Newcomers still Struggle to Belong

This morning the announcer on my kitchen radio shared news that a 14-year-old girl had been assaulted and bullied in a local high school... supposedly because of her Ukrainian accent. This school is ten minutes from my home. All three of my kids attended the institution set in a middle-class neighbourhood. I assume that means the residents have some sort of higher learning.  How can war refugees be bullied? Where does this sort of attitude come from? 

In my novel, Waltraut (Heritage House, 2024), my protagonist also gets bullied and ostracized because of her immigrant background. But that story was set back in the sixties. Has our Canadian education system still not enlightened students about the challenges of immigration? Is our Canadian society still afraid of people who have an accent, or a difficult-to-spell name, or parents who struggle with English? Are we Canadians still afraid of people who are different?  Are our children learning intolerance from the adults in their lives?

As I did my daily walk in the woods close to Oak Park High this morning, I pondered the learning that happens in between the classes, between the official curriculum, in between the necessary bureaucracy.  What are schools teaching our next generation? How can Canada better embrace its newcomers?

Waltraut reflected my own uncomfortable school experiences. Has nothing changed in fifty years?  Shame on us. 

Waltraut or Waltraud?

Finished reading Waltraud by Tammy Borden from my summer reading list, just before fall is set to officially begin. What an amazing book and I’m so grateful to have read it. The author tells the life story of her mother, born in 1927 in the Braunschweig area of Germany. 

Told in first person, it follows Waltraud from BDM days through the war, the confusing time after the war, until her immigration to Wisconsin in the USA.  I picked up the book because of the similar-sounding titles … my Waltraut vs. Tammy Borden’s Waltraud. My book is a novel for middle-graders and stays solely in the voice of an eleven-year-old Canadian girl while Waltraud’s voice moves from young child, to young woman.

It’s very well written and carries an emotional wallop, revealing complicated family relationships that were exasperated by war.  The author does an amazing job of stepping into her mother's world, in a succinct, yet compelling voice.  

I needed five middle grade and YA novels to depict my mother’s journey from 11-year-old Ukrainian kulak to being the mother of an 11 year-old North American girl.  Borden's one book covers decades of her mother's early life. Our protagonists share some similarities (one born in Soviet Ukraine 1919 and the other in Germany in 1927) with both stories being told in first person and written by their daughters. An interesting study in itself. 

I'm delighted to put Waltraud next to Waltraut. Whether it's Waltraut with a t or Waltraud with a d, both spellings mean 'strong' and each girl has a compelling story to share. Read them both!  

Standing up to Bullies

Diversity mural at Bernie Wolfe School in Winnipeg

Last Wednesday was labelled ‘pink day’ supporting awareness about bullying. and I was delighted to share that theme as presented in Waltraut with local grade eight students. I suggested that a good way to not get pushed around by bullies is to have a strong sense of one’s self. When you know your own story, you aren’t persuaded to adopt someone else’s narrative. My protagonist, Waltraut, had an identity crisis and others took advantage of her vulnerability.

As Canada gets pushed around by the USA, we find ourselves re-connecting with what it means to be Canadian. In my novel, Waltraut discovers her power comes not from imitating Nancy Drew, but from owning who she is, Waltraut Weiss.

Waltraut’s parents were very proud of becoming Canadian. It was a country they chose to raise their children. It is a country that does not aspire to be more like the Americans. It is a country that aspires to be what its steady stream of new immigrants dream it can be … more Canadian.

Check out 49th Shelf’s recent newsletter for other children’s books encouraging newcomer’s self-esteem and empowerment. Grateful to have Walraut included on that list. Books can be portals to build resistance to bullies.

Mural supporting Ukrainian
Immersion program at Bernie Wolfe School 

 

Imagine 2025!

IMAGINE my word for 2025. Thanks to John Lennon for saying it so succinctly, back in 1971. Imagine a world of peace. And let’s never stop sharing our imaginations through novels, song, dance, art and theatre. Imagine.

I guess that’s why I’ll continue to write. It’s my way to imagine. 

Grateful to have ‘imagined’ the five books that I’ve written over the last ten years. They’ve helped me to understand my family’s past in order that I could better understand my own present. And I guess that’s why I write and why I read … to understand. It’s through research and imagination that I’ve been able to create. 

10 years of imagination

Red Stone (aka The Kulak’s Daughter) focused on an 11-year-old kulak girl exiled from her family farm in present-day Ukraine. The series goes full circle in Waltraut when an 11-year-old immigrant girl in Canada finds the courage to tell her story.

We’re all stories. We all have inciting incidents, page turning plots or sagging middles, and we’re all searching for that soul-satisfying conclusion. 

Wishing us all understanding through imagination. 

 Imagine there’s no countries … 

Nothing to kill or die for

                

And no religion, too

Imagine all the people

Livin’ life in peace

You

You may say I’m a dreamer

But I’m not the only one

I hope someday you’ll join us

And the world will live as one

                                                                                                     John Lennon, 1971

CBC Interview a Pinch Me! Moment

Ever since I had my own place, back in the seventies, my kitchen radio has been tuned to CBC.  Early shows like Basic Black, Vinyl Café, Writers and Company … current ones like The Next Chapter, Bookends, Q … and so many more incredible, mind-stretching programs. Not to mention the eclectic range of music and clever comedy. That’s where I was introduced to authors like Alice Munro, Margaret Atwood, Thomas King, Malcolm Gladwell, and so many more. CBC radio made, and continues to make, kitchen chores endlessly enlightening.  I think CBC radio programming has in many ways—for better (some might say for worse)—shaped my view of Canada.  

You can imagine my absolute delight when I had the chance to be interviewed by Nadia Kidwai from CBC Manitoba’s The Weekend Morning Show back in early September. My reasons for writing about shy, imperfect Waltraut got to be aired (and even replayed) on the CBC! It was an emotional experience. Getting some CBC swag just in time for sock season is only a bonus. 

To now have Waltraut included in the CBC’s kids' fall book selection is another one of those pinch me! moments. Who knew that following Nancy Drew’s advice to be curious, kind and brave could give me such opportunity. 

Old Houses

Our family's house buried in snow back in 1966 ... 'Just like in Siberia' my mom liked to quip

Drove by the house my parents bought brand new back in 1964. It’s modelled after a show home featured in my upcoming release, Waltraut. My mom sold it after my dad died in 1993.  

2024

I meandered past last week, trying to be inconspicuous as I spied on the place. I took note of the changes but also the similarities. Some of the perennials, like the Maltese Cross, are still going strong and that must be the same evergreen my parents planted, sixty years ago.  Most noticeable were the Canadian and Ukrainian flags above the yellow and blue painted bistro set. How fitting that my Ukrainian-born mom has a Ukrainian flag fluttering above her dear old house. No doubt, she’d be speechless. Ukraine wasn't a country for most of her life. While it struggled for its identity around the time of Mom's birth, back in 1919, Ukraine never regained independence until 1991.

Scooting down the back lane, I spotted an SUV in the open garage my dad had built back in the sixties. The SUV had an “AirForce” license plate. My father, the former Luftwaffe pilot, just might be grinning his head off. What serendipity that this little dream house my parents bought back in 1964 continues to be a home to pilots and Ukrainians. 

1970s 
My parents liked to host German soldiers training at CFB Shilo

A few days later, overcome by curiousity, I found the courage, went back, and rang the doorbell. The owner was home and shared her background and her pride of the backyard garden where she grows tomatoes and cucumbers.  Her great-grandparents came from Ukraine about 1914 (that explains the Ukrainian flag) and her husband was in the Canadian Air Force (that explains the Canadian flag). And so, the once new house for new immigrants continues to be a home for former pilots and for gardeners. I bet her pickles taste yummy.

2024

Curious, Kind, and Brave

Absolutely thrilled that my new manuscript, “Waltraut” (working title) has been accepted for publication. This book was so much fun to write, that it barely felt like I was working. I loved playing with my protagonist, Waltraut. She’s been a good friend to me over the last few years. Re-visiting childhood memories like Saturday German school, summer church camp or the show-home dream, put me into a youthful headspace, decades away from today. 

Waltraut also reminded me of the challenges that come with being in two worlds … the stress of fitting into a Canadian school and community. Whether it’s the obvious issue of language, or the subtler issues of culture including food, hair, clothes and parental expectations …there can be huge demands on a young person in a new country. The issues Waltraut faced back in the 1960s, still exist today. Immigration—due to war—is a current affair.

What I want readers of this middle grade novel to discover is the empowerment of being themselves … of embracing and loving who they are … of speaking their truths. Diversity is a strength. We’re all unique, all different and yet we’re all on the same journey. To be you is not a noun … not a reflection in the mirror defined by hair, skin colour or clothes. It’s not a language to speak or read, or a food to cook and eat.  To be you is to be a verb … to accept, to share, to learn, to be a friend. 

I thank Nancy Drew for inspiring me to strive to be curious, kind, and brave!

p.s. More information about my new publisher and release date will be coming soon. But I just couldn’t wait to express some of my excitement!