Word Paintings from Around the World - Strauss, Suzanne Zurilgen

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Résumé :
From the time I was in my teens, I have been writing poetry. I started writing more poetry while traveling the world at the age of 18. My poems consist of everything from portraits of my students, friends & family, to rhyming couplets of travelogues and statements about the world. I wish to thank all of the people in my life who have inspired me, but especially my mother, Maxine, and my husband, Martin Strauss. My mother would listen to my poems as she cooked dinner at night and was always enthralled with what she heard, telling me how smart and talented I was...just the kind of encouragement a writer needs. Martin has been my Rock and my total support for the last 31 years of our marriage. However, I also want to thank the many students who inspired me and the many wonderful trips around the world that has exalted me to great heights, as well, and helped me to understand more about human nature and the world around us. We definitely have more in common with the rest of the world than differences. I only hope mankind, in general, realizes this before it's too late!...

Biographie:
At the age of 18, my grandfather, who was born in Switzerland, gave me a one way ticket to Switzerland with the instruction that I was to work my way home. From that moment, my poems blossomed and I caught the travel bug. Many of these poems were written en route to some distant shore and the other non -travel-related poems were tributes to many friends and family over the years, as well as my students, in an attempt to paint them in words...thus Word Paintings. Suzanne is a retired teacher of English and German and has visited 32 countries, speaks fluent German and conversational French. She earned a Bachelor's Degree from the University of California, Berkeley and a Masters of Education from the University of New Hampshire. She was part of the UC Berkeley Education Abroad Program, attending the University of Goettingen. She spent 22 years teaching in American high schools and in 1998-1999, she spent a year in the Hamburg area as a Fulbright Exchange Teacher. At that time, she did her research for her first book, The ABC's of Education: Euro-American Style. She lived a total of five years in Austria, Switzerland, and Germany. Her husband of 31 years, Martin Strauss, was a huge support in her overseas endeavors and continues to be extremely supportive to this day.