My Colorful Poetic Journey

About the Book

Take a step into my world, and enter into a dimension of complete excitement, as I take you on My Colorful Poetic Journey! I will take you through WWII glimpses by my father, to love letters he wrote to my mother, and all the details of growing up in America. Then, I will entrance you with the tales of faraway places, such as Morocco, Thailand, China, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, Italy, France, England, Russia, Greece, Argentina, and more. I will acquaint you with 5 years of living in Europe. You will also discover things you have never heard about, like “ice stock shooting”, a Central European sport, after 30 years of involvement. You will also discover my roots, dating back to 1451 on my Swiss side of the family. You will experience what my English ancestors went through coming to America from England in 1822. You will hear my heart singing through pages of poetry or lamentations to others. I have even included speeches I wrote while being a Toastmaster. I also expressed deeply felt eroticism in my poetry section, called “Erotic Awakenings”, where I express personal feelings of love and lust. Most of the book is written in rhyming couplets, either while detailing an adventure, or longing for love and acceptance. Also, many of my writings are letters to family and friends. Leaving home at 18, to travel abroad, captures the occasional youthful distress, but more of the excitement of discovering the world around me. Follow me through two marriages and many more adventures, both in California, and in New Hampshire, but mostly be part of my many adventures abroad. Jump on the Strauss plane and be captivated by the magic, the mystery, and the machinations of a poetic mind.

About the Author

Suzanne Zurilgen Strauss’ life was full in many ways. By the time she was ready to retire, she had accumulated 33 years of involvement with German, including one year at the University of Goettingen, Germany, as a Fulbright Exchange Student from UC Berkeley. She spent two years in Switzerland, and one year in Vienna, Austria, working as a private secretary for a UC Berkeley professor. In addition, she was a Fulbright Exchange Teacher in Germany for a year and produced her first book, The ABC’s of Education: Euro-American Style, which was 147 pages of research. Her second book was Word Paintings From Around the World, which was 249 pages of poetry & journal writing over the years. This book will be more poetry, travel journals, and recollections of her life through letters written to others by her. She spent 22 years of teaching grades 7-12, & junior college, instructing in World Literature, British Literature, Applied Communications, & Speech. She was a member of the California Foreign Language Teachers of America, American Association of Teachers of German, California Association of Teachers of English, National Association of Teachers of English. Also, she was a member of the American Association of Ice Stock Sport, and spent over 40 years as a Toastmaster. Her credentials include a Professional Clear in English & German, B.A. in Rhetoric, University of California, Berkeley; M.Ed. in Secondary Education, University of New Hampshire and Via Lingua ESL Certification. She was associated with the Goethe Institute, San Francisco; the California Foreign Language Project, Stanislaus State, and the Bay Area Writing Project, Exeter, New Hampshire. She taught many workshops both in California, New Hampshire, & Maine. Combined with her numerous travel experiences, she is multi-dimensional in a variety of areas.