Lyrical Writings Radiate Mother’s Grief and Illuminate Paths Toward Healing
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There may never really be closure when a loved one passes on, but there can be gentle nudges toward healing and, eventually, toward the forgotten fringes of happiness.
In Blown Into Now: Poems for a Journey, Mylo Schaaf carries readers from deep sadness and loss to comfort and support, finally edging toward joy. Her melodic words become a guidebook, allowing those who grieve to witness a spectrum of responses, to understand what might give relief, and to know how to look for the signposts that will guide them down the path toward healing.
Each of Schaaf’s 45 remarkable poems is paired with a striking photograph taken by her mountaineer son, Alex Lowenstein, who passed on unexpectedly in his twenties. Schaaf’s personal journey through grief became this book.
To those who must endure such a shocking new reality, she aims to bring compassion, beauty and spiritual connection.
Her poems reveal a mother’s great heart and the love she shares with her son for granite peaks and untracked desert. Each photograph provides a pause from grief and allows us a glimpse of something we want and cannot name.
About the Author Mylo Schaaf trained as a journalist, editor and physician, before taking a left turn into poetry. Before everything changed, she was a faculty member at the University of California, San Francisco, mentoring and teaching students in international, low-resource settings. Her commitment to global health grew out of her work and connection with India, the Americas, Liberia, Haiti and China. Then one day, a shocking phone call collapsed this pursuit of engagement and action. Her 24-year-old son, a mountaineer/peace-and-conflict scholar/veteran, had passed away. Poems demanded to be written. They brought relief and healing, as did warm, grassy hills, tree spirits, and arms of sky. Years wandered past. Poems continue to emerge, as the tangles of our days slip into light.
For more information, please visit https://www.myloschaaf.com, or follow the author on Instagram at writermyloschaaf.
Blown Into Now – Poems for a Journey Publisher: Blue Light Press ISBN: 979-8-9864093-0-6 (softcover, available now) Available from https://www.blurb.com/b/11208355-blown-into-now Hardcover and eBook editions coming soon (For updates on these additional formats, please visit https://www.myloschaaf.com).
Trish Stevens Helen Cook Senior Publicist Ascot Media Group, Inc. Post Office Box 2394 Friendswood, TX 77549 281.333.3507 Office 903.654.0938 Direct [email protected] www.ascotmedia.com.
One Man’s Path to Redemption Leads Through Local Watering Holes
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Jack Current isn’t just hoping to drown his sorrows during his evening pub crawl through downtown Cincinnati’s Over the Rhine neighborhood; he’s hoping to actually drown — in the Ohio River. But not until he has poured his heart onto paper in the dollar store notebook he’s got with him. Aptly referred to as The Drunk Log, Jack’s notebook contains the secret to his pain, and a bartender with a sixth sense will sneak a peek, just in time.
Author Mark E. Scott’s compelling story of one man’s last hurrah, Drunk Log, invites readers to follow a relatable protagonist who, in the midst of buckling under oppressive guilt, embarks on one last bar crawl before he plans to end his own life.
In his notebook, Jack documents the evening, ruminates on his existence and remembers his 7-year-old nephew, who died exactly a year earlier. It is a loss for which Jack feels responsible — a lapse in judgement for which there is no forgiveness. Jack’s plan is to jump off the scenic suspension bridge spanning the Ohio River between Cincinnati and Covington, Kentucky.
Drunk Log is a darkly humorous, deeply introspective exploration into one man’s attempt to find peace in the face of unrelenting pain. Told with a fast clip, the entire book covers about 8 hours and deftly avoids becoming an ominous dirge through relatable — and flawed — characters, unexpectedly funny situations, a budding romance and the wobbly balancing act of a man who must remain sober enough to write in his journal and finish what he started, but drunk enough to jump off a bridge.
Readers follow Jack as he begins the evening at his local watering hole, where a gregarious bartender named Aria, with whom he shares a mutual attraction, takes a surreptitious peek at Jack’s journal. Sensing Jack is headed to the same doom that claimed her sister, Aria decides to intervene.
Tracking him down in the middle of a winter storm, Aria finds Jack on the freezing, snowy bridge. Can they emerge from their individual cocoons of loss and suffering, save each other and rewrite their stories?
Drunk Log is the first installment in Scott’s three-part, Day in the Life series, in which the unexpected, twisted saga of Jack and Aria unfolds over a combined period of 24 hours.
Born in the small manufacturing town of Galion, Ohio, author Mark E. Scott lived in various burgs in Ohio and Michigan before joining the Navy and spending four years traveling the world aboard the USS Mount Whitney. Upon returning home to southwest Ohio, he enrolled at Miami University and completed a degree in Education, only to become a banker soon thereafter. Scott now lives happily in a condo in the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood of Cincinnati. In his free time, he enjoys writing, finding new and creative ways of tricking his children into answering their phones, and anything related to travel and outdoors, of late including tumbling down snow covered mountains while dragging otherwise perfectly good skis behind him.
For more information, please visit www.markescottauthor.com, or connect with him on Instagram (markescottauthor), Facebook (@markescottauthor) or Twitter (@MarkEScott3).
Drunk Log Publisher: Speaking In Volumes, LLC ISBN: 978-1645405559 EISBN: 978-1645405542 Available from Amazon.com
Trish Stevens Rylee Cooper Ascot Media Group, Inc. Post Office Box 2394 Friendswood, TX 77549 [email protected] www.ascotmedia.com 281.333.3507 Phone
Meet 7 Inspirational Women Who Changed Their Stories and Changed Their Worlds
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Can something as simple as a story change the lives of others? Do you ever wonder if your life — your story — matters?
“Of course, it does,” says international speaker and sought-after story expert, Linda Olson. “Everyone has a story, and your story can bring transformation and impact into the word today.”
In Olson’s latest book, Story Matters! Empowering Your Hope When Going Through Tough Times, she provides real-life examples of seven ordinary women who faced major challenges. These women embraced their stories and learned to rise above nearly insurmountable obstacles. They did it through strength, courage and their faith in God, and they are sharing their stories to light a path forward for others facing difficult circumstances.
In this book, readers will learn:
How a single woman rose above childhood trauma to conquer fear and loneliness.
How a young mother moved through grief and loss when her young child was diagnosed with a terminal illness.
How a caring sister became embroiled in a devastating lawsuit and discovered that forgiveness is a choice.
How a middle-aged woman, faced with a choice to live or die, once again found joy.
How a career woman who achieved the many pleasures of the world discovered her real fulfillment was through commitment.
How a college student fulfilled her dream, only to find out her real dream lay deep within her.
How a teenager, devastated by the death of her brother, became a professional storyteller.
“All of these women wanted to give in and give up because they felt themselves giving out,” Olson said. “But something kept them going!”
And now they’re using the power of their stories to make a difference.
Linda Olson is the go-to story expert who helps authors, speakers and entrepreneurs impact millions with their stories. She is a TEDx Speaker, multiple bestselling author and founder of Wealth Through Stories. Her mission is to impact a million people a year with multiple authors in her series, Story Matters! Linda and her husband, Rick, reside in sunny California. They enjoy their two married daughters, sons-in-law and five adorable grandchildren who are the best part of their story.
Story Matters! Empowering Your Hope While Going Through Tough Times, Inspirational Stories Compiled by Linda A. Olson Publisher: Made for More Publishing ISBN-10: 098190145X ISBN-13: 978-0981901459 Available from Amazon.com
Trish Stevens April Johnson Ascot Media Group, Inc. Post Office Box 2394 Friendswood, TX 77549 [email protected] www.ascotmedia.com 281.333.3507 Phone
Break the Fear Cycle: Brain Expert Shares Advice for Building Resilience During Challenging Times
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Forced social isolation, shuttered businesses and canceled or scaled-down worship services have contributed to an overwhelming sense of loss and fear among people all over the world. And there’s a scientific reason for these emotions, explains Timothy R. Jennings, M.D., board-certified psychiatrist, master psychopharmacologist and founder of Come and Reason Ministries.
Dr. Jennings is a much sought-after speaker who regularly addresses non-medical professionals on the subjects of Spirituality in Medicine, Depression and its Spiritual and Physical Connections, and Alzheimer’s Dementia. He also speaks to medical professionals on the topics of Psychotherapy in Clinical Practice, Major Depression in the Primary Care Setting, and the Neurobiology of Depression — among many others.
He describes how the measures taken to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 can have physiological and psychological impacts that, like dominoes, will topple our sources of strength and resilience.
“Research shows that social rejection, isolation and loneliness activate the brain’s stress pathways, thereby increasing inflammatory factors, diminishing immune response and increasing vulnerability to viral infections and cancer, and make you less resilient in life,” he says.
In the shadow of government mandates that restrict our interactions with others, what can we do within our four walls to build our resilience and guard our overall wellbeing?
Dr. Jennings suggests we can boost our resilience through physical exercise, eating a healthy diet, getting regular sleep, cognitive training, having a healthy relationship with God and spiritual development — measures that can actually alter the way our brains react to stress.
“Healthy spirituality confers resilience in a multitude of ways,” he says. “It develops your higher cortex, which calms your fear circuits. You have less fear and you’re less anxious if you’ve got a developed prefrontal cortex. And if you have a loving relationship with a God you trust, that’s part of your prefrontal cortex. And if people have more love, they have less fear.”
Another part of our prefrontal cortex is altruism — something those with healthy spirituality are more likely to engage in — and helping others also calms fear circuits.
Our ability to face a crisis and bounce back is, in part, inherited from our parents and even grandparents through our genetic makeup, Dr. Jennings explains. But through a combination of mental, physical and spiritual adaptive measures, we can boost our resilience and improve our ability to overcome life’s challenges.
Dr. Timothy R. Jennings operates a private practice in Chattanooga and has successfully treated thousands of patients. He is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and Life-Fellow of the Southern Psychiatric Association.
He is also a prolific author whose books include The God-Shaped Brain: How Changing Your View of God Transforms Your Life; Could It Be This Simple? A Biblical Model for Healing the Mind; The Aging Brain: Proven Steps to Prevent Dementia and Sharpen Your Mind; and The God-Shaped Heart: How Correctly Understanding God’s Love Transforms Us.
To hear his presentations and to learn more about Dr. Jennings and his approach to brain and body health, please visit: www.comeandreason.com.
Possible discussion topics for Dr. Jennings:
How do positive social interactions reduce our inflammatory markers?
How does wearing masks contribute to feelings of social isolation?
Explain epigenetic markers and the role they play in our ability to be resilient.
Explain how our life experiences can alter our gene expression and lead to improved resiliency.
Trish Stevens Helen Cook Senior Publicist Ascot Media Group, Inc. Post Office Box 2394 Friendswood, TX 77549 903.654.0938 Direct 281.333.3507 Office [email protected] www.ascotmedia.com
