"A reader is born--maybe not even made," says Ashland University Professor and author Dr. Jane Piirto. " All we can do in schools is model that kind of behavior so people can see other people reading and that there are books around.",br.'There is no doubt that books surround Piirto (pronounced "peer toe"). And many of them are her own creation. The Three-Week Trance Diet, a novel characterized as "post feminist satire," was written in 1985 (Carpenter Press, Columbus, OH). A Location in the Upper Peninsula (1994, Sampo Publishers, New Brighton, MN) is a collection of essays, poems and short stories about her hometown of Ishpeming, Michigan, and the surrounding communities dominated by iron ore mining. "mamamama," "Postcards from the Upper Peninsula," and "Between the Memory and the Experience" are poetry chapbooks published between 1977 and 1996. Her 1992 textbook Understanding Those Who Create (Ohio Psychology Press, Dayton) is in its second printing and has even been translated into Chinese. Talented Children and Adults (Macmillan/Merrill, New York 1994) is scheduled for reprint 1999.
'If looking for what makes Piirto tick, A Location in the Upper Peninsula is a good place to start. The collection of essays, poems and short stories reflect the challenging beginnings of a serious writer and educator's life. The daughter of a welder father and an artistic mother, Piirto moves readers through the iron mines, isolated communities, a remote Air Force B-52 base, and birch branch switching in ubiquitous saunas. Her Finnish background plays a major role in the life portrayal. . . It is out there for everybody to read. |
