PVCC Puma Press: March 2006

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	Photo courtesy of Constance Alexandera
	Constance Alexander, poet, playwright, and journalist, will be reading at the Center for Performing Arts on April 27.
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At age 9, Constance Alexander discovered in a fourth grade poetry contest that she could write. The first two lines of her entry read, “Dear, Jesus in your tabernacle home, Do you ever feel alone?” She won a shiny silver dollar and picture of Saint Lucy for her poetic achievement at St. Francis School in Metuchan, New Jersey.“I surprised myself by what I had written,” says Alexander with a slight chuckle.

Today, Alexander is a poet, journalist and radio-talk-show host. On April 27, she will give a reading in PVCC’s Center for the Performing Arts from her book of poems called “Dreamfish.” The book was revered as one of 10 distinguished manuscripts featured in the New Women’s Voice Series by FinishingLine Press. She will also read an excerpt from her play, “The Way Home,” and talk about her extensive involvement in rural journalism and life as a poet.

After years spent at St. Francis, Alexander went on to obtain her associates degree in education from the College of New Jersey and the University of Copenhagen, as well as a bachelor’s degree in management from Pace University in New York.

“I was one of the few people who could write, so I wrote a sonnet for my international business class,” says Alexander. “My teacher told me he had never had a student write a sonnet for one of his assignments before.”

In 1988, Alexander married Roy Davis, an artist and coffin maker. He was a Kentucky native, so the couple moved to the small town of Murray, Kentucky. It was in this tiny town that Alexander was offered an opportunity that helped launch her career.

In 1988 the Murray Ledger & Times, Murray State University’s newspaper, recruited her as a weekly columnist. Alexander was initially instructed by her editor to write about non-controversial issues, but that did not last for long. “I got into trouble the second column I turned in,” reminisces Alexander, laughing. “I think it was about gun control or suicide or something like that, but the publisher never censored what I wrote. I am pretty careful how I present my views.”

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	'I like celebrating regular people who didn't have time to make a lasting impression on others'
	—Constance Alexander
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Her column caused her to become heavily involved in the elements of rural journalism and fueled a number of opportunities including a slot in public radio. Her program, “Promises to Keep,” airs on Murray, Kentucky’s WK MS-FM, and it discusses end-of-life-issues. She felt that this show was necessary for the community because it forced people to talk about something they avoided: death.

“Promises to Keep” was nominated for the Peabody Award and was a semi-finalist for the Batten Award from the Pew Center for Civic Journalism. In 2000, Alexander was named New Media Fellow by the Newspaper Association of America. She was one of 16 journalists nationwide to earn this prestigious award.

Alexander is the sole producer, writer, and hostess of her public radio program and has been able to publish more than 60 articles that accompany the discussions held on air.

Over the years, Alexander has encountered a number of heart-wrenching stories that have left a lasting impression on her. But none impressed her more than the story of a woman named Kathy struggling with breast and ovarian cancer without any health insurance. Kathy and Alexander were acquaintances before Kathy became ill.

“I heard she was sick, so I got back in touch with her and asked if she would speak to me about it on air,” says Alexander with a solemn tone in her voice. “She asked that we give her a fake name on air because she didn’t want everyone in the community feeling sorry for her, so we called her ‘Theresa.’”

Throughout the segments of Theresa’s story, a lady named Pat heard about the situation and started a fund to help with medical costs. With the impact of Theresa’s story and Pat’s generosity, a foundation was started.

“The fund was named the Theresa Flowers Foundation,” says Alexander fondly. “Theresa Flowers was the name of one of my classmates in college who died of cancer two years after graduation. All three women had connections to one another.”

Alexander wrote a play called “The Way Home,” in honor of the three women. “I just wanted to share their stories about their cancer and how they dealt with it with such grace and wisdom,” says Alexander.

Productions of the same play are used around the country without royalties by hospice organizations, who use the money from the show to build more resident hospices.

Alexander wondered why she seemed to always be writing about death. She spent a great deal of time contemplating this question. Then she thought back to her years in high school when a girl in her 11th grade class died of leukemia. “I like celebrating regular people who didn’t have time to make a lasting impression on others,” says Alexander very matter-of-factly.

During her contribution to a public radio show and the Murray Ledger & Times, Alexander still found time to have over 21 plays and hundreds of poems published. “I think I am hyperactive, and I like doing a lot of things at once,” says Alexander.

Although Alexander likes being involved, she gets tired and worn out as well. “I have a cousin, and she always says to slow down and keep moving,” says Alexander. It is this hyperactive mentality that has made her career success infinite.

Alexander is currently nominated for the Pushcart Award through her publisher and will know at the end of 2006 if she is a finalist.

Alexander’s reading will take place at 10:30 a.m., Thursday, April 27.

“I hope that audiences relate the stories to their own lives and know it is about them and not about me!” she says.