Saratoga News
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Speier, Yanehiro bringing book and message of hope to Saratoga
By Chris Vongsarath
Hard times hit hardest when they're unexpected, and for two friends whose lives have seen the worst, the only hope and way to cope is through sharing.
Friends and co-authors Jackie Speier and Jan Yanehiro will be guest speakers on Nov. 7 at 7:30 p.m. at the Saratoga Foothill Club, 20399 Park Place, as part of the club's public lecture series this year.
The lecture encompasses material from their book, This is Not the Life I Ordered, which includes stories from the lives of Speier and Yanehiro, co-authors Deborah Collins Stephens and Michealene Cristini Risley and 30 other people. The collection of stories shares examples of the power of the human spirit in the face of tragedy.
Speier, who graduated from the UC-Davis, is a former California state senator serving the 8th district after being elected in 1998 with more than 79 percent of the vote.
In 1978, she made national headlines when she was shot five times during a fact-finding trip to Guyana with U.S. Rep. Leo Ryan to investigate Jim Jones and The People's Temple, a religious cult.
Ryan was killed in the process and Speier, who accompanied Ryan as his legal counsel, was left for dead on a tarmac. In the aftermath, more than 900 members of The People's Temple committed mass suicide.
Surviving the horrific ordeal gave Speier a new inner strength and courage as she dedicated the rest of her life to public service.
"I learned that life is very fragile. I obviously came very close to dying on that tarmac in 1978 and it's molded everything else in my life," she said. "It made me fearless to deal with the powerful interests in Sacramento."
Yanehiro graduated from Cal State Fresno with a degree in journalism and became a familiar face on television sets across the Bay Area. After co-hosting Evening Magazine, a nightly program in San Francisco, for 15 years, her current projects include hosting Appreciate It! on Home and Garden Television and Women of Vision and The New Americans on KCSM TV; reporting on KCBS AM 740 News Radio; and producing her own weekly television program, Weekly Fusion.
In February 1995, Yanehiro's husband died after a yearlong bout with brain cancer, marking the darkest days of her life. Having quit her job not long before, Yanehiro was in a tough financial situation and was left with several lawsuits and three children to raise.
"What we say in the book is that we made some mistakes. I wasn't knowledgeable about my finances," she said.
After sharing their experiences at the "kitchen table," the four friends decided to write a book in hopes that their shared experiences will help others the way it helped them.
"It's about when you're in the dark, when life throws you the worst curveball, how you get whacked off the path of life and how you get back on," Yanehiro said. "It's about feeling good, hope, desperation and doubt all together"
Despite the fact that the authors are all women and much of the content has a female focus, the book is intended to benefit everyone.
"All these experiences are universal. Cancer doesn't know gender, accidents don't know gender and mistakes don't know gender," Yanehiro said.
Speier wants those who attend the lecture to learn what she did through the course of her life.
"The message is to accept the fear of failure," she said. "You can't be afraid to fail."
Yanehiro also has a similar sentiment.
"I want them to take away that it can be really tough sometimes, being on the road you're on. You feel like you're being dragged, but you can rise above it all," she said.
Speier and Yanehiro will speak at the Saratoga Foothill Club, 20399 Park Place, on Nov. 7 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $10 at the door. For more information, visit www.foothillclub.org. For more information on the book, visit www.thisisnotthelifeiordered.com.
