had 23 rooms, a ball room and a servants' quarters. According to the Dogwood Festival, the house was designed by Master Builder Emmanual Hemmings, a descendant of President Thomas Jefferson and his slave Sally Hemmings. My family hoped I would be a boy as I was their first born and they wanted my birthday to be March 17, St. Patrick's day as we are Irish. Imagine their disappointment when they had a girl born March 18, but they managed to love me anyway.
At Waverly High I was a cheerleader and Valedictorian. At Ohio University, I was a Pom Pom girl, editor of university literary magazine and Phi Beta Kappa. I majored in Creative Writing and Romance Languages. Then I got a scholarship to the Sorbonne and while in Paris was hired by the U.S. Air Force as a Recreation Director and dancer. Went to Kingston, Jamaica where I met Lennox Raphael, a writer from Trinidad.
We got married in Tampico, Mexico and lived in New York, Rio, Paris and Tetuan, Morocco. We took the same course at the University of Brazil and were awarded a joint diploma to Mr. and Mrs. Lennox Raphael.
Anais Nin wrote this about your book, "Runaways, America's Lost Youth, (co-written by Jenifer Wolf, Drake Publishing, Inc. 1974). This is an important book. Nowhere else have I seen the theme of the Runaways treated so thoroughly, honestly, unflinchingly. It is important because it offers suggestions for improving a tragic situation. To run away is no longer the romantic escape to join a circus, a sailing ship, to see other lands. It is the young, the vulnerable, exposed to all the dangers of a criminally inclined culture. It is a painful read."... Maryanne, what inspired you to research this subject back in the 70's?
Maryanne: I lived in the Lower East Side of New York in the 70's and met many runaways, even ended up running an unofficial home for them. When I met Jenifer Wolf who had published many articles on the subject, we decided to write the book together.
It sold well in the U.S. and became a best seller when it was published by Kodansha in Japan.
In your book, "Mother Teresa, Called to Love," you write about your experiences working with this wonderful woman and about her life story. How did you come to meet her? What drew you to her? Why was it important for you to write about Mother Teresa?
I understand you're currently writing a second book about her. What will it feature?
Maryanne: A friend of mine was one of Mother Teresa's first contemplate nuns and she invited me to hear her take her vows and we spent an entire day with Mother Teresa and her Sisters and their families. To me Mother is like St. Francis, so full of all consuming, unconditional love her Presence is overwhelming.
She was so tiny and yet her Spirit filled the planet. Her acts of mercy and compassion touched me, but her Essence captured me. It was such a blessing knowing her and being part of her beautiful work I felt I had to share that. My new book, "Touching the Face of God, What Mother Teresa Taught Me," will include what Mother means to me and how she has changed my life.
You also wrote a fusion of novel and biography about Anais Nin, a French novelist, passionate eroticist and short story writer, who gained international fame with her journals, according to Books and Writers website. What fascinated you about her life and writing style to make you write a book about her?
Maryanne: Anais Nin was a fascinating woman. Richard Centing, Librarian at Ohio State introduced me to Anais and published my interview with her. She and I became friends. We both loved writing, people, travel and language. I loved her exciting creative lifestyle. Her journals have inspired many people. I never tire of reading them.
In "Garden of Hope; an Autobiography of a Marriage," you and your ex-husband, Lennox Raphael based this book on your journals that you kept during the sixties. Tell us about how you meet and what you brought to each other's lives.
Maryanne: We met on the steps of the main library in Kingston, Jamaica. We always say we fell in love at second site. Although we weren't too impressed with one another the first day our second day in the same library we exchanged life stories and dreams and began to fall in love. Lennox taught me to be at home in a palace or a ghetto, to love people no matter who they were or what they believed. Lennox taught me how to write spontaneously. He was a journalist and his first draft of a play or novel was usually ready to publish where as before I met him I would spend years writing and rewriting a piece. He was a Radical Optimist and expected people to love him and they usually did. He often said he had no regrets.
What difficulties did you experience because of your inter-racial marriage? Do you feel society is more accepting of these marriages today? Would you have changed anything in the past to make those early years easier?
Maryanne: We did not experience many difficulties due to our inter-racial marriage because most of our friends were artists, writers, travelers, musicians. When we were in New Orleans just before the Freedom Rides began a policeman started to arrest us for being in the white waiting room, but when he heard Lennox's accent and saw his British passport he did not. But he arrested a black soldier in uniform who had been sitting near us. "I know you are an American," he said, "and you know better than to be where you don't belong."
I believe there are more inter-racial marriages today, but I'm not sure what affect that has on people who disapprove. I hope things are getting better.
You share your own personal struggle to regain control of your life in "Along Came a Spider: A Personal Look At Madness." I honor your courage to delve into this inner reflection. Has writing this book helped you find your way back to who you are?
Maryanne: Writing "Along Came a Spider, A Personal Look at Madness" was a healing process for me although it was very painful. I would not say this book helped me find my way back to who I am. That had to be done before I could finish the book. That was done by getting on Lithium, finding a therapist, Dr. Tom O'Shea, spending time with Mother Teresa and working with her Missionaries of Charity and getting to know the poorest of the poor and what Jesus meant by Blessed are the Poor in Spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of God."
Tell us about some of your other books?
Maryanne: My favorite novel is "The Man Who Loved Funerals." I wrote it for the International Three Day Pulp Novel writing contest in the 1980's. Charlie is a homeless man who reads the obituaries each day and chooses a funeral. He makes friends with the dead because he finds them dependable. Charlie feels a funeral is a good place to celebrate Life. "How to Survive As a Freelance Writer" was the best selling book at the old Eighth Street Book Store in Greenwich Village in the sixties. I am updating it now.
Do you have any future projects planned?
Maryanne: My Grandfather Patterson used to tell his grandchildren stories about Mary, Queen of Scots, one of our ancestors. I've been trying to gather the folk stories and incorporate them with the histories I've read of Queen Mary. And I'm working on a book about Parker Ranch in Hawaii. I lived there for two years and collected stories from the cowboys about residents of the ranch.
How has writing enriched your life?
Maryanne: Nothing has been more important to me than writing. It keeps me focused, gives meaning to my life. I kept journals even when I was in a mental hospital. A day when I don't write is darker than a day without sunshine. My web page says, "No matter what I am doing right now, I'd rather be writing."
© Denise Fleischer, gottawritenetwork.com
July 7, 2006
