Despite injury, woman full of dreams, ambitions
Billy and Beasley chirp for the visitors in Jan Peregrine’s downtown Lincoln apartment. The blue and yellow parakeets flutter and twitter with curiosity as this new guest samples Jan’s latest creation — vegan Jazzy Blackberry Cheesecake.
Delicious!
Jan’s smile is genuine. It’s taken many tries to perfect this treat.
“But I think I’ve got it,” she says with a nod.
It’s one more cake to add to her vegan repertoire. One more recipe closer to fulfilling her dream — owning and operating a vegan dessert business.
Of course, there still are hurdles.
There are always hurdles.
But Jan is as determined as ever.
Always determined.
You have to be —life doesn’t always go according to plan.
Jan uses her life story to show that within the sometimes fragile human skeleton is a spirit that can be bruised and chipped, but never completely broken.
Jan Peregrine is “a woman of indeterminate age — ageless,” is her coy way of refusing to disclose the date of her birth.
She’s a poet, an author, an artist, a cook. She’s the fourth most-read book reviewer and the 17th most- read movie reviewer for the popular epinions.com Web site. At last count she had 871 reviews to her two names: “jankp” and her alter ego, “Dr. Freudine.”
She has her master’s degree in pastoral studies from Loyola University in Illinois.
She worked as a missionary in Chicago’s Franciscan Outreach Soup Kitchen.
She ran a marathon in 5 hours, 8 minutes and 32 seconds.
She intends to run another — when she can walk without the aid of a wheelchair, scooter or walker.
She is straightforward. Direct. Take-her-for-who-she-is. Honest.
She suffered an incomplete spinal cord injury in September 1993, while home from college and visiting her family in Fullerton.
In hindsight, she says she probably should not have flown with that bad head cold.
She wishes she knew not to lock your knees when you stand up.
But she didn’t.
She fainted and fell to the slate floor of her parents’ home.
The fall cracked her fourth vertebra, which hit the third vertebra which touched her spinal cord.
A second fall worsened the damage, leaving her with limited mobility and spasticity in her leg, arm and hand.
A new medication pending FDA approval could be her ticket to physical independence, Jan says.
“Now, it’s a waiting game for me,” she adds.
As much as she doesn’t want her injury to define her, she admits the accident changed her and everything in her life — her religious views, her lifestyle, her writing, her personality.
Her poem offers a glimpse:
To be Honest
You know I do wish I could be sometimes less deep;
just write a cute poem that makes people smile
But my thoughts are not fiction or mere entertainment,
I have something to say in my own honest style.
And to be honest I don’t know why my accident happened
and I guess I really don’t need to know how
I do know God has allowed me to find good in it
even more probably than I’ll ever dream He allows
Perhaps I am wiser because I’ve had to be lonely;
Maybe I’m no different but simply older.
I’d like to think I am wise because time has passed
But maybe personal suffering makes me much bolder.
Whatever the case, I have tried to be honest;
I hope my poems speak truly to your seeking hearts
But if you wanted something cute and fluffy instead,
I hope at least you weren’t bored and thought it was art.
After the accident she became bolder. She questioned more, accepted less. She discovered her convictions, and stood by them.
A woman who was forced to see the world from a chair, she quickly learned how differently the world now viewed her.
“I feel like I am in limbo,” she says 12½ years after the accident. “… It’s like I am waiting for the next part of my life.”
The accident ended her dream to be a missionary. So she inquired about being a nun. Jan says the convent turned her down flat — saying they could not accommodate her disability.
She felt rejected by the church. So she turned her back on it.
“I burned out on Catholicism and any (organized) religion,” she says.
These days she takes a more spiritual point of view.
“No one is right. No one is wrong. Live by the golden rule,” she says. “… If you live a good life, everything will take care of itself. If God is really a good God, we are not judged or persecuted for not believing in certain religions or beliefs.”
Her writings reflect spiritual searches for God.
Her cooking feeds her soul — and she hopes will feed the souls and stomachs of others.
One year ago, she started concocting her own vegan cheesecake and fudge recipes. To date she has 15 mouth-watering varieties of cheesecakes. She’d like to make money selling them. She’d also like to write a cookbook.
Maybe I’ll do both, she says with a grin.
She’s full of dreams and ambitions.
“My desire is to be independent. To live my life to the fullest. To help people with my healthy recipes. To entertain them with my writing…,” she says.
“I like to make people smile. I like to make the world a better place, and I could do that so much better if I was able to be independent.”
Reach Erin Andersen at 473-7217 or eandersen@journalstar.com.
Delicious!
Jan’s smile is genuine. It’s taken many tries to perfect this treat.
“But I think I’ve got it,” she says with a nod.
It’s one more cake to add to her vegan repertoire. One more recipe closer to fulfilling her dream — owning and operating a vegan dessert business.
Of course, there still are hurdles.
There are always hurdles.
But Jan is as determined as ever.
Always determined.
You have to be —life doesn’t always go according to plan.
Jan uses her life story to show that within the sometimes fragile human skeleton is a spirit that can be bruised and chipped, but never completely broken.
Jan Peregrine is “a woman of indeterminate age — ageless,” is her coy way of refusing to disclose the date of her birth.
She’s a poet, an author, an artist, a cook. She’s the fourth most-read book reviewer and the 17th most- read movie reviewer for the popular epinions.com Web site. At last count she had 871 reviews to her two names: “jankp” and her alter ego, “Dr. Freudine.”
She has her master’s degree in pastoral studies from Loyola University in Illinois.
She worked as a missionary in Chicago’s Franciscan Outreach Soup Kitchen.
She ran a marathon in 5 hours, 8 minutes and 32 seconds.
She intends to run another — when she can walk without the aid of a wheelchair, scooter or walker.
She is straightforward. Direct. Take-her-for-who-she-is. Honest.
She suffered an incomplete spinal cord injury in September 1993, while home from college and visiting her family in Fullerton.
In hindsight, she says she probably should not have flown with that bad head cold.
She wishes she knew not to lock your knees when you stand up.
But she didn’t.
She fainted and fell to the slate floor of her parents’ home.
The fall cracked her fourth vertebra, which hit the third vertebra which touched her spinal cord.
A second fall worsened the damage, leaving her with limited mobility and spasticity in her leg, arm and hand.
A new medication pending FDA approval could be her ticket to physical independence, Jan says.
“Now, it’s a waiting game for me,” she adds.
As much as she doesn’t want her injury to define her, she admits the accident changed her and everything in her life — her religious views, her lifestyle, her writing, her personality.
Her poem offers a glimpse:
To be Honest
You know I do wish I could be sometimes less deep;
just write a cute poem that makes people smile
But my thoughts are not fiction or mere entertainment,
I have something to say in my own honest style.
And to be honest I don’t know why my accident happened
and I guess I really don’t need to know how
I do know God has allowed me to find good in it
even more probably than I’ll ever dream He allows
Perhaps I am wiser because I’ve had to be lonely;
Maybe I’m no different but simply older.
I’d like to think I am wise because time has passed
But maybe personal suffering makes me much bolder.
Whatever the case, I have tried to be honest;
I hope my poems speak truly to your seeking hearts
But if you wanted something cute and fluffy instead,
I hope at least you weren’t bored and thought it was art.
After the accident she became bolder. She questioned more, accepted less. She discovered her convictions, and stood by them.
A woman who was forced to see the world from a chair, she quickly learned how differently the world now viewed her.
“I feel like I am in limbo,” she says 12½ years after the accident. “… It’s like I am waiting for the next part of my life.”
The accident ended her dream to be a missionary. So she inquired about being a nun. Jan says the convent turned her down flat — saying they could not accommodate her disability.
She felt rejected by the church. So she turned her back on it.
“I burned out on Catholicism and any (organized) religion,” she says.
These days she takes a more spiritual point of view.
“No one is right. No one is wrong. Live by the golden rule,” she says. “… If you live a good life, everything will take care of itself. If God is really a good God, we are not judged or persecuted for not believing in certain religions or beliefs.”
Her writings reflect spiritual searches for God.
Her cooking feeds her soul — and she hopes will feed the souls and stomachs of others.
One year ago, she started concocting her own vegan cheesecake and fudge recipes. To date she has 15 mouth-watering varieties of cheesecakes. She’d like to make money selling them. She’d also like to write a cookbook.
Maybe I’ll do both, she says with a grin.
She’s full of dreams and ambitions.
“My desire is to be independent. To live my life to the fullest. To help people with my healthy recipes. To entertain them with my writing…,” she says.
“I like to make people smile. I like to make the world a better place, and I could do that so much better if I was able to be independent.”
Reach Erin Andersen at 473-7217 or eandersen@journalstar.com.
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