Janet Luongo
Janet Luongo writes stories, creates art, and gives speeches and workshops. Raised Unitarian Universalist in New York City, she holds an MSEd from Queens College at CUNY and taught art from kindergarten to college. While teaching at the International School of Geneva over several years, she exhibited paintings in Geneva and Paris. In Connecticut, she taught communication at Sacred Heart University. As an art education curator in Bridgeport museums, her innovative programs garnered grants, awards and media attention for connecting urban and suburban children and developing leadership in underserved teens. Her book, 365 Daily Affirmation for Creativity, with a foreword by Jack Canfield and published in five countries, led to presentations in the US and as far as Xian, China. To make diverse feminist artists visible, she founded a non-profit, which mounted forty exhibits. She coproduced the movie Women Make Art, which was screened at the UNIFEM film festival. Currently, photography is her art. She resides with her husband, Jim, in Norwalk, Connecticut, and they enjoy hiking with their son and family in Colorado.
Twitter: @JanetLuongo
Instagram: @JanetLuongo
Is there a genre of music that influences your writing/thinking? Do you listen to music while you write?
While writing my memoir of the 1960s, I listened again to songs from that era: protest folk songs of Joan Baez, “We Shall Overcome,” and Bob Dylan’s “Blowing in the Wind.” The Beatles’ song, “Yesterday,” hit me by its sadness and nostalgia for sweeter days that were swept away. Introduced in 1967 to Jazz, I remain amazed by the astounding creativity of pianist, Keith Jarrett, who shares with me a dual heritage of Irish and Hungarian, (though he was taken for Black because of his Afro). The Beatles album, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, profoundly affected me. “She’s Leaving Home,” made me cry, coming out as it did just when I was leaving home –uncanny. The Rolling Stones’ “Ruby Tuesday” reminded a boyfriend of my quixotic comings and goings. When I’m writing I usually like silence or classical music, but to this day I groove to Classic Rock because it reminds me of days when I felt the world open with possibilities.
What period of history do you wish you knew more about?
The Sixties, a rich period often portrayed as colorful – the flower power of the hippies, the rock stars of Woodstock, the youthful freedom. I experienced some of that, but also a dark side. My individual growing up took place in a collective -- my family break-up and the challenging, ever-changing culture of rebellion. I study the Civil Rights era in which I participated in order to gain more depth and perspective. I read books and watch films about leaders, such as Rev. Martin Luther King Jr, Malcolm X, and the school girl Ruby Bridges. It’s essential in this era of Black Lives Matter, begun by three powerful women, that we learn about America’s full history, which, yes, includes amazing inventions and our brave experiment in democracy. AND it includes the brutality of removing Indigenous People from the land, and kidnapping and enslaving Africans. Acknowledging our past is the first step in improving our future.
Is there another profession you would like to try?
No, I’ve had so many! As a youth, I imagined myself in disparate professions such as artist, writer, psychiatrist, anthropologist, and marine biologist. In the sixteen months between 1966-67, the year I turned eighteen, I held six jobs in New York City: assistant to a mural painter, B&N bookstore clerk, office typist, waitress, and painter at a Needlepoint Shop. I went on to enjoy a career as an art educator at an international school in Geneva, and in U.S. universities, colleges, and museums. For a few years I painted and exhibited in Europe. I wrote a book on creativity, became an inspirational speaker and presented in venues as far as Xian, China. I earned certifications to teach yoga meditation and to coach life balance. My profession now is writing. And that includes giving presentations and readings. I volunteer to strengthen our democracy. I enjoy facilitating workshops in spiritual development, and summertime preaching for Unitarian Universalists. Some might call me a “jack of all trades,” but I believe I mastered skills that helped me do a good job in my latest and greatest role: Grandma.
Do you have another artistic outlet in addition to your writing?
Writing and art have been parallel and intertwined passions. One informs the other. The best writing, I believe, is visual. Creativity can be sparked by writing about a work of art, and, conversely, by painting an image inspired by a poem. I was part of an exhibit, ART & TEXT, launched by the Women’s Caucus for Art Connecticut chapter, which I founded in 1990. The exhibit traveled to the Harper Row publisher headquarters in New York. The interrelationship continued with an art and poetry exhibit at my local Norwalk Public Library in 2019, in which an artist was randomly assigned my poem to illustrate. I dreamed in childhood I’d publish a book, like Jo March in Little Women, and exhibit paintings in Paris, like Mary Cassatt. I feel blessed to have manifested both those dreams. I learned early to pay attention to my inner voice, and to freely to express my true self and sometimes that expression comes out on a canvas and sometimes on a written page.
What do you worry about?
I worry about the denial of truth, fact and science in America, and the fear and hate that denial is based on. I want for my most amazing granddaughter all the grace and justice that America has promised: I quote our Declaration of Independence, respectfully editing a word. “All men people are created equal, endowed by their creator with the inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” I want for all children of all genders, colors and backgrounds the opportunity to learn, think critically, receive care when ill, earn a living wage, choose freely who to love, afford decent housing, and exult in fresh air and water on a safe and magnificent planet.
