Who are you and what do you do?
My name is Ellen McCarthy, I have lived in San Leandro since
1995. I retired a few years ago from the field of public relations, before that
I was a journalist, I started in radio KPFA. I wound up getting a PR job at
KQED, I stayed in PR. I have always written, I have kept a journal. After
retirement I started spending a little more time with my journal, crafting
observations I was making, turning them into poems. I thought when I retired I
would write a novel, but it wasn't my niche. Poetry I fell into it, I love
doing it, almost every day. I have a lot of poems under different themes.
One
was the observations about life, finding out about how I think and feel about
things that come up as you are in a beautiful place, often with my dog who died
in December after 14 years. We used to take a lot of morning walks. My sister
and I started putting books together, we did two of them. For the 3rd one she
said let me take your natures poems, as I was assembling them I realized I had
a whole bunch that referenced San Leandro. I had not come across any book that referenced
San Leandro, no picture books or postcards. Here I had a collection of poems
that referenced the beautiful places here that I enjoy so much, and I had my
iPhone photos to go with it. I want to give a few copies to the Library, the City
and the historical museum (A copy can be found in Zocalos). Purchase Book
What do you love about San Leandro?
I love the geographic location, between a lake and the San
Francisco bay, with the redwood groves nearby, the eucalyptus groves and the spectacular
weather which is probably the best on planet earth. I love the cultural
diversity .
The poems came from the walks with your dog?
When you walk in a beautiful place and it is quiet, and you're
not in conversation with anyone, you only have your thoughts. You tend to
reflect on life and try to make sense out of the experience. I would stop and
just take notes about something that I thought, that I wanted to remember. Then
I might stop in a cafe and flesh it out a little bit, on my patio and flesh it
out more, play with it until I thought it was done.
Did you find there was one walk or path that gave you more inspiration?
It depends on the time of day. Early in the morning most of
the year the redwood groves like Chabot Park there are wonderful scents in the
morning, the birds are very active, it's a great time to think, an especially
stimulating time to think. Another time is at sunset, especially if you are on
the bay, when you have clouds, when you have the light changing. At the marina
where everybody walks where they have the loop and the trail that heads out to
the San Mateo bridge there are a lot of seabirds. The tide is either in or out,
that changes the color and the texture of everything around you. I'm not a religious
person but I have become very spiritual in that setting, I think about how beautiful
life is, how precious and rare. Midday everywhere is beautiful for walking and
thinking, but I don't find midday as inspirational
as morning or evening
There is one photo I love which looks misty or smoky, I think it's near
the Frisbee golf?
Chabot park in the early morning, it's just the fog lifting,
just on my iPhone. I didn't know that is Frisbee golf. I was hit in the head
once
It wasn't me (Laughs)
He apologized profusely. It was Chabot Park about 8am. The
light filtering through the mist. The fog is just starting to lift at that time
of morning on a warm day. You can catch that any morning, it's gorgeous.
Any words of wisdom or a final quote?
Not sure if its words of wisdom but it is definitely
something to live by, be the change you want to see in the world. Not my quote,
but I love it.
