Naked Under My Coat - Writing Under the Influence of Parkinson's is a collection of poems and short stories written during the onset and format diagnosis of Jocelyn Burgener's Parkinson's disease in 2003. Using pieces of her life, both real and imagined, Jocelyn tells the story of finding her voice, even as the disease restricts her ability to journal, speak, and pray. From physics to infidelity, to the edges of fear, faith and love, Naked Under My Coat exposes her vulnerability and insight in the face of her challenging new reality.
About the Author
Raised in Toronto, Jocelyn Burgener majored in theatre and writing, and graduated from the Radio and Television Arts program at Ryerson University. She was elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly in Calgary Currie, where she served from 1993 to 2001. Jocelyn established Segue Consulting in 2001, specializing in policy development and implementation through strategic communication. With clients in both the public and private sectors, she co-authored Calgary's Civic Arts Policy. Jocelyn was a frequent contributor to Culinaire, a food and beverage magazine based in Calgary. Naked Under My Coat - Writing Under the Influence of Parkinson’s is her first book.
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Parkinson's and Creativity
In 2021, three poems from Jocelyn's book were featured on The Quiver, a website created by Christopher Lion of Georgetown, Texas. The site is dedicated to providing hope and inspiration to those with Parkinson’s Disease by featuring art by those with the disease. It's full of inspiring, creative work!
To hear Jocelyn talking about her book, you can listen to Judith L. Harrison's 2015 interview with Jocelyn, here. Judith's podcast is called "Turning Point - a GPS for your Success." Click to set custom HTML
Hamilton City Ballet's Dance For Parkinson's
In 2014, Jocelyn took part in the Hamilton City Ballet's "Dance for Parkinson's" classes in Dundas. She previously participated in a similar program, "Dancing Parkinson's," offered through Decidedly Jazz Danceworks in Calgary.
The inspiration for this program came from watching “English National Ballet: Helping people with Parkinson’s through the art of dance” posted on dancechanneltv.com. This brief video captured dance students' participation, confidence and joy as they danced to live music, learned the characters and dances from the company’s Romeo & Juliet, and watched rehearsals. Hamilton City Ballet’s Dance for Parkinson’s artistic faculty had the pleasure of attending the “Dance for PD Training Workshop” with the Mark Morris Dance Group (MMDG). MMDG is the company responsible for pioneering this initiative and training future schools and companies. Hamilton City Ballet’s Dance for Parkinson’s is modeled after the English National Ballet’s direction. Classes are based on the full length ballet that is currently being staged and will reflect the storyline and choreography. 
Students of the Hamilton City Ballet’s Dance for Parkinson’s Class: Photo by Tom Omorean
Naked Under My Coat is in the Local Authors section at Shelf Life Books in Calgary, Alberta!
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Thanks to BeatRoute Magazine for this great photo!
Naked Under My Coat was published by Friesen Press in June 2014.
