Hello my old friends Hello my old car Hello my old bed Hello to the library and thank you too for hours of fun and good times that will last Do you still remember when I sat on the hill or walked to the stables when I biked out of town when I'd had quite enough of the neighbor's old dog or when I blew kisses from up on that hill Can you still see the grain elevator from miles away Is Rhony still laughing and fist bumping people with a smile Are Nan and Papa Ramond still going to visit their grandkids and handing out cupcakes at church Do Kira and Aliyah still miss me Do you still miss me because I still miss you Home isn't my new home not quite yet Home is Big Sandy where the streets are all quiet and no one's around I miss you my dear
old friend
Liana Jansenn is the daughter of former Pastor Sean Jansenn and Vanessa. While they were in Big Sandy, I attempted to have a creative writing club for grade school students. Liana was one of those students; I always knew she was creative. I was so excited when they gave me the news that she had been published.
They received the following letter recently. "Congratulations! Your incredible piece of writing that was published in the 2021-2022 WITS anthology, May your Wonder Be Your Map has arrived! We are so thrilled by your writing, and your piece was selected from over 3,000 K-12 public school students over this last school year to form part of a long-lasting tradition. We hope you will share your work proudly with your friends and family."
"Through your participation in this anthology, you join an enormous community of writers throughout the Puget Sound Region. The WITS program has been working in local public schools since 199r, and there are writers from 31 schools in this collection alone, so you are a part of a beautiful, big, collective effort as a published author now."
"Your writing has, and will continue to be , such a gift to your WITS writer, to your teachers and classmates, to all of us at Seattle Arts & Lectures, and now to the community as a whole, especially in such a historic era. We hope that writing continues to be a space where you can process and find delight in the world. Thank you again for being part of this tradition, and all the best wishes to you in the 2022-23 school year!"
