Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jen Waters. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Jen, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

One of the most meaningful projects that I’ve worked on is adapting the life of Milton S. Hershey as a Broadway musical. I wrote the book for the stage for it and about 21 songs so far. For the past several years, I would rotate working on it between other things. It still needs a financier and workshopped for the stage, so I know what else to change in the script. Since I grew up in Hershey, Pennsylvania, attending Hershey High School, a public high school, from my parents’ back yard, you could see the homes where students from the Milton Hershey School lived. The Milton Hershey School is a private boarding school for orphaned students supported financially by the money from the Hershey Company. Growing up in Hershey, I rode the ride at Hershey’s Chocolate World several times a year. It tells Milton’s life story, so by my teenage years, I had his life story memorized. In college when working at the Hotel Hershey as a lifeguard, sometimes I even wore the Hershey’s KISS costume on blistering summer days. It was heavy and very hot! One day, when working in journalism, I realized that not everyone knew Milton’s life story outside Pennsylvania, and I should write it.

So, when I enrolled in the Writers Boot Camp screenwriting class in Santa Monica, I decided to write about Milton. With the help of the Hershey Community Archives, I enjoyed researching his life more and learning new things about him. I have always enjoyed biographies, such as St. Nicholas, Helen Keller, Rembrandt, and Robert L. May. Since Milton was a Mennonite trying to figure out how to fit into the rest of the world, I decided that Milton’s life was similar to Maria as a nun in THE SOUND OF MUSIC. His mother was strict and religious, and his father was a dreamer, so Milton was a blend of both people. Milton’s relationship with the Wall Street bankers was also a bit like George Bailey and Mr. Potter in IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE. George was trying to bless the common people, and Mr. Potter was trying to take advantage of them. Also, Milton’s relationship to the boys that he adopted was similar to the musical ANNIE, where Warbucks gives Annie a new life. When Milton’s wife Kitty could not have children, they decided to adopt as many boys as possible as their own sons. Of course, Milton is like Willy Wonka in CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY as well, where he first experiments with caramels, then milk chocolate, and then lends his chocolate to peanut butter cups.

Although I have not lived in Hershey since 1995, I always respected Milton for his generosity and perseverance. Wall Street could not control Milton and particularly found it offensive that he gave his money to orphans instead of using his money to make more money. During the Great Depression, Milton launched a Great Building Campaign to build up the economy. In sharp contrast to many companies today, when building the Hotel Hershey, Milton chose not to save money by using bulldozers, but hired “the 40 men” who would do the work of one machine. His goal was to give people incomes. He knew that ethically he would, of course, need to feed the people. He was a benevolent and altruistic man who defended the cause of the orphans. He has been a father to many generations of people, later girls as well as boys from all races and backgrounds.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I created my own brand of singer/songwriter music and spoken word children’s music, which I have released on Apple Music and other streaming services. My singer/songwriter releases include WHIMSY, WHIMSY FOR ONE, WHIMSY FOR TWO, PURITY, SIMPLICITY, and FATE. I am currently working on a batch of original Christmas songs called HOLIDAY MUCHNESS. My spoken word children’s music releases are original stories that I wrote and performed, including WONDERLAND, WINTER WONDERLAND, IMPOSSIBLE THINGS, CURIOUSER AND CURIOUSER, ENTIRELY BONKERS, and THE GREAT PUZZLE. I have two single story releases called HANDWRITTEN, based on my grandparents’ WWII love story, and HOOPS TIMES, based on my father’s love of basketball. All of the stories have been released on Pen Jen’s Inkwell Podcast, where I talk about the background and inspiration for my stories. I also have more writing on Pen Jen’s Inkwell blog, which has not yet been produced for my podcast. I am hoping that all the stories on the podcast and blog can be adapted and produced for page, stage, and screen.

Recently, I worked on three new short stories called LEGENDS: THE LEGEND OF THE TREE OF GOOD AND EVIL, THE LEGEND OF THE TREE OF LIFE, and THE LEGEND OF THE TREE OF BLEEDING HEARTS, which I have published on my blog. I am hoping we can release them next on the podcast. They are fantasy-thriller stories, like LORD OF THE RINGS, where the protagonist, Julia Genesee, faces dilemmas when mystical trees grow in her back yard and a magical window opens to adventures in the land of Eden.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

I like making something new! Just being stuck with the same old thing is no fun. When things are difficult, imagining something creative helps you not to be focused on the problems. I like sharing my stories and songs with other people, so if they are having a difficult time, then maybe if they hear one of my songs or stories, then they can be temporarily taken away from the troubles of everyday life. I like looking at the statistics on my Pen Jen’s Inkwell Podcast, and I see that people from Brazil, Indonesia, the Philippines, and India, among other international countries, have been regularly listening to my stories.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

In 2017, I was diagnosed with DCIS micro-invasion breast cancer in my right breast, which is the smallest amount of invasive cancer before Stage 1. Although it was almost all contained, the patch of DCIS was so large that I still needed a mastectomy. So, I fought for the skin-and-nipple-sparing mastectomy to save as much of my breast as possible. Since the DCIS cancer was detected early with thermogram, mammogram, and ultrasound scans, I opted for the more cutting-edge breast conserving surgery, like actress Angelina Jolie. With Dr. Joel Aronowitz, MD, I also had stem cell breast reconstruction instead of saline or silicone implants, where the fat was liposuctioned from my legs and transferred to my breast. This is similar to actress Suzanne Somers, who did not want a foreign implant for breast reconstruction. I also had a 2019 diagnosis of DCIS breast cancer in the left breast, so I had to do the same surgeries all over again, but this time on the left side. After all of that, I still did not feel well, and I could not figure out why. After being told for years that I had toxic metal poisoning, in September 2020, in the height of the COVID pandemic, I was diagnosed with Lyme disease, otherwise known as borrelia burgdorferi. Now I know that Lyme can collect toxic metals in your system to stay alive. My doctors think that the Lyme buried itself in my system since childhood, and it wore down my immune system and probably caused the DCIS breast cancer. As far as I know, I never got COVID, because I was treating Lyme disease. For years now, I have taken a daily cocktail of anti-Lyme herbs and supplements, including cryptolepis and cat’s claw, as well as high dose vitamin C IVs, artesunate IVs, NAD IVs, glutathione IVs, ozonated saline IVs, mistletoe shots, chelation IVs, and SOT serums. I finally think we have the Lyme low enough in my system, so that it is not causing as much fatigue and pain. I also used frequency treatments, an infrared sauna, ionic detox foot baths, and lymphatic drainage massage to detox my body. Through it all, I kept writing my songs and stories, and it helped me forget about how bad I felt! Now I just stick to a maintenance plan to keep the cancer and Lyme in remission. If you want to see one of my surgery videos with Dr. Joel Aronowitz, MD, you can watch it on his YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0LBA4HgWpE

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.jenwaters.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/jenlwaters
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jenlwaters
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/watersjen/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/jenlwaters
• Youtube: http://youtube.com/user/penjensongs
• Pen Jen’s Inkwell Podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/show/pen-jens-inkwell-podcast
• Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/jen-waters/908384228
• Sound Cloud: http://soundcloud.com/jen-waters

Image Credits
Photography by Alan Weissman.