Another Shine! Showcase: minnie w.

Welcome to the  SHINE SHOWCASE for May 25, 2007! 

Each week (or so...) I select another member of our group to showcase on our site by making them a "Feature". This means that one of their works (I choose) will be shared with everyone along with a bio. Through this showcase, I hope you will learn something new about our SHINE members as well as support their creative efforts.  If you would like to be featured it's easy: You must be a member of  SHINE and you just have to let me know! How's that for ease of use?  Bold entries in the article are links.

Join me in welcoming the poet and  artist Minakshi, whom you know as minnie w. , the name she prefers to use. “It’s more ME,” she says. This Sagittarian says she’s “curious about life, re-birth, our reasons for being on this earth, the relationships we form… I’m devoted to finding answers to my questions.  And I have many!”   

In her search for answers, Minnie is attracted to the great thinkers. “I’m asking them all...and I’m glad to say I’m getting some answers. “My recent search for knowledge has been all about TIME. “She studies Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking - the latter “has shown us science in a different way. Look at his own body and what a mind inside it!” She also studies the Bhagavad Gita also known as the Gita where she finds her favorite quote. “Even this will pass.”  By age 17, minnie had also read most of  Kahlil Gibran's works. Favorite books include Atlas Shrugged, Little Women, Tess of the d'Urbervilles  and many others.

 “My father used to teach psychology at the Kashmir University, Srinagar, India. I grew up in the most beautiful place on earth. For a long time my poetry revolved around missing my home. I haven't been to Kashmir for twenty years now and I still want to go back there someday.”

Minnie’s first published success  came early. “I was always winning prizes for my poems, right from my school years and my first published poem was at age ten. A small collection of my poems recently got accepted by a small publishing house."  This is a dream my father has been holding close to his heart for years! He used to call me his  Jane Austen!"  More evidence of their very special relationship is demonstrated by his reaction to her recent success. "When I told him that my poems have been accepted, he was so happy! It was worth more than any award to hear the joy in his voice.”  

This mother of two, upon seeing her daughter turn 13 earlier this month says, “ I have suddenly started feeling as if time has flown by too quickly. God, I still remember my 13th year and the crushes that followed.” Both of her children are fond of reading. For now, neither is interested in poetry or art.

Besides one day returning to the home of her birth, Minnie has another wish: “ I also paint; I love Monet's work. If I could ever paint like him, I'd be really happy.” 

Take a look at her site. Somewhere, at some point, fledgling artists and poets will be wishing to create not only like Monet, but also like the talented Minakshi – oops I mean minnie w.!  

I’ve selected an image and a poem for you. Enjoy!  

Best and keep shining,

Pamela, Editor of   SHINE...THE JOURNAL | Flash Literature, Poetry, Art and Photography!