Foreword to “Christmas Coffee" by Linda Jones, M. Ed.

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         As in Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, the holiday season pulls together our

memories of past actions with the wishes that we had done things differently; present-day dilemmas as we try to wade through them and make sense of them; and glimpses of the future with all the hopes and dreams that we wish will come true. All these elements come to life in William Tecku’s “Christmas Coffee.”

       This scroll contains blends of real and surreal elements mixing happy, hopeful childhood memories of past Christmases as it melds with harsh realities of Christmas present and the dreams for Christmases yet to come. This presents a social commentary that reflects the current turmoil in the world and humanity’s never-ceasing wish for simpler and happier times that we recall from the past. This is most apparent in Scroll XII which contains references to global warming, war, fading religious beliefs, credit-card debt, and the death of common sense.

        Another element in this nine-page scroll that piques my interest is the juxtaposition of 1 A.D. events that are sprinkled with modern-day slang and artifacts, as seen in several sections of the scroll. This purposeful discrepancy places the distant past right into our 2022 laps.

        Scroll IV offers us a transformation from despair to hopefulness as in Scroll V when Mary, Joseph, and their baby successfully escape into Egypt. This rings true of life experiences and how we attempt to cope with problems by conjuring up a better future.

       Also, as in real life, this scroll mixes secular, historical, and religious events and ideas. Tecku does this through his imaginative narratives about traditional Christmas activities such as attending a performance of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker, going to movies on Christmas, the actions of Roman Legionnaires, and the birth of Christ and those central to it. This reflects the complexities of life and the decisions we make that determine what we choose to believe or disavow. Similarly, we see the ancient Three Kings joined with the modern-day narrator as they all grapple with the same types of internal struggles in Scroll IX.

         Overall, this multi-part Christmas writing gives us much on which to ponder and reflect. Its sections offer enough variety and diversity to touch everyone’s life, disappointments, biases, beliefs, hopes, and dreams in several ways. As it was in first century Anno Domini, hope for the future keeps us going, and William Tecku does give us hope in his “Christmas Coffee.”

           “Heart to Heart,” a 3,600-word, six and one-half foot long, horizontal scroll, was distilled from dozens of my reflections about the heart written over the last forty-five years.

           Because matters of the heart go beyond what the arts generally associate with them, this twenty-one-part writing is a freewheeling mix of subject matters and styles. This may strike readers as incongruous, however, when I consider what Faulkner wrote about the heart in his 1947 Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech, what is shared and how it is shared in this scroll makes sense to me.

          Why so many people have written poetry and prose about the heart, sung about it (especially when it’s broken), spotlighted it on canvases, on stages, in photographs and films is beyond me. I guess all this attention to that part of us whose beating beyond our chest keeps us alive is that sharing one’s thoughts about it is a lot like giving advice or like kissing: It feels pleasurable and everyone feels qualified to do it.

           I only know that I publish scrolls because they are fun to create and their open-ended format lets me explore literary breathing beyond the traditional letter or legal size page. As with my other scrolls, whether you sip or chug-a-lug “Heart to Heart,” please, don’t hold your breath. Let its breath hold you.