Q&A: Janet Luongo, Author of 'Rebellion, 1967'

Rebellion, 1967 by Janet Luongo follows 17-year-old Janet trying to find herself in Queens, New York, after breaking free from her toxic family. Janet soon finds purpose as a mural painter and in volunteering for a civil rights activist, but when she falls in love with a young Black saxophone player during the summer of love (against her father’s wishes), she runs away and encounters heartbreak and danger that will cause her to pick up the shattered pieces of her life and revaluate her dreams.

We chat to author Janet Luongo about her memoir Rebellion, 1967, writing, book recommendations, and so much more!

Hi, Janet! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?

As a youth, I rebelled against injustice, and today I work along with youth, such as David Hogg, Amanda Gorman and Greta Thunberg, who continue the work for common sense and racial, gender and climate justice. From age sixteen, I worked as a painter, and when I lived in Europe I exhibited in Paris and Geneva. Lately, photography is my creative outlet. My former role as museum program designer in Bridgeport, CT, connected urban and suburban youth who developed leadership skills by leading art tours. I wrote a book on creativity, with a foreword by Jack Canfield, co-author of the Chicken Soup for the Soul book series and my colleague in the National Speakers Association. I taught K- college, and spoke on creative thinking in various fields to people of all ages in the U.S. and abroad. An unforgettable engagement was a week spent teaching creativity in Xian, China. I’m tickled that my video of a trip to Ecuador got over 400,000 hits on youtube! My husband Jim and I stay energized by doing yoga, learning new things and hiking. Several years ago, our son took us up Mt. Sherman, a 14,000 foot mountain! When we visit him lately, we are thrilled playing with our granddaughter. At home in Norwalk, Connecticut, we walk at the beach and in the woods. A fun part of my day is feeding our neighbors’ chickens. Our cat Lucky brings us joy.

As we near the halfway mark of 2021, how has your year been so far?

Along with many around the world, I stayed at home most of the year. I sorely missed traveling to see my son and family in Colorado, but Jim and I found virtual methods to connect — on Facetime, we read books and played checkers with our granddaughter, now five. We enjoyed Zoom calls with friends abroad who, due to Covid, cancelled in-person visits we’d planned. Keeping up relationships made us feel less isolated. The down time actually enabled me to finish all the last revisions and proofs for my memoir without FOMO (fear of missing out) since most people were also grounded. We spend evenings enjoying TV series like the Queen’s Gambit, Bridgerton, and The Durrells in Corfu, (a Greek island we’d traveled to years ago.) I read many more books, from a wide range of fields. I adored Cosmos: Possible Worlds, written by Ann Druyan, who was a friend of mine in high school. Ann also wrote and produced the TV Series, Cosmos: Possible Worlds, narrated by Neil de Grass. I found the episodes full of wonder, astounding photography, and warnings of widespread extinction deeply provocative. I really want my granddaughter to live on a safe planet full of butterflies, eagles and clean air and water. During the pandemic I made it a priority to lead a virtual team of Unitarian Universalists in working for climate change and voting rights. Taking action makes me feel more positive that we can preserve our democracy – something I also want very much for my granddaughter.

Quick lightning round! Tell us the first book you ever remember reading, the one that made you want to become an author, and one that you can’t stop thinking about!

Besides the usual bedtime stories, the first book I remember reading is History of Mankind, by Henrik Van Loon. It hooked me with an opening poem about eternity. I remember my fourth grade teacher showed her surprise at seeing me reading such an adult book. She told me “evolution is just a theory.” (She had taught my class that the first people were Adam and Eve). I asked her, “Isn’t the Bible a theory too?” In her class I turned to reading the adventures of Nancy Drew, and got started writing my own novel, which she asked me to read out loud on hot June days. At age fifteen I picked up J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, and I flipped out reading the audacious and hilarious observations voiced by the troubled teen, Holden Caulfield. Holden’s honest first-person point of view made me think I could write and publish my story too. A novel that hovers in my head and heart: The Living Sea of Waking Dreams, by Richard Flanagan. “It got me” at the title, then the fascinating characters and high stakes pulled me in. A woman cares for her mother, who is dying in Tasmania. And so are birds and animals and people in the fires there. So much is vanishing in nature, but no one notices. We are numbed by our virtual devices, so entangled with the mechanical, we don’t hear the warning cries, or face the growing dangers of extinctions and climate disasters. Sprinkled incidents of magic realism served as welcome comic relief. Final passages – affirming we are part of an interconnected web of existence – extended hope we could wake from our stupor and take necessary action.

When did you first discover your love for writing?

I remember being excited when first learning to form letters, then words. At an early age I kept secret diaries, and my father encouraged me to keep “logs,” which were kept by sea captains and sounded adventurous. For class academic essays, I got high marks for correctness and penmanship — until fifth grade, when my teacher offered us a unique opportunity to write something “imaginative.” I joyfully made up a story about a bird, who lost a beautiful feather that fell in a forest, that floated down a river and on and on… I had so much to say I wrote quickly, yet needed extra time. I couldn’t wait to hear back from my teacher. I was stunned to see a reprimand for poor penmanship, and a low mark for my story! The teacher looked at me when she told the class, “Some students’ imaginations went too far.” As young as I was, about ten, I knew my teacher was wrong. I knew being creative made me feel great. I kept writing stories and journals through high school and beyond. And journal entries formed the basis of my memoir of 1967.

Rebellion, 1967 is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?

Passion empowers triumph over restraints.

What can readers expect?

Get ready for a spirited but hurt and broken family, loving but flawed characters, and plot twists as the young Irish protagonist forms unusual relationships with Jewish friends and Black mentors. Expect extreme behavior and humor at odd times. You may find insights into the rebellion of adolescence, movements for civil rights and peace, sexual liberation and freedom for students and women. Be entertained by exhilarating highs of the Sixties – the jazz, rock and soul music, flower power and psychedelia; also read accounts of the effects of rapid change and raw impulse — division, confusion, substance abuse — the down side of the Sixties, the often hidden underbelly.

Can you tell us about any challenges you faced while writing and how you were able to overcome them?

To write the truth as I remembered it, with all the painful details, was the main challenge. I like to think of myself as authentic, as expressing who I truly am as a person, but it’s still hard to go public about deeply personal relationships and emotions. That’s why most people hide. Who wants to be vulnerable to misunderstanding or condemnation? I got over the fear of exposure gradually. I felt a calling to write my story, and I shared parts of it publicly, finally to large audiences. I discovered I was not condemned, but appreciated for telling the truth, for being real. I found out – no surprise – I was not the only person to go through adversity and periods of confusion. It seems many people are taught to pretend their lives are perfect. So when I spoke about lapses in good judgment, people applauded my honesty. Some cried, and told me their stories. I overcame my fear. I now believe that if writers tell the truth about how we rose up from hardship, others understand they are not alone, and have more courage to move on.

Was there anything that inspired you to sit down and write your story?

My inspiration was a young woman — myself at age seventeen going on eighteen, who dwells in my heart. She compelled me to write the memoir. She wanted her story to be told, in full, about herself, her family and the turbulent Sixties the year she came of age. After that year of stress, a dose of mescaline caused a breakdown. For therapy, I typed out the events that had disturbed me and that recap became the foundation of my memoir. Naturally, books also inspired me. I read about a trapped woman, Anna Karenina, by Tolstoy. I read other tales of the Sixties: The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe, and Slouching Towards Bethlehem, essays by Joan Didion. I read great women authors who wrote about experiences with knock-down honesty, such as Erica Jong’s candid sexuality in Fear of Flying. I read Doris Lessing’s The Golden Notebook, novels by Joyce Carol Oates and Margaret Atwood. With these authors in mind, I pulled out from under my bed the recap and my journals from 1967. I wrote my first book draft in 1980. My son was born soon after, and I put the manuscript away until he was grown. When I finally got serious and joined a writing group, it was 2011. To complete the project took me an additional ten years! To put something that personal out there it had to be more than a rant! In writers groups I learned much about expressing the desires of the characters, showing feelings through the body and the senses; building scene structure, and “punching up” verbs. For those insights into the art and craft of writing, I thank my mentors Patrick McCord, Carol Dannhauser and Sophfronia Scott.

**What do you hope readers will take away from reading Rebellion, 1967?**

I hope that all readers find my memoir a well-told story. In my mind I do picture a particular reader – someone who feels like they failed, or they are not good enough. Too many people, even (or especially) the young, feel pained by “mistakes,” and seek solace in sources outside themselves. I believe mistakes are only necessary experiments in finding our way, and solace can be found in inner peace and strength. The #MeToo movement showed us that many women and girls kept silent about sexual assault because they felt ashamed, even if they were victims of attack. It’s so important to find the courage to face the truth and to speak the truth. We must excavate the pain in the gut where it thrives in a dark subjective state; extract it and slap it onto the page – where one can objectively shine light on it, name it, examine it, express it, and eventually heal it.

What’s next for you?

With one memoir under my belt, I may pull out other life stories I’ve previously drafted but hid under my bed. One is about a disastrous chemical reaction to mescaline, another about the miracle of giving birth. I may write short stories or essays. I’ve done public readings of my poems, and a Pechakucha presentation; Next year I have more presentations and workshops booked: Writing Your Encounters with “The Other”, and a national UUA program called Creativity Matters.

Lastly, do you have any book recommendations for our readers?

During the writing process, I feel the imperative to read widely. To feed my writer’s imagination I read poets such as Mary Oliver – poets teach the importance of imagery and economy of words. I found inspiration in the wandering girl portrayed in Lila by Marilynne Robinson; and a girl mentored by Black people, as I had been, portrayed in The Secret Life of Bees. I read Black women authors: Beloved by Toni Morrison, Why a Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou. In Angela’s Ashes, a memoir of a family marred by alcoholism and poverty, Frank McCourt shows genius in managing to tell a heartbreaking tale with surprising humour. My main models for memoir were by women such as Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love; Jeannette Walls’ The Glass Castle; Mary Karr’s Liar’s Club, Cherry, and The Art of Memoir. I also loved Cheryl Strayd’s Wild; Sally Field’s, In Pieces; and Michelle Obama’s Becoming.