Frode invokes the orphic poets, Hart Crane, and—“my hand in yours”—Walt Whitman, speakers of The Word, the epic minstrel conductors into the literary intellectual od—John Steinbeck, Hermann Hesse, J.M.G. LeClezio, Cormac McCarthy, Julio Cortazar, Hart Crane, Garcia Marquez, Isabel Allende.
"I just love words. Love, like need.
"Through every word I write, I feel more, and I feel more deeply. Through the stories that emerge word by word on my pages, I cope with the recurring inner preoccupations of my mind and heart:
"The miraculous biochemical nature of consciousness, the brain, and mind; the natural healing power of flowers and the garden; the destruction of traditional Idaho farmhouses to make way for the epidemic of residential construction and neighborhoods; Adverse Childhood Experiences and how that trauma creates damaged juveniles; the profoundly simple Hindu scriptures, the Bhagavad Gita and the Upanishads; the sensual beauty, colors, and textures of fabrics and the joyful art of sewing; the power and blessings of individual teachers in one’s life; my dear writing teacher, John Steinbeck, whose humanity and word skill continue to astound me; the varieties, the feel, and the utility of paper; the Al-Andalus period in Spain where Islam, Judaism, and Christianity coexisted and flourished through the translation and dissemination of knowledge; how change in the external world creates transformation in the internal world; and finally, perhaps most importantly, the power of human love and passion to create enduring emotional associations in our brains and bodies.
"So then, something about me? My profession for the previous half century is English Language Arts Creative Writing teacher. I have worked with mainstream, language learners, alternative, on-the-spectrum, and incarcerated high school aged juveniles to help them with their word-writing struggles, way behind high school classes, their emotional trauma, and their self-esteem. I blog about writing and the current findings in meditation and cognitive-brain research. I am married for 34 years to my Aztec queen soul mate from the breadbasket of Mexico, Yuriria, Guanajuato.
"I am my wife’s sous chef, and we garden and harvest together during the Idaho spring summer and fall. I am bilingual and biliterate in Spanish and English. We parent four out-of-the-nest children, two of whom live close enough to get regular food care packages from us. If and when I have time to spare, I make sourdough bread, play flamenco and alt-rock-country-whatever guitar—Wood Brothers, The White Buffalo, Alan Jackson, Kevin Gordon, The Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan, Ska and Highlife, a few others.
I meditate every day. Clear your mind of idle thoughts."
