Meet Connie
Photo Source: Connie Kallback
Connie Kallback transitioned from teaching English to publishing with McGraw-Hill, Prentice Hall and CPP, Inc, in positions ranging from writer to managing editor. Her early writing, penned while teaching, appeared in magazines and newspapers, and her recent work in literary journals.
Retired and no longer wearing the hats of Mary Poppins or Sherlock Holmes, necessities of raising six children in two separate families, she writes in South Carolina where she lives with her husband.
Over the years, several pets accompanied the children, including a parrot who whistled, The Star Spangled Banner, and frequently asked, "What?" None have accompanied them to retirement, but a brown rabbit has taken up residency in the back yard.
Contradictions About Me
I love my alone time but I am the last to leave a party because I love being with friends.
I don't like picking up the phone to call someone, but once connected, I talk on and on - often too long.
I have sometimes felt an alien on this earth, but I haven't fallen off yet.
I believe laughter is the cure for almost everything.
A Few Of My Favorites Things.
Novel: The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
My mother read this book to my brother and me in my preschool nights before bed. We sat in a rocker wide enough to hold three of us.
Although it was beyond my intellectual level, I loved hearing the cadence of the sentences and the dialogue between Ratty and Mole. I’d fall asleep before she finished reading, and she would carry me to bed.
When I read it for myself in junior high, I kept a dictionary at hand because the vocabulary gave me a challenge even then. I borrowed that experience for Dana, the main character in Chasing the Blue Boat.
Poem: The Writer by Richard Wilbur (1921-2017), poet, teacher, translator, Pulitzer Prize
Richard Wilbur directs this poem to his daughter, who is writing a story on a typewriter. Long pauses are followed by the rapid typing of keys, “like a chain hauled over a gunwale.” He knows what hard work it is and wishes her “a lucky passage.”
When I’d been out of college in Seattle some forty years, my husband Gary and I went to Wilbur’s poetry reading in New York City, where we had a chance to chat with him.
Gary told him how he found a bird in an upstairs bedroom and was able to coax it to perch on his finger, talking softly all the way to the window. Of course, it reminded us of this poem.
In the last half of The Writer, Wilbur creates a metaphor for his daughter’s writing journey by describing the struggle of a dazed starling caught indoors that hit a window again and again, trying to find freedom, and finally “clearing the sill of the world.” The poem’s last stanza:
It is always a matter, my darling,
Of life or death, as I had forgotten. I wish
What I wished you before, but harder. - Richard Wilbur
Poet: Theodore Roethke (1908-1963), poet, teacher, Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award
I was a student in one of his two final classes before he died in 1963. (See my letter below to the editor of Columns about Roethke.)
Roethke’s Birthday Party
Letter to the editor, Columns, The University of Washington Alumni Magazine
What a pleasant surprise to see a large photo of Theordore Roethke (Title Page, December, 2014).
It took me back to his class in the spring quarter of 1963. Every day was an adventure. We didn’t know if his mood would be one of sadness and reminiscing, sometimes taking out his handkerchief to dry his eyes, or ebullience, talking about his favorite poet/philosophers he affectionately called “geeks.”
On May 25, his birthday, a student invited him to go with the entire class to a pub off campus to celebrate. He begged off, saying he couldn’t because he had another class following ours.
When the student said, “They’re already there waiting for us,” Roethke happily capitulated. He bought everyone a bottle of German beer and became the perfect host, taking time to sit at every table.
In all these years, I’ve never forgotten it. None of us could have known then, but it would be his last class and his last birthday. He died of a heart attack the following summer. A resounding loss to the world of poetry. - Connie Kallback ‘63
Short Story: The Old Dog by Donald Vining
I often read this short story to my classes when I was teaching because it’s so well structured, ultra short, and gives a surprise tug on the heart strings at the end.
Songs:
How Great Thou Art by Carl Boberg, Swedish lay preacher, poet and a member of Parliament late 1800s.
The older I become, the more deeply I appreciate all the gifts the Lord has given us. The greatest of all is the gift of his son, Jesus, who died for us. Salvation is a gift. We don’t have to beg for it, work for it, or promise to adhere to certain rules. We can receive the most wonderful gift of all by believing in Jesus.
One recent morning, I sang this hymn repeatedly while cleaning the kitchen. Later that afternoon, I tried to figure out how to use a translate feature for Swedish on my cell phone. I’m in touch with people on Facebook related in some way to my husband's father, who came from Sweden.
I had sent questions about Sweden in a personal text and received one back–that I couldn’t read. While fiddling with the search on my cell, I accidentally sent an audio call to Sweden!
My contact there sounded happy to speak to me but soon put his wife on because she is more fluent in English. We had a lovely chat, and then moments after we disconnected, I saw a new message from them. I clicked on it. A beautiful rendition of How Great Thou Art. It brought tears to my eyes.
It Might Be You. Music by Dave Grusin; lyrics, Alan and Marilyn Bergman.
My first husband and I divorced when our two sons were grown and working. I lived alone in an apartment for nearly two years. During that time, I observed more than one man in church, draping an arm lovingly around his wife.
My first husband and I went to church together, but there was no arm draping or hand holding. I longed for that. But in a splice of time, the Lord arranged for me to meet Gary. It was more than coincidence. I tear up whenever I hear the line in the song about “Someone waiting there for me.” God is good.
Singer/Song Writer: Don
During the days of hectic packing for our last move before COVID hit, I was so tired, I thought I couldn’t do it anymore.
Then I began listening to Don Moen’s music. Why I didn’t think of it earlier, I don’t know, but what a difference! It easily got me through the rest of the day. Many of his songs are words from the Bible set to music. So soothing and comforting.
Movie
Actor/Dancer: Gene Kelly
In my early teens, I watched Gene Kelly dance in movies with the strength of a gymnast. He obviously enjoyed doing it and having as great a time as the people watching.
I still think back on Singing in the Rain and his other films with great fondness.
Publication
Newspaper: The Epoch Times
I love this weekly newspaper. Its five sections include News, Opinion, Mind&Body, Home, Life&Tradition. All columns are written by leaders in their fields.
Founded more than two decades ago to report the truth about human rights abuses in Communist China, The Epoch Times understands the conflict between the free world and totalitarianism.
A statement from this nonprofit organization states, in part, that it “seeks to report the news truthfully, honor traditional and classical values, and bring hope to its readers.”
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