Local author and Haines Borough Assembly member Heather Lende, known for her books depicting a pastel version of Haines, is writing a new book about her first year on the assembly when she was the target of a recall campaign.
“My rose-colored glasses, I still wear them, but they’ve got a crack,” Lende said. “There’s a little tape on the handle.”
Lende described her past books as “love letters to Haines.” Her latest work, Lende said, will offer what “some people might see as a more realistic view of the community.” She said some of the book’s content will be drawn from radio and newspaper reports, public comment in municipal meetings, emails and other public records.
Lende said she will focus on the recall campaign and its main proponents. The Haines recall campaign mirrored politics and political discourse on the national level, a subject she will also explore.
“If (the recall) hadn’t happened I probably wouldn’t be writing about my experience on the borough assembly,” Lende said. “I probably wouldn’t have written a book about bicycling if I hadn’t gotten run over.”
Lende will turn the mirror toward herself as she examines how her values and morals were challenged. Throughout the year, some opponents attacked Lende personally during public comment, on social media and in political advertising. Those attacks, Lende said, sparked conflicting emotions that challenged her world view. She said she often found it difficult to “Find the Good”—the title of her third book.
“I have to write about the days I was so angry that I just wanted to scream and I imagined bad things happening to people,” Lende said. “I tend to want to be liked. I don’t know if that’s such a good trait in somebody who’s on the assembly in contentious times.”
Now that she’s had time to reflect on the difficult year, Lende said she doesn’t think people acted cruelly, despite feeling that way at the time.
“I think it was my feelings that they were (cruel),” Lende said. “My response made it feel like that. I let people hurt my feelings. I’m learning. If people in Haines are wondering what my book’s going to be about…when it’s called ‘Be Kind, Be Brave, Be Thankful,’ I don’t think they have to worry I’m not going to be kind.”
She said she wants to present accurately the viewpoints of those who supported her recall. She also said she wants to focus on what happened outside the assembly chambers and Facebook political discourse.
“There’s some value in pointing that out, too,” Lende said. “The town went on and life went on and a lot of good stuff was happening while this was all going on, to me personally, and the town.”
The book’s title, “Be Kind, Be Brave, Be Thankful: A Year in Small-town Government,” comes from family friend Becky Nash’s advice to Lende’s son, Christian Lende.
Lende said the earliest the book would be published is 2020.