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| | Issue #19.14 :: 10/29/2007 - 11/04/2007 | Words and music
Paine College professor stages two-night run of her work at local theater
| BY MADONNA SMITH
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AUGUSTA, GA. - Jean Embry feels like warmth in winter.
Her spirit lies somewhere between your grandmother’s shawl wrapped around you to keep the cold out and a familiar friend popping in for a song and some tea with crumpets — which is precisely what I received upon finding her house after getting lost on a particularly cold and rainy night.
I took a left where I should have taken a right and wound myself around the neighborhood in the dark. Her house, settled on a slight incline, appeared small from the outside as she waved to me from the light of her open doorway. I felt the childish urge to hug her.
This author and musician was born a natural storyteller, and she told me a few as we chatted — one, in particular, about the slippery ice of the North and the trouble she’s gotten into because of it.
Her voice froze me in that ice. What this 30-year resident of Augusta can do with her delivery is miraculous. Her poems, sweet and simple on the page, filled the room comfortably. The air glowed as of a moonbeam.
Embry is your modern Renaissance woman. Having worked for the Department of Defense as an alcohol and drug abuse counselor, she has taught and counseled all over Europe and America. While overseas, her superiors would come to her and ask her to put on shows. Embry’s knack for storytelling and music got around.
Finally, friends suggested that she publish a book of her poems, and out of that grew “The First Piece of the Puzzle.” The book is filled with memories of childhood and adulthood, fast-moving with heartfelt themes.
Many of her poems — of which I only had a sneak peak — are about friends and family. With her gift of words comes her gift of song. In addition to teaching and counseling, she is a pianist, singer and amateur guitarist.
Her show at Le Chat Noir, “Jean Embry: An Evening of Poetry and Song,” will be just as free-form as she is. She is searching for a flow of feeling and drama in her show so there will be seamlessness between her poems and the songs she’s gathered together for each. The evening will be relaxed and friendly as she has a number of guest singers, all friends of hers from around Augusta.
Look for Linda Bannister, a music professor at Augusta State University, and Washington Isaac Holmes, a professor of music at Paine College. Such songs as “Fly Me to the Moon” intermingled with Embry’s soft, moving sentences will soothe the soul.
Although formally retired from counseling, Embry stays busy as a professor of psychology at Paine College. She is also a motivational speaker and has given talks for many years across the Southeast.
She neither has children nor grandchildren of her own; but the numerous lives that she touched as a friend and through her work count, to her, as all her offspring. Around town and a few times in Germany, the Montclair, N.J., native had the opportunity to see one of her pupils or clients all grown up and successful.
“That’s a wonderful feeling, knowing that you’ve made a difference,” she beamed when remembering.
Jean Embry: An Evening of Poetry and Song
Le Chat Noir
Nov. 2-3
8 p.m.
706-722-3322
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