General Press Clips
Page 1 of 4
At a time when she seemed to have lost her way, mired in an unfulfilling career and the pursuit of money, it was a series of powerful nighttime dreams that set Rose back on course. Today, the Sedona woman is doing the work of her dreams, writing and illustrating her award-winning children's books and spreading Tibetan wisdom of peace and kindness. Rose’s newly published book, "Tibetan Tales from the Top of the World" (Clear Light Publishing, $19.95) offers three delightful stories from the mountaintop kingdom, each beautifully illustrated with depictions of her original acrylic paintings. Like her first book, "Tibetan Tales for Little Buddhas," the foreword in her latest effort is written by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, spiritual leader of the Tibetan people. The tales -- adapted by Rose and thoughtfully written for Western ears along with Tibetan translations -- send readers soaring up the Himalayas to the rooftop of the world. As they do in Rose's first book, the tales impart ancient Tibetan wisdom about peace and kindness. It's no coincidence these are themes from Rose's own life. As a youngster growing up in Tempe, she wrote a book with lessons on peace and kindness and presented it to her parents for Christmas. She also fashioned a "peace gun" that would shoot peaceful feelings at whomever she aimed. In the late 60s, her parents moved to the hippie haven of Mill Valley, Calif., and as a teen-ager, she embraced the hippie culture, joining peace marches and other peace activities. Her life would take many twists and turns. She trained as a classical musician. She earned college degrees in social work and later in computer science. She worked in the prison system and health care fields and later as a software engineer and technical writer. She experienced the joy of motherhood and the pain of divorce. Eventually, however, she came to a point where she would describe her life as "lost" and "deeply dissatisfying." It was then she experienced some dramatic, life-changing dreams that pulled her back toward her true self -- that of being an advocate for peace and social change -- and laid the foundation for her work as an author and illustrator. She had moved to Bainbridge Island in Washington state within 10 minutes of an art school. In recurring dreams, she saw herself as a visual artist and that's what she became. With no previous experience or training, she enrolled in a drawing class. After a rocky start, she soon excelled. Rose would go on to earn fine arts degrees and her paintings would hang in galleries and solo exhibitions. A voice in another dream urged her to follow the path of Tibetan Buddhism. "I hadn't heard about Tibetan Buddhism and I barely even knew about the Dalai Lama," she recalls. But that didn't stop her from becoming enamored with Tibetan culture and philosophy and learning everything should could about it. Still another dream told her to create a children's book and she launched that effort with the encouragement of Lama Surya Das, a Tibetan Buddhist teacher she met in Seattle. He suggested taking stories from his own book of Tibetan oral stories and reworking them for children. "I was excited and honored he would ask," she says. "The ways of the Tibetan people could have a lot to offer our culture. I wanted to spread the word and help preserve it." But the project was far from easy. "I got lots of rejections. It was painful." Finally, after almost 8 years of frustration, she decided bold action was necessary: She would attempt to earn an endorsement from the Dalai Lama himself. She tried for a year and a half -- and then 9/11 happened and she fired off yet another email to her connection in India with an ear to His Holiness. She wrote that the Tibetan stories of peace were needed now more than ever. "Two weeks later I found a foreword in my Fax machine from the Dalai Lama." Clear Light Publishing in Santa Fe, N.M., would publish a book that won the 2005 Nautilus Award honoring titles that contribute to positive social change, among other awards. In support of her books, Rose developed a presentation in which she dons traditional Tibetan costume and offers ancient storytelling. She has taken her show from coast to coast. More Tibetan-themed books are in the works for Rose, who moved to Sedona from Santa Fe in February 2009. When she's not on a promotional tour or working on upcoming books, Rose enjoys hiking in the red rocks with her husband, Robin Weeks. It may seem surprising that Rose has never traveled to Tibet. But the author explains that she's reluctant to go there as long as Tibet is not free. In the meantime, plenty of Tibetans in the U.S., many of whom have witnessed her presentations, have told her that her accounts of Tibetan culture and her paintings are true to their subject. "Some who have seen my artwork can't believe I haven't been there." "Tibetan Tales from the Top of the World" features a preface from Tibet-freedom activist Richard Gere, who notes that: "These charming and deceptively simple folk tales speak well to the depth and beauty of the Tibetan heart and mind." "I'm sure they'll bring much joy and fascination to readers young and old everywhere," the actor writes. "This book is a delight." Rose's books are available in Sedona at the Well Red Coyote or Sedona Art Supply. To learn more, go to Rose's Web site at naomicrose.com. You can also see her perform "Yeshi's Luck" (a story from her first book)on Youtube at www.youtube.com/user/naomicrose. |