“Having no formal training or writing experience shouldn’t prevent anyone
from sharing their story. We can all learn from each other when we are
honest and open enough to reveal our struggles, our failures and our victories.”
Joanie Butman is the author of several collections of faith essays, including Heart Murmurs, Table Talk, and The Issue Room. Her most recent book, I Don’t Buy Green Bananas,describes her journey through a cancer diagnosis, treatment and recovery.
More importantly, she is the resident expert in the art of making bad choices. If the School of Life awarded degrees, she would have a PhD in Lack of Judgment, a Masters in Outrageousness, and several minors in Humor, Determination and Boldness. Her life experiences have produced a certain wisdom that couldn’t be acquired in a classroom. When approached about working on the Choose Wisely campaign, her response was, “Who wants to hear anything I could possibly say about choosing wisely? Just having those words and my name in the same sentence is an oxymoron!”
Joanie claims no particular expertise in anything and describes herself as ordinary with an occasional extraordinary idea. As she says, “Even the ordinary face extraordinary challenges and experience moments of extraordinary clarity and purpose. This project is a perfect example of one of those times.”
Don’t let her lack of credentials fool you. She has spent a lifetime doing things people told her she couldn’t. Her humor, vision, creativity, enthusiasm, energy, passion and a hefty dose of chutzpah more than compensate for any deficiency in ‘formal’ training.
