Author Publication date April, 2008 Country Canada Name Star Weiss | Language English Role Journalist Publisher TouchWood Editions | |
Subject Psychology, Spirituality | ||
Star Weiss is an accomplished journalist, educator and author. She was born in Tarrytown, New York and moved around the state as a child, spending her teen years in White Plains. Star moved to Canada after meeting her husband, Russ. Together they have had two daughters and now live out of Victoria, British Columbia. She is the co-author of Island Cookery, the author of Kitchen Culture: The Lives and Foods of Immigrant Women in the Cowichan and Chemainus Valleys, and has been featured in Chicken Soup for the Nature Lover's Soul, Polenta on the Board (by Valerie Mitchell) and Ways We live, exploring the community (by Susan Berlin). Her writing has also appeared in The Globe and Mail, The Vancouver Sun, Focus Magazine and Chatelaine. Star is also a breast cancer survivor.
She is the author of Havens in a Hectic World: Finding Sacred Spaces, which has been well received critically in British Columbia.
Havens in a Hectic World: Finding Sacred Spaces
From the back cover
Whether we're behind the steering wheel, at the keyboard, or in the grocery line, the frantic pace of our world leaves us little times for reflection, and even less time to nurture our spirits. Join Star Weiss as she explored the spiritual landscape of the West Coast (of British Columbia) with a variety of people, including prison inmates, nuns, famous artists and First Nations elders. They graciously reveal the places, emotional and physical, where they find peace, renewal and serenity, from a mountain peak, to an ancient village, a waterfall to a labyrinth. Some are familiar, and some are unlikely, but all of them lead her to a deeper inquiry: How can we find sanctuary in a world defined by efficiency? Where can we seek refuge? How are our connections to the divine changing?Havens was featured in BC BookWorld in autumn 2008, as one of their "10 Books to Celebrate 150 Years" (in celebration of the 150th anniversary of British Columbia).
"Star Weiss has put together an incredibly well researched and engagingly written exploration of what it means for a place to be 'sacred'. With the fresh eyes of a former New Yorker who has long been enchanted by her wild, mysterious chosen home on the West Coast, Weiss takes the reader on a thoughtful journey into the heart of contemporary spirituality." Douglas Todd editor of Cascadia: The Elusive Utopia
"B.C. includes the fewest people per capita in Canada who identify with an organized religion - 40 per cent - but spirituality is alive and well here, Weiss said. Writing Havens showed her a pursuit of spirituality in B.C. that's peaceful, inclusive and cherishes the Earth while building the community at the same time." Jennifer Miller May 21, 2009
"Star's experience with breast cancer helped her take 'a wider, deeper look at people and places'. She shared her journey with friend Sharon Hall, who later died of inoperable cancer. At Myra Falls in Strathcona Park (outside of Campbell River, BC), Sharon felt that cleansing, constant roaring was better than any drug... It's these personal conversations and connections as well as Star's reflections on her own spiritual journey that make this book so appealing." Mary Ann Moore for Synergy Magazine Vol 5, Issue 6
"Solitude is what all of us have experienced at our sacred places and yet we feel connected to others and to the natural world. Another gift, of course, is the memory of those sacred places wherever we may be during a hectic day." More Living Magazine Nov/Dec 2008