If Mom Were President

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Matthew Moran
3746 W. Denali Dr.
Anthem, AZ  85086

Joye DeGoede Petrine was born and raised in Utah, moving to the Phoenix, Arizona area in 1983.

In her youth, Joye trained under Carol Harding, Pleasant Grove, Utah. She attended Utah Technical College, Provo, Utah, earning an Associate of Applied Science Degree in Graphic and Commercial Art and in 1982 graduated from Westminster College, Salt Lake City, Utah receiving a Bachelor of Science Degree in Fine Arts with an emphasis in Medical Illustration. She studied under Don Doxey at Westminster College. She has since studied at various art workshops, including the Scottsdale Artist School.

Her work has been featured in a one woman show at the Southwestern Galleria in Scottdale Arizona. Her paintings hang in many private collections in the United States. She has created custom note cards and stationery for major hotels and resorts in Arizona. Her work is currently displayed at The Mother Lode Fine Art Gallery, in Cave Creek, Arizona.

She has taught art in both private and public schools in Arizona for the past decade while raising her two children. At the same time Joye has continued to pursue her love of art, creating in a variety of media. Joye holds an Arizona State Teaching certificate in art K-12. She is a member of the Sonoran Art League.

You can find out more at: http://www.joyesart.com/

Matthew Moran is the author of The IT Career Builder’s Toolkit as well as numerous articles on technology, professional development, creativity, and business. He presents at conferences nationally keynoting events and giving workshops on creativity, productivity, and technical to business value.

He is also a singer/songwriter.

He lives in Anthem, AZ with his wife and four children.

If Mom Were President, she’d set things straight
She would battle for causes just
She’d teach the whole country how to share
She’d restore the public’s trust

She would give every enemy a time-out in the corner
Until they saw how they’d been at fault
She’d balance the budget with change left to spare
For an ice cream cone or a malt

And Congress she would make write 100 times
“I shall not take money and lie.”
Then send them to bed without any supper
Perhaps a cookie or two when they cry

And all hungry children she would feed
peanut butter and milk cuz she knows what kids need
She would easily win two terms in a row
And then be elected as king

And she would kiss little babies not for camera
But because that’s what babies are for
Her cabinet would be a place to store snacks
And gifts she had picked up at the store

And nations at war she’d not tolerate
Because the pain and the damage they bring
She’d disarm the foes
Trade a knife for a rose
Saying “you’ll poke an eye out with that thing.”

Yes, If Mom were President I do believe
There would be lots of changes we’d see
Our national treasure would be our children
Hugs and kisses our GNP.

      – Matthew Moran

A unique and fun gift book for Mothers and their children!

click for larger image

If Mom Were President, she’d set things straight,
she would battle for causes just…
She’d teach the whole country how to share.
She’d restore the public’s trust.

She would give every enemy a time-out in the corner
until they saw how they’d been at fault.
She’d balance the budget with change left to spare
for an ice cream cone and a malt…

That is how I began my Mother’s Day gift poem back in 1992.  I’d been writing poetry since I was a child – not literary poetry, mind you, mostly Dr. Seussish, Shel Silverstein, type of stuff.  Accessible to most, or so I believe.

The poem was a hit with my mom (of course – thank God for Moms) and apparently many others, as it has been recited on radio, in print, and numerous other places.

In 2004 I was busy completing work on an IT career book (published by Cisco Press in 2005). I was reading a children’s picture book my daughter, Sara.  The rhyming cadence made me think of, If Mom Were President.

I thought, "An illustrated book version of this would be really cool." After several false starts, and publishing deal that taught me a lot more about the publishing world than I cared to know, I am releasing, If Mom Were President, as both a narrated video and as a book.

My daughter, Sara, did the narration.  That was fun and is the second time she has narrated or done voice work for me.  She also did a commercial in California.