In the City

As I lay near the waterfall in Jamison Park reading The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova, a tiny red spider ran to and fro over the pages of my book. Now, multicolored leaves are rattling like skeletons all over the sidewalks. I think about how I plan to use the common writers' instructional phrase: Write what you know. I know a lot about my beautiful city, and I am a woman who embraces diversity. Writing, drawing, and painting in Portland, Oregon is an experience that provides favorable conditions for the muse. Writers recycle all that drama!

Writing in Portland is also about exposure. So much has happened for my career as a writer and artist here in the city. I've become respected by many people whom I admire internationally.

Exposure. I love modeling for professional artists! Among them, Buzz Siler is a famous painter of abstract women who was able to invent a method of twirling acrylic house paint, later mixed with oil paint, from a stick that makes black magic outlines. I am his $12,000 gargoyle in creams and black called "Huntress." Check out his website at or ask to see the canvas on the corner of Marshall and 11th Streets in the Pearl District, the heart of the Rose City hugged in the curve of the Willamette River. I have also acted for corporate training videos, and can't get over seeing my hair on the television screen. 

Art Therapy Workshop

As I wrap up the end of my B.A. in Psychology moving forward to a Ph.D. in Child Psychology, I want to specialize my career in healing young victims of trauma and abuse with art projects. This seems like a fun, liberating, and relieving plan for children. Just sketching, painting, or coloring a picture of your family can truly help you accept what you may see in them, if you are a kid. Of course, there are many more complex ideas in my forthcoming notebook . . .

Recently, I enjoyed the brief opportunity to volunteer at a social service center in Portland, Oregon called Bud Clark Commons. They mostly help veterans. For perhaps 6 months, I lead an open, structured workshop that embraced people who suffer trauma and psychological disturbance, and challenged them to express their thoughts and feelings on paper. For example, we drew from memories in one class, focusing on what seemed most intensely charged with emotion.

Also, Bud Clark Commons and a number of other social service centers in the heart of upper Portland hosted a huge art show known as "Art with Heart." For my local working center, BCC, I was on the jury and got to show many of my German Abstract Expressionist paintings. A friend of mine from New York City displayed some of her watercolors. Sally Franz is a published writer, and now edits manuscripts and travels globally from her new home here. The suffering got space in the show, too! Any capitol funded further ministry.   

This is a self-portrait by an intelligent, homeless sketch artist named Howard. He prefers to work with graphite.

Discover My Art

With honor I present the portfolio of my artistic experiences, education in as much as it is so far, and accomplishments. My studio teachers described me as a "German Abstract Expressionist." My favorite media with which to create are graphite, oil paints and pastels, though foremost, of course, remains writing. An example in paints follows the link to my portfolio:

 www.janagifford.deviantart.com

  

Further Academic Adventure

I am excited to celebrate my nomination into The National Society of Collegiate Scholors (NSCS)! NSCS is the honor society for certain high acheiving students. Upon acceptance into this generous association, among other honorable privileges, many scholorships become available to the member.

The National Society of Collegiate Scholors wrote to me this:

"You should feel proud of this prestigious national recognition of your outstanding work . . . Your hard work has earned you a place among the elite of today's [univeristy] students."

As of February 27, 2012, I am celebrated nationally as an above-average scholor. As I continue to acheive my goals, I look forward to sharing through more literature and artistic expressions my learning. Thank you for being a part of my career!

The Arrival of a New Novel!

When Savannah Blackwood gets stuck in Seattle, she meets the tiny Chinese fortune teller Mother Zhen, who is all too eager for the bold girl to start working for her, living in an upper portion of the Tea House. Savannah finds the business boring and a little freaky, until another--hidden--portion of Mother Zhen's work reveals itself. In spite of all the losses she has experienced, can Savannah find a true lover here?

Although I wasn't at first aware of the full prizes of Chris Baty's National Novel Writing Month Contest, I went ahead and dashed off 50,000 words in November, thinking that just in case I won, it would be fun and good experience.

Well, I did win. And this new year, apparently, the reward is to get your book published professionally. So here I am with a novel ahead of my own game plan . . . This literary piece of fiction is now available in a convenient paperback for you! The volume is available online at Amazon.com and through many other booksellers, including Barnes & Noble and Borders.

I just can't wait to know your responses! You can easily check updates on my latest stories through Facebook, following Author Jana Gifford.

Click on this link to order:

http://www.amazon.com/Purple-Dynasty-My-Year-Prostitution/dp/1468040464/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1331145793&sr=8-1

Another Successful Academic Year

Dear Jana Gifford,

On behalf of the Faculty and Staff at Ashford University, congratulations on being named to the Dean's list for Summer 2011. Your appointment to the Dean's List is published on the Ashford University website under the Academic Superstars link.

Your dedication and commitment to your studies make you a great role model for others to emulate. You and your family should feel quite proud of your accomplishment. All of us at Ashford University share in this pride as well and believe that students like you help make Ashford University the quality learning institution it is.

Again, congratulations for a job well done!
Sincerely,

Dr. Rebecca Wardlow

Lust and Reason: An Intellectual's Essay on Twilight

"I watched the morning dawn upon your skin . . ." -Josh Groban, "Now or Never"

Although I rarely consume romance literature, I found Twilight easy to read. I remember sitting at the breakfast table in Mesa, Arizona looking over a newspaper. I saw a column about a woman who dreamed of a vivid forest in which sat a glittering vampire and longed to write about it. Later, when popularity spread the book like a swarm of malaria-carrying mosquitoes, I wanted to read it in spite of friends' criticism.

Stephanie Myer attended Brigham Young University and owns a degree in literature. She writes with a clipped style. I like how this influences her Bella--"bella" being the Italian word for "beauty"--to give us her perspective straight. However, she does reiterate a lot of details already noted. Perhaps these are the ones she enjoys most.

Bella seems self-conscious, especially about her facial expressions, her faults, and her differences from others. She faces a lot of internal conflict. It's moving that in certain ways I relate to Bella, and I think this is probably what a high school audience who reads the romance feels.

The character of Edward is profound in that he loves a dark girl who feels like an outcast enough to pursue her and feel jealousy over her. This speaks well of him and implies that he saw a value in her that other people failed to realize, and I think he is brilliantly cultured with hundreds of years of reading and music and Italian interests.

However, Jacob seems more real to me. He turns buff and really cares about Bella, inviting her into his gritty culture. He has golden skin whereas Edward shows glittering pale skin. Whom do you prefer?

In spite of a lot of cheap vampire follow-ups and the presence of Jane Eyre which truly terrifies the weak at heart, I think Twilight is a romance story worth feeling. True love is never blind, but motivating, for it gives to the recipients what is good for them, not only what they want. Curious, enticing and intense, this book did not disappoint visually my expectations.