Elvera Cochrell

A Kaleidoscope of Thoughts, Poems, Short Stories and Other Whimsey: Volume One Elvera Cochrell

A Kaleidoscope of Thoughts, Poems, Short Stories and Other Whimsey, Volume One is full of personal experiences, reflections, thought provoking poems and one-liners. In this book Elvera takes the reader from serious to silly. Elvera opens her book with a challenging statement on thinking followed by the poem 'For What', as she leads the reader down the paths of captivity, slavery, the civil rights movement and to the present. It's theme, History forgotten, History bound to repeat, becomes evident as you follow its progression and its seemingly regression. In her comments on Being Silly, Elvera writes "silliness should flush through your mind every now and then like a laxative through your system". To this end, she explores some old Fairy Tales and Nursery Rhymes giving them a new look and a different spin. 'The Trial of the "Big Bad" Wolf ', gives the wolf's version of the Three Pig's story. Although it's intended to be humorous, Elvera still manage to deal with the issue of hatred and being bullied. This is a story not only for adults but for children as well. Even before this distribution, Elvera's 'The Trial of the "Big Bad" Wolf ' was adapted in play format and performed for elementary age children by the Fine Arts Department of Howard Community College. Her one-liners on Thinking, says a lot in so few words. Years before becoming Maryland's Majority leader in the State Senate and a family friend, the late Senator Clarence Blount as her elementary school teacher, would say to her class: "Think young people, Think!" Elvera never forgot those words and in remembrance of him, wrote the one-liners to jog our thinking process. This thought provoking book is also designed to give the reader another insight into Death, Depression, Alzheimer and Aging. In Elvera's questioning 'Who is Schindler', you may be surprised at the answer. Scattered throughout the book are blank pages to encourage the reader to immediately jot down any thoughts they wish to elaborated on later.