My Mama Monologues -  December 20, 2011 - UPDATE 

Titles and Authors

Monologue 1 - DANCING QUEEN

Taylor St. Clair - Avondale Estates, Georgia

Mother - born in Dallas, Texas, 1923

Taylor has led a double life, as an art teacher by day for 35 years, and actress by night for 30, performing on stage, in independent films, TV and radio. She is also a writer, singer and activist.

Monologue 2 - MOTHER AT THE WINDS CAFE

Cathryn Essinger - Troy, Ohio

Mother - born in Macon, Missouri, 1921

Cathryn is an English professor at Edison Community College. The author of three books of poetry, her poems have been anthologized, with new work appearing in The Southern Review, New England Review, and Quarterly West.

Monologue 3 - MOTHERS AND DAUGHTERS

Deanne Kiesser - Kahului, Maui

Mother - born in Valentine, Nebraska, 1935

Deanne is the Development Coordinator of the Maui Food Bank. She creates musicals, performs

in community and church plays, and is writing a book.

Monologue 4 - MY MOM IS LOONEY 

Chaztyn Pangelina - Kaneohe, Hawai`i

Mother - born on Maui, Hawai`i, 1976

Chaz is in the fifth grade at Punahou School, Honolulu. She is a hip-hop, jazz and ballet dancer who has placed in national competitions. An animal rights activist and vegetarian, she has three dogs.  

Monologue 5 - MY MOM IS SAMOAN

Oriana Buika - Wailuku, Maui

Mother - born in Western Samoa, 1963

Oriana is a fifth grader at Wailuku Elementary School. She excels in sports and loves to draw.  Her favorite TV show is Animal Planet, and she wants to be a wildlife preservationist.

Monologue 6 - SOFIA: STAYING IN HAWAII

Norma Doctor Sparks - San Jose, California

Mother - born in Camiling, Tarlac, The Philippines, 1917

Norma is an attorney, social worker and mother of two sons. A previous Director of 2 Hawaii State agencies, she is about to be Deputy Director.of L.A. County's Dept. of Children & Family Services.

In 2007, she was recognized as one of the top 100 Filipina Women in the U.S.

Monologue 7 - WILD PERSIMMON BLOSSOM: Kaki no hana

Elaine Nobuko Gima - Kahului, Maui

Mother - born in Kakinohana, Tamagusuku, Okinawa, 1902

Elaine lives a full and fulfilled life. She has traveled around the world doing her art work. Now

coming full circle, she continues as an artist in Wailuku, her birthplace. Her daughter is about to become a mother.

Monologue 8 - OKAASAN

Lynn Araki-Regan - Wailuku, Maui

Mother - born in Puunene, Maui, 1937

Lynn is a 'yonsei' (4th generation Japanese-American) who has a 3-year-old son. She is an attorney, and was honored by the Pacific Business News as the 2008 Woman Community Leader of the Year.

Monologue 9 - OYAKOKO

Pat Masumoto - Pukalani, Maui

Mother - born in Lahaina, Maui, 1908

Honored as a 'Maui Woman Making a Difference,' Pat is a celebrated artist, playwright, author, National Slam Poet, and composer/singer in her band, 'Sing Sing Laugh Laugh.' She is also a

laugh coach who developed 'laughter aerobics™.'

Monologue 10 - MY MOM LOVES DOGS  

Naomi Vliet - Kula, Maui

Mother - born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1964

Naomi is in the 3^rd grade at Kamehameha School. She has a dog and plays the piano. Naomi and Crystal Hughes (Monologue 32) are co-authoring a kid's book, as part of an after-school writing program, the Cloudwalkers Club.

Monologue 11 - UNDERSTANDING THE WAR

Carol Sheppard - Gloucestershire, England

Mother - born in Ehndorf village, near Neumunster, Germany, 1938

Carol is a mother, legal secretary and writer of plays for children and the radio. She placed second

at the 2008 International Screenwriters Festival competition, in the Short Film category.

Monologue 12 - THE MOST IMPORTANT WOMAN IN MY LIFE

Annastina Wikell Jarosz - Lahaina, Maui

Mother - born in Sweden, 1898

Annastina is the co-creator of three 'Little Philosophers™' international projects. She received the Gandhi-King Peace Hero Award in 2006. Maui is, for her, a paradise!

Monologue 13 - MY MOTHER SAW HALLEY's COMET

Kay Owen - Stockton, California

Mother - born in Bogota, Colombia, 1897

Kay began teaching elementary classes in a one-room school house, and continued for 30 years. Recently taking up watercolor, she is now the resident artist at a retirement facility.

Monologue 14 - GERTRUDE HUGHES, MY MOTHER

Elizabeth Bolotin - Long Beach, California

Monologue 15 - WHERE I GREW UP

Marjorie Schmid - Rossford, Ohio

Mother - born in  Macon, Missouri, 1900

The expressive mother in Monologue 2, Marjorie is a retired high school English teacher. After living in many Midwestern locales, she and her husband Charles moved, in 1959, into their current home, shared with Tex, a cat, and Dixie, a dog.

Monologue 16 - KEEP YOUR HANDS ON TOP OF THE COVERS

David W. Digby - Atlanta, Georgia

Mother - born in Danville, Illinois, 1901

David has lived and studied in a dozen places: from L.A. to Boston, and Oregon to Florida, including Paris. International folk dancing has served as an introduction to new friends. He teaches biology online, and English Country dancing the old-fashioned way.

Monologue 17 - HOMESPUN SURGERY: MAMA's MISSION WITH MEN 

Barry Sultanoff - Haiku, Maui

Mother - born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1919

Barry is a poet, psychiatrist, radio deejay, chorale singer, taiko drummer, canoe paddler, and lover

of wild birds. For him, 'Life is art, and the artist's life his chosen way.'

Monologue 18 - THE OEDIPUS COMPLEX: A SHORT VERSION

Don Benoliel - Wailuku, Maui

Mother - born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1911

Don is an artist, award-winning published poet, musician and writer of published and recorded

songs such as calypso and rock, including a major label.

Monologue 19 - LEAH

Suki Halevi - Haiku, Maui

Mother - born in Cleveland, Ohio, 1916

Suki is involved in Maui's Optimum Living Alliance, a vegan community dedicated to happiness and compassion for all beings. She has a daughter, Rachel.

Monologue 20 - III

Lucy Lerner Wormser - Haiku, Maui 

Mother - born in New York City's Lower East Side, 1918
Lucy has been a writer, actress, teacher, songwriter and singer, primatologist, and a mother to her three children and many others.

Monologue 21 - DON`T KNOW ABOUT MOTHER's DAY

Alice Folkart - Kailua, Hawai`i

Mother - born in Fairmont, Minnesota, around 1918

Alice is a writer who co-directs internet writing and poetry forums. Her work has been published in on-line literary journals, and she has two finished novels in revision. She plays the ukulele 'to stay

out of trouble.'

Monologue 22 - THESE ARE MY THINGS, NOT YOURS

Pat Masumoto - see Monologue 9

Monologue 23 - FOUR GOOD ONES

Malcolm Tavares - Pukalani, Maui

Mother - born in Paia, Maui, 1918

Malcolm is a U.S. Navy veteran. He once built racing engines for Harley Davidson motorcycles, and was a Hawai`i State Champion Racer. He enjoys fixing motorcycles and fishing. He has four children.

Monologue 24 - SHE FOUND ME

Pastor Kimo - Waianae, Hawai`i

Mother - born in Lahaina, Maui, 1939

Pastor Kimo is involved in a coalition to develop shelters for the homeless, and to provide children and teens with activities that will keep them off the streets. He enjoys renovating old houses.

Monologue 25 - MY MOTHER SHOULD HAVE USED A CONDOM

Kevin Jung - New York City

Mother- born in Syracuse, New York, 1965

An only child, Kevin is an honor student in high school. He is a slender 6`2', plays the Steinway grand piano, has a sense of humor, is somewhat shy, and has piercings, no ink.

Monologue 26 - THE CLOSET

ANONYMOUS

Mother - born in New Jersey, 1949

This author lives alone on the East Coast, is well-traveled, involved in comedic theater, and committed to a vegan diet.

Monologue 27 - UNKNOWN

Chrissy L. Hensley - Cincinnati, Ohio
Mother - born in Richmond, Indiana, 1958

Chrissy is a social justice writer who strives to understand and accurately communicate our society's cultural and social differences. She devotes her abilities and energy to being a socially conscious artist.

Monologue 28 - SHE's PERFECT

Nina Morasky, Seattle, Washington

Mother - born in Berkeley, California, 1972

Nina is a 1^st grader at Coe Elementary, obsessed with tether ball and the violin, wants to learn Japanese, thinks numbers are cool, reads voraciously, and wants to be Joan Jett as a violinist.

She's a sensitive, intuitive, lovely, nerdy rocker.

Monologue 29 - MY MANZANITA MOMENT

Catherine Pascual Lo - Kaua`i, Hawai`i

Mother - born in Isabela, Luzon, Philippines, 1915

Catherine is a published poet and writer, retired head librarian of Kaua`i Community College, and the former editor and project director of the Kaua`i Library Association's Garden Island Index project.

Monologue 30 - MY CHINESE MOTHER

Amy Joyce Chang - Haiku, Maui

Mother - born in Hong Kong, 1924

A playful, soulful lover of uplifting, creative fusion, Amy is a dancer, chanter, massage therapist and cultural tour guide, currently focusing on the singer/songwriter genre. She is grateful to have lived and loved in Hawai`i over the past 3 decades.

Monologue 31 - NEARLY PURLOINED PLUNDER

Vernyce Dannells - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Mother - born in the West Indies, 1910

Born in Chicago, educated and working all over the country, Vernyce is a published writer, poet and a compelling storyteller who lived 20 years in Hawai`i, the longest stint she ever had in any one place.

Monologue 32 - MY MOM LOVES MANATEES

Crystal Hughes - Haiku, Maui

Mother - born In Kaneohe, Hawai`i, 1969

Crystal is in the 4th grade at Kamehameha School. She lives with a bunny, a tortoise, a dog and fish. She plays the violin, sews bunny clothes and loves to write. She says her mom is 'really, really nice.'

Monologue 33 - EYE OF THE BEHOLDER

Cindy Luck - Danville, California

Mother - born in Boston, Massachusetts, 1924

Cindy is a certified Amherst Writer's and Artist's facilitator, and coach for private and community groups, including shelters. A novelist, she writes articles and monthly columns.

Monologue 34 - AFTER HER GRANDDAUGHTER's WEDDING

Dee Van Dyke - Honolulu, Hawai`i

Mother - born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,1909

Dee's mother attended Vassar College, which is remarkable considering the period when she was of age. Dee taught art at Punahou School in five decades. She is a fiber and clay artist who enjoys dabbling with words.

Monologue 35 - MOM SAID

Robert Schueler - Mount Vernon, Iowa

Mother - born in Alburnett, Iowa, 1920

Robert was a theoretical artist, now a social architect co-creating and co-designing systems of utopia. His son is Makiah Orion Miller - of Makiah's Legislative Bill - to make children a top priority

in co-creating a more perfect union.

Monologue 36 - MY MOTHER WAS ALWAYS SLIGHTLY OUT-OF-FOCUS

Alice Anne Parker - Hauula, Hawai`i
Mother - born in Eugene, Oregon, 1913
Alice Anne, both mother and grandmother, has worked as a psychic for 35 years, with a worldwide clientele. She is the author of, 'Understand Your Dreams,' and 'The Last of the Dream People.'

Monologue 37 - LOST

Helen Kritzler - Makawao, Maui

Mother - born in Brooklyn, New York, 1909
Helen is a psychic-palmist and Maui's e-mail networker known as 'HaikuHelen.' She was a pioneer in the women's liberation movement, and helped develop early improvisational women's theater in New York.

Monologue 38 - MOM's LAST DAY ON EARTH

Jeffery Griffin - Pukalani, Maui

Mother - born in Battle Creek, Michigan, 1936

A Hawai`i real estate broker, Jeff is a spoken-word poet and a musician-composer with an art rock band. An animal & plant lover, he harvests vegetable and fruit from his organic backyard garden.

Monologue 39 - SHE DID NOT DIE

Pat Masumoto - see Monologue 9