Kaylin McFarren's Blog - Posts Tagged "award"
Sharing Good News - 5/12/11
Author Joins Husband as Top Alum at Highline College in Des Moines
Highline Community College in Des Moines has selected Linda Yoshida - nonprofit leader, award-winning author and entrepreneur - its 2011 Distinguished Alumni Award winner for her dedication to philanthropic work.
She will be honored 3 p.m. June 9 during the college's commencement ceremony at the ShoWare Center in Kent.
"In addition to being a successful business woman and author, she uses her talents to serve her community," said vice president of Institutional Advancement Lisa Skari, who nominated Yoshida for the award. "Linda has a special place in her heart for Highline, and she has recognized Highline for its part in her success."
Yoshida discovered her passion for writing while attending Highline and graduated with her Associate of Arts degree with an emphasis in literature and business administration in 1974.
She has won numerous literary awards and was a 2008 finalist for the prestigious Romance Writers of America's Golden Heart contest that promotes excellence in the romance genre. Her first novel, "Flaherty's Crossing," is being considered for a Hallmark Channel film.
Highline is also significant for Yoshida because she met her future husband, Junki Yoshida, while on the campus. Junki Yoshida was named Highline's 2003 Distinguished Alumni Award winner.
In the early 1980s, Linda Yoshida helped her husband in the marketing and development of Yoshida's Gourmet Sauce. The well-known teriyaki-based cooking sauce led to the development of their first company, Yoshida Food Products. Now, the Oregon-based Yoshida Group is a multimillion-dollar conglomerate.
Linda Yoshida has translated her leadership skills from the business world toward making a difference in the community. She recently created the Soulful Giving Foundation, which works toward expanding research, care and treatment to cancer patients and their families.
She has also served as the director of the Yoshida Fine Art Gallery and on numerous nonprofit boards and councils in Oregon.
The Distinguished Alumni Award honors a former Highline student who has made outstanding contributions through community service, noteworthy professional achievement and/or recognized leadership.
Former Seattle Mayor Norm Rice, who attended Highline in 1968-69, was the first recipient of the award in 1990. Other past honorees include Ezra Teshome, agent with State Farm Insurance and Time magazine global health hero; Dr. Linda Petter, a local health care advocate; and Deborah King, civility and etiquette expert.
For more information about past honorees, visit www.funds4highline.org.
Highline Community College was founded in 1961 as the first community college in King County. With approximately 18,900 students and 350,000 alumni, it is one of the state's largest institutions of higher education. The college offers a wide range of academic transfer and professional-technical education programs, with day, evening and weekend classes.
Flaherty's Crossing
Highline Community College in Des Moines has selected Linda Yoshida - nonprofit leader, award-winning author and entrepreneur - its 2011 Distinguished Alumni Award winner for her dedication to philanthropic work.
She will be honored 3 p.m. June 9 during the college's commencement ceremony at the ShoWare Center in Kent.
"In addition to being a successful business woman and author, she uses her talents to serve her community," said vice president of Institutional Advancement Lisa Skari, who nominated Yoshida for the award. "Linda has a special place in her heart for Highline, and she has recognized Highline for its part in her success."
Yoshida discovered her passion for writing while attending Highline and graduated with her Associate of Arts degree with an emphasis in literature and business administration in 1974.
She has won numerous literary awards and was a 2008 finalist for the prestigious Romance Writers of America's Golden Heart contest that promotes excellence in the romance genre. Her first novel, "Flaherty's Crossing," is being considered for a Hallmark Channel film.
Highline is also significant for Yoshida because she met her future husband, Junki Yoshida, while on the campus. Junki Yoshida was named Highline's 2003 Distinguished Alumni Award winner.
In the early 1980s, Linda Yoshida helped her husband in the marketing and development of Yoshida's Gourmet Sauce. The well-known teriyaki-based cooking sauce led to the development of their first company, Yoshida Food Products. Now, the Oregon-based Yoshida Group is a multimillion-dollar conglomerate.
Linda Yoshida has translated her leadership skills from the business world toward making a difference in the community. She recently created the Soulful Giving Foundation, which works toward expanding research, care and treatment to cancer patients and their families.
She has also served as the director of the Yoshida Fine Art Gallery and on numerous nonprofit boards and councils in Oregon.
The Distinguished Alumni Award honors a former Highline student who has made outstanding contributions through community service, noteworthy professional achievement and/or recognized leadership.
Former Seattle Mayor Norm Rice, who attended Highline in 1968-69, was the first recipient of the award in 1990. Other past honorees include Ezra Teshome, agent with State Farm Insurance and Time magazine global health hero; Dr. Linda Petter, a local health care advocate; and Deborah King, civility and etiquette expert.
For more information about past honorees, visit www.funds4highline.org.
Highline Community College was founded in 1961 as the first community college in King County. With approximately 18,900 students and 350,000 alumni, it is one of the state's largest institutions of higher education. The college offers a wide range of academic transfer and professional-technical education programs, with day, evening and weekend classes.
Flaherty's Crossing
Look what Chanticleer has to say about BURIED THREADS!
Rating:4 stars
Title: Buried Threads
Author: Kaylin McFarren
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Creative Edge Publishing LLC
From the alluring book cover depicting a Japanese woman holding a beautiful sword, to the twisty, explosive ending, Kaylin McFarren’s second novel in the Threads series, Buried Threads, takes you on an wild ride that will having you reading long into the night.
Treasure hunters Rachel Lyons and Chase Cohen, first introduced in Severed Threads, return in this Steamy-Action novel, racing against time and overwhelming odds to recover a long-lost Japanese treasure. The Buddhist monk Satoru Yamada, or Shinzo, has hired them to locate a valuable Templar stone embedded in the scabbard of a sword at the bottom of the ocean. The sword is one of three, robbed from the tomb of a prince. Rachel’s employer believes that its return will save the soul of the woman who originally robbed the tomb, and also prevent a catastrophic natural disaster that could kill millions.
Fearlessly combining the influence of Japanese Manga with elements of romance, suspense, paranormal, and action-adventure, McFarren provides a fast-paced, scary, yet addictive reading experience. The author doesn’t mind bending the rules of craft or genre to present a complex, multi-layered story about fascinating characters—the beautiful yet numb geisha, the obsessed, vengeful Yakuza killer, the Buddhist monk who claims to see into both the future and the past, and of course, the intelligent and talented heroine, troubled by personal insecurities yet strong enough to expertly brandish a sword. As McFarren introduces you to each of these people against the backdrop of modern and ancient Japanese culture, you become hooked, soon kept in thrall of their unfolding stories and fearful of who will still be alive at the end.
Buried Threads interweaves cross-genre these plot elements in a tale that nevertheless accurately depicts Japanese subcultures. McFarren obviously has done her research on this exotic setting, enriching each page with details of Japanese urban nightlife, modern feminist attitudes, as well as the mindset of a centuries-old warrior culture. Readers who love to learn about foreign locales will enjoy this aspect of the book.
Because the author takes you so deeply inside the minds of multiple characters that are central to the plot, the back-and-forth among their points of view can at first be distracting. Typically, this would make it harder to connect with the characters. But McFarren draws intricate pictures of multi-faceted people, revealing their strengths as well as their fears and anxieties, so that you feel you know them instantly. The plot complications come fast and furiously, and you meet the large cast of characters quickly enough that you must pay close attention. This reviewer’s advice, though, is to be patient. Before you realize it, you’ll be well and truly immersed in this complex, edge-of-the-seat thriller.
Buried Threads was awarded a CLUE Award for Steamy/Action Thriller, a division of the Chanticleer Reviews Internationals Novel Writing Competitions.
Title: Buried Threads
Author: Kaylin McFarren
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Creative Edge Publishing LLC
From the alluring book cover depicting a Japanese woman holding a beautiful sword, to the twisty, explosive ending, Kaylin McFarren’s second novel in the Threads series, Buried Threads, takes you on an wild ride that will having you reading long into the night.
Treasure hunters Rachel Lyons and Chase Cohen, first introduced in Severed Threads, return in this Steamy-Action novel, racing against time and overwhelming odds to recover a long-lost Japanese treasure. The Buddhist monk Satoru Yamada, or Shinzo, has hired them to locate a valuable Templar stone embedded in the scabbard of a sword at the bottom of the ocean. The sword is one of three, robbed from the tomb of a prince. Rachel’s employer believes that its return will save the soul of the woman who originally robbed the tomb, and also prevent a catastrophic natural disaster that could kill millions.
Fearlessly combining the influence of Japanese Manga with elements of romance, suspense, paranormal, and action-adventure, McFarren provides a fast-paced, scary, yet addictive reading experience. The author doesn’t mind bending the rules of craft or genre to present a complex, multi-layered story about fascinating characters—the beautiful yet numb geisha, the obsessed, vengeful Yakuza killer, the Buddhist monk who claims to see into both the future and the past, and of course, the intelligent and talented heroine, troubled by personal insecurities yet strong enough to expertly brandish a sword. As McFarren introduces you to each of these people against the backdrop of modern and ancient Japanese culture, you become hooked, soon kept in thrall of their unfolding stories and fearful of who will still be alive at the end.
Buried Threads interweaves cross-genre these plot elements in a tale that nevertheless accurately depicts Japanese subcultures. McFarren obviously has done her research on this exotic setting, enriching each page with details of Japanese urban nightlife, modern feminist attitudes, as well as the mindset of a centuries-old warrior culture. Readers who love to learn about foreign locales will enjoy this aspect of the book.
Because the author takes you so deeply inside the minds of multiple characters that are central to the plot, the back-and-forth among their points of view can at first be distracting. Typically, this would make it harder to connect with the characters. But McFarren draws intricate pictures of multi-faceted people, revealing their strengths as well as their fears and anxieties, so that you feel you know them instantly. The plot complications come fast and furiously, and you meet the large cast of characters quickly enough that you must pay close attention. This reviewer’s advice, though, is to be patient. Before you realize it, you’ll be well and truly immersed in this complex, edge-of-the-seat thriller.
Buried Threads was awarded a CLUE Award for Steamy/Action Thriller, a division of the Chanticleer Reviews Internationals Novel Writing Competitions.
