Songs of Willow Frost

Posted on by Seniye Groff

After reading “Hotel at the Corner of Bitter and Sweet”, I waited anxiously for a second book from Jamie Ford.  After several years, Jamie has delivered another stunner!  “Songs of Willow Frost” is set in 1920’s and 1930’s Seattle.  William, a twelve-year-old, Chinese-American boy lives at the Sacred Heart Orphanage.  Not only does he carry the stigma of being an orphan, but he is also Chinese–practically as low as the Coloreds.  William’s only friend, a blind girl named Charlotte, challenges William to find his mother after a school field trip to the city exposes William to a theater poster that he thinks is his mother.

Charlotte and William escape the orphanage and manage to find William’s mother, Willow.  Willow shares her past with William, as he tries to understand why she left him.  Willow is nothing but a hard-luck story; but she never wavered on her love for William.  The 1920’s is a difficult time for a Chinese, unwed mother to try to make her break in show business.  Willow thinks she has found love but cannot verbalize her feelings.  But, alas,  the possibility of hope, love and safety do not materialize.

William returns to the orphanage feeling lonelier than ever.  This story will pull at your heart strings.  Ford writes with passion and empathy as hope, love, struggle and being an outsider collide in this beautiful story.

Working with Subject Matter Experts (SMEs)

Posted on by Seniye Groff

I am currently working on a development project where I am heavily relying on SMEs.  The course content is very technical (and on a topic I have never developed before).  Existing content is primarily pictures with facilitators spewing facts from their heads.  To no surprise, the SMEs are overly busy with no time to answer a nagging ID!  So I share some ideas when working with SMEs:

  • Remember, SMEs have full-time jobs besides what you are requesting from them.  Consolidate your e-mails, conference calls and documents so that they can use their minimal time efficiently.
  • Put questions in an SME-friendly document.  I recently pulled all my questions from my design document and put it in an easy-to-read table format.  This document was much more user-friendly to the SME than my instructional-focused design document.
  • Create visual maps of your courses.  Sometimes pictures say it better than words and it might be easier for your SME to “see it” rather than read it and try to visualize it in their heads.

What strategies have you used when working with a SME?  Send me a comment!

Instructions for a Heatwave

Posted on by Seniye Groff

Maggie O’Farrell presents the reader with an interesting dilemma as she tells the story of a crisis in the Riordan family.  London is experiencing a vicious heatwave and one morning, Gretta Riordan’s husband of forty years, Robert, disappears while on his morning task of buying the newspaper.  Oh, and he empties out the bank account at the same time.  All the children are alerted and descend upon the family home.  Michael Francis has a failing marriage; Monica is on her second marriage with two stepdaughters that barely tolerate her and mysterious, wild child Aoife flies in from New York City.

While all three children are focused on finding their father, Greta slowly reveals potential clues which revolve around a hidden past.  Simultaneously, each child hides a secret that O’Farrell seductively divulges.  In the end, each family member realizes no one is as they seem.  O’Farrell writes with depth and exposes tantalizing details while moving from one character to the next rather quickly.  Each deep, dark secret is one that a reader can relate to and very much empathize with the character.  There are no “grand” surprises here, but instead, revelations that make each character whole, human and believable.

The Girl You Left Behind

Posted on by Seniye Groff

Jojo Moyes has written an astoundingly great book.  If you read “Me Before You” and were enraptured, get ready to be even more enamored with her latest book, “The Girl You Left Behind/”.  Sophie and Helene are barely surviving in a small French town during the German occupation of World War I. The sisters run the local restaurant, Le Coq Rouge, and are forced to feed the German soldiers every night.    The Kommandant is mesmerized by a painting in the dining room by Sophie’s husband, Edouard Lefevre, called “The Girl You Left Behind”.  It is a painting of Sophie when she was full of love and life after she first met Edouard.  Sophie dreams of Edouard daily; hoping he is alive on the front.  Sophie decides to make the ultimate sacrifice by offering her painting to the Kommandant in return for seeing her husband.

Alternating chapters reveal Liv, a woman living in 2006 London.  She is still struggling four years after the sudden death of her 38 year-old architect husband.  David gave Liv “The Girl You Left Behind“ for their honeymoon and it is proudly displayed in Liv’s home.  Liv’s life has essentially stopped.  She is unwilling to make anything different in David’s house since his death.  During a chance meeting, Liv meets Paul and finally gets a shot at the possibility of a  “normal” life.  But the mysterious painting plays an integral role in both Sophie and Liv’s life as events unfold in this engrossing novel.  

Moyes writes of love, sacrifice and loss with glaring detail.  Her characters leap from the pages with the vivid writing of the author.  “The Girl You Left Behind” is fraught with deeper meaning and readers will be thinking of the characters long after they finish the book.  

Moyes will be reading her book at Powells at Cedar Hills this Monday, September 16th at 7 p.m.

Whistling Past the Graveyard

Posted on by Seniye Groff

I laughed out loud to the many antics of nine year old narrator, Starla, in Susan Crandall’s latest novel,  “Whistling Past the Graveyard”.  Starla lives with her Mamie (grandmother) in a small southern town while her father works on an oil rig and her mother is busy getting “famous” in Nashville.  Starla is sassy and acts before she thinks and lands herself on restriction on her most favorite holiday:  July Fourth.  So Starla decides she is going to run away, find her mother in Nashville and her father will join them and, of course, a perfect family will form.

Starla is quickly picked up by Eula, an African American woman in an old rickety truck accompanied by a white newborn.  Eula Takes Starla and the newborn to her home and husband, Wallace.  Wallace is a bit of a drunkard and nuts and insists that Eula cannot form an “instant” family with two white children.  Starla tries to escape and disaster ensues.  Eula, Starla and the baby decide to head to Nashville to find Starla’s mother.  During their adventures to Nashville, Starla begins to understand what is “allowed” for Coloreds in 1960’s America.  Watching (or reading) Starla discover the discrimination is mesmerizing.  As the reader, I almost felt I had been transported back to the 1960’s.

This story has so many layers to it: the south, being nine, being white vs. African-American, being childless, being battered and being a part of small town America–just to name a few.  Starla is smart, clever and naive all at the same time.  Crandall writes with skill and emotion and this novel will make you laugh, cry, smile and gain an understanding of how difficult it is to make change happen (and how brave those change agents really are!).

Crandall has written nine novels prior to this latest release, and I cannot wait to read all of her other books!

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Posted on by Seniye Groff

I have been working with several people lately that want to make a change in their careers but don’t really know where to begin.  I have a few recommendations:

  1. Know your strengths.  Definitely take stock in what you are good at.  Not what you “think” you are good at, but skills that you have received positive feedback on.
  2. Know your weaknesses.  I know, so much more difficult.  And don’t give yourself the “pat” assessment that you don’t like conflict or something similar.  You need to be really specific with yourself.
  3. Know your value system.  In other words, what can you absolutely tolerate and not tolerate in a career, workplace, co-workers etc.  For example, if you know that being in an environment where you are not at a computer all day is paramount then don’t even think about taking a job where computer tasks are part of the major responsibilities.
  4. Once you know who you are (and  I mean really be honest with yourself) you can begin to identify transferable skills that are used from one job to another.
  5. Richard Bolles has written a workbook that can help you get started.  The book is loaded with practical exercises to help get you started on your journey to finding yourself, your skills and ultimately, happiness.

Maui

Posted on by Seniye Groff

I had the good fortune to spend two weeks on Maui on vacation.  It was a much-needed respite from a very busy year.  It amazes me how the sun and sand can recharge me and the kids loved the balmy weather.  Our biggest decision each day was which beach to venture to for that day; knowing that the afternoons were reserved for the pool.  Marine life was abundant; fish making themselves known as soon as we walked into the water.  We sailed out to Molokini one day and snorkeled to our heart’s content.  Fish of all colors and shapes swam with us, quite unafraid.  Fortunately, the eels stayed at the bottom of the reef since they were cool to see but I really did not want a close-up.  And so, I sit at my desk now and dream of the heat warming my back, the relaxed evenings and the next time I will be able to snorkel the fabulous reefs of Maui!

 

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