Today we’d like to introduce you to Christene Meyers
Hi Christene, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I have written about the arts and travel since I was 14 and published my first article in a youth magazine. Worked as a news reporter for Lee Enterprises through undergraduate and graduate degrees. My family traveled. We took the train to New York from our small Montana town. My dad was a pilot so we also flew to Denver, San Francisco, Portland. My mum was a musician and singer, a true original. My grandmother Olive was also a huge influence. She toured with the Marx Bros in Vaudeville days and taught me piano — classical and jazz. Granddad Gus taught work ethic and discipline. From kindergarten, I took piano, dance, saxophone and violin lessons, so the arts and wanderlust were engrained. Working my way through college as a news reporter, I began reviewing concerts, plays and movies in 1971. This led to invitations from Hollywood studios to world premiers and star interviews.
I received numerous writing awards and was music director in many productions in Billings, Montana. As head of the Fox Committee for the Performing Arts, I was instrumental in raising $6 million to save the oldest Fox Theater in the Rockies, now the Alberta Bair Theater. I have two published books, the latest a historical novel, “Lilian’s Last Dance,” and I am working on a memoir. I write poetry and am working on an advanced degree at Sarah Lawrence College. I have lost two beloved husbands. My first late husband, Bruce Meyers, was a gifted actor, poet and English and creative writing professor at Montana State University Billings. Second late husband, William Jones, was a watercolor painter and chief film critic for the Arizona Republic. I met my third husband, Bruce William Keller in 2007. He is a ” partially retired” engineer and building contractor with many high-end remodeling projects in La Jolla and elsewhere. He is also a lifelong photographer, devoted scuba diver, surfer and sailor. He dove in the Red Sea during his tenure as an oceanographer. We began our international travel and arts blog to combine our talents in writing and photography and share our mutual love of travel with global readers. We discovered that we were both at Heathrow Airport in London in July of 1977– long before we met! He was enroute to Saudi Arabia and I was invited press to the late Queen Elizabeth’s Silver Jubilee and the world premier of “The Spy Who Loved Me.” Met Queen Mum and Princess Anne. Learned to curtsy to the royals and United Artists spared no expense at Black Tie galas.
We have written about more than 130 cruises and have traveled the world together, from Antarctica to Iceland. We photographed Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga several times and wrote about their sell-out, SRO concert at Radio City Music Hall in New York. It was Bennett’s farewell opus, a moving and extraordinary event. We are recently back from Barcelona, Buenos Aires and whale watching on the Baja and are off to Indonesia and Malaysia for more travel photos and stories. We will cross the Atlantic again on Queen Mary 2 in October with theater forays in New York and London. We divide our year in thirds: international travel, San Diego, and Montana where I grew up. Mr. Keller is a native San Diegan. Note the coincidence of his name, which incorporates both my late husbands’ monikers. So Bruce William Keller is known as Keller to me and our friends and family. We recently lost our beloved Yorkshire terriers, Nick and Nora, who traveled the U.S. with us. We are thankful for our life of adventure and discovery and enjoy combining our talents as we travel the world, seeing plays and concerts, hiking, biking, taking food tours and delving into history and culture. We have friends all over the world thanks to travel and think of ourselves as ambassadors for peace and co-operation.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
My successful writing and editing career began as a child. I always wrote poems and little vignettes. I wrote a play when I was a fourth grader and cast our family to perform it. I was one of the few women reporters at our newspaper in the late 1960s. I worked hard to help pass the Equal Rights Amendment, and dealt with the usual sexism of the day — men’s salaries were higher. Period. I had a wonderful mentor who gave me terrific advice. “Work harder than a man, keep your standards high, look sharp, never curse and overlook the patronizing and prejudice.” (I tried to uphold her advice, but have been known to utter the occasional cuss word.) I protested when I received an excellent 10 rating on my evaluation — the highest possible — while a male colleague who scored a 9 rating received a larger raise than I did. I was told, “Your husband is a professor and you have no children. Your colleague is the sole breadwinner and has two children.” So those were the late 1960s and early 1970s. Working, going to school and helping support my family (oldest child) presented challenges, but I made it work through good luck, effort and my sense of self and confidence. I worked my way through college, receiving degrees in English, wrote for Ms. Magazine, am still studying in workshops at Sarah Lawrence College for a “some day” doctorate in poetry and playwriting. I love the stimulation of working with younger people and brilliant professors. Other struggles have been personal …. I have lost many beloved people and wrote all their obituaries and planned their memorials: two husbands, two sisters, a brother, brother-in-law and young brilliant nephew who was murdered by a crazy person. Naturally, parents and grandparents. That’s all been tough but I have kept going and am thankful for this third great love. http://www.whereiscookie.com/2013/02/third-great-love-inspires-kiss.html
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I started playing piano when I was 3 years old, climbing up on the piano bench at my grandparents and plunking out a song, to the amazement adults enjoying cocktails after dinner. Our international blog, whereiscookie.com reflects my lifetime immersion in the arts as performer, music director, arts editor, musician, theater and movie critic. I am proud of my world travel and creative collaboration on our global blog with Bruce W. Keller. I am proud of our successful partnership. Keller shares my love of nature and the arts. The blog features his fine photos and my prose and we write for newspapers, magazines and of course whereiscookie.com
I am proud of being a primary force behind saving the Fox Theater in Billings, Montana. It was headed for the bulldozer in 1976 when I formed The Fox Committee for the Performing Arts to lobby for its salvation. By 1986, we had raised nearly $6 million. The theater was renovated and reopened as The Alberta Bair Theater, named after its most generous patron, heir to a sheep and railroad fortune made by her pioneering father. It is a thriving performing arts venue now, showcasing talent from all over the world. I am proud of having survived more death and tragedy than most people and to have kept my head up and my feet on the ground during immense pain and sorrow. I am also proud of my piano playing — on ships, cocktail lounges, for parties and family gatherings. My husband, Bruce Keller, and I, are embarking on a pair of cruises soon in Indonesia, Malaysia and Australia and will be traveling nearly two months. I am proud of having visited over 110 countries. I don’t know of any other couple who has cruised as many times and to as many places as we have. I am also proud of my philanthropy to family and community, my helping siblings, nieces and nephews, and my generosity to various “causes” from the arts to nature and environmental projects. My energy is high. I love Jazzercise, walking, biking, dancing and whale watching. Recently, I was coaxed onto an America’s Cup yacht for a terrifying but gratifying sail in St. Maarten. My lifelong sailor husband promised me he would learn to dance if I learned to sail. We feature a broad range of activities, people and places, from theater to museums, actors to make-up artists and environmentalists, whale watching to Segway jaunts. We often put a humorous spin on our pieces. Variety is our spice and we are grateful for the opportunity to explore the world together, sharing our adventures, ideas and observations with others.
Do you have any advice for those just starting out?
I lecture and teach creative writing and memoir through Writer’s Voice when I am home in Montana in summer. I have also lectured in many university, high school and community venues. I have had the good fortune to interview most of the famous performers, actors, directors, writers, musicians of the last half of the 20th Century — from Meryl Street to Steve Martin, Harry Belafonte, Betty White, and dozens of others. I’ve had the good fortune to see Elton John, Madonna, Bette Midler, Cher, and many others, in concert. When young people tell me they want to do what I do, I tell them to get a foot in the door first. I started writing night obituaries and daytime “society” stories……that’s what they were called then. Later the term was “lifestyle” to indicate a slant on women’s news. I worked my way up the ladder, with many awards (one of Ten Outstanding Women of America in 1973, honored in Washington, D.C. I have been invited press to the Far East and Israel, and many press trips internationally. I became successful because I have talent, yes, but because I worked hard and was willing to do anything in the news business. As for the travel writing, many people approach me with “I want to do what you do” and I tell them to start traveling. (Reminds me of Steve Martin’s joke: “How to become a millionaire? First, get a million dollars.”) Travel, keep a journal, take notes, meet people from other cultures, listen to them, participate in their lives and activities, see “what makes them tick.:” A good writer must be a good observer. Soak it all in. Watch, listen, ask questions. Take classes, join causes. Help your family and others less fortunate. Volunteer. That can lead to a job. Be both teacher and student. Be courteous, kind and cultivate a sense of humor. It is lifesaving.
http://www.whereiscookie.com/p/performance.html.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.whereiscookie.com/
- Instagram: @whereiscookienow
- Facebook: Christene Meyers
