Leaving for Egypt–Lebanon

Saturday, May 7th, 2011

Morgan and I are leaving for Cairo and Beirut this coming week. We are eager to return to friends in Egypt–and particularly discover how the revolution is going.  Our friends have mentioned that some released convicts are looting cars on the road to Alexandria breaking into a few homes, and engaging in a few kidnappings. A major concern is the increasing power of the Muslim Brotherhood–not in reference to safety, but in terms of the future of governance in Egypt.  We’ll be staying at the Shepheard Hotel and be more cautious than is our usual style. We’ll keep you posted.

The overall purpose of this trip is that I’ll be working in Beirut with TAMAM, an outstanding, inspiring school-based reform program based on an inquiry approach to improvement.  What is most remarkable is that the program is turning education on its head: inquiry instead of memorization.  Now, that doesn’t mean that students won’t memorize concepts, but it does mean that in these schools, memorization will no longer be the primary approach to learning. The pioneering schools–now in their 4th year–are in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Lebanon. In addition, guest from Morocco, Egypt, and Oman have been invited to attend.

More next week, Linda

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Friends of DH Lawrence: A Festival of New Mexico writers

Thursday, April 7th, 2011

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Come into our garden…

Sunday, March 13th, 2011

What do gardens tell us about leadership?  Would you rather work on Tuesday or Wednesday?  This approach works well with any organization. Try it!  Linda and Mary

(more…)

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Traveling to Taos-entering the fine legacy of Mary Colter

Monday, September 13th, 2010

We’re in glorious Santa Fe right now, leaving for Taos in the morning.  Many fascinating characters have materialized  along the road, a few no longer of this world.  One of special note is Mary Jane Colter, architect.  The southwest’s Julie Morgan. Mary Jane designed all of the restaurants for the magnificent hotels along the Santa Fe line–later Route 66 as well.  These hotels, run by Fred Harvey, became particularly notorious through the Harvey Girls (remember the film with Judy Garland?) In Winslow, we stayed at La Posada, the only hotel designed entirely by Mary Jane.  Today we had lunch at the La Fonda Hotel here in Santa Fe, another fine blend of pueblo and Spanish architecture.

Ah, research is so demanding! Linda

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“I value the truth…” a note from Osiris

Monday, September 13th, 2010

“I value the truth….”

Justine Jenner

9/6/2010

Dear Linda,

You have done what I haven’t dared to do—write a novel, and a damn good one at that.

I thoroughly enjoyed the story and all of the subplots and back-stories. It brought back some of my fondest memories of our all-too-short visit to Egypt.

If I were a devout Christian or Muslim, I am not sure that I would rush out and buy a bunch of copies for my intimate group of friends and relatives—but, as you well know, I am not a devout anything—except for the cult of the three-toed sloth.

Obviously, your powers of description and deep insight into your characters far exceed anything that I’ve done and I am a bit jealous. And I shall, from this day forward, visualize cutting up the Cecil ballroom like the slices of a birthday cake—complete with ceiling-trim icing….

Love, Osiris (Seymour Collins)

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Traveling to Taos….

Sunday, September 5th, 2010

What is it about Taos, New Mexico? Magic is in the air: the Sacred mountain where God was created, the art of Georgia O’Keeffe and Ansel Adams, the birth of the collective consciousness of Carl Jung, daring novelists D.H. Lawrence and Willa Cather. Early Spanish history…the uncomfortable clash of animism and Catholicism. The Rio Grande snakes across the volcanic field underlying 12,500 feet of mountain. Taos is truly the top of the world.

On Wednesday we set off for Taos and will live there for three months to discover the magic that still reins, more subtly now than in the 20’s and 30’s. And, what for?

To research the third historical novel in the trilogy beginning with Cairo Diary: an Egyptian fable, continuing into Etruscan Evenings set in Italy and now showing up in Taos. The mysterious letters of D.H. Lawrence challenge Justine’s sense of self. What fun.

Keep track of our travels and discoveries on this blog….Linda

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Book talks and talks…Cairo Dairy and Women’s Ways of Leading

Friday, September 3rd, 2010

Tomorrow, I’ll be doing a “Meet and Greet” at Copperfields in Petaluma about Cairo Diary: an Egyptian fable, with Mary Gardner, my co-author on Women’s Ways of Leading.  On August 15, Mary hosted a large and generous book talk at her home in San Jose for Cairo Diary…and another Meet and Greet took place at Copperfields in Napa on August 7 for both books.  Book clubs in San Jose, Washington, D.C., Colorado, the Bay Area and the Sea Ranch, CA., are choosing Cairo Diary.  Reviews have been excellent. A few appear below.

What are people saying about Cairo Diary: an Egyptian fable…

This review is from: Cairo Diary: An Egyptian fable (Paperback)

Cairo Dairy merges the past and present in this modern day story of intrigue. Through an accident of fate, Justine, the heroine, finds herself with an ancient text that chronicles the life of a woman named Mary, the mother of Jesus. The diary portrays Mary as a thoughtful, caring, and literate woman juxtaposed against the backdrop of Jesus’ life in Egypt. Lambert deftly weaves ancient and modern Egypt into a travel diary of intrigue, love, and adventure. I highly recommend this as a must read for any one who loves Egypt and historical fiction.

Creative plot, timeless and timely messages, June 2, 2010

This review is from: Cairo Diary: An Egyptian fable (Paperback)

Very interesting read. Found myself entertained by a novel with a unique plot and got bit of an education at same time. Author clearly has intimate personal knowledge of Egypt, and paints a detailed picture of the people and places. Themes introduced through character dialogs and story lines are both timely and timeless. A very different and worthwhile literary experience.

Rich in the history of ancient lands and religions, April 12, 2010

This review is from: Cairo Diary: An Egyptian fable (Paperback)

The novel portrays the possible consequences resulting from the discovery of ancient writings indicating commonly held religious beliefs to be untrue. While the story and the characters hold interest, what makes the novel exceptional is the wealth of historical information concerning Egypt and the connections between, and the roots of, ancient Christianity, the Coptics, the Essenes and Islam. This alone makes for a fascinating read.

From Victoria, Canada

My enthusiasm for distinguished author Linda Lambert is undiminished. I mentioned your book (Cairo Diary) to some of the guests who were here for my granddaughter, Abby’s, wedding this past week. There were between 50 and 100 guests from New York, where Abby and Giles, the groom, live and work, and other guests from Texas, Tenn., California, etc…The most rewarding experience for an author is to KNOW that you have written a good book, and that perceptive readers will be able to share your story and enjoy your talent.

-David Appleby, Victoria, Canada

From Cairo, Egypt

I finished reading Cairo Diary and compliment you heartily for a creative and interesting book.  At first I thought it was modeled after Dan Brown’s the DaVinci Code so I was put off.  Then I thought it would be too Christian dogma oriented and so delayed reading it.  When I finally started reading your book, I was fascinated.  The parts that attracted me the most were what I surmised were biographical events entwined with the imaginary. I could well imagine you being Justine and recounting your actual life in Egypt.  It became apparent why you mixed up the present with the past because you needed to have a story line and some conflict.  Your characters were interesting.  I had a chuckle through many of the events especially those related to the director of the Supreme Council of the Antiquities.  I didn’t know that you knew that crowd!  I found your use of names in the book quite interesting.  You have made Morgan a part of your novel.  You have probably included more real names from your life in Egypt.  Fascinating.

Thank you very much for including me in the acknowledgments.  That is an honor and I am humbled.

-Waguida El Bakery, Cairo, Egypt

From Seattle, Washington

Cairo Diary: an Egyptian fable is a stunning and daring novel.  Intimate stories of Mary of Nazareth and her son Jesus, as well as other family members weave throughout the book, set in both the year 2 and 2006.  Dr. Justine Jenner, an anthropologist, is trapped in an old crypt during an earthquake in Cairo and discovers an ancient codex, which turns out to be the diary of the Virgin Mary.  Its revelations are shocking, rocking the religious and political world of the Middle East. For Justine, it is a journey of sexual awakening and a search for freedom. It is clear that Lambert knows Cairo and Middle Eastern history intimately and has woven this knowledge into a fascinating novel. A real page turner.

-John Sanders, Seattle, Washington

And, about WOMEN’S WAYS OF LEADING

Linda Lambert and Mary E. Gardner have crafted a wonderful book about the changing nature of leadership. While highlighting the vision and characteristics that women are bringing to the table, both sexes will find value throughout the book.  The authors have included many tables (what I call shift papers) indicating both subtle and dramatic changes in what matters as one steps up to take a leadership role in shaping both the present and the future. Both the authors have “teacher” in their DNA and the book offers many mentoring stories and opportunities for young women just emerging on the stage of possibility.  I am included in the book under the sub-title: The Transforming Woman. Here the concept of sapiential leadership is featured. It is an honor to be included within the folds of this book.

On Monday, Labor Day…our travels to Taos.

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Why I Write.

Sunday, August 8th, 2010

“We need to write to leave a stain upon silence.” –Samuel Beckett

Poetic, indeed: “a stain upon silence.”  Such writing would be a legacy dearly to be wished. At the excellent Mendocino Writer’s Conference a week ago, Nancy Lord, an Alaskan writer, was a keynote speaker on the topic: Why I Write. I listened closely for familiar themes, personal reasons.  Nancy noted that we tell each other stories in order to live, and in fiction we get to try out other lives. The purpose of all art, she said, is to lay bare our ways of being in the world.  Listen to George Orwell’s reasons (1946) still so alive today:

• We write because it is something we just have to do. I want to see my words

in print. Egoism, he argued, as opposed egotism. Perhaps.

• Aesthetic enthusiasm…the pure pleasure of it…shaping words and ideas.

• A historical impulse-to make sense of the world.

• A political purpose-to push the world.

Annie Dillard insisted that in writing we find the compass inside ourselves.

Yesterday, I was joined by co-author Mary Gardner at Copperfields in Napa, California, for a “meet and greet” set of conversations.  I spoke about and signed copies of Cairo Diary: an Egyptian fable; the both of us discussed Women’s Ways of Leading.  Two young girls, ages 8 and 13, stopped by at different times during the afternoon; both said they were writers.  I found myself regaling the wonders of writing: entering other worlds, choosing your roads for travel, the power of listening to your own voice.   I know intimately that Nancy possesses the secrets of writing, as did Beckett, Orwell, Dillard, the two young girls, and our grandson, John Lambert. And, of course, Virginia Woolf.

Fiction is like a spider’s web, attached ever so slightly perhaps, but still attached to life at all four corners. Often the attachment is scarcely perceptible. (But it is always there)

-Virginia Woolf

Have a great week—and write something each day. More scenes from Cairo Diary next week.  Linda

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Cairo Diary III

Sunday, August 1st, 2010

Hi,

Last night concluded this year’s terrific Mendocino Coast Writer’s Conference. Best ever. In a couple of days, I will enter a post Why I Write, adapting some ideas from the conference and the words of Alaskan Nancy Lord.  One of the highlights: the gifts of Ellen Sussman. Watch for her work and classes.

Today, I’m making the third post on Cairo Diary. Here, Justine arrives in Cairo.

Chapter 4

What will you do with your one

wild and precious life?

-Mary Oliver

April 10, 2006 CE

The runway approach into Cairo International met the plane with jolting intimacy. Reaching for her briefcase and purse, Dr. Justine Jenner slipped into her now-snug shoes and stood up precariously, worming her way into a lightweight blue suit jacket. She was excited as well as apprehensive about what lay ahead. The community schools project would give her insight into today’s Egyptian girls, a chance to research the life of the Virgin Mary, as well as understand her own confusing roots. How am I to understand myself as a modern Egyptian woman? she wondered.  Am I an heir of Isis, Mary, or today’s Islamic women cloaked in a hijab? These were the questions on her mind.

Extensive new construction cluttered the landscape below the plane and protruded into the thick ribbon of leather sky. Was there an airport in the world that wasn’t under construction? Justine waited patiently for passengers crowding into the aisles. The familiar chime signaled that everyone was free to go. “Free to go.” What an unfamiliar, though exhilarating, notion.

She had never really felt “free to go.” Raised by an Egyptian mother and a Berkeley professor father, she was often caught in the cultural crosscurrents of two stalwart individuals, both with immutable ideas about raising their headstrong daughter.

Justine’s mother, Lucrezia, had deliberately sought to marry an American, assuming she’d have a more emancipated marriage than she could have had with an Egyptian. She was wrong. Morgan Jenner, with his roots in the American Midwest, was more than moderately protective of his exotic Egyptian wife and young daughter.  Each disappointing the other, her parents divorced shortly before Justine moved to Chicago for graduate school. Chicago was not the liberating solution she hoped. The endless demands of graduate work felt like a form of voluntary servitude.  But here Justine was, for the first time, free of her father’s control…free of school…assuming her first professional position…free to go.

Linda

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Scenes for Cairo Diary, III

Sunday, July 25th, 2010

Justine arrives in Cairo…

Chapter 4

What will you do with your one

wild and precious life?

-Mary Oliver

April 10, 2006 CE

The runway approach into Cairo International met the plane with jolting intimacy. Reaching for her briefcase and purse, Dr. Justine Jenner slipped into her now-snug shoes and stood up precariously, worming her way into a lightweight blue suit jacket. She was excited as well as apprehensive about what lay ahead. The community schools project would give her insight into today’s Egyptian girls, a chance to research the life of the Virgin Mary, as well as understand her own confusing roots. How am I to understand myself as a modern Egyptian woman? she wondered.  Am I an heir of Isis, Mary, or today’s Islamic women cloaked in a hijab? These were the questions on her mind.

Extensive new construction cluttered the landscape below the plane and protruded into the thick ribbon of leather sky. Was there an airport in the world that wasn’t under construction? Justine waited patiently for passengers crowding into the aisles. The familiar chime signaled that everyone was free to go. “Free to go.” What an unfamiliar, though exhilarating, notion.

She had never really felt “free to go.” Raised by an Egyptian mother and a Berkeley professor father, she was often caught in the cultural crosscurrents of two stalwart individuals, both with immutable ideas about raising their headstrong daughter.

Justine’s mother, Lucrezia, had deliberately sought to marry an American, assuming she’d have a more emancipated marriage than she could have had with an Egyptian. She was wrong. Morgan Jenner, with his roots in the American Midwest, was more than moderately protective of his exotic Egyptian wife and young daughter.  Each disappointing the other, her parents divorced shortly before Justine moved to Chicago for graduate school. Chicago was not the liberating solution she hoped. The endless demands of graduate work felt like a form of voluntary servitude.  But here Justine was, for the first time, free of her father’s control…free of school…assuming her first professional position…free to go…..

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