Becca Vry
My grandparents met in a German Work Camp in WW2, it was where my mother was born. After they were liberated by French and American troops, they found their way to America. Based on conversations of survival with my mother and grandparents, the character of Raizie began formulating in my mind over many, many years.
It was only when I began reading about the Syrian war, after a scary conversation involving a member in my family (who is from Syria and immigrated to the US and is now a beautiful part of my extended family), that Yara's character came to be.
On a cold, cloudy Chicago March morning a few years ago, I was feeling depressed and needed to get out for some fresh air. With my little one in a stroller, we made our way to the south end of Grant Park, and decided to sit on a park bench near the Shedd Aquarium to watch the angry waves point in all directions. Even the buildings looked like they were biting at an already bruised sky. Everything seemed to be in a foul mood, including me and the baby. When my daughter finally fell asleep, I was able to absorb everything around me. That's when Yara and Raizie decided to join me on that park bench...and the conversations they wanted to have with each other both disturbed me and inspired me. Yara's story and Raizie's story...I learned so much from these two character's as they became flesh, and while researching their circumstances and revisiting painful conversations with my mother about her survival story depressed me about the state of things in many parts of the world today, I also grew to feel inspired by the hopescapes that are before us, if we are willing to look beyond pain, suffering and loss. The Yara's and Raizie's of the world really are warriors, and I've been incredibly touched by these characters, while writing them.
It was only when I began reading about the Syrian war, after a scary conversation involving a member in my family (who is from Syria and immigrated to the US and is now a beautiful part of my extended family), that Yara's character came to be.
On a cold, cloudy Chicago March morning a few years ago, I was feeling depressed and needed to get out for some fresh air. With my little one in a stroller, we made our way to the south end of Grant Park, and decided to sit on a park bench near the Shedd Aquarium to watch the angry waves point in all directions. Even the buildings looked like they were biting at an already bruised sky. Everything seemed to be in a foul mood, including me and the baby. When my daughter finally fell asleep, I was able to absorb everything around me. That's when Yara and Raizie decided to join me on that park bench...and the conversations they wanted to have with each other both disturbed me and inspired me. Yara's story and Raizie's story...I learned so much from these two character's as they became flesh, and while researching their circumstances and revisiting painful conversations with my mother about her survival story depressed me about the state of things in many parts of the world today, I also grew to feel inspired by the hopescapes that are before us, if we are willing to look beyond pain, suffering and loss. The Yara's and Raizie's of the world really are warriors, and I've been incredibly touched by these characters, while writing them.
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