LAIRD FETZER HAMBLIN
YOUR NEIGHBOR – YOUR SENATOR
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I use all three of my names as given to me by tradition; my first name uniquely representing me and all that I stand for and do; my middle name reminding me of my mother’s heritage; my last name reminding me of my father’s heritage.
My kind, wise parents raised their seven children on our family’s small farm in the Uinta Basin in Utah, just north of the small town of Roosevelt, where we children attended public schools and where Mom taught one year and Dad taught 38 years in public schools.
Life on the farm taught me the importance of fine work, the importance of self, family, and neighbors to accomplish any task, great or small, and an appreciation for the fragility, resilience, and beauty of nature.
I attended elementary in the little community of Neola, Utah, where dedicated public school teachers endeavored each day to teach us critical life skills. The librarian in that little country school was a kind, wise, mentor, who ensured that each child was safe and nurtured every day. Well written, superbly illustrated, books in rhyme, which I found in that little school library, kindled the fire my parents had ignited within me of reading, writing, and illustrating.
With a biology degree from Utah State University, including three years at the University of Utah, I’ve studied birds in the Uinta Mountains, cactus and prairie dogs in the Uinta Basin, native fish in southeastern Utah, marbled murrelets in the Pacific Northwest and western sandpipers on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta in Alaska.
I have also studied the remote wildlands of Utah and worked to preserve them for future generations in ways which will allow all to partake of their beauty and wonder.
I love teaching children to read and write; encouraging them to learn all good and wise things that people have learned; encouraging them to tell others all good and wise things that they have learned; encouraging them to carefully utilize meaningful words to express joy, sadness, anger, love, frustration, and hope; encouraging them to write their thoughts in journals, poetry and song!
I observe children’s kindness and care for each other. When a child needs something, other children immediately respond to meet their need.
For a year I comforted infants in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Primary Children’s Hospital, calming their fears as I sang my lullabies to them, rocking them to sleep in my arms. These tiny infants with all their potential are the hope in what the future may hold. A future of love and kindness, if we will choose it.
I write song-rhymes to teach, inspire, and uplift children and families; individuals; and anyone seeking or lonely, longing for hope, understanding, and companionship. I meticulously create them in precise rhyme, carefully teaching about animals and teaching life lessons. I create tunes for each song and illustrate them for children. I then place them on my website, lairdsstorysongs.us , where anyone can access them for free.
For two years I prostelited in South Africa; where I saw the disparity of cultures at odds and the hope of that conflict being resolved; where I saw poverty and wealth and the troubles inherent when resources and opportunities are not equally distributed; and hope in the youth in making the changes necessary for people to thrive together.
By hollyhock in my garden _ 2021
