Twenty-Nine Days to Salem

TWENTY-NINE DAYS TO SALEM: A POETRY ATLAS is a collection of poems I wrote following my experience as a through walker in The Journey To Salem, a 500+ mile walk from Bethlehem, PA to Winston-Salem (Old Salem), NC in the Fall of 2021. Our small group of women retraced the steps that a small group of primarily young girls walked (along with horses and wagons) in 1766, that led to the founding of my high school Alma Mater, Salem Academy and College, in Winston-Salem, NC in 1772. My poems are rooted in the geography of the route. They provide some insight into the physical journey, but more importantly the emotional part of the journey, and the seemingly inexplicable connection I felt to the girls who had walked the route before. Our group undertook the Journey this year to celebrate the 250th year of Salem Academy and College, and to ignite Her future.

TWENTY-NINE DAYS TO SALEM: A POETRY ATLAS is a collection of poems I wrote following my experience as a through walker in The Journey To Salem, a 500+ mile walk from Bethlehem, PA to Winston-Salem (Old Salem), NC in the Fall of 2021. Our small group of women retraced the steps that a small group of primarily young Moravian girls walked (along with horses and wagons) and a handful of adults, including one man (maybe 2), in 1766. Their trip led to the founding of my high school Alma Mater, Salem Academy and College, in Winston-Salem, NC in 1772. My poems are rooted in the geography of the route. They provide some insight into the physical journey, but more importantly the emotional part of the journey, and the seemingly inexplicable connection I felt to the girls who had walked the route before. Our group undertook the Journey this year to celebrate the 250th year of Salem Academy and College, and to ignite Her future. The collection contains main poems that are rooted in the geography of the route and also "side poems" that invite the reader to explore some topics further. It includes information about our Journey in a visual display, with tables of statistics, simple pie charts illustrating the data, my route as collected on strava, with elevation profiles and weather data for our journey, as well as for the previous Journey when it was available. The book is sprinkled with quotes taken from the translated version of a diary that was kept on the original Journey, in 1766, by a 16 year old girl named Salome Muerer.

Debra Stansberry Faires, A'82, D.D.S. (Debbie) (Dr. Deb), Huntsville, Tennessee. I left my private practice of general dentistry after our son was born, promising myself I would return to practice "when I got bored." Twenty-five years later, I find myself with a skill set I never dreamed I would have when I started dental school. I homeschooled our son from grades 3-8. I became an instrument rated private pilot, a licensed commercial drone pilot, a licensed insurance adjuster, a 23 states marathon runner, and I built the house we live in (with some help from some professionals along the way). My real passion, however, is my lifelong interest in health and longevity. I learned to practice and teach Mindfulness at Duke Integrative Medicine. I am trained in Functional Medicine, Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy, and Buteyko Breathing. I am a Fellow of the American Academy for Oral Systemic Health. I teach a community service Pilates class. Pre-Pandemic, I screened many of the children in our local elementary and middle schools annually for dental issues, and then returned in the Spring to teach them how to take care of their oral health, and how to make healthy food and drink choices. This is my first book, and the first poetry, I have written. On a personal note, my now 25 year old son (Jay), is the guitarist for the MA based band, Blue Light Bandits. He is host of the podcast, Grateful Talks, as well as creator of Jerry Tone Store. His collection of information about Jerry Garcia's guitar tone can be found at jerrytone.info (proud Momma plug). He was a lot of fun to raise and I am very proud of him. I've been married to my best friend (Eric) for almost 38 years. Thankfully, both Eric and Jay are enthusiastic supporters of my excitement for learning new things! My rescue dog, Radar, almost 19, is happy that continuing education is now available on Zoom, so I can be at home to give him more attention.