Precerpt: Introduction to In with the East Wind: A Mary Poppins KInd of Life
As I sit in my “office”—a modest 10x12 she shed that, post-Covid, doubles as the inventory hub for MSI Press—I’m surrounded not by filing cabinets or ergonomic chairs, but by relics. Remnants. Reminders. Each one a whisper from a life lived across continents, cultures, and hemispheres. Hanging from the coatrack, where coats and sweaters ought to be, are artifacts that defy seasonal utility: A Christmas bell ornament adorned with camels from Jordan A painted hand fan from Korea A swath of fabric in Uzbekistan’s national colors A small woven purse from Turkmenistan A banner from Lithuania International University, where I once subbed for a professor on maternity sabbatical—a generous two-year leave that American mothers can only dream of Nearby sits a dilapidated Russian Mishka bear, its head precariously held by my own crude stitching. My daughter Echo, then 11 or 12, carried it everywhere during our shared days in the USSR. It’s more than a toy—it’s a talisman of a time and ...