas Gates McCorquodale in her March/April review in Foreword. With the help of the great people at Gibbs Smith, we put Carol Lynn and Pallas together via email for this interview, made all the more delightful because librarian Pallas leaned on a few of her very young students.
Ava, Odin, Neve, Iver, Raef, and Pallas, take it from here.
I think this book is about kindness to strangers and to your family and to everyone who is different from you. Is that what you think this book is about, too?
—Ava, age 6
Absolutely, Ava! Being kind to everyone and even appreciative of the ways in which they are different from us. Every one of us is a little bit different in some ways and that’s a great thing. Wouldn’t this world be boring if we were all just like everyone else?
Why would some people pray for other people to go away? Then they would be lonely. Imagine if you pray for everyone to go away, then there won’t be anyone in your life! You can pray a different way from your friend. That’s OK, right?
—Odin, age 7
I don’t think anyone prays for EVERYONE to go away, but some really, really wish that certain kinds of people would go away—perhaps people who are of a different religion than they are and who think that God loves them more than “those other ones.”
I like how everyone is having fun. The sad people get happy because someone wants to play with them. Did you color the pictures yourself?
—Neve, age 5
Oh, so glad you like the pictures, Neve. No, I did not draw or color the pictures. I wrote the words and a real professional artist drew and colored the pictures. She is a very good artist, isn’t she?
Have you ever done any of the things in the book? Like, have you ever met anyone from another country and gone out of your way to be nice?
—Iver, age 12
Oh, yes, Iver, I’ve met people from dozens of different countries. After I graduated from college, I traveled to England, Ireland, Scotland, France, Italy, Germany, and, oh, way too many to list here, such as African countries and Japan and Korea and more. I found many opportunities to be nice to a lot of people who were different from me. And I still try to do that now.
Have you written any other books? What is your favorite thing to write about?
—Raef, age 10
I have written about forty books including stage plays. I love to write about people discovering new things about themselves that help make them better people.
I absolutely love the interaction between the text and artwork by Jane Sanders. Each verse is accompanied by what at first appears to be discrimination or disregard but is actually a show of love. My favorite is the uppity shopkeeper who is rushing towards a shabby woman who has entered her boutique. It seems like she is rushing to shoo the woman out, but she was just in a hurry to cuddle the baby hidden just out of sight. Were you able to collaborate on the illustrations? Did you envision any particular style or images when penning the lines?
No, I have never even met the illustrator. And I just sort of left up to her how to make the pictures work with the words. She really did a lovely, artistic, and heartfelt job.
How much or how many of the page-by-page vignettes are personal for you or come from personal experience?
I know someone who in one way or another is like a person in each vignette. I know people who do not speak clearly because of autism and someone who has to use a wheelchair and someone who believes Muslims should not be in our country and people who believe white people are better than black people. The vignette about “if you don’t love as some people do, some people think your love’s not true”—my life experience has caused me to be friends with many people whom we call “gay” or “lesbian” and I know that their love is true.
The song “I’ll Walk With You,” which you wrote back in 1987 and is credited as the basis for the book, has taken on a life of its own. There are karaoke versions, teacher lesson plans created around it, sheet music, medleys, and, of course, the Imagine Dragons/Neon Trees live rendition. It is referred to as everything from a song to a hymn and a poem. Did you ever expect it to have such an impact/lasting presence?
No, I did not. I knew it was a lovely song, but I had no idea how far it would travel.
After all these years, what prompted you to turn it into a children’s picture book?
Actually, the idea came from my publisher. She knew the song well and suggested to me that if I could expand it, it could make a wonderful picture book for children. Which, indeed, it has!
The book is based on the song, but they are not identical even though it retains a very musical rhythm and cadence. I almost want to chant or sing it when reading aloud. Can you tell us about the evolution of the lyrics?
There was not much “evolution.” About forty years ago, I was asked to write a lyric about including and loving those who are “different” in some way, to be in the “Children’s Songbook” of my church. So I wrote the lyric and the musician asked for a few changes as he worked on it. But that’s all the evolution there was.
On your website, carollynnpearson.com, you mention that you are committed to “women’s issues” and “gay issues,” both of which you have previously published adult works pertaining to, and I’ll Walk with You could certainly be interpreted as supporting these communities. Do you see a need for more children’s literature that covers these topics? Do you plan to create more (yes, please) for younger audiences?
Oh, I’m sure there is, and will continue to be, an ongoing need for more literature for younger audiences on these topics. I don’t have anything churning in my mind right now, but who knows?
Much thanks, Pallas, for your good work on all of this. Together we are doing good things. Please give the children my love. They are making this world a better place.
Pallas McCorquodale
April 24, 2020
Pearson, Carol Lynn DAY-OLD CHILD Gibbs Smith (Children's None) $16.99 3, 9 ISBN: 978-1-4236-5533-6
Pearson’s popular poem gets complementary illustrations.
The short poem talks of a mother’s wish that her day-old child could understand her words so she could tell them all about God. “My day-old child lay in my arms. / In a whisper, lips to ear— / I said, ‘Oh, dear one, how I wish—’ / ‘I wish that you could hear.’ ” And as she whispers this wish to her child, she sees a light in the babe’s eyes and has the thought that perhaps the child similarly wishes for language so that they could tell their mother, before they forget, all about God: “I left God just yesterday.” Egbert’s sweet art keeps the focus on four separate mother-baby pairs that repeat in turn throughout the book. Three of these mothers seem to have opposite-sex partners, and one of these pairings is an interracial one; the fourth could be interpreted as one part of an interracial same-sex couple. All four, along with the various family members, are racially diverse. Figures are outlined definitively but with a soft, smudgy line that welcomes readers in. The soft colors and clear love seen on all the faces make this an attractive package for parents who are waiting to share the love of God with their little ones, though there is little here that will appeal to those little ones directly.
A sweet baby shower book for religious parents. (Picture book. 3-6, adult)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2021 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Pearson, Carol Lynn: DAY-OLD CHILD." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Apr. 2021, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A656696543/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=fb5d6c3d. Accessed 20 Sept. 2021.
Pearson, Carol Lynn I'LL WALK WITH YOU Gibbs Smith (Children's Fiction) $16.99 3, 17 ISBN: 978-1-4236-5395-0
Drawing on lyrics from her Mormon children's hymn of the same title, Pearson explores diversity and acceptance in a more secular context.
Addressing people of varying ages, races, origins, and abilities in forced rhymes that omit the original version's references to Jesus, various speakers describe how they--unlike "some people"--will "show [their] love for" their fellow humans. "If you don't talk as most people do / some people talk and laugh at you," a child tells a tongue-tied classmate. "But I won't! / I won't! / I'll talk with you / and giggle too. / That's how I'll show my love for you." Unfortunately, many speakers' actions feel vague and rather patronizing even as they aim to include and reassure. "I know you bring such interesting things," a wheelchair user says, welcoming a family "born far, far away" who arrives at the airport; the adults wear Islamic clothing. As pink- and brown-skinned worshipers join a solitary brown-skinned person who somehow "[doesn't] pray as some people pray" on a church pew, a smiling, pink-skinned worshiper's declaration that "we're all, I see, one family" raises echoes of the problematic assertion, "I don't see color." The speakers' exclamations of "But I won't!" after noting others' prejudiced behavior reads more as self-congratulation than promise of inclusion. Sanders' geometric, doll-like human figures are cheery but stiff, and the text's bold, uppercase typeface switches jarringly to cursive for the refrain, "That's how I'll show my love for you." Characters' complexions include paper-white, yellow, pink, and brown.
An unfortunately simplistic delivery of a well-intentioned message. (Picture book. 4-6)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2020 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Pearson, Carol Lynn: I'LL WALK WITH YOU." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Feb. 2020. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A613750946/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=39d5120c. Accessed 20 Sept. 2021.
No More Goodbyes
Carol Lynn Pearson
Pivot Point Books
1384 Cornwall CT., Walnut Creek, CA 94597
0963885243 $14.95 www.nommoregoodbyes.com
Written by award finalist author and former bishop Carol Lynn Pearson, No More Goodbyes: Circling the Wagons Around Our Gay Loved Ones is a collection of true vignettes about religious Mormon people who relate to their gay loved ones, who are in turn often condemned by the church (and according to some people's beliefs, by God) for their homosexuality. Though No More Goodbyes tells the stories of Mormon families adapting to the tumultuous change that a revelation of homosexuality brings, the stories are sure to strike a chord with all readers who have had to navigate the difficult waters between religion and sexual orientation. No More Goodbyes does not judge or condemn; Pearson loves and wishes well gay friends who choose lifelong celibacy, openly gay friends who attempt to preserve their heterosexual marriages despite the obvious difficulties, and gay friends who choose to pursue gay relationships. What No More Goodbyes does denounce are the tragedies of high suicide rates among gays, the terrible anguish that results from hiding one's sexual orientation in order to marry someone of the opposite sex, and any religious or simply bigoted promotion of hatred or suffering. Also highly recommended is Person's previous best-selling book "Goodbye, I Love You" about her own husband, whose homosexuality simply could not change and inevitably led to divorce, eventually followed by her caring for him as he died from AIDS in her home.
Cowper, Mary
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2007 Midwest Book Review
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Cowper, Mary. "No More Goodbyes." MBR Bookwatch, Mar. 2007. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A160419862/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=2a835829. Accessed 20 Sept. 2021.
Pearson, Carol Lynn. The Modern Magi. Nov. 1998.96p. St, Martin's, $14.95 (0-312-19300-9).
Stories about Christmas often have a magical quality, enabling them to transcend time--whether set in the 1800s or modern day, the virtues and lessons ring true. All of these books are touched a bit by that kind of magic.
Wheeler's latest addition to his Christmas in My Heart series contains many perfect examples. From the story about the little orphan boy who simply longs for an end to his loneliness to the one about the grandmother who, in the midst of grief, goes from store to store trying to find a certain doll for her granddaughter as a gift promised by the child's recently deceased mother, each extols its own tender message. The writing style of many of the now-deceased authors is definitely not subtle, yet the heavy-handedness can be easily overlooked because the results are quite charming. If this volume doesn't evoke holiday spirit in even the most belligerent Scrooge, nothing will.
Roberts' collection is quite unusual. Rather than compiling fictional pieces, the editor has assembled brief--often a page or less--reminiscences and an occasional poem or haiku from various Welsh authors. Separated chronologically into memories from Advent to Christmas, Christmas Day, and Boxing Day to Epiphany, each contribution offers a glimpse of Welsh customs. Many submissions are refreshingly candid and often humorous, occasionally using the holiday simply as a backdrop to recall a bizarre family member or beloved town landmark. The authors, charming with their cockney-like tone, veer from tradition to tell it like it was in all its often bawdy splendor. Touching on a variety of topics, from the turkey dinner to the Marl Lwyd, Christmas in Wales succeeds in being both entertaining and educational.
Mary Engelbreit's art, recognizable by cherubic faces and fanciful detailing, has graced everything from calendars to home decor. This year, not content with mere greeting cards, Engelbreit has compiled a wide range of favorite holiday verses to produce this beautiful keepsake. Consolidating carols, poetry, fables, an occasional religious passage, and annals of holiday customs from around the world, and literally overflowing with vibrant illustrations printed on gilt-edged paper, this collection is aptly named. There is no doubt that countless hours were spent not only on the artwork but also in choosing the contents and arranging the segments in a way that effortlessly melds the old with the new. Not a detail was left to chance--even the various fonts seem to have been selected purposefully for easy reading while maintaining a whimsical feel. (Although normally unaffected by Engelbreit's work, I was absolutely overwhelmed by this imaginative and utterly enthralling collection.)
Jenkins' sentimental novel is about Noella, an unfailingly optimistic journalism professor at Northwestern University who meets and soon falls in love with Tom, an extreme pessimist and a columnist for the Chicago Tribune. To the surprise of Tom's coworkers, his harsh views of the world are slowly mellowed as he catches glimpses of life through Noella's rose-colored glasses. Things seem too good to be true until Noella reveals her sincere belief in Santa Claus and offers what she swears is proof of his existence. Unfortunately, Tom can't set aside his cynicism, and despite their attempts, the relationship falters. But then Tom takes a journalistic excursion to Germany to write about the origin of Christmas traditions and the holiday's mascot--Kris Kringle. A fun story that will enchant even those who don't believe in Santa.
As a special feature for the final issue of Si magazine, its editor, Joie Davidow, enticed popular Latino authors to share their Christmas memories. The resulting stories were not always the joyful sketches of holiday celebrations she expected but often more complex, displaying a wide range of feelings. Expanding on that idea, Davidow and Santiago appealed to an even larger group of Latino authors, from several Spanish-speaking countries, for Las Christmas. A few stories tell of how a family's holiday celebrations evolved after their immigration to the U.S., a few mention much anticipated visits from Santa or the three wise men (from the Feast of the Epiphany), and a few more evoke feelings of hunger by describing holiday delicacies (recipes are included). As diverse as the authors themselves, every story is richly fulfilling and offers many variations on a common theme. Despite its Latin focus, Las Christmas does not discriminate but rather captivates readers regardless of their heritage.
Pearson's little book is about Annabelle Perkins. Annabelle, unmarried and simple living, has dreamed about visiting Bethlehem on Christmas and delivering to the baby Jesus a gift of a bronze lamb figurine given to Annabelle when she was a child. One day she realizes that she is not getting any younger and her diseased heart isn't getting any better, and plans are set in motion. Annabelle makes a small deposit on a no-frills trip to the Holy land and picks up an extra shirt each week at the little cafe where she works. The nest egg builds slowly, enabling her to deliver her gift to Jesus, albeit not the one she originally intended. This modern-day fable is packed with symbolism about unexpected sacrifice, the power of faith, and the beauty of giving. Its brevity facilitates reading it aloud, perhaps to a classroom of students or even at family gatherings.
Since the death of his parents, Will Martin was raised by his grandparents. After his grandfather unexpectedly passes away, Will must return to the small town to oversee the successful business the elder Martin bequeathed to him. Constant reminders of his grandfather as a kind and highly respected gentleman bring back memories that both sadden and bolster him as he introduces the business and its employees to the 1990s. When his grieving grandmother makes a peculiar Christmas wish--for Will to find the woman his grandfather visited each Christmas Eve (as confessed in the gentleman's journal)--will begins to question his grandfather's integrity. The Christmas Wish is by title a holiday story but by content a profound message about the strength of forgiveness. Scheduled for release on audiotape and also as a television movie, this story by Utah representative Richard Siddoway will undoubtedly reach and touch many people.
YA: Jenkins--Primarily for romance fans; Las Christmas--Includes
contributions from YA authors; Pearson--Best for teens familiar with the
original story. KS.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 1998 American Library Association
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Hyde, Toni. "The Modern Magi." Booklist, vol. 95, no. 4, 15 Oct. 1998, p. 374. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A55053301/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=4c95e12e. Accessed 20 Sept. 2021.
THE MODERN MAGI: A Christmas Fable
Carol Lynn Pearson. St. Martin's, $14.95 (96p) ISBN 0-312-19300-9
Pearson's (A Stranger for Christmas) simplistic Christian fable concerns an unremarkable woman who finds that faith enables her to do the most remarkable things. Annabelle Perkins, a 57-year-old unmarried waitress with a weak heart, is set on visiting the Holy Land in order to bring "to the baby Jesus" the gift of a bronze ("but really gold, as gold as the gold of the Magi") lamb her deceased mother has left her. She tells the travel agent, Mr. Olson, that she doesn't need to see Jerusalem, only Bethlehem, and when she leaves his agency she feels suddenly empowered: "She was one of the Magi on a fabulous journey." She scrimps and saves-yet when she finally has enough to pay off the ticket, she discovers that someone else has a greater need of the money. Prompted by the voice of her mother, she gives the money away. Another year passes, and another needier case warrants her hard-earned savings, though Mr. Olson unaccountably informs her that her ticket has been paid in full. Pearson's tale is a kind of Simple Heart for believers; but its mawkish sentimentality combined with wooden and cliche-ridden prose should limit its audience to those who like their doses of spiritual uplift in childlike portions. (Nov.)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 1998 PWxyz, LLC
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"THE MODERN MAGI." Publishers Weekly, vol. 245, no. 37, 14 Sept. 1998, p. 50. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A21144883/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=bef88dd3. Accessed 20 Sept. 2021.
Carol Lynn Pearson. St. Martin's, $13.95 (112p) ISBN 0-312-15592-1
A special inscription page adorns this extended Mother's Day greeting card by Pearson (A Stranger for Christmas), underscoring the fact that this little tale is a gift meant to be given to moms everywhere. At least some moms will recognize that the message--even the most imperfect mother is perfect in her love--is shamelessly calculated to soothe and please. Alison Andrews, divorced mom of adolescents Jamie and Melissa, has had it. The last straw comes when she learns that her kids are participating in the church Mother's Day program only because it's required before they can attend a weekend at a dude ranch. Tortured by her self-deprecating comparison to her Martha Stewart-perfect neighbor (who was chosen Mother's Day Queen at the church event), Alison runs off to a local hotel to pamper and celebrate herself rather than wait in vain for signs of appreciation from her children. Her kids hunt her down and, although she adamantly resists, convince her to resolve a Mother's Day debacle at the church. The formerly sullen teens' praise for their "angel mother" is the stuff of self-gratifying daydreams. This bit of fluff might be more appropriate as a gift given by morns to their unappreciative offspring. (May)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 1997 PWxyz, LLC
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"Morning Glory Mother." Publishers Weekly, vol. 244, no. 15, 14 Apr. 1997, pp. 53+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A19308616/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=a126b640. Accessed 20 Sept. 2021.
Carol Lynn Pearson. St. Martin's, $13.95 (108p) ISBN 0-312-14680-9
Two old ladies living in a Southern California nursing home decide to test the premise that any good family with Christmas spirit would invite a stranger into their home for the holiday. Myrna and Florence invent an elderly woman they call Genevieve, who is purportedly living in a convalescent home in Idaho, and phone Myrna's five adult children to ask them to invite the fictional Genevieve to celebrate with them. But each of Myrna's offspring, in turn, has a plausible excuse to turn down their mother's request. Just as Myrna is about to lose faith in the family she has raised, a surprise occurs, designed to warm the heart and activate the tear glands. In a letter explaining the genesis of this holiday story, Pearson (Goodbye, I Love You) says that she conceived of the plot in just three hours. On reading the novella, one may think that no more than three hours were devoted to writing it. How else to explain egregiously bad prose such as the following: "It felt good to laugh. Myrna had not laughed in quite a while, and it felt good. Her home had always been filled with laughter. And caring." But there's no gainsaying the emotional impact of the ending and its message of Christian charity and love, so perhaps one can extend charitable feelings toward the author and hope that she has more time to labor over her next creation. (Nov.)
FYI: Originally issued by Bookcraft Publishers in Utah, the book sold 60,000 copies in Mormon bookstores before it was picked up by St. Martin's.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 1996 PWxyz, LLC
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"A Stranger for Christmas." Publishers Weekly, vol. 243, no. 36, 2 Sept. 1996, p. 109. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A18635676/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=27dc38c3. Accessed 20 Sept. 2021.
PEARSON, Carol Lynn. Day-Old Child. illus. by Corey Egbert. 32p. Gibbs Smith. Mar. 202L Tr $16.99. ISBN 9781423655336.
K-Gr 2--A picture book version of Pearson's 1967 poem, "Day Old Child," that is now widely available online. A mother speaks to her child wishing for them to grow quickly so she may tell them about God, while the child wishes they could speak and tell their mother they just came from God yesterday. In this version, Pearson and Egbert make both the child and God gender neutral. Wonderful watercolor illustrations transform the words and ideas in full-page spreads featuring beautiful colors, rich details, and casual inclusivity: a parade of different families and babies in a variety of locations. The people, with skin tones ranging from peach to brown, appear to include different ethnicities, and the families' make-ups include interracial, same-sex, and heterosexual couples. VERDICT An established poem about God and children gets new life with a gender neutral makeover and delightfully inclusive illustrations .--Catherine Callegari, Gay-Kimball Lib., Troy, NH
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2021 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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Callegari, Catherine. "PEARSON, Carol Lynn. Day-Old Child." School Library Journal, vol. 67, no. 5, May 2021, p. 69. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A661255238/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=8c8ed492. Accessed 20 Sept. 2021.