Marlena "Zen Ase" Johns
After becoming Teacher of the Year for AHS in 2011-2012 and 2016-2017, a Claes Nobel Educator of Distinction and a University of Chicago Distinguished Educator, she began to plan her exit from education. Four years later, she’s performed poetry at over 50 venues, hosted and organized over 60 live music, comedy and poetry shows, Laughz and Lyrics, to both handfuls of adoring fans and wall to wall, standing room only crowds and been honored with a Congressional Award for activism. She’s the Houston organizer for 100,000 Poets for Change. Her poetry and prose can be found in over a dozen anthologies and magazines including: Let’s Talk about Being Human, Selfhood, Restless, Five 2 One magazine, Caravel and Switchback. Her four books focus on self development, self love, and self empowerment. Three of the four have been Amazon best seller’s. Visit her online at https://linktr.ee/zenase.
Excerpt from her poetry/prose memoir Plenty of Guppies and Other Dating Misadventures:
I belong to that classification of women that men don’t think exists, single by choice, and content.
Many men fathom themselves fairy godfathers warning women to wed, settle (down), commit before the clock strikes old age, and we’re left in the cinders with only birds and cats as company.
Once their warnings might have stuck, but that was years ago, before my odyssey.
I started out like most young women, a virgin, saving myself, fearful of sex like a roller coaster I’d always wanted to ride but couldn’t truly picture myself climbing on. Pregnancy and STD’s enough of a threat to keep me on the kiddie rides, safe and secure and thrill-less.
Marriage came and went, long (8/13/03- 7/16/14), unfulfilling - outside of my children. Not at all like people said it would be. Divorce, for me, signaled a new beginning.
Enter the first online profile. I posted a pic wondering if any man would even notice me, and got 100 inboxes in three days. The ugly duckling was a swan it seemed. And I was ready, after being attention and sex starved for years. This was a chance to see how the the single ready to mingle half lived. I lined up 16 meet and greets in as many days, and in waltzed JJ.
Recommended Books for Aspiring Writers:
On Writing, Stephen King
Big Magic, Elizabeth Gilbert
Words that Work, Dr. Frank Luntz
Thank You for Arguing, Jay Heinrichs
The Writing Diet, Julia Cameron
Teaching/Workshop Philosphy:
Writing is a door, a mirror and a magnifying glass. Through it, we make sense of the world, see our lives and others more clearly, and help others walk around in our memories. Writing workshops help us make the most of those experiences as we learn how to tap into the tools we can use to communicate and build communities.
Excerpt from her poetry/prose memoir Plenty of Guppies and Other Dating Misadventures:
I belong to that classification of women that men don’t think exists, single by choice, and content.
Many men fathom themselves fairy godfathers warning women to wed, settle (down), commit before the clock strikes old age, and we’re left in the cinders with only birds and cats as company.
Once their warnings might have stuck, but that was years ago, before my odyssey.
I started out like most young women, a virgin, saving myself, fearful of sex like a roller coaster I’d always wanted to ride but couldn’t truly picture myself climbing on. Pregnancy and STD’s enough of a threat to keep me on the kiddie rides, safe and secure and thrill-less.
Marriage came and went, long (8/13/03- 7/16/14), unfulfilling - outside of my children. Not at all like people said it would be. Divorce, for me, signaled a new beginning.
Enter the first online profile. I posted a pic wondering if any man would even notice me, and got 100 inboxes in three days. The ugly duckling was a swan it seemed. And I was ready, after being attention and sex starved for years. This was a chance to see how the the single ready to mingle half lived. I lined up 16 meet and greets in as many days, and in waltzed JJ.
Recommended Books for Aspiring Writers:
On Writing, Stephen King
Big Magic, Elizabeth Gilbert
Words that Work, Dr. Frank Luntz
Thank You for Arguing, Jay Heinrichs
The Writing Diet, Julia Cameron
Teaching/Workshop Philosphy:
Writing is a door, a mirror and a magnifying glass. Through it, we make sense of the world, see our lives and others more clearly, and help others walk around in our memories. Writing workshops help us make the most of those experiences as we learn how to tap into the tools we can use to communicate and build communities.