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Global finance executive JP Ferrando shares the leadership lessons he learned far beyond the numbers. From trust and consistency to mentorship and lifelong learning, Ledgers & Legacy: A Leadership Journey Beyond the Numbers by JP Ferrndo is a reminder that people, not reports, are the true measure of success.

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What if understanding Scripture is less about finding quick answers and more about asking better questions? This episode explores “Snapshots of Time and Eternity: A Three-Dimensional Christian Worldview” by Eckehart Augustiny. Drawing on decades of study, Augustiny shares how curiosity, thoughtful reflection, and a fresh perspective on familiar passages shaped his Christian worldview and inspired him to write the book.

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Discover the story behind Revelation Signs as author Alan Gattis shares why he believes God called him to write this thought-provoking book about Revelation, biblical prophecy, and the end times.

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Apple PodcastsAndroidRSSGattis (Wife) My wife kept telling me I needed to write a book, and I was like, ‘Me write a book? Nah.’ But eventually God had me do just that.

Sam: Some books begin with an idea. Others begin with years of research. Alan Gattis believes his book, Revelation Signs, began more than twenty-five years before he ever wrote the first page.

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Sam: Today on The Curated Chapter, we are going to look at the book Revelation Signs: Astrology Condemned and Discovering What God Says. By Alan Gattis. He says, years of studying Scripture eventually convinced him that God was preparing him to write a book about one of the Bible’s most mysterious—and often debated—books: Revelation.

Gattis (25 years) God had me write it. Over the last 25 years, he’s been giving me bits and pieces of information regarding the book of Revelation. My wife kept telling me I needed to write a book, and I was like, me write a book? Nah, but eventually God had me do just that. It took a year and a half to do it, but it’s got 25 years worth of stuff in it.

Sam: Now, Gattis has combined those twenty-five years of study into a book that he believes reveals a deeper understanding of the book of Revelation.

At the heart of Revelation Signs is Gattis’s belief that biblical prophecy, symbolism, and even the constellations point to God’s plan of salvation and offer insight into what he sees as the signs of the end times.

Gattis (End Times) Well, it’s about the fact that we are in the end times. God told Daniel to seal up the book that he was given until the end time, when many people were rushed here and there, and there would be an explosion of knowledge. That’s Daniel 12.4. And high-speed trains and ships and jets make global travel an everyday thing now. And we live in the information age. Anything you want to know, it’s at your fingertips for Google. And then Paul wrote in 2 Thessalonians about the great falling away. Some versions say the apostasy, some say the great rebellion, but we are experiencing this right now.

Sam: According to Gattis, that wasn’t about hiding Scripture forever. He believes the book of Revelation was sealed until the time when people would be able to understand its symbolism, imagery, and prophecy more completely.

He also argues that the world described in Daniel—a time of rapid travel, unprecedented knowledge, and spiritual change—is the very world we’re living in today. And if that’s true, he believes Revelation can now be understood in ways that weren’t possible before.

That’s also what he says sets Revelation Signs apart from other books on the subject.

Gattis (Why it’s different) But there are many books that are written about the book of Revelation. But what separates this book from all the others is this is the Holy Spirit’s interpretation, not mine. I just wrote what he gave me. 2 Peter 1 verse 20 says the Holy Spirit gave the prophets all the prophecies. It requires the Holy Spirit to interpret those prophecies for us. But God had me write this book to share it with all believers in the end times.

Sam: One of the most surprising ideas in Revelation Signs is Gattis’s invitation to reconsider the Zodiac—something many Christians have been taught to avoid altogether. But he’s not talking about astrology. He’s talking about the constellations.

Gattis (Southern Cross) Absolutely. God put what he was going to do through Christ in the stars, in the constellations, in the night sky. A lot of people don’t know, in the Northern Hemisphere particularly, that the Southern Cross constellation exists because they can’t see it from the Northern Hemisphere. The only way you can see it is if you’re around the equator or below it. It’s kind of close to the South Pole. People use it for navigation, North Star for navigation here. Well, one of the stars in the Southern Cross constellation, they use it for navigation in the Southern Hemisphere. But most people in the Northern Hemisphere don’t even know it exists. But if you go back to the 80s, the musical group Crosby, Fields, and Nash had a hit song called the Southern Cross. They were singing about sailing the South Pacific and seeing the Southern Cross constellation in the night sky.

Sam: This wasn’t an idea Gattis says he came up with on his own. He traces his interest in the constellations back to a sermon by the late Dr. D. James Kennedy and Kennedy’s book, The Real Meaning of the Zodiac. From there, he began reading other Christian authors who explored similar ideas.

Gattis (Blown away) I had read the book and when I was reading Revelation 12 again, it absolutely blew my mind when the Holy Spirit opened my eyes to this. For five or ten minutes, I’m not sure how long, all I could do was walk around the house from room to room to room to room. My hair was standing up because I was so blown away.

Sam: Gattis says that realization became a turning point in his understanding of Revelation. According to Gattis, the constellations weren’t created to predict anyone’s future. They were created to tell God’s story.

Gattis (Prophecy) They are God’s message to the world from the week of creation because he put them there in the night sky during the week of creation to prophecy about what he was going to do through his son, Jesus Christ.

Sam: Gattis argues that many Christians have misunderstood the word “Zodiac.”

Gattis (Zodiac) The word Zodiac is God’s word. That’s His name for the constellations. It’s what He calls them. We were taught the signs of the Zodiac were all about astrology and witchcraft, but they don’t have anything to do with what month you were born, how the stars, sun and moon influence our lives and the horoscopes they write. That’s the demonic deception and witchcraft of the astrologers. Evil can’t create anything, only God can.

Sam: Gattis says these ideas didn’t come all at once. While writing the book, he says there were times he reached passages he didn’t fully understand. Rather than relying on his own conclusions, he says he stopped and prayed for guidance

Gattis (Process) It doesn’t matter who you are, where you come from, what you know, what you don’t know. When God has something for you to do, he will provide you with what you need to fulfill that task. And that’s a testimony I have for that. I didn’t know everything in the book of Revelation. There were moments when I was working on it that I had to stop and ask the Holy Spirit, what does this mean? Because I didn’t have any idea. He’d given me a lot of information, but he hadn’t given me all of it. And it was so wonderful. All I had to do was ask. And he gave me the interpretations as I was writing. And that required a very close and intimate relationship with him in order to do that. And I still miss that time. And it’s not to say he’s finished with me, because he’s not. But it was an awesome time for me.

Sam: Whether you agree with his conclusions or merely find his perspective intriguing, one of my take-a-ways is the Revelation Signs invites all of us to look at some of the familiar bible passages through a very different lens.

Over more than twenty-five years of Bible study, Alan Gattis became convinced that God was preparing him to write this book. Along the way, he developed a perspective on Revelation, biblical prophecy, and the constellations that challenges many of our traditional assumptions and because of that he encourages readers to look at the Scriptures and decide for themselves.

Gattis (Awesome) The information that the Holy Spirit gave me is not just more information. This is mind blowing information that you can’t just sit down and do it in one reading. You read bits and pieces of it and then you have to lay it down and kind of chew on it for a little while and then you can go back and pick it up.

Sam: The full title of the book is Revelation Signs: Astrology Condemned and Discovering What God Says.

I’m Sam Youmans, and this has been The Curated Chapter from Webtalkradio.com. Thanks for listening.

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What began as one man’s search for answers became a trilogy about the journey of the human soul. Along the way, Sergiy Adamenko discovered that the story he was writing was changing him, too.

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Apple PodcastsAndroidRSSSERGIY – “Since my childhood, I’ve been asking for answers to questions about life, destiny, human nature, the meaning of our existence.”

SAM – Some books entertain us. Others teach us something new. And then there are books that simply invite us to stop… and think.

Author Sergiy Adamenko has spent much of his life asking some of humanity’s oldest questions. Questions about life, destiny, and the choices that shape who we become. Those questions inspired his latest novel, The Step of the Wolf.

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Part historical novel and part spiritual journey, The Step of the Wolf is the final book in a trilogy following one soul through many different lives. Every lifetime presents another challenge. Every challenge teaches another lesson. Together, those lives explore love, sacrifice, faith, destiny, and the choices that shape who we become.

SERGIY – My motivation for writing this book was deeply personal. Since my childhood, I’ve been asking for answers to questions about life, destiny, human nature, the meaning of our existence. Writing became a way for me to explore these questions, not only for myself, but also together with my readers. In the story, I wanted to travel into the past, better understand the present, and perhaps inspire people to think more carefully about the future they are creating through their choices today. So for me, Step of the Wolf is more than just a novel. It’s a meditation to reflect on who we are, where we came from, and what kind of legacy we want to leave behind.”

SAM – The trilogy is told through a series of interconnected stories. One of the first introduces a Viking warrior. During a raid, he captures a young woman as a prisoner. But instead of treating her as an enemy, he falls in love with her. When three warriors from his own tribe threaten her, he kills them to protect her.

Forced to flee, the couple builds a new life together. One day he rescues an injured she-wolf, nurses her back to health, and the wolf becomes both companion and protector. Years later, when his past finally catches up with him, the wolf stands beside him in one final battle. It’s just one chapter… one lifetime… in a story that spans nearly a thousand years.

SERGIY – The novel explores the soul’s journey toward God through a series of reincarnations. Throughout these different lives, the soul experiences existence from many perspectives. It’s about not only different human beings, but also a tree or a wolf.”

SAM – As the soul moves through different lives, familiar connections begin to appear. That leads Sergiy to ask some intriguing questions.

SERGIY- Why do we sometimes dream about places we have never visited? Why do we occasionally see the face of a complete stranger and feel an inexplicable sense of familiarity? Why do certain moments feel as though we have already lived them before? We call these experiences like déjà vu, coincidences, or simple tricks of imagination. But what if there is something more?… The Step of the Wolf doesn’t try to provide all the questions, but invites readers to explore more mysteries and draw their own conclusions.”

SAM – Those questions didn’t appear out of nowhere.

Long before Sergiy began writing this trilogy, life had already given him difficult questions of his own to answer. After his hometown in Ukraine was occupied by Russian forces, he returned to serve in a volunteer battalion. When he came back to Ireland, those experiences became the foundation for his first book, The Heroes of Modernity.

SERGIY – My own town was occupied by Russians in 2014… I started to help our army from the beginning of the war… In 2017 I decided to join… When I came back to Ireland, I decided to write about those people whom I met in trenches… The Heroes of Modernity was about the people who are still alive. We have to pay tribute to them, and we have to thank them for what they do.”

(Trim this to the cleanest portion.)

SAM – That first book honored the people Sergiy met on the battlefield.

The trilogy that followed explores a different kind of journey. Not across countries… but across centuries.

And rather than telling readers what to believe, Sergiy simply asks them to think.

SERGIY – The longer I thought the truth, the more I came to understand how multifaceted and complex the truth is. These books were never intended to teach or preach. For me, they become a journey through history, memories, dreams, and the human soul itself.”

SAM – Whether you read The Step of the Wolf as historical fiction, a spiritual journey, or simply an adventure spanning centuries, it’s ultimately a story about people… the choices they make… and the lessons they learn along the way.

Sergiy hopes readers close the book asking a few questions of their own.

SERGIY – I don’t know what answers each reader will find, but I sincerely hope that by the time they turn the final page, they will see the world a little differently than they did when they started this journey.”

SAM – If that sounds like an interesting read, the book is The Step of the Wolf by Sergiy Adamenko, available now wherever books are sold. Thank you, Sergiy, for sharing your story… and thank you for listening.

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Robert Browne – Stop and think about what you are and who you are through the decisions that you make.

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Apple PodcastsAndroidRSSSam: One of the hardest things we can do is to look in the mirror and say, who are you? And then know the answer. Today’s show is about personal growth. Take a look at your business card or your job title, the role you play in your family, and the things others say about you and get ready to look beneath all that.

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Sam: Knowing who you are is easy for some people but not everyone. It’ s a difficult question to answer. We spend our lives making decisions, building relationships, and pursuing goals, but we don’t always take the time to consider what those choices say about us.

Robert Browne believes that understanding ourselves is one of life’s most important journeys. He just wrote a book about it. It’s called Understanding U. The title is simple, but it carries a powerful message — before we can strengthen our relationships, grow as individuals, or live with greater purpose, we first need to understand who we are — this was his path.

Robert – I wanted to find a place where I was at peace with what I felt about my decision to move on with my life. And at the time, I was seriously thinking about entering into another relationship, which could have ended into a marriage with a woman that, although was very attractive, I later came to discover was not the right person for me. My brother really helped me to realign my thinking with who and what I am right now, and to come to grips with myself as an individual, reset myself emotionally and mentally, and use my energies and my time in such a way so I can discover who I am through things that I would now do, such as getting out traveling. Connecting with other people, forming business partnerships in the fitness industry, nonprofit work. All of those things helped me to focus on giving instead of getting, and in the process, I really came to discover who I am as a person, a person who wants to enjoy giving back to those who gave to me through the community, through my affiliations, with my close friends, and with my business partners. They all helped me to understand better who I am as a person moving forward.

Sam: For Robert, self-discovery wasn’t simply an exercise in reflection. It changed the direction of his life. As he focused on giving back, building relationships, and contributing to his community, he found something many people spend a lifetime searching for: a deeper sense of purpose.

Robert – So once I started to really feel the joy that came from giving back and not focusing on the negative experience of having to lose out on the relationship or lose it, I gained something far better, a deeper sense of purpose and meaning with my life as an individual. And that’s what really inspired me to write the book.

Sam: Understanding U is built around the idea that the better we understand ourselves, the better equipped we are to grow as individuals and strengthen our relationships.

Throughout the book, Robert invites readers to look beneath appearances and examine the thoughts, intentions, and values that guide their actions. Through short reflections on topics like grief, compassion, and assumptions he encourages readers to take a closer look at the person they are becoming.

Robert – The one thing I want them to take away is to understand who they are today. Stop and think about what you are and who you are through the decisions that you make. Whatever they are, however big or small they are, take the time to analyze who you are and make sure that your decisions are a true projection of the person that you are within, not based on what others perceive you to be.

Sam: In Understanding U, Robert uses everyday experiences to explore personal growth, kindness, compassion, and the choices we make every day. He believes the people we meet and the experiences we have can teach us a lot about ourselves.

It’s a lesson he learned from his older brother George, who encouraged him to take the time to understand himself and make sure his decisions reflected who he truly was.

Robert – My oldest brother, George, who passed away, always had an expression. He used to always say growing up, oldest knows best. And when he used to say it, because we were all younger, to me, I’m like, okay, what is he talking about? He hasn’t been on earth that long. But as I’ve gotten older, and especially after he passed away in 2011, I started to see what he was talking about. And that statement was the impetus that drove me to write this book, because of what he told me about myself that helped me understand. Robert, get to really understand yourself. Make sure that anything you do is a reflection of who you really are as a person, not somebody else’s expression of you, not based on what others may perceive you to be or perceive you not to be. But make sure it’s really about who you understand yourself to be.

Sam: It may be the most important lesson in the entire book. Understanding who you are takes time. It requires reflection, patience, and a willingness to be honest with yourself. For Robert, those lessons became the foundation of Understanding U.

Robert: – Don’t rush the process. This book, in many respects, which really covers almost 20 years as a project, from 2006 until now that we’re having this interview, really suffices the point. So, I’m really happy I listened to him.

Sam: One story that especially resonated with Robert was the tale of Balto, the famous sled dog whose courage and determination helped save lives.

Robert – He was ridiculed, he was persecuted, he was treated as an outcast because he was different. And Balto’s character really showed me the true joy that came from ignoring what people think about you or what they say about you and finding joy and satisfaction in who you are. And Balto, the movie character, he really inspired me to give because when the children in the movie were sick, he on his own accord went to save those children by getting some antitoxin medication and bringing it back to Nome, Alaska to save those children from diphtheria. So his selfless act, risking his own life and putting the responsibility on his shoulders to save a whole town, as well as the dogs who were racing with him because he had to lead them back, was really an outstanding example of courage. It really touched my heart and it’s a movie that I recommend that anybody see. It’s worth the watch.

Sam: I love that, and it wasn’t just the movie that inspired him, it was the statue. In New York’s Central Park there is a Bronze Statue of Balto that looks out over a walking path. It was done by Frederick George Richard Roth – a native of Brooklyn and here’s a fun fact that I found on Wikipedia — The Real Balto, the actual dog, was present at the unveiling ceremony back in 1925, making him the only Central Park statue subject to attend their own dedication.

Robert says while he was inspired by Balto’s courage, self discovery is not easy. It requires you to have an open mind, to be honest with yourself when you look inward. Writing the book forced him to do exactly that.

Robert – I had so many thoughts that sometimes when you’re writing and you have all of these emotions inside you, you have to break your emotions up. You have to compartmentalize your emotions and break them down so that you can understand, OK, what’s the dominant emotion here? Is it love? Is it fear? Is it joy? Whatever is the dominant emotion. That’s what I wanted to leave. And what was the dominant emotion with me was love, love for my brother, for what he stood for, love for people. Love for myself, for who I am, coming to grips and coming to terms with who I am, and then joy followed that after the joy. Some fears, admittedly, because I wanted to make sure that I really moved people to act. I wanted to make sure that the book did exactly what I wanted to do because it moved me. But it’s another thing for it to move countless others when they lay eyes on or read the book. And that was my concern. So love, joy and fear were my three dominant emotions that govern my writings.

Sam: In the end, the journey that began with self-discovery led Robert to something even greater: peace with who he is.

The book is titled Understanding U. Just the letter U. And maybe that’s why the title works so well. At its heart, the book is about understanding ourselves, what we value, and how our choices shape the people we become.

Personal growth happens one decision at a time. One relationship at a time. One moment of reflection at a time. Robert’s invitation to all of us….

Robert Browne – Be yourself unapologetically, but respectfully.

Well said.

I’m Sam Youmans, and this has been The Curated Chapter, from Webtalkradio. .Thank you for listening.

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Janet Dunne spent years searching for answers to bipolar disorder and depression, finding guidance in unexpected places ranging from hospitals and therapy to spiritual teachers and self-help books. Along the way, she discovered that many of those lessons pointed to the same simple idea: acknowledge your thoughts and feelings, but don’t let them control you. In this episode, we explore her deeply personal journey and the experiences that inspired her to share it with others.

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Apple PodcastsAndroidRSSJanet: Don’t hold on to your thoughts, don’t hold on to feelings. If it’s a bad feeling, let it go. If it’s a good feeling, let it go.

Sam: Just… let it go.

That sounds easy enough. But if you’re suffering from bipolar disorder, you might be inclined to resist that advice. Our guest today, Janet Dunne, says don’t. She the author of the book One Foot in the Right Direction: Bipolar, a Mental Health Problem and today, we’re going to learn why letting go is so important. .

Theme: The Curated Chapter

Sam: Part memoir and part self-help guide, One Foot in the Right Direction chronicles Janet Dunne’s journey through bipolar disorder and depression. Along the way, she shares the lessons, people, and practices that helped her rebuild her life and find hope again.

Janet: I found my adult life harder than my childhood. My childhood was lovely. It wasn’t perfect, but I was a happy child. I made mistakes and held on to things, held on to memories, and I got myself into trouble basically.

Sam: Janet Dunne grew up in Dublin with a mystery at the center of her life.

When she was three years old, her father disappeared. Not in the way you might be thinking. He became an actual missing person. For years, Janet hoped and prayed that he would come home safely, but he never did.

What followed was a childhood filled with contradictions. There were difficult moments: struggles in school, anxiety, and grief. But there were also adventures with friends, afternoons spent with her grandmother, family stories, music, art, and laughter.

As Janet entered adulthood, the challenges she had carried for years began to intensify. Eventually, she found herself in Ireland’s mental health system searching for answers. What frustrated her most was the lack of explanation.

Janet: I live in Ireland and the system in Ireland when you have mental health, they don’t explain the mental health problems to you. So you’re just put on medication and you’re basically in the system that’s in Ireland because I was in the system. I didn’t have private health insurance, so I was going through the normal system that’s there for all the rest of the people.”

Sam: Janet wasn’t satisfied with simply being told what medication to take. She wanted to understand what was happening to her and why. When those answers didn’t come, she began looking elsewhere.

Janet: Right from the get-go when I came out of hospital, one of my first things to do was to run to a church and pray to God to help me because I was in a very, very weird place that I had never been before. So I was searching outside myself.”

Sam: Janet’s search for answers would eventually take her far beyond Ireland. Along the way she encountered therapists, spiritual teachers, self-help authors, and even an Aboriginal healer whose advice would become one of the central lessons of her book.

Janet: He explained to me that there was a darkness in my life and that that darkness was attacking me and not letting me have my life the way I want my life to be.

Sam: So she asked if she could pay him for a healing session and his answer surprised her.

Janet: He said if I was to take money off you, I would lose the gift that I have. So in my head I just said quick, ask him again, ask him again, but don’t mention no money. And in the next breath then I said to him, can you do a healing for me? And I held back about money, yeah, I said nothing about money. And the healing started instantaneously and I just started crying buckets and buckets of tears.

Sam: That was a powerful experience because she felt like she wasn’t speaking to someone interested in just making money. She was speaking to someone who genuinely believed he could help her.

Janet: And so, what he actually told me to do was when that darkness comes to pause, don’t say anything, don’t think anything and don’t do anything. And that will allow that darkness to pass by. But if I think any thoughts or say anything or move a muscle in my body, that the darkness will be able to attach. I know this sounds weird, but I did what you said and it really, really works.

Sam: And then she shared her experience with a friend who was also in need of help.

Janet: And I also had a friend who was suicidal and I explained that technique to him. And then the next time I asked him, how are you now? He said, it’s gone, it’s over. I explained about the Aborigine to him. So that was it. That was a great breakthrough.

Sam: Just to be clear, these are Janets experiences if you or someone you know is having suicidal thoughts I would call the 988 — the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. Janet says another turning point came after a family crisis led her to leave Ireland altogether.

Janet: I was 10 years in the system before I actually took sick and landed in a German hospital. And that’s a really funny story because my psychiatrist in Ireland said, the next time there’s a problem in your family, I want you out of the scenario. I don’t want you to be any part of it the next time there would be a drama. And so when a drama happened in my life, I took the plane to Germany and ended up in a German hospital. And that’s, and that was another fantastic breakthrough because their system to deal with the mental illness was completely different to the Irish system. You know, the Irish system is old fashioned. The Germans are modern, forward thinking about mental illness.

Sam: Germany didn’t cure Janet’s problems. But it did change the way she thought about them. Her experiences so far led to thinking that recovery might require more than medication.

Janet: When I came back from Germany, I said, okay, Janet, you’re going to have to do this yourself now. And I looked up cognitive therapy and I went to cognitive therapy. Then I went to yoga, a yoga retreat for spiritual healing. It was actually a kundalini yoga course and it was absolutely fantastic.

Sam: At the Yoga retreat, Janet met a teacher named Satantra who reinforced some of he earlier advice she was given.

Janet: And he said that when you think of your thoughts, he said, your thoughts are like your happiness and thoughts coming into your head. You need to be like a tree with loads of branches and you let the thought come in like a breeze going through leaves. And then you just let it pass by. And that was similar to the Aborigine man. Don’t hold on to your thoughts, don’t hold on to feelings. You know, if it’s a bad feeling, let it go. If it’s a good feeling, let it go.

Sam: Different methodology but ultimately the same message, don’t fight every thought. Don’t cling to every feeling. Acknowledge your feelings but don’t hold onto them. Just…let it go.

Janet: I’m just hoping it helps people.

Sam: Throughout her journey, Janet searched for answers in many places. In hospitals. In therapy. In spirituality. In self-help books. In conversations with people who offered unexpected wisdom. But one of the most important discoveries she made was that no one could do the work for her.

Janet: I hope that they will realize that through some of the things that I learned along the way came from within me, solving the problem.

Sam: One Foot in the Right Direction is Janet Dunne’s attempt to share that journey with others who may be facing similar struggles. Not as a doctor or a therapist, but as someone who has walked that road herself and hopes her experiences might help someone else find their own way forward. If Janet’s story resonates with you or someone you know, the book is called One Foot in the Right Direction: Bipolar, a Mental Health Problem by Janet Dunne, (D-u-n-n-e) Its available now.

Janet (80 Pages) It’s not a, it’s not a long read, but I hope it’s an interesting take for people. It is. And it can help so many people.

Thank you Janet for sharing your story and thank you for listening.

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Divorce isn’t a new chapter it’s a detonation. In her book “Divorce is F*cked! A No Bull-Shit Survival Guide for Men”, Tracey McMillan draws on 30 years in family law to show what actually happens when things fall apart. This episode looks at how to stay steady, think clearly, and protect what matters when everything feels like it’s slipping because in the end, it comes down to how you navigate the system.

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Apple PodcastsAndroidRSSTracey McMillan: I’m Tracey McMillan the author of Divorce is Fucked: A No-Bullshit Survival Guide for Men.

Can you tell we are in for a lively conversation today?!

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Welcome the Curated Chapter a chapter sized podcast about interesting things and people passionate enough to write a big book about them. Today we are going to talk about Divorce. It is an ugly business, it is insanely emotional but there are ways to manage it and today you are going to learn those ways from Tracey McMillan. She has spent over thirty-years in family law and men’s advocacy.

Tracy McMillan: In family law, you see good people at their worst.

Do you know anyone that’s been through a divorce. Statistics would say you do, although it is getting better. Right now, the divorce rate for first marriages is around 41%—down from 50%…and then, of course, the more often you get married… the higher the odds climb.

I have never been through a Divorce myself and if you know me personally then you would consider that a miracle but that’s a chapter for another podcast. I have had a ringside seat for quite a few of them which is why I laughed out loud when I saw the title of Tracey McMillan’s book, “Divorce is F’d!”

Tracey McMillan: I named the book and I get it. It’s provocative. I’m not backwards in being provocative. I’m OK to do that.

It’s a hilarious title because it’s true. One minute you’re planning a vacation, and the next you’re Googling ‘what happens if she takes the kids? Divorce is ugly for a lot of reasons and an amicable one? That is a unicorn. Or maybe I should say undergoing a painless divorce is like finding a unicorn. Most people who have been through it can testify to how quickly the “idea of “we’re going to be mature about this” can unravel the moment lawyers get involved.

Tracey McMillan: So when I first started out, I was the real cocky lawyer. I was very arrogant, only cared about my wins. You know, like it’d be like I didn’t want to remember my client’s names, didn’t care about the kids’ names. It was just I would tally up what my wins are. And I used to focus so heavily on what my losses were. So I used to go, I can count on one hand how many my losses are. But what actually started to happen was here I was having these like landmark decisions. I was thinking, this arrogant me, right back when I was younger, going, you should be bowing at my feet. I’ve gotten you all this great outcome. You’ve got the kids. He hasn’t got the kids. Look at me go. They’d be happy in the immediacy. But what would happen is literally a couple of days later or a week later, they’d actually still be really bitter. And with parenting orders, they were coming back. Like I ended up having clients coming back within 12 months where they’re going, they’re not following the orders. We’re going to have to go back. This needs to be changed. That needs to be changed. So it made you start to really think about why. So I was that lawyer. So I don’t know if you’ve had that experience, but if you’re treated like a number, isn’t that the most disgusting and disgraceful behavior? And the thing is, is I see that with a lot of lawyers.

She said a lot of Lawyers, not all them. There are some compassionate ones out there. In fact, she became one of them, but that moment where she realized something wasn’t working, that’s what led to this book. The full title is “Divorce is Fcked: A No-Bull-shit Survival Guide for Men”*. Tracey says the title came to her honestly.

Tracy McMillan: I asked over 2000 men, I asked them two questions. First one, using unfiltered language, let’s be real. How is it? What does it feel like going through a divorce? When you’re in the system and that’s where they got divorce is f’d, and then the next question is, what is the one thing you truly wish you had if you were going through that? And that was don’t beat around the bush and pretend that the system’s good because it’s not. Let’s have no BS, get down to the real grassroots and give me a guide as to how I can navigate this.

And that’s why she wrote the book. Through her career Tracey has seen every tactic, every trap, and every mistake men make when their world falls apart so now her approach is simple: treat divorce like the high-stakes operation it is. No panic. No illusions. Just strategy and emotional control.

Tracey has watched so many good men lose everything; their homes, their kids, their minds and it wasn’t because they were bad dads, it was just that no one told them how the system really works. Nobody hands you a rulebook…but the rules are there. You just have to be in the right frame of mind to understand them.

Tracy McMillan: Humans require certainty. It’s one of their fundamental cravings, because certainty equals safety, which equals survival. And what happens when you’re going through the process? In a relationship, you have those certainty of the really fundamental things in life. For instance, you have love, you have a family, you have financial security, you have trust. And when one of those pillars is disrupted or taken away, and then you move into the separation, what happens is all of those things that you had, which gave you certainty in a relationship, has now been stripped of you. And so what happens is, as a human being, you actually react.

And since we are humans craving certainty, when we lose that we panic and that’s what gets us into trouble. Tracey points out that the family court system isn’t designed to comfort you. It’s designed to assess your behavior while you’re going through one of the most emotionally chaotic moments of your life. You are arriving in court with your fight-or-flight instinct fully activated.

Tracy McMillan: When you’re in fight or flight, you can’t use complex reasoning of your brain, it actually is sort of shunted or stunned. And as a result, the only things you do is because you feel this uncertainty, you’re feeling a threat to your life, even if you don’t realize it. And so you react accordingly to try and save your life. And the thing, the threat that you’re seeing is the predator happens to be the person who took away your certainty, which is the other party. So they treat them as though they’re a predator to their survival.

I found that part fascinating because it explains why otherwise smart people begin acting irrationally. They can’t hep it. They aren’t just arguing about property or custody, their nervous systems is telling them they are under attack. Here’s a great example.

Tracy McMillan: Some of the things they’ll do is, for instance, they’ll talk in absolutes, they’ll say things like, oh, I can’t trust her, can’t trust her at all. She’s taken my kids, I’ve got nothing, I have no future. So what this book does is show you how to stop reacting, going, oh, hey, I’m not using complex reasoning here, my nervous system’s offline.

Now let’s talk about the court system. If you find yourself in court, in front of a judge, the last place you want to be is fight-or-flight mode but that’s what usually happens with men and they need to learn how to turn all that anger into a strategy that can help them win in court.

Tracy McMillan: So all the court’s doing is they’re looking at a lens of that small window. And one of the things they will ask is, do you agree that past behaviour is predictive of future behaviour? I would say no. It could be, but that’s what the courts tend to rely upon when they go in there. And so what happens is that when they’re talking about past behaviour, they’re talking about immediate past behaviour. And they’re basically reflecting on everything that you’ve done, right or wrong, when you’re going through that separation period. And that’s when you’re in fight or flight. You’re not designed to have adrenaline going in quarters or going off the charts for long periods of time. So when you know that, what we’ve got to do is we’ve got to get you out of that fight or flight stage to be able to appropriately respond to the court’s assessment of you to say, hey, I am calm enough and I am able to proffer up my child’s best interests in a very loving and nurturing way to demonstrate that going forward into the future, I’ll be able to replicate that and actually give the child a safe and loving household.

The book is written for men but it’s not about teaching men to “beat” women in court. It’s about teaching them to master themselves. Because when you control your reactions, you control your outcomes but that is a strategy both men and women can use.

Tracy McMillan: You’re basically taught, once you’re in separation, it’s war, it’s war on its game on. And the only way to do it is to go into court and fight and whoever fights the hardest wins. And ironically, if you utilize some of the tools in my book, you’ll never get there because you’ll actually be giving each party what they want.

And that’s where Tracey’s approach starts to separate itself from the stereotype of the angry divorce lawyer. Her argument is actually the opposite. The people who usually do the worst in divorce court are the ones reacting emotionally while the people who do better learn how to communicate strategically.

Tracy McMillan: I’m literally saying to you, here are the tools. If you want to actually get a very good outcome in your matter, and I don’t believe in the win, because it’s family court. Technically you all lose. But if you actually go through all this, both parties actually get from it what they need. And then imagine if you could actually walk away with both parties going, okay, I can move forward in my life. if you’re a parent in this situation, your main responsibility should be that those children are thriving. And that requires a bit of insight and a bit of reflection. And with men, the thing is, is they don’t want the fluff in the ball. They don’t want people telling them that the systems all completely fair and, or that they’re overreacting because it’s, that’s real for them. That’s that they do feel like the amount of times I’ve had men going, I feel broken. I feel like the system has abandoned me. I feel like it’s very in favor of women and it is, but it’s not intentionally favoring women.

One of the tools she offers is surprisingly simple, better communication.

Tracy McMillan: It’s like if someone is talking in Japanese and somebody else is talking in Italian, and you’re like, well, you don’t understand me. And you go, that’s because you’re not talking the same language…you’re never going to get on the same page if you don’t understand what language you’re talking.

That is a very literal explanation but in the book she breaks this down into the various communication styles because we are all very different and our personalities influence how we communicate.

Tracy McMillan: There’s four different types of communication styles. And one is someone who seeks out safety. So, and then another one is somebody who seeks out data. And then you have another one who goes with their gut because they’re emotional. They’ll talk in terms of like, my gut says blah, or I feel blah. And then you have the ones who talk about they’re the dreamers.

They see what it will look like at the end. So they see the ideal of what will happen. And I see it all the time. Actually, I’ve seen it all the time between lawyers and clients as well. It’s quite funny, where the client will come in and men tend to be more data. So what you have to talk to them is about, right, this is the statistics. These are the odds. These are the numbers. And they’ll come in like that. But if you walk in there and turn around and say, well, I feel like that’s not fair to somebody who has data, they’re just, it’s not going to land for them. He’ll be saying, well, I don’t give a shit what you feel. Like, show me the stats. Show me the facts.

You are not broken, the system is. Your emotions are valid. But your reactions must be strategic.

Family law rewards calm, child-focused, predictable behavior not outrage. And maybe that’s why Tracey McMillan’s book, “Divorce is F’ed” resonates with so many people.

Tracy McMillan: I’ve been really ecstatic about how so many people have received it, even lawyers who have read it turn around and say, wow, this is brilliant. That’s been really wonderful.

We’ve talked a lot today about emotions, communication, and keeping your head on straight when your world feels like it’s coming apart, but the book goes much deeper than that.

Tracey McMillan gets into things like what to do in the first twenty-four hours after separation, how to protect yourself financially, custody battles, dealing with lawyers, recognizing manipulation, documenting behavior, and how not to accidentally sabotage yourself while you’re emotionally overloaded and trying to make life-changing decisions.

In other words, this isn’t really a self-help book. It’s more like a field manual for surviving one of the most chaotic experiences a person can go through.

The book is called Divorce is F*cked! A No Bull-Shit Survival Guide for Men by Tracey McMillan and if you want to learn more, Tracey’s website is DivorceIsFucked.com.

This has been The Curated Chapter. I’m Sam Youmans. Thanks for listening.

Website: https://divorceisfucked.com.au/

Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com.au/Divorce-cked-Bullshit-Survival-Guide-ebook/dp/B0G8D3RCDX

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What happens when a baseball coach who says he wasn’t qualified to write a book keeps hearing the same message from God over and over again? In this episode of The Curated Chapter, Coach Lloyd Skoda shares the heartfelt story behind Connecting With God In All Things — a book about faith, purpose, calling, and discovering that if something matters to you, it matters to God.

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Apple PodcastsAndroidRSSCoach Lloyd Skoda: I didn’t want to write a book. I wasn’t qualified to write a book, but God made it plain that I was supposed to write a book.

Theme: The Crated Chapter.

When God tells you to write a book, then you’d better write a book. That is just one of the lessons to be learned in this episode of The Curated Chapter. A chapter sized look at new books from independent authors like Coach Lloyd Skodawho you just heard saying he didn’t want to write a book, didn’t think he was qualified to write a book, but he did and it’s called Connecting With God In All Things.

Coach Lloyd Skoda: The whole book is supernatural. It’s not natural.

Before we get too deep into what the book is about I want you to hear how it came into existence.

Coach Lloyd Skoda: So I was preaching at our church on Wednesday night, and we had an elderly couple there that had been faithful. I’ve known them for years, they’re faithful to God. And I got through preaching and walked by them, and John and Linda Lancaster, and they said, Coach, you need to write a book. Now, my first thought was, I don’t want to write a book. I’m not qualified, the first thing, to write a book, and I’m not going to write a book. Well, so I was teaching school full-time then, and we were—school was going on, and the bell rang, and the kids were swapping classes. And so a young lady that I knew, she was a junior. I was teaching senior. She stuck her—there was a young man first that came—he was the first one in the room. He came in, sat down. Then a young lady stuck her head in the door. Kids were changing classes. She said, Coach, Lord tells you to write a book, you need to write a book, don’t you? I said, Emily, who are you talking to? She said, I don’t know. I just felt like I was supposed to say that. So we had class that period. The bell rang, and the young man, who was the only person in the room when she said that, he came up to me, why is it a ghost? He said, Coach. He said, I almost fell over backwards when Emily said that to you. She said—I mean, he said, God told me last week to tell you you’re supposed to write a book. So, yeah. So I had a coach who had been coaching with me 17 years. We were dear friends, and this was a kicker. He said, Coach, you want to hear a crazy story? Now, he didn’t know any of this was going on. And he said, you want to hear a crazy story? I said, well, I guess you want me to hear it. He said, there was this guy that God told him to write a book. He kept putting it off, said he didn’t want to do it. He got in a bad, a real bad accident where his leg had to be in traction. So he was bedridden. His leg was in traction. And God told him, he says, now you got time to write that book. I said, I’m on it right now.

You can tell right away that Coach Lloyd Skoda is natural born story teller. And maybe that’s part of the irony here. The man who says he wasn’t qualified to write a book ended up writing one filled with personal stories about faith, purpose, calling, and the belief that God is involved in every area of our lives.

Coach Lloyd Skoda (It Matters) If it matters to you it matters to God.

That simple idea sits at the heart of this book. Coach Skoda believes we all have a calling and no two callings look the same.

Coach Lloyd Skoda: Everybody has a calling, everyone. people’s lives are at different stages and they have different vocations and they have different marriages. Everything is different. God created us different. And I wanted people to kind of get a taste that God, everything that pertains to their life, God is interested in everything that pertains if it’s if it’s parents, if it’s family, if it’s sports. And I used to get my feelings hurt a lot because people didn’t understand what God called me to do. And even in the same calling, so you being a former educator, even in the same calling, people don’t understand. Like, a kindergarten teacher does not understand how I enjoy teaching older kids, and I certainly don’t understand how they enjoy teaching a kindergarten kid. So even within the same callings, it’s different.

I told you he was story teller. If you google him you’ll find all kinds of people saying nice thing about him like great coach, amazing man, yrs later we all still tell stories of playing for him. Here’s one of those stories.

Coach Lloyd Skoda: One of the big the popular stories in there, I asked a young lady, could I use her name? She was a cheerleader and kept score for baseball my early years of coaching. I mean, she was there my first year of coaching. And so she came to me one day. She said, coach, I believe in we’re not going to have a rained out baseball game. Now, in my mind, in my mind, I thought I could care less if we have a rained out game. But it mattered to her. And that’s kind of what if it matters to you, it matters to God. So it would rain her childhood sweetheart. Well, he gave her a fit. He said it’d be a hundred percent chance of rain. He’d say, Cindy, it’s gonna rain today. No, it’s not. No, it’s not. No, it’s not. And boys would give her fits. Everybody. She stood by herself. But see, we go from faith to faith. OK, so then so then we play for a state championship. And it rained all around us. It rained after the game. We didn’t have no rained out game, but there’s a lot of games that’s supposed to be rained out. That was super nice. We had one game. It rained all the way around that field. It didn’t rain on that field. Wow. Oh, I saw that. So we’re playing for a state championship. And I hear this voice in the dugout, Coach Coda. And it was her. So I said, I stopped the game. I called time out when the dugout. So what is it, Cindy? She said, God told me that if we could pray, we’d win because we was kind of hopelessly behind two outs in the last inning. And we prayed and we won the game.

For Coach Skoda, stories like that aren’t really about baseball. They’re about learning to trust that faith can exist not only in churches or scripture, but in the ordinary moments of everyday life.

Coach Lloyd Skoda: What I tell people when I teach Bible or preach at church, I said, if you get every word that I say, you’re missing it. God’s got something specifically for you. So when I say he gives us all things to pertain, I’ve got so many, so many good stories in that book that pertains to life. It’s their life. You know, so I can tell a story and there’s going to be something in that story that’s going to relate to their life. It might not, it might not be anything about sports. It might be about music or something else. It might be about relationships. So that’s the neat thing. When they get through, God will speak to them about things that pertain to their life and they’ll understand that he cares. If they care about something, God cares about something. And I think that’s what everybody goes away with when they read that book.

And maybe that’s why this book connects with so many different kinds of people. Coach Skoda doesn’t claim to have all the answers, but he speaks with the kind of sincerity that reminds us our lives matter, our callings are unique, and that even ordinary moments may carry a deeper purpose than we realize.

Coach Lloyd Skoda: Everybody that’s read that book has been able to identify whether if they’re not even a believer, it talks about how to believe. I give example. We had a young, he called me and he said, he asked me, he said, are you and Elaine home? I says, yeah. He came over and I’m sitting, I’m sitting there and he says, I couldn’t read your book. And I’m thinking, Lord, what did I do wrong? He said, look at me. I kind of looked off and he said, look at me. And tears were pouring down his face. He said, that’s why I couldn’t read the book. Oh, my goodness. I’ve had men’s men. I’m talking about rugged men’s men come to me and say, coach, that book changed my life. So if you’re not even a believer, it tells you how to become a believer. As the book goes on, the Bible says that I have not seen or heard in the heart of man things God’s got prepared for those who love him. And that’s kind of what that book is about, too. God’s got things prepared for everybody that loves him. But he says the spirit reveals all things, yea, the deep things of God. So it goes from if you’re not even a believer to if you’ve been saved 50 years and a strong believer, there’s something in that book for every single person. And there’s stories that relate to them wherever they are in that thing.

The book is called Connecting With God In All Things by Coach Lloyd Skoda.

This has been The Curated Chapter. I’m Sam Youmans. Thanks for listening.

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Welcome to The Curated Chapter, a chapter-sized look at books and the people who write them. Today we’ve opened up the book The Resurrection of the Roman Catholic Church: A Guide to the Traditional Catholic Community by Griff Ruby. In it, Mr. Ruby explores the sweeping changes that followed Vatican II — the major Catholic council of the 1960s that reshaped how the Church interacted with the modern world, including changes to the Mass, language, liturgy, and the Church’s relationship with other faiths.

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Apple PodcastsAndroidRSSFor many Catholics, Vatican II represented renewal and modernization. For others, it marked a dramatic departure from tradition.

That tension sits at the heart of this book.

Now, I’m going to let Mr. Ruby do most of the talking today because this is an intelligent and deeply researched work. But for listeners unfamiliar with the term Vatican II — and honestly, I wasn’t fully clear on it myself before preparing for this episode — that historical context is important here.

According to Griff Ruby, authentic Catholic tradition still survives today in small but faithful communities scattered around the world — including one hidden in the hills above Spokane, Washington that changed the course of his life.

Griff Ruby: “It’s a whole massive hub of the faith up there. And everything is the old way. Everything’s in the Latin, all the old theology, all the theology works that form the basis of what they teach. And I saw that, I’m in awe. This is incredible. Where has this been all my life? I mean, I know about the church. The church is structured a certain way. And then here’s these communities that, you know, they’re not fitting the usual, what most people think of as the structure. And yet, they clearly have more claim on it. And that was kind of the interesting dichotomy that impressed me. I wanted to know more about this.”

That curiosity formed the basis for this book. And he says it wasn’t just what he found in Spokane that fascinated him. It was why communities like this existed at all.

Why had so many Catholics spent decades searching for older forms of worship, older theology, and older traditions that they believed had largely disappeared from mainstream Catholic life after Vatican II?

And perhaps more importantly — if the Catholic Church is meant to preserve continuity across centuries — how could such dramatic changes happen in the first place?

Answering that question led him into years of research, travel, interviews, and historical study that eventually became this book.

Griff Ruby: “I wanted such a book. It didn’t exist. So then I started getting all these periodicals and publications, books, anything I could find pertaining to this subject. I also started traveling and interviewing different people and so forth. I really talked to a lot of people, learned a lot, picked up all these pieces.”

Like any project that you’re passionate about, if you throw yourself into it deeply enough it can change you.

Griff Ruby: “That changed me from someone who thought this is really neat and interesting only to something where I’m involved. I believe in what these people are doing. It is my life.”

As his research deepened, so did the conclusions he drew from it. And this is where the conversation gets a little controversial. Mr. Ruby argues that the changes that followed Vatican II were not just reforms or modernization efforts, but represented a profound break from historic Catholic continuity — a conclusion some Catholics would strongly disagree with.

Griff Ruby: “This may shock some people. I understand that. That organization that now runs from Vatican City is not legally continuous with the organization that ran from Vatican City from up until Peter took the seat in Rome back in the first century, clear until at least no earlier than the death of Pope Pius XII in 1958. So for that span, it’s totally clear what’s going on. The progression is absolutely clear, logical. Not that there can’t be some development and enfleshments of everything, but you see the original doctrine just growing stronger and clearer and so forth over the years. And then suddenly, there’s this Vatican II comes along, and it’s this huge sideways motion. We’re going sideways.”

At the center of his argument is the belief that authentic Catholic tradition has survived not within the modern mainstream Church, but within smaller traditional communities like the one he found in Spokane, Washington.

Communities that preserved the older Latin Mass, older theology, and older forms of worship.

And for Mr. Ruby, this isn’t simply about nostalgia. He believes something much larger is at stake.

Griff Ruby: “They’re not the church anymore. God protects the church. He keeps the church on the straight and narrow. As I demonstrate, in particular, the traditional community, or sometimes I describe it as movement, it has advantages and disadvantages, using that word. That’s where God has actually kept those protections in place. To me, that’s a modern-day miracle that we watch it just continuing and continuing year after year, while the folks there, the Vatican City organization and all the things they took over, they just get crazier and crazier and crazier.”

And by “crazier,” Mr. Ruby is referring to what he sees as a growing theological and moral departure from historic Catholic teaching.

Griff Ruby: “You got Pope saying, well, who am I to judge homosexuality? It’s okay if people shack up and give them the Eucharist anyway. And that was the previous guy they had. And this new guy, it’s already getting some strange things, too.

So, I mean, it’s like, you know, I’m just trying to tell Catholics, you don’t need to put up with that.”

But for Mr. Ruby, this story is not only theological — it’s also historical. In fact, he says much of the book is history.

Griff Ruby: “First of all, there’s a lot of history that’s happened. And the thing is, most of this is history. I spend the first five chapters and some introductory materials kind of explaining the general situation, introducing the reader to the whys and wherefores of this. This is good stuff. There’s a history here that’s real important and needs to be documented.”

Ruby says the book is ultimately about preservation.

The preservation of tradition.
The preservation of continuity.
And the belief that even in periods of confusion and upheaval, authentic faith can survive with the help of small and faithful communities.

Griff Ruby: “Up until then, we were so under the radar, that’s why nobody had heard of it.”

Whether you agree with his conclusions or not, The Resurrection of the Roman Catholic Church raises questions that reach far beyond Catholicism itself.

How do institutions preserve continuity through times of rapid change?

What happens when believers feel spiritually displaced inside traditions they once trusted?

And how do communities hold onto identity when the modern world seems to be moving in another direction entirely?

For Mr. Ruby, the answers are found in the traditional Catholic movement and the communities he believes preserved something ancient through difficult times.

Griff Ruby: “There are very tough questions and I don’t think anybody’s got all the answers. We’re all struggling, we know what we need to do, even if we’re not totally sure how to explain ourselves. I think that to me is the only thing that unites the traditional Catholics until we have a real pope ready to say, here we are. This is us.”

Near the beginning of the book, Ruby references a line from Canon Francis J. Ripley’s book This is the Faith, that may best capture both the spirit of the work and the meaning behind its title.

He writes, “[The Church] is the continuance of the work of a divine person; she will never fail simply because Christ can never fail. Her every Calvary will be followed by a fresh Resurrection.”

If you found any of this intriguing, the book is available now online: The Resurrection of the Roman Catholic Church: A Guide to the Traditional Catholic Community by Griff Ruby.

This has been The Curated Chapter with Sam Youmans. Thanks for listening.

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What happens when the plan stops working? This episode breaks down what real crisis leadership looks like. Using insights from Resilience and Renewal by Robert S. Littlefield, we examine how Lions Clubs International adapted in real time—through grassroots action, middle leadership, and a mission that never stopped. This isn’t about the crisis. It’s about how you respond when control is gone

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Apple PodcastsAndroidRSSWelcome to this edition of The Curated Chapter.

Today’s episode looks at something every organization eventually faces—crisis. At some point, the plan stops working and what happens next reveals how leadership functions under pressure.

I don’t know how old you are, but one of the clearest examples of this comes from Johnson & Johnson and the Tylenol crisis in the early 1980s. If you weren’t around, here’s the short version. In 1982, several people died after taking cyanide-laced Tylenol capsules, triggering a nationwide panic. Johnson & Johnson responded by pulling millions of bottles off shelves, communicating transparently, and introducing tamper-proof packaging—setting the standard for modern crisis management.

Fast forward to the COVID-19 pandemic. Organizations everywhere were blindsided—most of them, if we’re being honest. But Lions Clubs International did something different.

Instead of shutting down, they adapted—rethinking how they communicate, how they lead, and how they serve…and they came out the other side more flexible, more responsive, and more resilient.

Robert S. Littlefield – Lions were like water around a rock the obstacle was the rock of covid and lions found a way around it to keep moving to keep serving and that’s the story of this book

That is Robert S. Littlefield, author of the new book Resilience and Renewal: The Story of Lions International and the Crisis of COVID-19. Now, let me give you a little context because in full disclosure my father was a member of the Lions Club many years ago, but I never really understood the scale of it. There are over 49,000 Lions Clubs around the world, with approximately 1.4 million members across more than 200 countries and territories.

This is a massive, global organization—and it exists for one reason: to serve people in need, wherever they are. So when a crisis shuts down the ability to serv. That’s not just disruptive, it’s potentially catastrophic. So why wasn’t it?

Robert S. Littlefield – Not only does it talk about lions but the way lions demonstrated resilience and these are skills that other organizations can benefit from. I really think that this is a blueprint for organizational learning and how to survive a major crisis as an organization because lions did it.

So how did they do it? Robert, a Lions Club member himself for over 40 years, interviewed 52 people ranging from international leaders down to the local club level to understand what actually worked.

Robert S. Littlefield – They were very self-disclosive in terms of you know we I talked about what did you think were the good things we did that our strengths and where were there some places where we maybe fell down or we didn’t do as well as we could have and they were honest in their reflections and so I shared all of that in the book.

What he found was that the answer didn’t come from the top. While leadership was trying to make sense of a global shutdown, it was everyday members who were already moving because as Robert says, Lions are like-minded people on a mission to serve and there’s nothing that is going to stop them.

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What if the pain you’ve carried your whole life isn’t random?

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Apple PodcastsAndroidRSSThis episode explores Wonders of the Soul by Helen P. Slater—a story about three women confronting unresolved trauma, and a healer who helps them understand it. A look at healing, personal struggle, and the possibility that there’s more behind what we go through.

Welcome to The Curated Chapter, formerly Newsgram. I’m your host, Sam Youmans. We call it The Curated Chapter because it is a short – chapter-sized look at books…An episodic peek into an authors passion project.

Today we are going on a spiritual journey. If you are someone who believes in Angels and Spirit Guides then none of this is going to surprise you but if you’re not, I’m just going to ask you to keep an open mind because at its core, this story is about something we all understand…the pain we carry. The kind of pain that follows us, shapes us, sometimes without us even realizing it.

What if that pain you carry isn’t random? What if it’s there for a reason? And what if—when it’s no longer serving you—there’s actually a way to let it go? Deep questions right?

Well today we’re going to explore a work of spiritual fiction called Wonders of the Soul by Helen P. Slater.

Helen: One day my guides spoke to me and some angels and I went on a healing path and I wanted to write it down to inspire others that they can also heal. Because I wasn’t treated very well when I was young and it was affecting me quite badly. And so I went on a healing path and so I’ve written some of it down for other people to benefit from the insights that I had and what I learned.

That experience became the foundation for the story we’re looking into today. It centers around a healer named Prudence and the three women who find their way to her. They are looking for answers because something in their lives, just doesn’t feel right.

Helen: The book starts with the lives of three women, Abigail, Sandra and Charlotte. And when we’re introduced to each of them, they’re grappling with some problems in their life. Abigail is beginning to reflect on her marriage, that it might not be as good as she thought it was. And she’s beginning to question her life with her husband. And Sandra is very alone. She doesn’t speak to anyone but her boss and her cat. And then there’s Charlotte, who is beginning to have a tough time at work. In fact, her boss sexually assaulted her in reality. And she’s beginning to feel that something like that happened to her in her childhood.

Each of these women brings something different with them. Experiences that haven’t fully settled. Questions that haven’t been answered. Moments that still feel unresolved.

And that’s where Prudence comes in.

Helen: And we introduce the healing circle, the spiritual healing circle, run by a lady called Prue, Prudence, Prue for short. And these three ladies go and are in the healing circle with a number of other women. And they talk about their problems, each of them in turn. And Prue gives them a healing. She listens to her guides. She brings in divine source energies of living light, conscious streams of living light. And she questions these women. She goes down, down, down and questions them. When did this happen to you? Why is this happening to you? And the women grow stronger as they relate their stories.

The process is designed to take each of them back to where the pain first started… and help them gain insight into their unique circumstances.

Helen: So Abigail is like, well, maybe I’m going to just divorce my husband and that’s OK. You know, he cheated on me. Why would I stay with him? And Sandra says that she is now feeling better about people and she can relate to them more. She can relate to the women in the circle more. So for her, the healing is finding people of like-mindedness with her. And so it’s about her intuition. And then for Charlotte, she was sexually abused by her father in her childhood. And so she learns to say no and also to find her creativity

Life here on earth can be a real challenge sometimes.

The focus here is on helping the reader understand that this kind of soul healing is possible… and that it can play a role in everyday life.

There are other characters woven throughout the story as well.

And as it unfolds, the idea underneath it all becomes clear.

The pain we carry doesn’t just come from one moment.
It builds.
It lingers.
And sometimes… it stays there until you understand its purpose.

And that idea doesn’t just live inside the story. It comes directly from the author’s life.

Helen: It happened in 2020. I kind of woke up, as they call it, and I started doing healings on myself and my friends.

The story itself, she says, came to her through that same process.

Helen: Well, the book was actually channeled by my Divine Guides and I met them in 2020 and they said, we’ve got a book for you. Do you want to write it? And I said, yes. And they said, it’s a spiritual book. Now, I’ve been in a process with these Divine Guides of healing myself. And they said, wouldn’t it be fun to introduce this to other people in a way that they could understand? Not heavy, not intense, not too deep, but just an idea of what it would be like to accept that there’s a Divine Consciousness pervading all of existence and that we can tap into that and understand our journey through life in that way.

Did you catch that part about being in a process with her Divine Guides? Let’s take a closer look at that.

Helen: When I was four, a star came to me and said, you’re going to be a healer. And I was really pissed off at my family at the time because they weren’t very nice to me. I said to the star, no way.

So for Helen, it started early… and continued to shape who she became.

Helen: I became more compassionate, and more understanding of people and their problems. Because I was quite isolated, because I was ill for a while. And I just it just opened me up and everyone has a hurt somewhere. And everyone has a life and a soul to be appreciated. And, and it began my healing journey again, I started healing people then from then from then on. And so it was, it was very good for me that people out there need this, you know, there are people who are crying out for some sort of understanding and some sort of transformation. And this healing that I offer, which my guide said is called Arcturus Healing, it changes lives in a very gentle and beautiful way. You know, my guides are wonderful.

And that brings us back to where this story started. As she says, “everyone has a hurt somewhere.” If you’re someone who is asking questions about your own life you might find something here.

Wonders of the Soul by Helen P. Slater is a story about healing—

shaped by the author’s own experiences,

and written for young readers navigating relationships, family, and the challenges that come with them.

If you’d like to learn more about Helen and her work,
you can visit her website: TheStoryOfMySoul.com. She shares regular blog posts there and you can find more about her books and her work as a healer.

Sometimes, asking hard questions about your life…
is how a new chapter begins.

And that will do it for this episode of The Curated Chapter from Webtalkradio.com

Author website: www.thestoryofmysoul.com

Amazon Book link: https://www.amazon.com/Wonders-Soul-Helen-P-Slater-ebook/dp/B0CKDRT7DL

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In this edition of The Curated Chapter, we explore Died Three Times Lived Once by Robert Garcia—a powerful true story of survival, consequence, and second chances. From a near-fatal childhood experience to the challenges of military service and life beyond, Garcia reflects on the moments that nearly ended his life—and the choices that shaped what came after. It’s an honest look at hitting rock bottom, facing fear, and finding a way forward when hope feels out of reach.

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How many times have you died? I should probably rephrase that. Have you ever had a near-death experience? It doesn’t have to be an official NDE involving angels and spirits of relatives long gone or anything. I’m talking about all the times you look back on your life and say, Wow…I can’t believe I made it through that.

For me there two car accidents that should have killed me but for some reason they didn’t. In both cases I wasn’t wearing a seatbelt. In fact, one of the accidents was so bad the car was completely totaled. When they found me, I was upside down in the car, unbuckled, staring at the dome light wondering what in the world had just happened. But somehow… I was okay.

Was it divine intervention or blind luck? That’s open for debate but when I saw the title of the book we are going to talk about today, Died Three Times Lived Once… it got me thinking.

Rubin Hernandez, who goes by the pen name Robert Garcia, has identified three moments when the grim reaper passed him by. Once when he was as a child. Once when he was sent to overseas to fight and once when addiction nearly destroyed his life.. Here’s Ruben.

Ruben: I’m just a simple citizen, a veteran, a Vietnam veteran. I’m an easygoing person, I’ve been told.

I would add humble, faith-driven and honest as well. His books tells the story of a man who believes those moments that nearly took his life were not accidents at all. They were interventions.

Ruben: I got into a deathly experience at seven

He’s talking about the time he survived a tragic truck accident only to grow up and eventually be sent to Vietnam.

Ruben: People shot around me and they died, and the same bullets coming at me and I didn’t get shot. Why? I don’t know. I’ll never understand that. Only God does.”

Many of us experienced the Vietnam war through movies, documentaries and heresy. Mr. Hernandez was actually there. He was sent to Vietnam during one of the most turbulent periods in American history and experiences like that have a way of leaving permanent questions behind — especially if you are one of the survivors.

Ruben: I didn’t get shot. Why? I don’t know. trying to get up from, during the battle, and I couldn’t get up until decades later, I started thinking, it had to be an angel holding me down.

For Ruben, survival in Vietnam left him with the same question many veterans carry with them for the rest of their lives. Why did I survive… when others didn’t? This was the second time in his life he had faced death and walked away. But war would not be the last time Ruben found himself standing at the edge.

Ruben: And then my last one, my third one, oh my gosh, I fell. I fell deep.

Years after returning from Vietnam, Ruben began working as a correctional officer in Riverside County, California.

Ruben: Well, I became a police officer in a detention center in Riverside County as a correctional officer. And I made a big mistake, and I lost it. I wasn’t fired, but I lost it. They gave me a chance to come back, and I didn’t do it like I was supposed to.

Ruben was responsible for watching over people who had lost their way but temptation has a way of grabbing ahold of us and taking control of our lives. What began as experimentation or recreational drug use slowly turned into addiction. And addiction has a way of destroying everything.

Ruben: Don’t do what I did. Even if you’re a veteran, or you want to experience drugs, don’t try it, because you’ll fall. You’ll fall deeply. And I did. I became a drug addict under cocaine, and I regret every part of it. I lost everything. I started losing my vehicles. I started using heavily, and I wasn’t caught yet. And I was working for the Riverside County Sheriff in California. There’s not many out there that can say they were in front of the bars, and they ended up behind the bars and I was one of them. I took life for granted. We should never do that.

Many addicts will tell you that before recovery begins, you often have to hit rock bottom. For Ruben, that moment came when he realized he had lost the things that mattered most.

Ruben: Like I say I thought I lost everything I thought I lost my daughters, my wife and I didn’t care. You lose your dignity, you lose responsibility, and you lose everything. The point I’m trying to make, you don’t care.

But sometimes the turning point in a life comes down to a single moment. A few words. Something that shakes you to the core and forces you to see things differently.

Ruben: I was eight years in and out of jail. The very last time they sent me to a rehab in San Pedro, California. And I couldn’t believe I’d made it that far. And the judge started telling me at my last court, you’re doing wonderful, Hernandez. Keep it going. She didn’t like me at all and I started thinking something has got to change. She says, you either change or you go to prison for three years. Now, that scared me.

That moment forced Ruben Hernandez to make a decision. He entered rehab and he began leaning more deeply into his faith.

Ruben: Well, I started going to church while incarcerated. The people that have been in and out of prison, they tell me, oh, you can smuggle all the drugs you want. You want to go. I could feel Satan was behind that.

This story does have a hopeful ending. Now at seventy-eight, Ruben has lived through some of life’s darkest chapters — and survived them with a new perspective. He is clean, happily remarried and passionate about sharing his story to help others.

Ruben: There’s a reason for everything that happens. I’m living with a beautiful woman. This lady of mine, my queen, her children flew me around the world. And whether people believe it or not, it’s all because of God’s will and reasoning.

If Mr. Hernandez has learned anything from the life he describes in Died Three Times, Lived Once, it’s this:

Live in the positive. Follow God’s will. And no matter who you are…stand your ground. Because sometimes the greatest story a person can tell…is what they choose to do after they survive.

Thanks for listening to this edition of The Curated Chapter, formerly Newsgram on Webtalkradio.com

Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/Died-Three-Times-Lived-Once-ebook/dp/B0DTJGKPY4

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Today we explore I’m on Assignment! by medium and empath Diane Marie Taylor, a spiritual self-help guide that asks a simple but profound question: What if your already living your life’s purpose even if it doesn’t feel like it?

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The other day I was watching TV when, out of nowhere, my dog got up and stared into the kitchen like someone was standing there. He does it all the time. Just freezes… locked in… focused on something I can’t see.

Science will tell you he’s not seeing spirits — that pets are simply more perceptive than humans. Better hearing. Way better sense of smell – which is true but it got me thinking…

What if there’s more going on around us than we’re aware of? Spirits, ghosts, apparitions, alternate energies — whatever you want to call them — if you believe those things may exist, then what would you do if you could actually confirm their presence? If you could communicate with them?

Well… guess what. I found someone who says she can.

Diane Taylor was born with abilities she didn’t ask for and didn’t fully understand at first.

Diane: I was born gifted. I was born a medium myself. I was able to see beings in the room that other people couldn’t.

As cool as that sounds, it didn’t exactly make growing up easier.

Diane: I got tired of being made to feel like I was weird for mentioning things that other people couldn’t see. So I just kind of shut that off.

She says if she’d had someone to help her understand and develop those abilities, she might never have turned them off. Still, the curiosity never left and neither did her interest in spirituality.

Diane believes we all have intuitive abilities to some degree. Some people are just more sensitive to them. Others ignore them or talk themselves out of them.

Her book is written for people who are questioning where they are in life. It’s for adults who sense there’s more meaning beneath the surface. More purpose. More continuity. Because according to Diane, we’re not just here by accident and where you are now is not the end of your story. You are part of something much larger.

Diane: We are eternal beings. We want to think that we’re human beings that have a soul, but it’s the other way around. We are eternal beings that are trivially living in this meat suit.

And so as an eternal being, of course we have soul mates, just not in the Rom-Com sense.

Diane: We have to stop thinking about soulmates in terms of what we think of with Valentine’s Day and this romanticized version of it. Because honestly, our soulmates are really annoying creatures. They are the people that we made agreements with to come here on Earth and nudge us along with our assignments. So they’re not going to be the friends that are telling you what you want to hear. They’re going to be telling you the things that you need to hear. And you know, they, they hold you accountable. And sometimes you don’t want to hear it. Because you made the agreement that I don’t care if I throw a fit on this such thing, I need you to push me so that I can keep doing this. And you might resent them in the moment, but in the long term, you’re going to love them for it.

If that’s true — if we’re eternal beings with lessons to learn — it would seem like a waste to only get one shot at it.

Diane says we don’t.

She believes reincarnation isn’t just possible but it was once widely accepted.

Diane: At one point, reincarnation was written in doctrine. It was pretty well accepted, and people understood this. And then, next thing you know, it’s been erased from doctrine, and people just don’t seem to believe in reincarnation anymore. But there are some of us that do, because we’re just sensitive enough that it’s like, yeah, there’s a lot more out there than just this. There is no way that my entire existence could exist simply on this trivial 75 years that I have here on earth.

Not only do we return, she says we do it with help. Spirit guides. Soul groups. A kind of unseen support team that helps shape our path.

Diane: Yes, without a doubt, we reincarnate.

One mystery remains: if we’ve lived before, why don’t we remember? Diane believes we do, just not consciously. She says unresolved memories can surface as unexplained fears, strong preferences, or an immediate sense of familiarity with someone we’ve just met. That stranger who seems awfully familiar? Maybe they’re not a stranger at all. They could be someone in your soul group that you shared a past life with.

Diane: If you want to equat v e lifetimes with going to college, you’re not going to go to college in just one semester and take one course. You’re going to take several courses over several years, and eventually you move on. You get to graduate. That’s what our lifetimes on earth are like. It’s important then to understand that. There’s no way we could complete all of our lessons in just one lifetime.

At any given moment, she says, we are the sum of everything we have ever been, carrying with us both wisdom and unresolved trauma. Which makes perspective important. If you’re feeling pessimistic and negative, try and shake it off.

Diane: It would be easy to get sucked into that negative vibration where we’re thinking, poor me, and I’m worried about the next thing and the next. If you want to stay strong, you’ve got to find your center. Find your center, stay strong, and just go with the flow.

Find your center, stay strong and go with the flow. Pretty good words of advice no matter what you believe.

If the struggles we face today are echoes of past versions of ourselves, then growth means learning how to move beyond them. And yes… sometimes that means shaking things off.

The book is “I’m on Assignment! An Alternate View of Past Lives, The Impact on Our Current Lives, Soul Mates, World History and the Akashic Records” by Diane Taylor and before we go I want to address that last part.

Diane: The Akashic records, that would be the record of everything that you’ve ever done in not only this lifetime, but other lifetimes as well.

Having a record of everything I’ve ever done across multiple lifetimes sounds a little frightening.

Definitely humbling.

But the big takeaway here is this: you are more than this moment.

You are more than this version of yourself.
More than whatever chapter you happen to be in right now.

And maybe the things we can’t explain — the familiar stranger, the fear that makes no sense, the feeling that you’ve been here before — maybe they aren’t so strange after all.

Maybe they’re reminders.
That this life isn’t random.
That we’re not just passing time.
That we’re part of something larger than what we can see, measure, or fully understand.

And maybe… just maybe… there’s a lot more going on around us than we realize.

For a link to the book I’m on Assignment by Diane Taylor, check out the show notes — or just Google it. It’s available wherever you like to buy books.

Thanks for listening to this edition of Newsgram from WebTalkRadio.com.

I’m Sam Youmans.

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/im-on-assignment-diane-marie-taylor/1146222370

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Mental health is part of the public conversation—but living with it is deeply personal. In this episode of Newsgram, author and life coach Lee Dhepnorrat shares the story behind her book Healthy Heart, Healthy Mind: A Map Book for the Soul. Through lived experience, humor, and hard-earned insight, Lee reflects on bipolar disorder, self-judgment, and what it really takes to keep going when the road gets hard.

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Apple PodcastsAndroidRSSWelcome to this edition of Newsgram! Mental health has been getting a lot of attention lately—in the news, online, and in public conversation—and that’s a good thing. Bringing visibility to something that was once kept quiet gives people language, awareness, and permission to speak.

But talking about mental health and living with it—or supporting someone who is—can be a very different experience.

Today, you’re going to meet Lee, an author who is contributing to this conversation in a deeply personal way. Drawing from her own life living with bipolar disorder, Lee shares how that struggle led her toward self-realization and a deeper understanding of the human mind.

Through research, mentorship, and the experience of being genuinely supported by loved ones, she began to rebuild her inner world—and discovered a path she now uses to help others who may find themselves at a similar crossroads.

Her book, Healthy Heart, Healthy Mind: A Map Book for the Soul, speaks to anyone seeking guidance, inspiration, or a sense of direction.

Today, we’re going to explore how Lee’s lived experience, honest reflection, and shared wisdom can open up a new way forward—especially when the road feels uncertain.

Here’s Lee.

Lee – I was sick of people sort of not talking about it and not, just the stereotypes that, you know, not just for mental health but for many things, where moms are not really regarded as important, I think, and not just moms but kids, the stresses of today’s world. I think it’s been, put too much pressure on people to be perfect and to be this, to be that, to be everything everyone else wants them to be.

This is a heavy topic to be sure but Lee approaches it with honesty, warmth, and a sense of humor that runs throughout the book.

Lee – I think you have to laugh at life because, you know, if you don’t laugh, you cry sometimes.

She tells her life story in a straightforward, matter-of-fact way that doesn’t preach or instruct, but invites reflection. What comes through again and again is encouragement—permission to be yourself, to be authentic, and to stop apologizing for where you are in life. Above all, Lee emphasizes a couple of simple but powerful truths: you are good enough and never give up! So what helped her most?

Lee – The ones that helped me the most was just non-judgment. Wherever you are, start where you are and just focus on growth. I have to have that degree, I have to be that person, I have to be that friend, I have to be that mum, I have to be that whatever. Just really being yourself and just getting back true to yourself, true to your core. That’s what really helped me the most and, you know, whatever you’re going through, whatever hardships you’re going through, Where’s never ever something that, you know, there’s always someone going through something harder. So, don’t beat yourself up on it.

For years, Lee tried to meet the expectations placed on her surrounding motherhood, success, and being everything everyone else needed her to be. Over time, it became harder and harder to keep up appearances.

The strain built quietly, until it finally became impossible to ignore.

Lee – I ended up putting those pressures on myself and then ended up, you know, in the psychiatric ward which then stopped me for three months. I couldn’t go outside. I couldn’t do anything and then from there, it became a vicious cycle of going back in and out of wards for like seven years or so and then medications and things like that. So, yeah, I just had enough and I thought, you know, someone needs to talk about this because it’s not getting dealt with enough.

And that’s what makes this book different. It’s not that there aren’t other resources out there, but there aren’t many like this one. Here, you hear the story directly. You learn what helped, what didn’t, and what it took to move forward. And then, you’re free to make your own choices—armed with honesty, lived experience, and the reminder that you don’t have to figure it all out at once.

Lee – I was very happy that it was written. I wasn’t sure what sort of reaction it would have. But, I just felt I had a story to tell, that, you know, it needed to be spoken about for other ones not to go through what I went through.

That’s where the subtitle comes in: A Map Book for the Soul.

Lee describes what she’s created as a kind of guide—not a straight line, but a way to orient yourself when you feel stuck, disconnected, or unsure which direction to take next. A reminder that even in the hardest moments, movement is still possible.

Lee – There’s always like a pivotal moment. You might think you’re right at the end of, you know, like you tap out or whatever. And you’re thinking, oh God, everything’s crap. Things are going down south. Things are heading south fast. You might just meet someone that day that might just turn you around. So don’t ever give up on that day if that’s how you’re feeling. Um, Just sort of ride that wave. And, you know, things will turn around when it’s time for you. Never, never give up.

At the heart of Lee’s message is momentum; staying open to inspiration, continuing to move toward what matters to you, and choosing a life that reflects who you are rather than who you’re expected to be.

Lee – I just hope they take courage and they take hope and they take guidance that they’re exactly who they are supposed to be. You’re exactly where you’re meant to be in the right space and time. That’s what I would hope people would take away from this.

This is a difficult time we’re living in, and it’s hard to imagine paying too much attention to our mental health. Stories like this one remind us that support, understanding, and hope can come from many places.

Healthy Heart, Healthy Mind: A Map Book for the Soul is another resource—one grounded in lived experience—and I hope you find it a meaningful one. The book is available now wherever you like to buy books online. You can also learn more about Lee and her work at her website—Live Love Shine dot wixsite dot com slash liveloveshine — we’ve included a direct link in the show notes.

And that will do it for this edition of Newsgram from WebTalkRadio.com. I’m Sam Youmans. Thanks for listening.

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In this edition of Newsgram, Sam Youmans explores The Pagalan Chronicles: Book 1 – Search for Morganuke’s Roots with author Andrew Houlston. The conversation traces the journey of Morganuke—a young man driven by an inner sense that he comes from somewhere else—set against a vast, layered world shaped by hidden histories, fragile peace, and deep personal bonds. Blending epic fantasy with emotional insight, this episode looks at identity, destiny, and the quiet inner pull that guides us toward meaning, even in times of uncertainty.

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Some people believe there are forces that seem to guide us toward our purpose here on earth. Call them spirit guides. Call them angels. Others believe we’re guided by pure instinct and shaped by our past experiences. Either way, it’s a feeling that exists just beneath conscious thought. It’s an instinct or a pull. A quiet sense that there’s something more we’re meant to do…or something more we’re meant to understand about why we’re here.

Now imagine growing up knowing deep down that you don’t belong where you are. Not because anyone treated you badly or because you were unloved but because something inside you keeps whispering: This isn’t where your story begins. Well, this is where our story begins. Because that feeling belongs to a young man named Morganuke; a man drawn into a dangerous quest with his friends to stop his world from crumbling into chaos while searching for the truth about where he came from.

Houlston: And that’s really where the main character, Morgan of Baldia, came from. So he’s a lost individual from Pagan, that lost ancient civilization. It started with the idea of having an individual such as Morgan Hook, who looked very different from those around him. He was adopted by a kindly couple on an island, found as a baby from his mentor, but he knew, he always knew that he was different and he had come from somewhere else. And that’s really the whole quest of the first book, is for Morgan Hook to find out where he came from.

Sam: That is Andrew Houlston—a former member of the Royal Air Force in England and author of The Pagalan Chronicles: Book 1 – Search for Morganuke’s Roots, the tale of a world built on hidden truths, ancient memory, and the quiet pull of destiny and when I tell you this story will tug at your emotions I may be understating it.

Houlston (Emotional pt.1) I’ve cried over scenes in my book whilst I was writing them. So it’s a mixture of sadness, tension, but there are some funny bits in it as well.

Sam: At its heart, this is a story about discovery. The Pagalan Chronicles is a journey across memory, across generations and across truths that were never meant to surface. As Morganuke searches for answers about himself, the world around him begins to reveal just how fragile it really is. Old alliances strain. Long-standing peace begins to erode. And what once seemed like a familiar, medieval world slowly reveals something far more complex beneath the surface. Because Pagalan isn’t just one world, it’s many worlds.

Houlston (Layered World) it’s a layered world, so there are lots, it’s like an onion really, there are lots of sort of hidden layers that as you go through the story, oh really, as I was writing the first book, you know, these layers sort of form themselves.

Sam: Pagalan is a place shaped by history, by conflict, and by choices made long before Morganuke was born. And along the way, he’s joined by characters who give this world its heart.

Houlston (Emotional pt.2) And there’s one character that I really love. My favorite character is a young woman called Calarel, but she’s a very complex character in that she’s awkward amongst others. She’s a fiery character. She’s got a heart of gold, but she does tend to fly off the handle on occasion.

Sam: One of Morganuke’s most important guides is his mentor, Freytar.

Houlston (Freytar) So he’s a sailor and he’s the chap that found Morgan as a baby. And he actually takes him off in his ship called the Aurora, sailing around this beautiful world of Pagalan, to find his roots. He has other friends as well, very close friends. So there is Calarel, as I mentioned, there’s Chantilly, Lady Chantilly. So she’s a very interesting character as well. Middle aged, but she’s a very, you know, sort of authoritarian, a leader. She’s a very good leader.

Sam: Pagalan is a diverse world filled with movement, danger, and discovery. A place where every step forward uncovers not just new territory, but deeper mysteries waiting to be understood. There’s also romance…

Houlton (Melinor) So he’s got a love interest called Melinor. And there’s a bit of a love triangle, actually, in there. So it gets a bit tricky at times.

Sam: And if you find yourself wanting more, that curiosity is already taken care of.

Houlston (Other Books) There are already two other books, so the first series consists of three books, all of which are complete and available on Amazon. And in fact, I’ve also written three other books, which is a prequel series to the first series, and that goes back 3,000 years. And it concentrates, focuses on this ancient civilisation that Morgan Hook is part of. So it’s covering his ancestors, covering a hundred generations before Morgan Hook. Yes, that’s right.

Sam: We may not like uncertainty or upheaval, but we do like the feeling that there’s meaning beneath it all—and that’s the quiet promise at the heart of Morganuke’s journey.

Because beneath the battles and the hidden histories, this is really a story about listening to that inner nudge—the one that tells us there’s more to understand about who we are and how we fit into the world around us.

Morganuke doesn’t set out looking to change everything. He sets out looking for answers. And along the way, those answers begin to matter not just to him, but to everyone connected to his world.

That’s pretty much who life works in our world too. We don’t usually go searching for destiny, we go searching for clarity. And sometimes, that clarity has a way of changing things.

The Pagalan Chronicles: Book 1 – Search for Morganuke’s Roots is a story that reminds us that even when the path feels uncertain, it may still be leading us exactly where we need to go. It’s available now along with all the other books in the series online at Amazon, Barnes and Noble or you can read the first ten pages and decide if it’s for you on Andrew’s website, ThePagalanChronicles.com .

That will do it for this edition of news gram from webtalkradio.com. I’m Sam Youmans. Thanks for Listening.

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Robert Killick joins us to explore the life and impact of the woman who shaped his world and Lived life to the fullest. In his biography A Woman of Gold, he paints a warm, honest portrait of a woman whose faith, generosity, and steady courage transformed everyday choices into a lasting legacy. Join us as we honor an ordinary woman who became extraordinary and discover how her story might inspire in your own.

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Today on Newsgram, we’re celebrating a life well-lived. I can’t think of a better honor than telling someone on their deathbed, don’t worry you will be remembered and then publishing a book that explains why. Knowing you were loved and sharing those reasons with the world; who wouldn’t want that? Judy Killick has left a lasting legacy and today we are going to meet her through the words of her husband Robert who finished writing it under the emotional weight of knowing that time was running out. Judy’s health was fading. Here is Robert to pick up the story.

Robert Killick – Judy and I had been married for 64 years, and in the last couple of years, her body was starting to fade, I think is the nicest way of saying it, and the family agreed. I’ve already written a previous book called As Good as Gold, which was to do with the chemical company we have, but for Judy, it was like we thought, well, she has a legacy. The least we can do is to provide a background for people just to appreciate the lady. And so what motivated her was, well, and it happened that we had just got back our report from the editor to say that yes, we’ve cleared everything up, everything is good, and so Judy saw that part of the book, and then she died within a fortnight.

So let’s meet this amazing woman and learn more about the inspiration for the book A Woman of Gold: A Biography of Family, Faith, and Business by Dr. Robert W. Killick; Part scrapbook, part love letter and part guide to living a meaningful life.

Robert Killick – She was committed to helping people. It was her raison d’etre, as the French say, the reason being that she could get out and just help people in any need they had or whatever circumstances they were in. And yes, so she was that sort of lady. And I just think they’re built that way. I mean, it just amazes me how, you know, you look back and you just see a truly wonderful lady.

He says her commitment to helping others wasn’t just an activity for her; it was instinct. And it wasn’t as if she had extra time on her hands. Judy was a wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, schoolteacher, church elder, philanthropist — and an avid tennis player who approached the court with the same energy she brought to everything else. All of this from a woman who left school at 15 and eventually helped run a global chemical company.

Robert Killick – She always said goodbye to me when I was going to work. And then she’d regularly want to, as I just before I left, she’d grab me by the lapels, my shirt lapels, shake me like a wet rat, she just shook me. And so just remember one thing, all wisdom does not lie with Bob Killick, right? Now, with that instruction, I was ready to go out and do it.

That’s a pretty good way to keep your CEO humble.

Robert Killick – What the lady did provide was common sense. She knew, because of the people she was always, you know, out talking with and whatever, she always had a sense of where people were going, what they were doing. She had that, it was innate that she had that common sense that she could really do things. So in a sense, while I had all the technical background, she also had just the wisdom of, well, good advice.

That combination of technical skill and wisdom is what kept their business thriving for decades. It was Judy’s compassion that shaped the company’s culture.

Robert Killick – It was a true family company. Now, at the moment, we have 70 people working for us. It was one of those situations where she knew people. And we’ve got people, I’d say most of our people have been with us 15, 20, 25 years. So I think this reflects, again, the impact that Judy has as a loving person for whoever you were, whatever you were.

The book is partly a celebration of life as well as a window into a remarkable marriage.

Robert Killick – We both had a great respect for each other. And we don’t live in America, as you appreciate. We live in a White House here in Australia and White Houses in Australia are not like they are White House, the White House in America. But we always used to say, oh, well, pardon me. Oh, well, the president is well. The husband isn’t bad either.

That sense of humor is evident in the book as well.

A Woman of Gold is more than a biography. It’s a blueprint for how ordinary days can become a legacy. It’s the building blocks of generosity, wisdom, love and laughter that can transcend generations.

Judy didn’t set out to become extraordinary. She just lived her life to the fullest, loved deeply, and used whatever she had whether it be her time, talent, or a tennis racket — to bless the people around her.

If you enjoy reading about the truly good people in this world, then take a look at A Woman of Gold: A Biography of Family, Faith, and Businessby Robert W. Killick. Inside these pages you’ll find a gentle reminder to embrace life fully, to share your blessings freely, and to stay flexible when life changes course.

Because let’s be honest — some days it feels like the world has tilted in the wrong direction. Like we’re living in a place where the powerful squeeze out the vulnerable, where mega-corporations are praised for record profits, where automation replaces livelihoods, and where the gap between the rich and the poor stretches wider every year. It can leave you wondering if people still matter in the grand scheme of things.

That’s why Judy’s story hits so hard.

It’s a quiet counterargument to the noise of the modern world — proof that life doesn’t have to be a competition, and that success doesn’t have to come at someone else’s expense. Her life reminds us that the real currency isn’t gold; it’s love. And unlike gold, love doesn’t run out, doesn’t get hoarded, and doesn’t rise and fall with the market. Its value is infinite.

This book makes you believe, even if only for a moment, that the world could look different if more of us lived with Judy’s sense of purpose — if we served first, cared deeply, and remembered that people, not profits, are what make a life meaningful.

The book is available now at Amazon dot com, Barnes and Noble or wherever you like to shop for books online. Thank you for listening to this edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com. I’m Sam Youmans.

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Mary. Judas. Peter. Their voices echo through scripture — and now through Augustine Jeyaraj’s poetry. In this episode, we explore The Word in Their Voices, born from Augustine’s life in medicine, Catholic tradition, and a deep desire to bridge the gap between ancient scripture and modern readers. His poems help us step into these lives with fresh eyes, rediscovering the humanity, struggle, and hope at the heart of their stories.

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Apple PodcastsAndroidRSSSam Youmans: Welcome to this edition of Newsgram!

This episode is being written and produced during the holiday season, so in the spirit of family, friends and Christmas, I thought it made sense to join Dr. Augustine Jeyaraj — a liver transplant surgeon — in his virtual walk with Jesus.

That isn’t as random as it sounds.

Augustine has written a book that’s been getting a lot of positive reviews from Catholic reading circles. People are saying it doesn’t preach at you from above — rather, it walks beside you. Which is on target with his goals because he is walking beside Jesus. It’s called “an easy read, but deep theologically,” which can be a rare mix.

The book is called The Word In Their Voices: A catholic pilgrims journey through Scripture and Poetry, and it’s a collection of poems spoken through the eyes of the people who lived the stories — Mary at the foot of the Cross, Judas in his agony and others. Here’s Augustine.

Jeyaraj: Faith has always been very important to me throughout my life. It’s just that I never gave it the attention it needed until maybe the last 15 years. And as I grew more in the faith, I began to realize that there was a very rich tradition of not only scripture within the Catholic Church, but in fact, para-biblical sources, like for example, St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, and even the mystics. And when you put them all together, there’s this huge wisdom in the literature that’s out there, but difficult to get access to.

Sam Youmans: He say’s his original intention was to write a book that was easy and simple for people to understand biblical issues and he knew he was on the right track because as he dug deeper, scripture began to shift from something printed on a page into something breathing and alive.

Jeyaraj: Scripture is not something distant, preserved in pages, but perhaps there’s a living story within it, you know, pulsing with the breath of those who once walked the earth. And so I tried to actually relive their lives through poetry in their voices. And that’s what was going on here.

Sam Youmans: So that realization became the seed for the book. Then came the foundation — what the Bible truly is at heart.

Jeyaraj: The Bible is not a book of doctrines, or a book of philosophies, compiled together. It’s a chronicle of human lives, men and women who love, they doubted, they hoped, they despaired, they made choices, and bore the cost of their faith. They inhabited cultures and languages, you know, vastly different from our own. And yet, through their fragile humanity, God spoke. So, you know, when God didn’t, like, choose Abraham, or Noah, or, you know, David, even, who were like superlatives in their faith, they were humans with their flaws. And actually, I wanted to really explore that, you know, the people, people who live the lives, mistakes they made, and how they overcame it, because that’s an important story for us, that we too can actually live the faith, make our mistakes, but come back. And, if you’re ready for a plot twist, he points out that faith is not a guarantee of a good life.

Jeyaraj: That’s the one mistake that people make, and they think that, you know, if I’m going to invest in this faith, my life’s going to be perfect. No, that’s not true. Faith is not a life of certainty. Faith is about living with uncertainty, it’s a peace that helps you navigate the difficulties of life. That’s what faith gives you, yeah.

Sam Youmans: What about those who have no faith at all? There are plenty of non-believers out there who think it’s all a bunch of religious nonsense.

Jeyaraj (Super Rational) People always say that faith is irrational. But in fact, faith is super rational because when you look at all these witnesses in the Bible and live their lives, they too lived as we did. They had the same, you know, worries and tendencies and uncertainties. But the hope is what got them through.

Sam Youmans: So that is the thinking behind the book, his philosophy if you will. Now let’s open it up and have a look at some of the poetry about the people within the Bible. As you know these people lived thousands of years ago so the first thing he wanted to do was to help bridge the time gap.

Jeyaraj (The People) I started with the two popes, Pope Francis and Pope John, because they are within our own cultural era, you know, our same period. So, it’s easier to go into their minds. People would understand when I start the poems with these two. And then, I moved back to St. Augustine. St. Augustine, who lived about AD 430, I think he’s really important, because he’s really the theological lens through which you actually appreciate all the other poems. Because I think the poem that I wrote about St. Augustine is entitled Odo amoris, which means the order of love. Basically, what he says, it’s not wrong to love things, but you must love them in the right order. And I think love of God is central. And then everything falls into place.

Sam Youmans: There are poems in the book about Judas, Peter and Stephen – the first Christian martyr. He writes about a Roman Centurion and the Unnamed people who walk with Jesus but he says one of his favorites is the one he wrote about Mary.

Jeyaraj (Mary) It was a reflection on St. Michelangelo’s Pieta, which I saw in Rome. It’s this year of jubilee, I visited, you know, the churches. And this magnificent, you know, sculpture by Michelangelo. And, you know, it’s Mary holding Jesus, but one hand is open and another hand clutches. And, you know, I meditated on it. And, you know, I went on a tour organized by Edward Street. And, you know, he had asked us to think about that, about that statue, and about the two hands, one open and one clasped. And, you know, it’s a mother’s dilemma. On the one hand, she wants to hold on to Jesus, right? On the other hand, she’s letting him go down to the altar. And so, I thought, hey, maybe I would see it through Mary’s eyes, you know, a mother’s dilemma of loving your son, but having to let him go to fulfill his duty that he was born to do. So, that’s my other favorite poem.

Sam Youmans: And he saved the most important voice for last. Jesus himself. Augustine asks the question: Do you know Jesus?
Not know about him… but truly know him?

Jeyaraj (Do you know Jesus?) And that’s the last poem I leave everyone in the book. And I realized that no matter how much theological insight, or academic knowledge you have, or how much you read the Bible, at the end of it, it’s really the encounter with Jesus, right? Do you have an encounter with Jesus? Do you not know about him, but do you know him? And I think that’s the most important question we need to answer. And the last poem tackles that before I close off.

Sam Youmans: I’m a skeptic at heart and have lived most of my life with one eyebrow raised. I don’t pretend to have the answers, but I am really good at asking questions. And that curiosity has been both a blessing and a curse. So if you too are the kind of person who is naturally suspicious or skeptical, I think you will appreciate Augustine’s final bit of advice.

Jeyaraj: I think it’s very important to discern the truth for yourself, not just listen to anybody interpreting the word for you. And I think what Paul tells you is to test everything and hold on to what is true. And that’s what I’d like to leave everybody with.

Sam Youmans: “Test everything and hold on to what is true.” A great place to wrap up this edition of Newsgram.

The book, The Word in Their Voices: A Catholic Pilgrim’s Journey Through Scripture and Poetry by Augustine Jeyaraj, is out there waiting for you to discover it for yourself. It’s heartfelt, relatable, and written to help anyone — at any stage of faith — draw closer to the God who spoke through ordinary, imperfect human beings like us.

No matter what your faith, religion, or level of belief, I wish you a most joyous holiday season. And as always… Thanks for listening to this edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com.

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In a future where surveillance rules and institutions tighten their grip, Christopher Martin-Olsen tries to outmaneuver the system without losing his soul. Author E.E. Linsen joins us to unpack this morally charged, high-stakes thriller and the real-world dilemmas that inspired it.

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Today I’ve got a work of fiction for you — and it hits surprisingly close to home. It’s set in a world where technology is running full steam ahead, surveillance is everywhere, governments are watching more closely than ever, and major institutions have become ruthless.

Sound familiar? Yeah — me too.

And in the middle of all that, there’s a man named Christopher who is about to rewrite the rules.

It all begins when opportunity knocks loudly, and he decides to seize it.

The book is titled It Is Good to Be Bad: Chronicles of the Guild by E.E. Linsen — or as we get to call him, Eduardo.

Linsen – One defining moment in the book is pretty much at the beginning, when he has to decide whether to stay firm to his principles, or to cave and do something that is pragmatic, very profitable for him, but he will betray the principles under which he was raised. And he decides to do what he feels is right. Because if he doesn’t, and things don’t go right, he’s left with nothing. So, that puts him literally with a shattered future, into the need of doing something new. And that is the starting point of the story.

We all face moral dilemmas, and the choices are rarely easy. We lean on instinct, experience, upbringing; all the invisible stuff that shapes who we are.

Linsen – So, yeah, I have four kids, and I tried to teach them exactly that. And, and to be honest, when we talk about this topic, everybody agrees that we should do what is right. But when you’re confronted with the urgencies and surviving needs, you know, you tend to negotiate principles for it with surviving, right? And this dilemma really measures people, right? How far you, you have to be pressured before you cave, right? And this is the main character who is like my hero, right? And it’s what I would like, not just to see myself, but I would like my kids really to, to behave. And well, that creates a lot of tensions and emotions. And this is life.

The book is fiction, which always makes my job tricky because I don’t want to spoil anything but here’s the setup: The main character, Christian, is tasked with finding a solution to a major problem – one that involves laundering large sums of money in ways that are legal but discreet. And yes, I did just say “laundering money” and “legal” in the same sentence.

Linsen – Laundering money is a concept that is used, usually misused. So it is a very broad term laundering money. So when you are asked to implement or structure transactions, and I’ve been a banker for many years, right? That’s a topic that I am familiar with. And what you do is enable those transactions to flow through the system legally, but undetected, you create an enormous powerful situation in which you can remove comfort zones from very important people, normally government, regulators, partners, whatever, right? And that circumstance forces different parts of the society to react against the main character. And I try to portray the different views of these different people, right? And they have arguments against the main character. And I try to make them logical and I would say persuasive in their stances, because we all see the problem from different angles. And at the end, well, the main character has wins and losses. And well, the story evolves to an end that I believe is quite satisfying, although it’s not perfectly successful for everybody.

Eduardo spent more than 40 years in international banking, so he knows a few things about “enabling transactions”. He’s been a CFO, COO, and CEO at some of the most prestigious American and European financial institutions but turning all that experience into fiction? That took some discipline.

Linsen – When I wrote the book, at the beginning, I started with a small project and it grew in its complexity as I was developing this story. When I finished it, I didn’t like it. So I have to edit it all from scratch again, because I found it to be too technical, probably trying to show off myself as a presumptuous expert in the financial world regarding how to trick everybody, right? So that’s not the purpose. So I scale it down totally, right, to make it, you know, more normal talking. And when I finished, I was pleased.

Eduardo brings sharp judgment, strategic thinking, and decades of real-world experience to the page and all of that adds depth and complexity to the story.

But Christopher doesn’t carry the narrative alone. He’s supported by two loyal childhood friends and a wise godfather, all balanced against a diverse cast of villains. Eduardo says that writing this group of characters was one of the most enjoyable parts of the whole process.

Linsen – Let me tell you, there’s a big temptation every now and then to inject your own thoughts and try to look smart and overeducated when you write and to contain this and wear the shoes of each of the characters when they speak or when they behave. And it’s amazing, okay.

So from what you’ve heard so far, you can probably see why I would summarize this book with three simple words: principles, courage, chess. Every decision hits one of those three notes and the stakes only get higher as the story moves forward.

Linsen – I hope that you enjoyed the book. I did it with great passion and interest. And if you do so, I’m sure that the second book will keep the same sort of appeal because it’s an in crescendo type of evolution of the story. So let’s see. I’m really looking forward to seeing the reaction from the public.

The book is clever, suspenseful, and unsettlingly plausible. Yes, I borrowed that phrasing from the online description, but honestly, I couldn’t come up with anything better. It’s the first installment of a planned trilogy…and maybe even a movie someday.

Linsen – There is a producer right now looking to eventually make it a movie or a TV series, because the story lends itself easily to this sort of project.

I hope it does! It Is Good to Be Bad is a razor-sharp thriller that reminds us that when the world is stacked against you, and you are trying to remain principled it’s not necessarily about being good-it’s about being good at being bad.

The book is available now online wherever you like to shop for books. And that will do it for this edition of Newsgram From Webtalkradio.com. Thanks for listening.

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This week we explore Poetry Matters – Write! (What you don’t know CAN hurt you) by Douglas McCulloch — a call to see poetry not as luxury, but as necessity. calls his poems “candles in the wind,” lighting up the truths we live but rarely name. His work reminds us that writing—and truly seeing—can lead to deeper understanding in a time of noise and distraction. Tune in as we ask: what can poetry still teach us about living with honesty and purpose?

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The world we live in has always been a complicated place but I think navigating its challenges has never been more difficult. I realize that every generation has unique obstacles but it seems like our current society seems to have more of them, or I should have bigger ones than previous generations because I’ve always found that reading is the key to understanding and doing that today presents unique challenges. Most of that comes down to the fact that unbiased literature, while it is definitely out there, you need to dig a bit deeper to find it and that is one of the challenges I’m talking about. I came across an interesting man named Doug McCullougch that I think you’ll enjoy meeting because his goal is to enlighten you with poetry while encouraging you to think. Just read, think, talk amongst yourselves a bit and see where that gets us. Here’s Doug.

Douglas McCulloch: My idea is I want people to read poetry. I don’t necessarily want them to pay me for it. And if I can get them to read it without getting the money, and that’s fine for me, I’d be happy with that. Because it would mean that the ideas were getting out and people were sharing them. And I have to say that I’ve organized a couple of readings and I never expected to be so uplifted by the positive response. I don’t mean cheering or clapping. I just mean people took the ideas seriously and considered them carefully and asked excellent questions. And that’s, to me, that’s everything about it. If we have conversations going, if we get people to entertain these ideas, even if they don’t buy the bloody book, I don’t care so long as they think more, so long as we improve the way that people interact with this wonderful but difficult world that we live in.

Sam: The name of the book is Poetry Matters – Write! The subtitle is, What you don’t know CAN hurt you. His work reminds us that writing—and truly seeing—can lead to deeper understanding in a time of noise and distraction. So what can poetry still teach us about living with honesty and purpose? Well for one thing poetry has always been a great way to start a conversation.

Douglas McCulloch: 1966 or 65, I was introduced to poetry writing as a part of a school subject, and I find it very difficult to stop. It’s a way of making sense, which I value very highly, I’ll put it like that.

Sam: The book addresses issues like workplace injustice, the search for truth and perspective amid some imperfect systems and the need for young people to form independent conclusions about life and society. Here’s an example.

Douglas McCulloch:When you go into a job, you may find that the person who’s supposed to be looking after you is actually a bit of a nasty person, and how do you deal with that? If you do something wrong and they start to go after you, what do you do? Well, it’s okay, it happens, and the poem tries to get a sense of perspective, a realistic sense of perspective.You can’t say to people, oh, the law will look after you, oh, the justice will be done. It doesn’t always happen. That’s what I mean when I say that the book perhaps supplies some useful questions. It certainly is not a wonderful source of enormous and wonderful answers. It does have some of that, but the questions, I think, are more important, and young people are not slow either. They know what the score is, and it doesn’t take much for them to put these ideas into their own outlooks, and I hope, I humbly hope that some of these will actually be useful to them in their own careers.

To be honest I was initially afraid this was going to be a political book, because there’s a lot of that going around today but it’s really more of a shared wisdom experience. A creative, intelligent and experienced man sharing a bit of what he’s learned.

Douglas McCulloch: I’m not blaming anyone, but I felt as a mature person, and having knocked around a bit and been in various interesting places from time to time, that I could perhaps observe and conclude and perhaps convey some aspects of how the world actually works.

The book does not offer easy answers and to suggest that I think would undermine his efforts. It encourages readers to think critically, adapt and find meaning in the complexity because honest questioning is more powerful than certainty. I know…that can be frustrating if you’re a young student but if someone gives you the answers then all you’re doing is following and today’s world needs leaders not followers.

Take a listen to one of his poems. This one is called Sam Johnson’s Brutus. Samuel Johnson is credited with writing the first English dictionary and while there is some debate about that, his 1755 work, A Dictionary of the English Language has definitely left its mark on the world.

Our connection wasn’t perfect but I think you’ll get the gist of it. Take a listen…

Douglas McCulloch: There is no end to the leap of self-knowledge. Here is infinity, drink what you will. To know who you are is to tremble, and courage to stand, reach out, and drink of your filth. Let the world go to hell, it was never worth saving. A ball of clay mud on a galaxy’s rump. But we stay, watch for daybreak, and our offspring first gleaming…. Never give up, if you choke, keep on drinking. Though visions torment, and other vices are wry, Sam Johnson’s bruises see clear in the morning. Though the cup of their liquor will never run dry. There’s the hashtag, will never run dry.

He’s talking about facing hard truths and enduring through self-reflection which is a big part of the goal here. The book also addresses some sobering realities.

Douglas McCulloch: We the clever rich white men once were, colorful natives singing content around our own hearthstones. We have since followed our cleverness elsewhere, made a parent of progress, and slowly infected the spleen of mankind.

Not everything should be about money or economic development. Can you see how he sparks conversation?

Douglas McCulloch: I mean, to some extent, we are buying our lives at the expense of the poor world. That’s something we need to face up to. It’s not, it can’t go on, not forever. And, well, that’s the sort of, there are big lessons and there are small ones, but obviously the big ones are most important. And the students are fighting their way through a morass of complicated, intricate, and sometimes not understandable features. And they’re doing their best. And maybe this, without actually expecting anything from them, without actually telling them what to do, I like to think I’m trying to help them to think about what they’re facing and perhaps come to their own conclusions.Their own conclusions are the ones that really matter.

The book is an enlightening read for anyone, but especially for students because they are the ones who will face the challenges of tomorrow. The challenges will be hard and there will be many.

I like how Doug refers to the earth as “a ball of clay on a galaxy’s rump,” and while he’s being wry about it, he’s deeply concerned for our planet and the people on it. He’s also not just trying to sell books—he wants people to read, to think, connect and learn.

So visit your local library and ask for Poetry Matters – Write! (What You Don’t Know CAN Hurt You) by Douglas McCulloch. And if they don’t have it, see if they’ll order it. Because, as Doug says, “My generation has had its turn.” It’s time for the next one to do what they can to create a brighter future.

Douglas McCulloch: If we have conversations going, if we get people to entertain these ideas, even if they don’t buy the bloody book, I don’t care so long as they think more, so long as we improve the way that people interact with this wonderful but difficult world that we live in.

Sam: Poetry Matters – Write! is available now on Amazon.

And that’ll do it for this edition of Newsgram from WebTalkRadio.com. Thanks for listening.

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Author Marian took eight solo walks around Uluru — and each one changed her life. Along the way, she discovered surprising insights about the balance between men and women, the wisdom of nature, and the quiet humor hidden in deep reflection. Today we explore what this ancient place had to teach about life, love, and harmony.

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I’ve recently discovered the power of walking. I know that may sound strange, but walking just for the sake of walking used to seem kind of pointless. “Where are you going?” Nowhere. Just… walking. But there’s a quiet calmness to it — a spiritual side — a kind of soul-searching meditation that happens when you leave behind the day-to-day noise and just move.

It’s good exercise too, so there’s this mind-body benefit that makes such a simple act something to be treasured. Most of my walks happen around my neighborhood here in Arizona. But today, we’re stepping into a very different landscape — one that’s ancient, vast, and deeply sacred.

Marian Larsen walked around Uluru, in the southern part of the Northern Territory in central Australia. And while Uluru and Arizona may look different, they share something: both are arid, desert-like landscapes with striking rock formations… and both carry deep cultural significance.
That’s the backdrop for today’s journey.

Marian – I’m surrounded by trees and hills and rivers and sun and moon and birds and all this. It’s fantastic.

Sam – Marian Larsen is the author of Life Changing Walks Round Uluru, but her bond with the natural world began long before that. Growing up as an only child shaped her curiosity and her independence — and taught her how to listen, not just to people, but to the world around her.

Marian – Well, I grew up as an only child… at least for the first seven years, and that probably did a lot to form me as I was. I’ve never felt restricted… I’ve always felt family loving around me but not putting strength on me… let me grow up to be my own person. When you are alone — it’s not lonely, but you’re alone, and there is a difference. It’s not alone… it’s all one. And that is what really I feel in nature.

Sam – Being an only child taught her how to observe quietly, to trust her instincts, and to appreciate solitude — lessons that would echo later in the heart of Australia. After years of traveling, Marian began to feel a sudden, unexplainable pull toward Uluru — a call she describes as coming straight from the heart.

Marian – At the end… suddenly there was this pull inside me… almost around the heart region. I just felt it. It felt so strongly… I knew that I had always wanted to go there. I knew it would happen one day. But I had never expressed it even to myself.

Sam – Sometimes even a small, simple stone can forecast the journey ahead. While in New Zealand, she bought a small orange rock — something about it just felt important.

Marian – There was in their window display, a stone, a rock… I took the rock, I pointed at the rock and I said to the owner, “Can I get that stone?” without knowing why. She said, “You can have it for $5.” I said, “Okay.” So I got the rock.

Sam – That little stone became a symbol — a reminder that the world is always speaking to us, if we’re willing to listen. Which leads us back to Uluru. If you’ve never seen it, Uluru is often described as a monolith, but geologists would call it an inselberg — literally an “island mountain.” It rises out of the flat desert plain like something ancient and alive. Marian’s eight walks around Uluru became deeply meditative — even transformative. She says Uluru began to communicate with her, offering lessons beyond words.

Marian – It was a very, very deep transformation that I went through. I was shown it by the man and the woman because I saw it as a sculpture, a picture on the rock that started talking. No, not talking, but emanating… sending insights, knowings.

Sam – Uluru revealed to her a timeless truth about balance — between man and woman, strength and softness — the foundation of life itself.

Marian – After I have been to Uluru, I have understood via the man role and the woman role, that those two different roles are actually basic foundation building blocks in nature.

Sam – Her walks became lessons in harmony — showing that the roles of men and women aren’t about control, but coexistence. The yin and yang of energy, working together. Now, this all sounds very mystical — and it is — but Marian calls her experience a natural exchange with life itself.

Marian – It is actually quite difficult sometimes using words because words limit things to our physical world. We can’t come up with a word for what it is when suddenly these things happen and you can see it… you can sense it. Like getting goosebumps. But I am aware that it probably will even fly in the face of quite a few. But you know, I’m not telling anybody that this is how it is. I am saying this is how I have experienced it. That’s it.

Sam – Whatever you want to call it — spirit, energy, intuition — every encounter left Marian changed. She became attuned to a rhythm and wisdom that transcends ordinary perception. Her walks weren’t just about movement — they were about awakening.

Marian – What we don’t use, we lose. And that is exactly what I feel. If we open up — well, that’s what I have found — if I open up and surrender, if you want, but are willing and open without being, dare I say, a follower. That’s important. You have to be strong in yourself. But I have found I became stronger and stronger and stronger.

Sam – Marian felt a sense of protection, almost like the Rock itself was watching over her. She also noticed that everyone she met seemed unusually kind, as if they could sense something in her she didn’t even see herself. It was a powerful reminder of the quiet strength found in connection, observation, and simply being alive.

Marian – Don’t be afraid to listen to what actually is around the world also, besides your everyday… You can start feeling in yourself, getting to know yourself, what you actually want, and whether you are curious. Because it is the most important thing — like childlike curiosity.

Sam – Listen. Keep an open mind. And stay curious — some pretty solid advice.

Whether you’re drawn to adventure, spiritual insight, or simply a story of personal transformation, Marian’s journey offers a beautiful reminder that life changes when you take the time to listen.

Her book, Life Changing Walks Round Uluru, is available now on Amazon.com.

Marian – I just enjoy it. It’s fantastic.

Sam – And that’ll do it for this edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com. Thanks for listening.

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The power to change your life is already inside you. Let’s tap into it. In Creating Manifestation Power into the Now by Eva Gajic shows you how to move beyond routine living and reconnect with your higher self. This guide will help you shift your mindset, trust your inner voice, and unlock the manifestation power within to create the life you truly want.

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It seems like just about everything these days comes with a user manual. Our car comes with a huge one, phones have ‘em, the Electric kettle you just plug in, add water and turn on has one and most of us rarely open them. But did you know there’s a manual for the human mind? I had no idea it existed – I may have read that one.

Its mission is simple: show you how to master your thoughts instead of being mastered by them. That’s pretty useful. It can also lift your energy and outlook, so you attract more positive experiences. It brings calm and clarity, even when life feels chaotic. And maybe best of all, it reminds you that you’re more than your daily routine — you’re capable of growth, joy, and creating change from the inside out.

Of course, the mind is a deep subject, and this “manual” can feel overwhelming. That’s why today we’re keeping it simple — focusing on the basics of who you are and what life is really about. And to do that, you’ll need to learn how to tap into your higher self and that begins with an understanding of Consciousness.

Here’s Eva Gajic, author of Creating Manifestation Power into the Now.

Eva – Consciousness is the subject awareness of ourselves and our thoughts and our feelings. So when people pray, they pray to a higher being, so God, source energy or something like that but higher consciousness is a level of consciousness, a frequency that sits above our crown chakra which is above our heads and when we meditate and we pray and we sit in silence we can connect to our higher selves and meditating.

Did you hear that? She said “above our heads” and that’s important. Consciousness is energy outside ourselves and we tap into it with our thoughts which are made up of frequencies and vibrations. Think about it this way, everything is energy.

Eva – We’ve had great people throughout time in history who all knew this and understood the principles of vibration and frequency and when we think things, to say we’re thinking a thought, it has a frequency to it and if we’re thinking a happy thought that has a frequency to it and it would only attract other things in tune with that frequency, so other happy things and if you’re thinking a negative thought then that has a lower vibration which would attract another lower vibrational frequencies out there so that’s why you find a lot of people who are thinking negatively seem to have everything falling around and apart around them and if you see someone walking in the room and they’re thinking and they’re vibrant and happy you can feel that energy because everyone’s uplifted, they’re happy, they’re smiling but if someone with a low vibration who’s thinking negatively and their thoughts are not on the right path you can sense a denseness in that room and everything becomes heavy so our thoughts have a vibration, a frequency and a resonance and we’re constantly emitting that out from ourselves every second of the day even now as we’re speaking.

I’m sure you’ve felt that kind of energy before. Party energy vs. funeral energy or the kind of hate and negativity we are feeling a lot lately. It’s real, it has an effect and it can be hard to stay positive in the face of so much negativity but it’s important to at least try.

Eva – It’s fear itself that inhibits people from achieving their goals. The biggest thing that people fear the most is fear. It’s the biggest inhibitor it is.

So how can you tap into the universal supply of abundance and live a happy and fulfilling life? Can you do it just by staying positive? Well, sort of.

Eva – What I find is people who are doing affirmations, I hear them saying well i’m not feeling good I’m feeling sick I’m tired I’m this and it’s what they are not and instead of what i’m i’m great I’m feeling good I’m fantastic i’m healthy I’m joy I’m peace i’m love they’re saying all these negative things to themselves and not realizing that every cell within your body you have millions of them listen to that frequency that’s coming out of your mouth and it vibrates into your cells and sending that signal out again so you’re saying i want that dream house i want a million dollars and then you’re saying i’m sick and crap i’m having a horrible day and then it’s just contradicting everything you’ve just said.

Eva knows what she is talking about. She is a psychic. Her abilities have been with her all her entire life, and her books are designed to help people with their individual development while providing truths about who we all are. Creating Manifestation Power into the Now is an introduction so if you’ve stuck with me so far then you are open to the idea that everything is energy and the consciousness is not located inside your brain so I’m hoping you are also open to the idea that we are all eternal beings who have lived many lives.

We all have seen civilizations rise and fall and we are here today to awaken to our true power which is ultimately to elevate humanity to a higher consciousness by raising our own consciousness and doing that begins with a fundamental understanding of why we are here.

Eva – If you look at it like this and I don’t know if people have heard or heard about this this way but if you think of every life that we’ve lived because we do live many many lives. so you’re living this journey and then you will transition and then you’ll reincarnate as another person but you have to think of all our lives and everyone’s everyone goes through this we have many many many lifetimes and everyone thinks they have to achieve all their goals in this one lifetime it doesn’t work that way so if you think of um like a long line and then you do um a thousand um dashes on them and all those dashes represent a lifetime that you’ve lived you can experience everything that you need to for your soul’s growth for the expansion of your soul in all your lifetimes broken up it doesn’t have to be achieved in this one section as ever. Your millions of dollars or your dream house or your dream car whatever people desire can be achieved in another lifetime.

Talk about playing the long game…You and I are infinite by nature. We are limitless, abundant and powerful, we cannot be created nor destroyed and we have the power to manipulate the energy around us to create our own unique reality.

Eva – This is why I write this book it’s an introduction and there are many books out there that do introduce people to manifestation but what I found is it some books do say oh well if you think I’m going to win a million dollars and if I say that every day I will mean it we win a million dollars that’s nice that’s great it’s fantastic he doesn’t want win a million dollars but the reality is that you do have um a higher self and and you do have a soul contract everyone has a soul contract in this journey um that we’re living on earth right now and you can’t achieve things if it’s not written in your contract so I say if it’s not in my contract to win a million dollars I won’t be winning a million dollars until I’ve learned my lessons.

That’s a rare takeaway: want to win a million dollars? First, find out who you are and whether that kind of wealth is in your cards. Eva’s deep understanding of the universe lets her explain manifestation and consciousness with clarity.

Eva – I live in Melbourne, Australia and I’m the founder of Innate Consciousness Network and my background, I have a degree in architecture and a long career as an architect and director. My passion is dedicated to helping others about the universe and raising their collective awareness of this planet and I came about this book as I was inspired by my late parents who always encouraged me to be proud of my gifts and who I love with all my heart and I received a message from my spirit guide because I’m connected to higher consciousness who reminded me of my purpose in this incarnation as ever and this purpose is to share my knowledge with the rest of the world that I’m of who we are as conscious beings and as I’m also cognizant which is a psychic ability, I have the innate capability to know things intuitively that others do not. My whole life I’ve always understood the universe in which we live and I’m able to go into detail on topics from my connection to higher consciousness. So this book is an introduction of higher consciousness and how any person can tap into their higher selves and it’s the first book of many to come and it’s important to understand the basics before you step into the next levels and I guess my gifts can help people transcend to ascension by following the processes that I have outlined in this book.

You are more powerful than you can possibly imagine or have been led to believe. The power to change your life is already inside you. Let’s tap into it. The book is Creating Manifestation Power into the Now by Eva Gajic spelled E-v-a G-a-j-i-c and it is available online at Amazon.com and many other places online. You can reach her directly by visiting the Innate Consciousness Network dot com dot AU or you can visit the show notes that accompany this podcast. I put a link there.

And that will do it for this edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com.

Contact info: https://www.innateconsciousnessnetwork.com.au

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What did the world look like when everything stopped? Clearer skies, quieter streets, and a chance to rethink our lives. Steve Gleadhill’s Reverberations Oh Brave New Normal World Living with Coronavirus, Book Two takes us back to those strange days of the pandemic — not just the fear, but the reflection, the resilience, and the unexpected insights that came with it.

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Remember those early days of the pandemic? Not just the empty streets or the empty grocery store shelves, but the way life itself seemed to pause. Skies were clearer, traffic was gone and for many of us, the noise of daily routine gave way to a deeper kind of self reflection. Many of us began to reevaluate our situations in an effort to figure out just what exactly are we doing with our lives? A lot of books were written during the pandemic and a lot of personal stories were shared that may not have been otherwise.

Where were you when it all began to happen? In February of 2020 I was on a cruise ship which turned out to be one of the last cruises for quite some time because in March the world began to change. Steve Gleadhill was also on vacation.

Steve Gleadhill – We were in Australia at the time, because my wife and I used to spend six months in Australia to get out of the British winter. And we got to love Australia. But as it happened, when COVID happened, Australia was one of the first countries to be very strict about letting people in and out. And so we were there. We were meant to go in April and we were there till July. So we were actually there for nine months, not six months as normal. So that also prompted me to think, right, well, this is something I’ve never experienced before.

As you can see Steve Gleadhill is more than just a casual observer. He has spent a lifetime asking questions and serving his community.Born in Hull England in 1950, he studied English at Leeds University and spent twenty years with the Newcastle City Library, before moving into community and government liaison work across northeast England.So when the pandemic hit, his instinct was to start documenting, not just for himself, but for everyone.

Steve Gleadhill – I was in the habit of emailing friends back in the UK on a regular basis.And normally it would have gone down to the beach, got sunburned or whatever. But this time it was about, well, I’ve read about this, I’ve read about that. It started with me emailing almost weekly bulletins to my friends in the UK about all the different aspects of Covid. Kept me busy, kept hopefully of interest to them.

This is where Steve says he had mixed emotions because while he was living safely in Australia his loved ones were having a much tougher time of it in the UK. It was pretty bad there. Anyway, what started as a series of e-mails and conversations turned into something much bigger. Ultimately it will be a four part series of books on both the immediate catastrophic impact the crisis had as well as its long-term ramifications.

The first three books are readily available and they’re titled “Oh Brave New Normal World: Living with Coronavirus.” Today, let’s focus on Book two, Reverberations.

Steve Gleadhill – So the idea is to remember what we went through and then sort of think, well, did we actually learn from that experience? And that’s what the reverberations are about. It’s about the repercussions because of the COVID. That’s what I try to outline in that book.

Future books in the series will widen the lens to take on politics and global affairs. Think back to the Capitol riots in the U.S. — enough said, we all remember. In Britain, leadership turned into a revolving door of Prime Ministers. And across Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, and Germany there were also leadership changes showing how much political change was happening at the time.

Steve Gleadhill – But in this one, it’s about how that initial effect affected us and what we were, you know, how we reacted to it. And then I would like people to go back and think, well, did we lose that? Did we lose something as a result of having been forced to lock down and do all the other things?

So let’s take a step back. Think about those early days of the lockdown. I realize that for many of you it’s not a pleasant memory but it’s an exercise to help gain some perspective, which will hopefully bring a new kind of strength and wisdom.

Steve Gleadhill – We were stuck at home most of the time. And I just started reading some of the daily news. And whereas normally I skip over it, I started to get more interested. What I got interested in was not just the medical side, but how it was affecting us, society, the planet, etc.

American philosopher George Santayana once said “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”. History gives us wisdom. When something new and overwhelming hits, we rarely get it right the first time. We certainly made mistakes here in the U.S. But if we take the time to look back, to examine the choices that were made, we do have the chance to evolve and maybe avoid repeating the same mistakes and that’s what’s at the heart of Steve’s series.

Steve Gleadhill – In Britain, you had Johnson, who decided he was going to go to a rugby match. There was a football match held in Liverpool against Madrid, which actually at the time was the centre of where most of the illnesses and deaths were happening. At the time, Madrid was like a no-go area. And yet, if you saw Johnson, it was almost as if he was like, well, I think I can braid my way through this, and that’s what he tried to do. But then reality came, and he realized that he needed to do a lot more. And I just felt that, with the leaders, that there was a thing where, at first, I think they were hoping it would just go away and when it didn’t…

Well, the rest is history. He focuses primarily on the UK, Australia and the U.S. but the books are global in their focus and he does touch on the crisis in India.

Steve Gleadhill – India had a very bad bout of doing it, of deaths, et cetera, and what was happening. So I did want to make sure that I didn’t just, I certainly didn’t want to just focus on the UK, because I didn’t feel that would give people the idea of exactly what was happening globally.

Something I found particularly troubling was how numb we became to the ongoing death toll and I don’t mean to sound insensitive, but in isolation all we could do was watch the numbers climb.

Steve Gleadhill – But I didn’t want to home in. I didn’t basically want to say, oh, well, here are the statistics, I think, because it wasn’t that it wasn’t incidental, but it was only one factor of everything that was happening to us.

He focuses instead on things you may not have considered like animals and our environment.

Steve Gleadhill – But the animals, it was quite interesting because, again, once COVID came in, you suddenly found these animals reappearing where they used to be. And the story in Australia is that there were kangaroos going along the streets of Adelaide during the COVID. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They were bouncing about through the streets because nobody was there and they were doing it. There’s a wonderful cartoon of these animals looking through a window at humans like we would look through them at a zoo. And it was quite funny. But, yeah, then, of course, what happened was, again, with pollution, for instance, one of the statistics I came across in one of the books was that the amount of deaths through pollution normally is very high, and suddenly it dropped fantastically because the factories were shut, etc. There wasn’t all the stuff there. But yet, very quickly, of course, we’re back to that level of pollution.

Have we learned any lessons at all? That is a key takeaway. He says for a moment our country’s wildlife got a reprieve but now the number of animals on the endangered species list is absolutely horrific. We do have the wisdom of perspective but are we smart enough to do anything with it. I guess that is the million dollar question. It’s also why his book cover features a finger pushing the globe off a cliff.

Steve Gleadhill – When I came across this, I couldn’t believe my luck because it’s not just the globe. It’s the fact that somebody is pushing it over the edge. And that’s exactly the feeling I wanted to generate among readers in looking at the book. We came close. I don’t want to be overdramatic. I don’t think we came close to the world ending, but we came close to pushing ourselves and certain things to that edge. And to some extent, I still feel even now when I look at some of the politics, even now, they are results of what we went through in that time.

The book is Reverberations, Book Two: Oh Brave New Normal World: Living with Coronavirus by Steve Gleadhill. Was COVID a turning point for humanity, pushing the world to the edge? And are we wise enough to apply the lessons it taught us? The answers will differ for each of us, but the questions are worth asking. You can find the books now on Amazon or wherever you shop online. And that will do it for this edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com.

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Fremantle, founded in 1829, tells the story of Western Australia through its hotels. From the colony’s first four inns to the bustling port town of 1890, The Inns and Outs of Fremantle traces how pubs shaped its streets, culture, and community. To know these hotels is to know Fremantle itself.

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Back in April I told you about a town on the edge of the Indian Ocean where you can still walk the same streets your great-great-grandparents once did. A place where colonial jails still stand, where the old inns shaped politics and society, and where a town hall from 1887 still anchors the community.

Today we are going to have another look at the town of Fremantle in Western Australia through the eyes of author and historian Alan Graham. He’s spent more than forty years documenting the details of this remarkable port city. In part one of our conversation we examined the early days — how Fremantle was founded, who shaped its growth, and why its hotels tell us more about survival than simple recreation.

To set the stage: Fremantle wasn’t founded until 1829, decades after Sydney and other settlements in the east. Unlike them, it was meant to be a “free” colony — no convict labor, just settlers trying to build a life on their own. That sounded noble, but in practice, it was brutally hard.

Alan Graham – Well, they were very tough. The colony was formed in a bit of a rush, really. The eastern states had been formed from 1788 on the east coast, and by then I’m talking about cities like Sydney. But Fremantle and Perth, Western Australia, weren’t formed until 1829. That’s when my book starts. And where was Sydney at the help with convicts being transported from the UK to the east states? We’re going to be a free sector, so all the people coming out to Western Australia were going to be looking after themselves. No help with convicts or anything like that. And probably the colony got off to a bit of a bad start. No real planning went into it. So the 1830s and 1840s, and going into the 1850s, were very, very hard times for these new settlers to Western Australia.

He says many of the new settlers were expecting opportunity instead of the barren, unforgiving landscape that they found. So they immediately left.

Alan Graham – And often people turned around when they arrived here and thinking, hang on, we’re not going to stay here. This is not what we thought it was going to be like. They thought it was going to be some type of utopia.So the 30s and 1830s, 1840s, and part of the 1850s would probably be the hardest times in Western Australia’s history.

Alan’s first book, The Inns and Outs of Fremantle, covers 1829 to 1856. It’s framed by two governors who, in different ways, defined the colony’s drinking culture and politics.

Alan Graham – Well, the two governors I talk about mostly are the gentleman called Governor Stirling. He was the very first governor. He had been here to WA in Western Australia in 1827.And he’s the person who wrote the report to say that Western Australia could be a good place for a colony. But he probably embellished the report a bit and made it to be grander than what it turned out to be. When the colony was started, he then became the governor for the next eight years. But really a lot of people thought, gee, Stirling, you kind of led us a little bit along here with what you kind of promoted.

Stirling painted Western Australia as a land of plenty, but it was more mirage than reality. By the 1850s, Governor Kennedy faced a different challenge.

Alan Graham – Western Australia is taking convicts. So we took 9,700 male convicts from the UK between the years 1850 to 1868. Now, when Governor Kennedy arrived here in 1855, there’s a real big problem with drinking in the colony. So he thinks, gee, we’ve got too many hotels. So he set out to de-license a number of those hotels. So the start and finish of my book starts with Governor Stirling, and it finishes with Governor Kennedy, and it traces the drinking history between those years, 1829 to 1856.

You can de-license all the hotels in town, and people will still find a way to drink — ask Al Capone. From Stirling’s exaggerations to Kennedy’s crackdown, Fremantle’s first decades were shaped as much by leadership as by the settlers themselves. In his new book, Part Two of the trilogy, Alan takes us from the 1850s to the 1890s.

Alan Graham – Well, okay, the hotel numbers have been reduced now because of Governor Kennedy’s impetus, and really then there’s a moratorium on hotel numbers. So, for instance, Fremantle had nine hotels, and it’s now dropped back to five hotels in 1857. And it stays that way until 1872 when there’s a change to the licensing laws, and over time Fremantle starts to build and increase its hotel numbers again. People took the opportunity of a change in the licensing laws to think, well, hang on, this is a good opportunity to get into the hotel trade. So you start to see the hotel numbers increasing incrementally. But what’s just as important with my book is I call it the ins and outs, so the emphasis is on the ins there, I double NS, and the outs.

Fremantle wasn’t just about hotels. Streets, inns, and public buildings like the Town Hall were giving the town a recognizable shape.

Alan Graham – For instance, our town hall was built in 1887. So that’s a big part of the storyline of the new book. So now I’ve got part one and part two of the trilogy published now.

But while hotels and town halls tell us about the people and politics, the sea was Fremantle’s engine. Ships brought goods, passengers, and ideas, shaping the town’s character as much as any building or law.

Alan Graham – Well, we’re a port, so we’re pretty much a seafarer town. We still didn’t have our own Fremantle harbour. We have a very prominent international harbour now, but that wasn’t open until 1897. We had a couple of jetties, which weren’t that really popular with seafarers because they were very exposed to some fairly rough ocean off our coast here in WA. So there’s a lot of negative stories from seafarers talking about, OK, there may be a jetty, but it’s still a precarious one to unload at. But nonetheless, we either had the jetty where we had men working on the jetty unloading, so we’re a port, so a lot of people working on the jetties and servicing the boats. Often ships unloaded at sea, so they had what they called lighter men, where their cargoes would be put onto sort of barges and then brought onto the shore as well. So we’re pretty much a sort of maritime town.

Precarious or not, the port kept Fremantle alive — fueling trade, agriculture, and wool exports. The old jail still stands too, and if you’re visiting, it’s worth a wander. In fact, while we’re on the subject of the jail, you need to hear about the famous escape of the “Fremantle Six.”

Allen Graham – Here is a hotel in Fremantle that’s now called the Orient Hotel. But in the 1870s, that was a hotel called the Emerald Isle. And it was run by a fellow called Maloney. So he’s got Irish connections. But one of the big folklore stories of Western Australia’s history is the escape of the Fenians. Now, I don’t know whether that’s a story that’s come up to your audience before, but we had a lot of transported convicts in the 1850s. A lot of them were people from Ireland, but there was a kind of plot that was hatched. Some of these Irish Fenians were actually smuggled out. They escaped from Fremantle jail on an American waiver called the Catalpa. Now, it was an Irish American that was actually placed himself in Fremantle at this hotel, the Emerald Isle, and was able to steal the six Fenians out of Western Australia. So it was a big international event in world history at that time. And those Fenians escaped on this American waiver called the Catalpa and made their way back to Boston.

Smithsonian Magazine calls the Catalpa rescue “an audacious prison break as elaborate and preposterous as any Ocean’s Eleven script,” so it’s definitely worth looking into.

As Alan says, sometimes history isn’t just something you read about — it’s something you can walk. Fremantle’s streets, its inns, and its jetties carry the stories of those who lived and worked here long before us.

Alan Graham – As I said, I’ve got this website, Fremantle History Walking Tour. I’ve had good reviews on that

Whether you read his books or stroll the streets with a tour, Alan Graham makes it easy to step back in time and experience Fremantle through its inns, ports, pubs, and hidden corners. With Fremantle’s 200th anniversary coming up in 2029, maybe it’s the perfect excuse to add Perth to your travel bucket list.

Alan Graham – Yeah, we’re celebrating our 200th anniversary in 2029. So we’re five years short of that at the moment. So my books are kind of meant to come out to be a little bit of a matching that sort of big anniversary date in 2029.

And yep — books, plural. It’s a trilogy. The first two are already out: Part One dives into the early settlers, hardships, and convicts. Part Two explores Fremantle’s growth, laws, and architecture. And Part Three? Well, we’ll just have to wait and see.

The Inns and Outs of Fremantle 1829–1929: A Social History of Fremantle and its Hotels by Allen Graham. Available now wherever you like to buy books.

And that will do it for this edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com

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Selena thought she had it all; a glamorous life and a storybook romance. But her charming husband hides a dark side, and running away isn’t enough. Settling in a small Georgia town, Selena must face danger, mysterious strangers, and a relentless past. Can she survive—and find love along the way? Tune in as PJ Ellis takes us on a thrilling ride in After You, My Dear, I Will Always Follow You.

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Sometimes, a single event can change the course of your life. Today, we’re diving into a work of fiction that might hit close to home for some of you. Think about those moments that challenge us—the ones that make us question everything we thought we knew; when life pivots and the world you once relied on unravels, leaving you standing at the edge of something new.

For Selena LaRoche, the glamorous international model at the heart of P.J. Ellis’s After You, My Dear, I Will Always Follow You, that moment comes when she makes the brave decision to RUN.

Here’s a sneak peek at the beginning of Chapter 1, titled SELENA:

A.I. Voice Actor (Emma):As my plane climbed to the stratosphere, I leaned forward past my seat-mate. Like a petulant child, I had taken an aisle seat to avoid seeing the mountain range. But as the first peaks appeared, I knew I had to say goodbye. The summit materialized through the cloud cover, majestic in its beauty but leaving me discouraged and depressed. The sight stalked us for many minutes. I leaned back and closed my eyes, but the image was burned into my lids. Stalking was a subject I knew something about. My ex-husband, Victor LaRoche, had pursued me for three years as though he had to consume me to survive. I ran for my life. We were still together when he received the separation notice I had filed. He gunned his engine and roared into the driveway, crashing into the porch and demolishing three steps. Slamming the front door so hard the frame cracked, he stomped up the stairs and strode into the bedroom within an inch of me. I was terrified but managed to hold my head up.He gripped my jaw with his left-hand prosthesis and slapped my face with the right hand that held the summons. The paper contacted me with a loud crack.”You will not do this, Selena,” he said softly but coldly. His voice rose, “As long as you live, you will never try to do this again.” He emphasized, and his voice roared, “As long as you live!” He crumpled the paper in his right hand, then drew his left arm back, and I screamed and ducked. The prosthesis bored through the sheetrock, and the mechanism disengaged, embedding the multimillion bionic forearm in the bathroom wall like someone had severed it from his body with an axe. I wanted to laugh at him but did not want to hasten my demise.

And so it begins. Selena LaRoche, a gorgeous, thirty-five year old model; a six-foot beauty, leaves behind the life she thought was secure—fame, luxury, adventure—and now…the difficult journey of reclaiming her independence.

P.J. Ellis – I’ve known a lot of women who have been in this or similar situations. And I have been a little closer to this than I want to be. So, like Selena, when there’s a divorce, you not only leave the man, you leave a life behind, you leave your friends behind. And this is what happened to her. She has no remaining friends. I mean, she’s virtually alone. And it’s a fight for her self-determination and her independence

Selena’s journey takes her to Andersonville, Georgia—the site of a Civil War POW camp and while there is no comparison between her and the people who died there, she does feel imprisoned by her circumstances.

She left behind a lot so r ebuilding won’t be easy—but she’s not alone for long. Carl Rich, a widowed detective with his own troubled past, steps into her world. He becomes both protector and partner, offering insight, protection and dare I say the possibility of love.

P.J. Ellis – There is surveillance going on, there’s a crime in her backyard. And she meets a pair of detectives who want to try to solve some of these happenings that are going on. So one of the detectives turns out to be a romantic partner. His name is Carl. He wants to care for her and there is a marriage.

Selena also encounters Mia, a young girl trapped in a dangerous situation. The book is a romantic thriller, but it touches on social issues like abuse, control, and exploitation, showing how courage and compassion can make a difference.

P.J. Ellis – It’s a romantic thriller. I think it also addresses a couple of social issues in that Selena, you know, is in a common, unfortunately, a common place in a relationship that’s turned sour, where someone has become controlling and domineering. And that’s not exclusive to women, both physically and emotionally. And there’s also the child. She’s become involved in a porn ring and Selena is actively trying to get her, release her from that lifestyle. So there are a couple of social issues in addition to the entertainment value that I hope the reader comes away with.

Pam says, you have to have a plot but she does like to let her characters speak for themselves, letting each scene unfold naturally. There is a unique name for this kind of writer.

P.J. Ellis – Well, I am what you call a pantser in the writing world, which means that I write by the seat of my pants. So, you know, when I sit down, the curtains draw across the stage, and I’m ready to meet my characters. So writing is something I’ve always wanted to do. I guess I’ve always been writing in my head, but never had the time to put it on paper. So I’m retired now, and I have that time, and I’m really enjoying it.

It’s proving to be a good approach; it allows for authentic surprises, plot twists, and real emotion.

P.J. Ellis – Some of the reviews I’ve gotten say that it’s a roller coaster ride, you know, but I really enjoyed it.

Part of that is because every chapter had a tease at the end so the result is a thriller that’s both entertaining and socially relevant.

P.J. Ellis – Well, the ending to After You, My Dear is things are kind of left in a toss-up. The sequel continues on Selena’s journey with the detective Carl she met in the first book. They build a life together. But they are still battling Selena’s past

In the book Selena leaves the life she thought was secure. She was married to Victor LaRoche; wealthy, charming, seemingly perfect until his narcissistic, abusive stalker side emerged. And while this is a work of fiction it mirrors real life in a sense because the journey to freedom is never easy. Along the way, Selena does learn some important lessons: a woman can successfully leave an abusive relationship; people can recover from a broken past and start over; and some of the people closest to you can betray you.

P.J. Ellis – Selena has made a regrettable choice and the book is about her bid for independence, because this guy is not going to give up.

How far will Victor LaRoche go to reclaim what he thinks is his? And what about Mia. Can Selena save her? Just a couple of the many questions you’ll find answers to in After You, My Dear: I will always follow You by P.J. Ellis is an author that invites all of us to witness the power of starting over, the dangers of betrayal, and the strength it takes to reclaim your life.

And that will do it for this edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com

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From a boyhood in Carriacou to a globe-spanning career in medicine, Alfred Fitzgerald Brathwaite’s life is a story of resilience, culture, and family. Tune in, then read about it in his book The Also-Ran But a Champion: The Travels of a Kayak from Carriacou to Oahu.

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Every time I visit a tropical location I swear that someday I’m going to live there. I realize that this typical of the vacation mindset and I dismiss it as fantasy but I do love a good ocean breeze in the morning and so today let’s live vicariously through someone who actually did it, Alfred Fitzgerald Brathwaite.

Alfred – Well, I thank you very much for having me.

Alfred’s life is full of enough stories to fill several books so he’s the perfect author for Newsgram — fascinating people living their lives in interesting ways.

Alfred’s story begins on the Caribbean island of Carriacou, a place where the culture of the islanders was passed down through generations, a heritage rooted in Africa and preserved despite the hardships of the plantations.

Life there was full of community, tradition, and small adventures that shaped him from boyhood and it’s that culture that he is now trying to preserve. Over time, that little boy from Carriacou would go on to travel the world — from Jamaica to New York, Hawaii, Canada, and South America — while following what would eventually become his true calling: medicine.

All of this is captured in his new autobiography, The Also-ran but a Champion: The Travels of a Kayak: from Carriacou to Oahu, which tells the story of a life filled with adventure, resilience, and family.

Alfred – The title of the book, I would say originated from my alma mater, my school song, but with inputs, so to speak, from my mother. My mother was the driving force behind whatever I did up to my age as a man, and she always hinted that I would not be a champion because I did foolish things at times, and she would say, oh, you will get 95, but you will never get 100, and I wanted to prove her wrong on that.

That title perfectly captures his life — sometimes overlooked, sometimes celebrated, always striving.

So how does a boy from a small Caribbean island become a doctor, a pathologist, and a lecturer who has seen the world? Alfred admits he didn’t know at first.

Alfred – Even without knowing how, but having a desire to accomplish something, must remain with someone, because when I said I was going to be a doctor, I had no idea how one was going to become a doctor. I knew nothing, except that maybe a doctor in Carioca, the only doctor, there was only one, might have impressed me, but I honestly do not know why I decided that I wanted to be a doctor. I don’t know if it’s because I wanted to help people, I don’t know if it’s because it was maybe a means of making money, I just wanted to be a doctor. For me to say to you, Well, it was this reason or that reason, I would be dishonest if I said anything like that, but once it was implanted in my brain, and with that determination, not only from myself, but what was instilled in me by that lady I called my mother, that propelled me along the way towards success in a sense.

That determination took him to Jamaica on a scholarship. And because he has a lust for life, he found time to raft the rivers, dance to reggae, and soak in the island culture.

Alfred – I received a scholarship to study medicine in Jamaica, but the funds from the scholarship were not sufficient for the entire course. The government of Grenada at that time provided the rest of the funds, but always with the understanding, not only by them, but by me, that it was a commitment to return to Grenada. Having finished my medical school, I made the decision that I should see as much of the world as possible towards my specialization in medicine, in a branch of medicine, before returning to Grenada. It was because of that that I went to Nassau to do my internship.

So it was off to Nassau to take in the colorful pageantry of Junkanoo; then New York where he became a fan of the Knicks; Hawaii and Ottawa where he got to experience the cold winds of Canada.

Alfred – And then I returned to Grenada

Ready to serve, story over. Oh come on. You know better than that. Life always has other plans.

Alfred – hings just did not work out over two or three years in Grenada. Fortunately, in a conference, someone came to me and said, Hey, are you a pathologist?I said, Yes. He said, My country needs a pathologist right now and that was Suriname. I didn’t know where Suriname was, so my first question to him was, Where is Suriname?

That chance encounter then took him to South America for three years, practicing forensic pathology and teaching medical students. Along the way, he even found time for football in Brazil, tango in Argentina, and sampling rums in Guyana. Later adventures took him to Dominica, the “Nature Island,” Trinidad for Carnival, and the yachting capital of the Antilles, the British Virgin Islands. Eventually, he and his family settled in Freeport, Bahamas, where they enjoy a simple life full of culture and love.

Alfred – Each one can but do his best. The winner’s display depends on the effort of all the rest. To be in the van is not all, for each has to play his role. The team wins the match at football, though one man must kick the goal, and that was a stanza in my school song, and it has stayed with me since then.

Teamwork, community, and doing your part. These lessons shaped Alfred’s life. He say’s being a champion isn’t about medals or fame; it’s about contributing, learning, and making a difference and those lessons are woven throughout his book.

Alfred – Well, the initial purpose was to preserve what I had experienced as a child from the age of knowledge, so to speak, to about 11 years. And the impression gained by me in later years that what I was exposed to as a child was being lost, and I did not wish for that to happen. So the book actually started with adventures, so to speak, but within a village of a small unknown island, and it involved not only the events that were taking place, which at the time didn’t make much of a difference to me, and the culture that was a part of the events, and of course the people that I was exposed to. And I felt within myself that somehow, if I can play a part in preserving these things, at least I would have felt pleased with myself.

All of Alfred’s remarkable stories are now preserved in The Also-ran but a Champion: The Travels of a Kayak: from Carriacou to Oahu. It’s a journey of culture, adventure, medicine, and resilience. From a barefoot boy in Carriacou to a world-traveling doctor, teacher, and storyteller, Alfred’s life shows how determination, curiosity, and the courage to take a leap can carry you farther than you ever imagined.

His story reminds us that anyone can achieve with focus and effort, that positive influences can shape our path, and that there is wisdom to be gained from the past. The book is available now on Amazon or wherever you buy books.

And that will do it for this edition of news gram from webtalkradio.com.

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Welcome to this edition of Newsgram!

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Apple PodcastsAndroidRSSYou probably don’t know this about me, but I’ve always been a bit of an introvert—and, if I’m being honest, a bit of a people pleaser. I’m not saying I’ve always been good at it, but I do have a hard time saying no. So when today’s topic landed on my desk, it struck a chord.

Today, we meet Monique Worgess. She may not be a household name—yet—but her journey fits into a long tradition of quiet voices who’ve stepped into the light. Think Maya Angelou, Michelle Obama, Lady Gaga… all people who learned to value the thing they once tried to hide. Another well-known introvert? Susan Cain, author of Quiet.

Monique Worgess – I read the book Quiet by Susan Cain. And she has a TED talk also where she talks about shyness and being an introvert and the difference. And that really resonated with me. Because I guess how it’s perceived, for the most part, it’s like everyone should be an extrovert. And then introverts they’re not as confident, they don’t really get the promotions or whatever that may be. But that’s definitely not true. Because I feel like all the information and things I know now, I feel like they’re probably half and half when it comes to extroverts versus introverts. And there’s a lot of very key people who are introverted, but you would never necessarily know that. Because they’re able to have that persona that they need when they need to deliver something and things like that. So I feel a lot more confident in my approach these days. And not being, I need to conform to what others are saying, just because I have a different opinion, which I refer to in the book as well.

Cain’s TED Talk, The Power of Introverts, has been viewed over 30 million times, and her book started a global conversation about the strength of being introverted. Monique, like Cain, didn’t just find her voice—she’s using it to validate others like her in her own book, It’s Okay to Feel Like This: Suppressed Thoughts of an Introvert.

Monique Worgess – I just finally been feeling finally feeling comfortable, I guess, being the introvert that I am. And yes, I just wanted to share that with others.

When she says “feeling comfortable,” she’s talking about those moments when we stay silent even when we have something to say—moments that can shape a career.

Monique Worgess – So, for example, one of the key things in the book that I’ve said is, so let’s say I’m in a meeting, there’s about 20 people in the room and there’s something that’s being discussed and then everyone will be in agreement. But then I will have a different view. But then because of how shy I was at the time, and then I’m thinking, well, if everyone’s in agreement, then that must be the correct way of thinking. So then there’s no point me saying what I have to say. And I remember I had a manager one time and I guess he realized how I was kind of coming across in those meetings. And he came over to me and he said, Monique, is everything OK? And I was like, yeah, everything’s fine. And he was like, what’s your thoughts on what we discussed today? And I said to him and then he said, oh, I think that’s the idea that we’ll go with. And then that shocked me because, again, I was thinking, you know, I have a low self-esteem as well. So you’re like, well, if everyone’s thinking that way, that must be the correct way of thinking. But then again, I guess that the way he managed helped me to, I guess, come out of my shell a bit more and to speak up more, even when it is different, as opposed to going at the crowd.

Kudos to that manager—leaders who notice and make space for quieter voices are rare. But Monique’s journey isn’t just about meetings. It’s also about identity, self-esteem, and the things we hide.

Monique Worgess – So I’m someone, I have always been a person at school who had a different hairstyle every day. And I think there was one moment, I guess, if you could ever turn back the hands of time. So I remember my sister wanted to dye my hair one time and I always said no, no, no. And then I finally gave in. And it felt like from that moment, that was the beginning of the end. So I think I was around 18 and I actually started to lose my hair. And it got to a point where it couldn’t, it wasn’t contained anymore, so the only option was to cut it. And that made me feel so, because you know when you feel like you’ve lost my identity in a way, because being that person had different hairstyles and just couldn’t do that anymore. And also being female as well and having no hair as well. So I actually hid in the house for about three or so years at the time. I just didn’t like the look, I didn’t want to be mistaken for a man or anything like that. But whereas now I love my hair, it always took time to kind of grow into it.

If you google her, you’ll see Monique keeps her hair extremely short—and she wears it beautifully. But that confidence came later.

Monique Worgess – So I would say this book is for people who find it hard to express themselves. I guess, in a nutshell, you can say self-sabotage. But in the world we live in today, I feel like people are moving more and more away from speaking. And I guess that community aspect and things like that. And I guess things can only get better when you kind of talk about them. And so I actually realized that in my ways that not talking or being reserved doesn’t necessarily help. And that can potentially even create barriers when it comes to creating new relationships and things like that as well. So I guess I would just say it’s for anyone who has had a similar path in life, but then is actively open to wanting to make a change for the better.

Introversion may be something you’re born with, but life experiences shape how it shows up. For Monique, one of the most defining experiences was what she calls the Dark Figure.

Monique Worgess – I grew up in Jamaica. I currently live in London at the moment. And so I left Jamaica when I was 11 years old to come to the UK because my family was moving. I wanted to move here. And so life was great in Jamaica, so to speak. But then when we came here. We started to live with what’s known as a dark figure in the book. It felt like five years of living in hell, so we left around when I was 16 years old and I wanted to write the book then. But honestly, if I had written the book, then it would have been a lot more bitter than it is today. But so fast forward many decades on and then I had a career break. And that was a time when I finally had the chance to sit back and just write the book that I always wanted to write, into words that potentially help others who are potentially feeling the same way.

Abuse breeds self-doubt. Monique’s advice? Stop being a mind reader—because most of the time, what you think others are thinking about you isn’t true.

Monique Worgess – I was also an over-thinker as well. So it’s almost like you’re making up things in my head about what I think other people are saying or thinking about me. That’s not actually true. So now I’ve created a whole situation of something that wasn’t true to begin with. And then that’s the fact that’s in my head when, again, none of this is true. And then that just, again, that affects everything. It will just affect everything around you because it’s not true. And then it’s just more barriers have been put in place. And it’s just a never-ending cycle.

Writing this book took time, time she only found because of a career break.

Monique Worgess – So I think having the career break, that was probably the first time I’ve ever been able to slow down because being constantly on the go. Always busy, always doing something. But then just having that 14 months to just think, OK, what do I want to do with my life? Up to now, things haven’t quite worked out as I’d like them to be. So going back to some of those stories, some of the pain and even talking to family members as well, because, you know, even though we all go through what you would say, we’re in the same situation, we experience things very differently. And you even remember things very differently as well. And then just really seeing where the problem was and what lied with me and just actively putting processes in place and just gaining knowledge to see how I can improve the way I think about myself and how I want to show up in the world moving forward.

She says that while we as introverts share similar traits it’s important to remember that your journey is your own. There is no right or wrong way to transform or become the person you are trying to be. You need to ensure that you do it at your own pace and when you are ready. Her story is one that I think you’ll find interesting but it’s not a blueprint. It is a reminder that the past doesn’t get to be the author of our future, it’s just one chapter. The real power lies in deciding which parts we carry forward, and which we leave behind. And one of the bravest things we can do is give ourselves permission to step out of the shadows. The book, It’s OK to Feel Like This: Suppressed Thoughts of an Introvert, is available online wherever you buy books. And that will do it for this edition of newsgram from Webtalkradio.com

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From plumber to globe-trotting adventurer, one man’s journey takes him from Australia to Madagascar and the Solomon Islands, where life-or-death moments, miracles, and the mysteries of the spirit world unfold. He evacuates a hospital under siege, survives two plane emergencies, feeds 12,000 after a cyclone, and even spends two nights among cannibals. But what he discovers on his final night at the hospital will leave you stunned.

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Have you ever had the feeling that you weren’t alone—even when you were?
I’m not talking about paranoia or shadows in the dark. I mean that quiet, undeniable sense that someone—or something—is watching over you. Maybe it’s God, a guardian angel, or the spirit of a loved one who’s passed on. Whatever name you give it, you know deep down: this moment is more than coincidence.

Let’s set the scene.

You’re alone, driving through the countryside of central New South Wales. The road stretches ahead as you make your way toward Junee. Everything seems ordinary—until it isn’t.

Ira Dawson – The car stops. To this day, I know I did not stop that car. And it really shook me to say, well, someone’s looking after me.

That’s just a glimpse of what you’ll find in Ira Dawson’s memoir, This Boy Will Never Make Old Bones. I love spotlighting authors that have unique stories to tell and I don’t think we’ve ever met one that lived a true action adventure like Ira Dawson. Here is how the book begins.

Quote read by actor: “…About six kilometres out of the town, a pea-soup fog blanketed the
road. It was impossible to see any farther than one white line ahead
in the centre of the road, and that was only possible with my head
out the window. The road was familiar, as this was not my first time
to travel it. As I drove slowly along, it soon became apparent that Ishould have reached the town by now, but there was not a light in
sight.

For a reason that can’t be explained, I stopped the vehicle with
the idea of seeing where the road went to from here. Then out of the
fog came a bright light, and all was clear. The car had stopped just
four metres from a level crossing, and it was a goods train that was
rushing by with its whistle blowing. No doubt the driver was
thinking, That idiot! Why did he stop so close to the tracks?
The real reason was “that idiot” was well and truly lost, not even
on the right road, a road he had never travelled before. As the train
sped by, a cold sweat came over me, and my hair felt as if it were
standing up on end. What had made me stop-what was it? There was
no real reason to stop there. Feeling that someone had really looked
after me, I realized that, but for the grace of God, I would have been
killed, and perhaps He had a plan for my life. My heart was filled with
thankfulness to Him.

Shortly after this experience, my wife, Myra, and I took a nine month
around-the-world trip, which also contributed to changing
our life’s direction….”

That trip turned into a life-changing journey, full of moments you have to read to believe. Their experiences included being saved from death in Madagascar, evacuating a hospital on Solomon Island when it was held hostage by 250 armed warriors to visiting a remote location inhabited by Cannibals. Why? Well, because they invited him.

Ira Dawson – They said, would you come and visit us up in our region? Well, everyone, the local people went bonkers. You’re not going up there. They’re cannibals. I’ll kill you and eat you. And I said, yeah, but they’re hungry.

So he went because he felt like he was being called to serve and maybe he was right because he received safe passage, through cannibal territory, funded by the Australian government and on the way there he got bit on the ear by something and thanks to his resourceful guide his life was saved.

Ira Dawson – So at any rate, he digs it out. Slashes it in two. Says here, put that on your ear. And rub your ear with the juice of that. Which I did. And as true as I sit here before you, within one minute, all my pain is gone. And I was stupid enough not to turn around and find out what it was.

The reviews for this book say it’s a book once you start you cannot put it down from the first page to the very last and I tend to agree. Ira’s life is one lived to the fullest his stories are full of intrigue as he traveled with his wife working on various islands and uncovering the mysteries found there.

Ira Dawson – So it all started when we got married in 1957. We were married 66 years before she died of dementia. But that’s behind us. What happened in the stories? It started off, we did this world trip. And for a young couple in those days, it was a big trip. And we went by bus from Calcutta to London. That’s a long way by bus.

Yes it is. It is roughly 7,000 miles depending on your exact path through countries like Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, and Europe.

Ira Dawson – And we were 70 days on the trip. And we looked at this, we looked at that, you know, as you went through the different countries. My wife said, you know, some of these places are so poor. We ought to do something to help them. I said, come on, we’re not United Nations.

But that little nudge led him down a trail of experiences that you need to read about. Like the one where the Devilman, chief of the Cannibals tried to kill him, but in the end he become a very dear friend.

Ira Dawson – So I go down. In the river, I meet the devil’s head, Silas Nicker. Who, if I would have had somewhere to go to look at him, he was frightening. He was a real devil man. And I thought, there’s nowhere I can run to. And when he spoke, no one else spoke other than me.

Making friends with the Devilman was just one story but Ira has a ton of them. There was the time he negotiated for food to feed 12,000 people in Malaita when a cyclone hit the Solomon Islands, two different airplane emergencies and the time he discovered a spice tree in Madagascar and harvested over twenty-one and half kilos of Cloves to help build a school there.

Ira Dawson – Cloves. One of the few countries that grow cloves. And they only yield every five years.

I think Ira Dawson has led a wonderful life because he did it in the service of others – and that is not always easy but as you can see, it’s very rewarding. He is now Eighty Nine years old. You can probably hear that in his voice but this is a man that was not expected to live past the age of ten.

Ira Dawson – When I was four and a half years old, I developed an illness. It was wartime and it was very difficult to get doctors. The doctor we did get was not very familiar with what I had and misdiagnosed it. And then finally she said, look, we don’t know exactly what it is that he’s got, but this is Dawson. Don’t spend much money on him because he won’t live beyond 10 years old. And my mother thought, no, I’m not going to give away that easy. And so she just loved me. And here I am now, 89.

The power of love is very strong.

Ira Dawson – My mother said I was never going to make old bones.

But she did her best—and now you see where the title came from — it’s a fast-moving, real-life adventure that will keep you turning pages. It’s packed with near-death experiences, miracles, and moments that make you stop and ask: How did he survive that?

I like to think his mother was—and still is—watching over him.

This Boy Will Never Make Old Bones is a powerful reminder that sometimes, against all odds, we do.

It’s available now at Amazon.com or wherever you prefer to buy books online.

And that’ll do it for this edition of Newsgram from webtalkradio.com.

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1946 brings to life the amazing journey of Reg and Edwina — two people who came from very different worlds. Edwina was raised in New York’s high society, while Reg started out small-town but went on to change the game in navigation and wartime tech. This is a real, honest look at two extraordinary lives that history almost forgot told with love by their grand daughter Diana.

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Today, I’m bringing you a firsthand look at two extraordinary lives that history nearly forgot. Thanks to author Diana Gillmor, we now have their stories—stories that include dinners with royalty, friendships with world leaders, and innovations that changed how we navigate the sea and sky. One of them was a self-made visionary who helped revolutionize aviation and defense technology. The other? A high-society debutante from the Gilded Age with secrets of her own. Yes, Winston Churchill once stayed at their house—but until recently, even Diana didn’t know the full extent of her grandparents’ remarkable lives.

Diana Gillmor – It’s a great study in the lives of two people during that time period and how one of them is very rich and one of them is not very rich and how they got together and their, how their life went.

As Diana Gillmor puts it, her book, 1946: A True Story of Wealth, Extraordinary Success and Great Tragedy is a fascinating study in contrast—one wealthy, one not—joined by fate and ambition.

As I began writing this edition of Newsgram it occurred to me that together, we have explored a lot of books and some pretty unforgettable personal journeys. Many of them came from diaries and memoirs—personal treasures uncovered long after their authors were gone.

We have also discovered some truly fascinating people like Martin Kaiser who uncovered corruption in the FBI. Thanks to Barbara Birchim we were able to experience “Searching For The Truth” a fiction-based-on-fact account of the Vietnam conflict inspired by her relentless pursuit of justice for her husband. Fascinating people sharing their personal journeys. I encourage you to look through the Newsgram archives at Webtalkradio.com there are over 186 episodes to choose from. But, every now and then, a story comes along that reads less like a memoir and more like an untold chapter of world history and that is where we are today.

Diana Gilmore recently decided to look a little closer at her own family history, and that gives us the chance to visit 1946 and the story of Reg and Edwina. Reg was a young, poor boy from America, who was one of the youngest graduates of the Naval Academy. He meets Edwina, a wealthy socialite from Mrs. Astor’s Gilded Age circle and together, they build a life that intersects with royalty, espionage and some of the most significant innovations of the 20th century. Let’s begin with her grandmother

Diana Gillmor – I knew my grandmother was one of Mrs. Astor’s 400. So that wasn’t really a surprise. But what really surprised me was how famous my grandfather was. He was the president of Ferry Gyroscope for 40 years. And he was the third employee. And when he went to work for them, there were only three people in this little shop at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge.

And in the course of studying both of them, I realized that they lived in London. And they, because my grandfather was selling equipment that the British Air Force and the Navy needed, they became really, really good friends with some very high up people in the British government, which was quite startling that they knew all these people like Winston Churchill and the Mountbatten’s. And they went to a lot of social occasions with them. That was really surprising.

Just to clarify, Caroline Schermerhorn Astor’s list of 400 included the crème de la crème of New York society; Why 400? Many reasons but for one, that was the capacity of her grand ballroom on Fifth Avenue. While we are here and due in part to the popularity of HBO’s The Gilded Age let’s dive a little deeper into New York high society.

Diana Gillmor – Yes. People seem to be very interested in that now. Apparently, how my grandparents got involved was they had a lot of money and they had a lot of the proper behavior. Mrs. Astor thought that you could not be part of her social circle if you had ever done anything to embarrass your family. And so they adhered to those rules. My grandmother’s father died in 1910 and they lived in Toledo, Ohio. And my grandmother’s mother said, let’s get away from Toledo because it’s very unfortunate for us that he died here. I’m thinking of going to New York. And some friends of hers had written and said, there’s a new hotel opening where you can rent a suite and they can supply flowers and they can supply a chef and waiters and housecleaning and all that. And you can have like a New York pied-à-terre, but you don’t have anything but the expense of it. And that happened to be the Plaza Hotel, which opened in 1910 and they were one of the first people to take up an apartment.

Yea let’s unpack that one because you’re gonna want a Time Machine. The current cost of a two bedroom apartment at the plaza…about 2000 square feet will run you somewhere around six million bucks. You can probably score a studio for just under a million but the Plaza is some prime real estate. Being one of the first to move into the Plaza would have been a pretty sweet investment.

Diana Gillmor – And I remember spending a lot of time, because I’m from New York, in the Palm Court, which is one of my favorite places in the Plaza.

That is just one of the many visual memories in her book but we are just getting started. Let’s talk about Diana’s grandfather because he would eventually run the company responsible for teaching us which way is up – literally. At only 23, her grandfather left the Navy and joined what was then a tiny little shop in Brooklyn.

Diana Gillmor – One time my father took me when I was a little girl to the Sperry gyroscope plant that was in Lake Success on Long Island. I think I was about 10 and it was nighttime and he drove me up to this hill and we looked down on what looked like a city to me, all lit up. And he said the entire thing was the Sperry gyroscope plant.

It grew quite a bit. Perry would eventually have 200,000 employees all around the world.

Diana Gillmor – Mr. Sperry was 53 when he met him, and my grandfather was 23. So when Mr. Sperry died, he became his protege and expanded the company to 200,000 employees around the world, and he was the president for 40 years.

That growth was mainly due to the success of their Gyroscope technology. It is everywhere including aviation, ships and submarines, spacecraft in fact it’s even in your pocket — it tells that smartphone you’re holding when to rotate the screen.

Diana Gillmor – They made things that even now are very essential. I used to own a flying school. And I, when I was much younger and I flew and I knew that if you didn’t have those six instruments in this tiny little plane that I own, you wouldn’t be able to fly.

From New York’s Gilded Age to the halls of the Sperry Gyroscope factory, Diana Gillmor’s book is rich with uncovered facts and vivid details from one of the most fascinating eras in American history—featuring some of the period’s most influential figures.

Diana Gillmor – And he became a great friend of Winston Churchill because Winston Churchill was very interested in introducing planes into the armament of Britain, even though the rest of the parliament didn’t think that was necessary. In fact, Churchill came to stay at our house. That was way before I was born, but that was an interesting thing.

Check this out. See if you find the thing that made me go…wait what.

Diana Gillmor – They lived in New York for a while, and then they lived in London during the bombing. And that really added to the story greatly because you saw the history of when New York subways were being built, and the history of the war, and when they were spies.

That was it. She drops that little nugget on us and then follows up with another visual that puts right there on a ship headed overseas.

Diana Gillmor – When my grandmother and grandfather went to Sherbrooke to spy for the U.S. government, my grandmother, her passport, she’s all dolled up in a fancy hat and everything.

So many cool things. In a world where technology and privilege still shape power, 1946 reminds us that the roots of modern influence and their cost can run deeper than we often realize.

Diana Gillmor – But the story also has a lot of tragedies.

Yes, 1946 isn’t just a tale of invention, high society and diplomacy. It also uncovers some deep tragedy including suicide, the emotional cost of ambition, and the reminder that money does not always buy happiness.

Diana Gillmor – The life of a debutante in New York. I would like them to see the life of a poor man from Wisconsin who made a lot of money being the representative of Sperry Gyroscope and the president for 40 years. And then I would like them to see that tragedy befalls even rich people. And there’s a lot of tragedy that you would not expect.

This episode was a lot of fun to write because at its core this program is about interesting people living their lives and letting us catch a glimpse of it. Whether it’s through their own words or those of skilled writer, it’s all about story telling. A little voyeurism.

So as we wrap up, I think it’s important to say—this book isn’t just a success story. It’s not just a love story. And it’s not just a history lesson either. 1946 is a reminder that behind every headline or groundbreaking invention, there are real people like Reg and Edwina—living their lives, driven by ambition, love, loss, and yes… a little gyroscope magic.

In her book 1946: A True Story of Wealth, Extraordinary Success and Great Tragedy, Diana Gillmor shares a story so incredible, not even her own family fully understood it—until now.

Thanks for listening to this edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com.

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Oh dear—Mona has lost her Teddy, and she has no idea where he’s gone. Maybe he’s hiding. Maybe he’s off on an adventure of his own. Today, we’re meeting Maisa Samman, the author behind Where is Teddy?, a story that blends childhood wonder with a bit of mystery and a lot of heart.

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In the previous edition of Newsgram we talked about Mathematics and how math is everywhere and I want to reflect on that concept for minute because finding a lost item or tracing your steps to find something you’ve lost is kind of like solving a little puzzle; listing clues, testing possibilities and working it out one step at a time. For Maisa Samman, that idea became the spark for Where is Teddy?

Maisa Samman – And it was for a math class where we had to come up with a children’s story based on mathematical concepts and prepositions. So that was really where I got the idea from, but really, you know, obviously the idea came from, you know, my own childhood experience of losing a favorite toy and really trying to find it.

It’s a great concept because who can’t relate to that? Whether it’s your keys or your phone or something else we can all relate to the idea of trying to find something we’ve lost. Maisa has taken it to a new level and put a kind of enchanted spin on it with a lovable teddy bear that keeps moving around.

Maisa Samman – Little Mona, you know, she’s lost her Teddy. She’s going on an adventure in her home, you know, there’s no limits for her. She’s going into every single room. It’s trying to recall every single place that she would possibly have left him. But, you know, he just keeps running off. And, you know, even as an adult, sometimes, you know, you’ve got to retype your steps and like, where did I put this? Like, where do I go? I have to go back in this room and go back in that room and trying to find what I’m looking for.

It’s a feeling that’s almost universal—the mix of frustration, curiosity, and hope.

Back in 1995, Pixar released its very first entirely computer-animated feature film, Toy Story. It wasn’t just groundbreaking technology—it was the first time so many of us stopped to wonder: what really happens to our toys when we’re not looking? That simple idea planted something magical in our imaginations. Suddenly, it didn’t seem so far-fetched that a toy wasn’t just misplaced…maybe it had a life of its own, and it simply wandered off on an adventure of its own.

Maisa Samman – Yeah, I guess I was low key inspired by Toy Story. Right. But like, you know, like, do my toys come alive when I do sleep? Like, I’ve got to keep an extra close eye on them. Like, you know, where do they go during the night or I’m not around? Like, are they really moving when I’m not around? Like, you know, so I sort of brought that to life. Like, you know, she doesn’t even remember where she put Teddy. So maybe he’s the one that’s like walked off.

She says what began as a twelfth-grade math project eventually grew into a children’s book incorporating mathematical concepts. Over time, it also became a project that helped her heal. Finishing the book wasn’t just about checking off a box on her bucket list—it was a way to reclaim a sense of purpose and joy during an incredibly difficult time.

Maisa Samman – I used to work in child care. So I would take this draft book and I’d read it to my students in child care. And they loved it. And then I’ve just recently gone through a separation and it’s a very stressful separation. So I was like, you know what, this is on my bucket list. I’ve always wanted to see my name on the shelf of the bookshop. You know, like I’ve always had this dream of publishing this book. So I focused my energy, my positive energy into creating this book and finally publishing it. And it’s just an amazing sense of achievement. And I really want to share this achievement with other people, other people that are struggling, single mums or anyone that’s going through a difficult time. Focus your energy on something positive that you’re proud of and something that you created, which is what I did.

Yea, there’s no hiding that when you read the book. The cover is very simple. Just the words “Where is Teddy?” And a series of question marks but inside it’s very different. That is where the real magic happens.

Maisa Samman – I just hope that it invokes this sense of mystery, adventure, curiosity, the just the fact that they have that option that they can join along with the sentences and they can join in. For example, if you’re reading it individually to a child or with a classroom, if you’re a teacher, like, you know, they can all join in and then that you’ve got that, you know, every all the children joining in in unison, reading this book and it is just, you know, wanting to know where is he? Where is he hiding?

Can you hear that? A whole classroom full of children gathered around for story time and yelling Where is he? Where is Teddy Hiding??? I love that.

Maisa Sammon – And I’m just proud of Mona in my own book because she’s doing it on her own. She’s searching for it on her own without any assistance.

A bit of hide and seek, a little detective work and some basic math to try and uncover the mystery behind this cheeky little, mischievous bear and its owner, little Mona.

Maisa Sammon – Mona is actually one of my auntie’s names. She’s very special to me. Um, and I’ve always liked that name and I found that very, it’s like a simple, very feminine name and it’s just cute. And I just thought, you know, I want to sort of, you know, name my character after my auntie. So that’s where I got the name idea from.

Just another element that makes this story feel so personal and so full of heart. If you have little ones, three years or older at home or know anyone that would enjoy Where is Teddy? by Maisa Samman it’s now available pretty much all over the internet.

Maisa Samman – So xlibris.com.au or xlibris.com or I also have my own social media, which is made by Mesa. So M A D E underscore B Y underscore Mesa, M A I S A. So you can find me on Instagram too. You can order directly from me or from the xlibris website.

If you didn’t write that down don’t worry about it. We have links for you in the show notes and if you’ve ever misplaced something important, then you’ll definitely be able to relate to Mona’s search. That will do it for this edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com. Thanks for listening.

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What if every child could love math—and be good at it? Dr. Paul Shoecraft says they can. In his book Arithmetic Counts, he reveals how understanding (not memorizing) helps kids truly own arithmetic—and the confidence that comes with it. Tune in to hear how we can finally fix the way we teach math.

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The other day I was talking to a friend of mine about my lack of math skills. It’s amazing how often we rely on math in daily life—and how often I wish I’d learned it better. I still remember my grammar school math teacher telling us how important it was. But instead of focusing on the math, I mostly noticed his short fuse and how frustrated he’d get trying to drill concepts into my head like a third-world dictator.

High school wasn’t much better. Algebra was required, and for some reason, my brain just didn’t click with it. But maybe that’s the problem. There’s nothing wrong with my brain. It was the system. No kid is going to win the, it’s you not me argument, but in reality we were right because the way math is taught in this country has been flawed for generations and today, with the help of Paul Shoecraft, author of Arithmetic Counts, I’m going to prove it.

Paul Shoecraft – Arithmetic is a language. It’s a written language for describing numeric events precisely and precisely. Events like paying bills, making out a budget, or buying a car.

That is a glimpse into the solution he’s created but first let’s examine the scope of the problem.

According to the U.S. Department of Education, more than half of American adults lack the basic math skills needed to function effectively in daily life—including things like comparing prices, calculating tips, or understanding basic graphs and like me Paul Shoecraft has had enough. It’s time to fix this problem. And it starts by forgetting about memorization—pun intended.

Paul says we have to look at things differently and stop focusing on memorization.

Paul Shoecraft – Exactly and it’s been that way for over 100 years. I didn’t start school until the first grade but in the first grade, we just added and subtracted small numbers. In the second grade, we did the same thing. In grade three, we also just added and subtracted small numbers. We didn’t get the multiplication and division until grade four and that’s holding children back. Oh my goodness, that’s four years. If you count kindergarten, K1, 2, and 3 are spent on just adding and subtracting small numbers so that children can memorize the addition and subtraction facts. We take four years trying to get children to memorize something that we know they’re going to forget. Not everyone has a good memory for the numbers so we know going in that we’re going to fail with a lot of children. We’ve demonstrated that every year for more than 100 years and yet we’ve done nothing about it.

Here’s another way to look at it. Remember those late nights when you were pumped up on sugar and caffeine?

Paul Shoecraft – Well, you didn’t cram for two weeks before the test, you crammed for the night before because you knew that if you crammed for too far in advance, you would start forgetting what you had tried to memorize or what you memorize

This really hits home for me because I believe in treating the problem not the symptoms. Paul’s system “Move it Math” was designed as an alternative to rote memorization of math facts, his system focuses on understanding concepts and active engagement. His system was piloted in elementary classrooms where they weren’t forced to memorize the number facts and you know what he found?

Paul Shoecraft – Well, they get it and when you know how to figure out the number of facts, when you can count them out and there’s 390 of them, that’s a lot to remember and most people can’t do that but there are some who can. Maybe 10 percent of the population can do that and they’ve become the standard but the rest of us who by definition are normal, no, we forget and we know forgetting is a human condition.

I won’t belabor this point any longer because I think you get it. There is a better way out there but the reason I’m so passionate about this is that struggling with math creates a feeling of failure and that can follow you around for the rest of your life.

Paul Shoecraft – The analogy I use here is checkers and chess. If you know how to play both games, I’ll bet it bothers you more to lose a game of chess than it does a game of checkers. Checkers is a child’s game. Chess, that’s for grown-ups and when you lose that, when you lose a chess, that’s like you’re pitting your intelligence against someone else’s intelligence and it hurts a little. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And you take children who are having difficulty in arithmetic because they keep forgetting, say, the number of facts like 2 plus 3 is 5 and 7 times 8 is 56. They just don’t jump into their minds like they’re supposed to if you memorize them. Well, they tend to doubt their ability to do math because they’re being told, hey, you have to know this by now, whatever that is. You have to practice this until you can say it or do it without even thinking. Just like you can say your own name. Well, that’s baloney. That’s baloney.

So why would we create a system that inherently instills a sense of failure in our kids? It’s not intentional. I know plenty of teachers who work very hard to avoid those feelings and to be fair many of them understand Paul’s system and use it in their own way but we are painting with a broad brush here because the majority of instructors do focus on memory and there is just something about math. When we can’t do it, it gets under our skin, at least it did for me.

Paul Shoecraft – I had a terrible time in history, for instance. I couldn’t remember names and dates for the darn. But you know, that never bothered me. I never thought I was stupid because I got seized in history in high school. I thought history was stupid. I don’t think that now. But I didn’t take it personally, doing poorly in history. But when I got confused in algebra in the ninth grade, I took that very personally. That bothered me. Wait a minute. This is about thinking. If I can’t do this well, I’m in trouble.

There’s not much we can do about that. But we can help kids better understand math—and avoid those feelings of hopelessness. It’s really important. I looked into this. Here is a trivia question for you. What professions are populated mostly by people who cannot do math? The answer is none. All work fields within our society require basic numeracy. All of them!

Paul Shoecraft – It’s a big deal. I didn’t realize it was such a big deal, frankly, until I wrote my book.

In 2022 Brian Butterworth published a book called “Can Fish Count?: What Animals Reveal About Our Uniquely Mathematical Minds and in it he says animals like bees and fish have innate math skills and he shows how studying them reveals where our sense of numbers comes from.

Butterworth argues that low numeracy has profound personal and societal costs. While some researchers debate the exact scope of these effects, his work underscores why this matters.

Paul Shoecraft – I’m going to read a quote here of what he said in his book, that a poor understanding of numbers is a serious handicap for individuals. Low numeracy can be a matter of life and death. A large-scale study of adults with colon cancer in the UK and US found that those with low numeracy were less likely to participate in screening, and were more likely to be defensive in getting cancer information, and hence more likely to be untreated or treated too late. In 2009, it was calculated that the cost of the lowest 6% of numeracy in England is about 2.4 billion pounds, or about $3 billion a year, in lost taxes, due to lower earnings, higher rates of unemployment, and increased costs of crime, education, and health. It’s a big deal.

Having said all this, I realize I’m probably talking to someone who struggles with math—and I get that. But if you’re anything like me, you’ll want to at least try to change things. Because there are real consequences to maintaining the status quo. Here’s an example.

Paul Shoecraft – Well, Microsoft, they moved one of their plants to Canada just because there they could hire the people they needed, but they couldn’t in the States because of immigration laws. Our children, they’re not prepared to do good jobs in America that require expertise in the STEM disciplines, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

He used the buzz word Immigration so I want to clarify that. In 2007, during the George W. Bush presidency, Microsoft opened a software development center in Vancouver, Canada and the stated reason was that U.S. immigration restrictions made it hard to hire skilled foreign workers in the U.S. so the point is they had no choice. There weren’t enough skilled workers here so they had to hire from somewhere else and it’s not getting any better. Now, while this is just one example it speaks to the importance of this issue. On the flip side, there are also debates about whether the problem is really skills related or mismatch of pay and training so I get that too and we can debate all that another time.

In his book Arithmetic Counts: Why Americans Have Trouble With Math and How to Fix It, Paul Shoecraft says let’s treat arithmetic like a language not just a bunch of numbers and teach it to children just like we do English.

Paul Shoecraft – When children realize that arithmetic is just a written language for describing concisely and precisely what is occurring around them every day, arithmetic becomes real to them. And here’s how you make it real to them.

Here is a crash course for you. Now sit up and pay attention. This is important.

Paul Shoecraft – Take the numerals 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. They are the alphabet for this language.

And they’re used to spell numbers. Numbers are nouns because they are the names of things, namely amounts, like the cost of something. And addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division are verbs because they are common, everyday actions that can be performed with numbers or amounts of things. Specifically, addition is a combining action, like putting groceries in a shopping basket, or dinnerware in a dishwasher. Multiplication is also a combining action, but of amounts that are alike, like building a brick wall or putting a handful of nickels in a piggy bank. Subtraction is a separating action, like taking a bite out of an apple or robbing a piggy bank. Division is also a separating action, but into equal amounts, like cutting a pizza into eighths or sharing the cost of a meal with a friend. Now, we talk about four operations, addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, but it’s true, we only do two things with numbers. We either combine them or we separate them. And then it’s a matter of style. Well, how did you combine it? Did you just combine them or did you have to combine things that were the same?

And since most of us learn by doing here is the homework section

Paul Shoecraft – You say to the children, we want you to go home, we want you to look around the house and write down all of the combining actions you see, and write down all of the separating actions you see, and then break those up into whether you’re just combining anything or combining things that are all the same. Like if you were counting shoes, you know, in your closet, or you could count by twos. You’re combining the same thing, the same amount each time. And then when they come back to class, this would go on for weeks, and then you make a poster, okay? Let’s list this. Addition is, how do we know something is an addition problem? Well, it’s going to look like this, and you have maybe 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 different common everyday combining actions that children are familiar with.

The same for subtraction, multiplication, and division. This makes arithmetic real. They can see it every day. They live with it, and they realize that, and that motivates them to learn it.

If you were able to follow that then the cover of his book will now make a lot more sense to you. Look it up online and you’ll see what I mean.

There is empirical evidence about math performance here in the U.S. that shows decline and improvements at different times throughout history but I think Paul Shoecraft has really hit on something here. We need a better way to make arithmetic real and easy for kids to learn and understand. H is book Arithmetic Counts: Why Americans Have Trouble With Math and How to Fix It is a great resource for doing just that. It is an unapologetic back-to-basics program that teaches understanding instead of repetition and it’s available now at Amazon.com or wherever you like to buy books online.

So whether you’re a parent, a teacher, or someone who still feels haunted by math class, maybe it’s time we tried something different.

Thank you for listening to this edition of news gram from Webtalkradio.com.

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Summary: What happens when an inventor creates technology the government depends on—then loses it all when he speaks out about how it’s being used? In this episode of Newsgram, we explore the remarkable true story behind Help Yourself! A Story of FBI Corruption by Martin Kaiser. A self-taught electronics expert, Marty Kaiser developed tools used by intelligence agencies and bomb squads—including the device that helped uncover the Watergate bugs but after testifying before Congress, Kaiser says everything changed. Contracts disappeared. His business unraveled. From his early innovations to the events that helped inspire Enemy of the State, this is a firsthand account of invention, integrity, and consequences.

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What happens when an inventor creates technology the government depends on and then loses it all when he speaks out? Today we are going to dive into the book Help Yourself! A Story of FBI Corruption by Martin Kaiser, a self-taught electronics expert whose work helped uncover the Watergate bugs and whose story inspired the film Enemy of the State with Gene Hackman and Will Smith.

Marty Kaiser – I was deeply involved in the movie Enemy of the State. Jerry Bruckheimer saw an article about the, what the heck was it? Oh, the NSA, and how the NSA functioned. And he said, we’ve got to do a movie about this. We’ve got to connect it to the rest of us in society. So, I sold a debugging kit to, I can’t remember Andy’s last name, at Disney Productions. The two of them got together, and they said, we tie the Navy story to the Marty Kaiser story, and we’ll make a movie. And since I was both the technical guru and the victim, they made Gene Hackman, the technical guru, and Will Smith, the victim. And you basically put those two together, and then you get me.

The film is a fictional thriller, but it raises very real concerns about unchecked government power and the abuse of surveillance technology; concerns that eventually led Marty to testify before Congress

Marty Kaiser – I was contacted by the House Select Committee on Intelligence who wanted to know about my sales of bugging equipment to various agencies. They sent two investigators to my shop, Tim Olifsen and Rick Vermeer, and they asked if they could see my sales of bugging equipment. So, I pulled open a file drawer, and there they all were.

Why was he producing and selling bugging equipment in the first place? Why did Congress want a look at his files? And how did the FBI get involved? It all started with a walk—and a wrong turn.

Let’s rewind to the early 1970s in the Broadway East neighborhood of Baltimore. Standing outside the old American Brewery building, now a national landmark is a young Marty Kaiser who just decided to take a walk.

Marty Kaiser – And when I left American Brewery, I made a left turn instead of a right turn, and I found in front of Fort Holabird, Maryland, the Center for Army Intelligence. So, I figured there’s got to have something broken in there, and drove around until I found the door that said supply, knocked on it, and met a Captain Domes And sure enough, they had tape recorders, variety detectors, all kinds of equipment that needed to be repaired. And I started at the top of the shelf and worked my way all the way down to the bottom and fixed everything they had.

That’s what Marty does—he fixes things. He has a natural talent for tinkering with technology and solving problems.

Marty Kaiser – I guess the best point is to start with my job at RCA Laboratories in Princeton, and that led me eventually to Barbados, West Indies, where I developed what is known as the over-horizon radar. Normal radar can only see to the horizon, and this can see all the way around the world. They can see the back of your head, actually. And it’s still in use today, primarily in anti-drug operations.

I find all of this so fascinating! A savvy drug trafficker might try to fly under the radar or use other tricks to avoid detection, but Marty’s technology could literally bounce signals off the ionosphere to detect movement and objects across oceans, through jungles, and far beyond the horizon. As he put it, it could even see the back of your head.

As you can imagine, tech like that has a wide range of applications—and it makes Marty a pretty fascinating guy. Eventually, his passion for solving problems led him to Armco Steel, where he was brought in to repair a broken Enerscope.

Marty Kaiser – Which is a device that can actually look through a steel ingot and see if there are any cracks or air bubbles in it. I fixed it and he was very happy. It resulted in a bunch of other jobs that came out of that.

And then of course there was the broken equipment in the storage locker of the Center for Army Intelligence

Marty Kaiser – But one thing I noticed is that for intelligence purposes, they were using commercially available equipment rather than equipment specifically designed for the job they were trying to do. So, I offered to make an audio amplifier for them, and they accepted so, from that point, I started manufacturing other products as I listened to the people in the intelligence community to see what they were trying to do and I followed that shortly with the first handheld bug detector. And I followed that with a telephone analyzer that measures all parameters on the telephone line to see if it’s been wiretapped or bugged surreptitiously. And that was what found the Watergate bugs. That was a big plus.

The audio amplifier he mentioned was model 1059 and it would eventually be used by the bomb disposal squad and it led to a robust business with many customers but then the Omnibus Crime Bill surfaced and things took a dramatic change.

Marty Kaiser – In 1968, the Omnibus Crime Bill was passed around 1968, and that made it illegal to manufacture, assemble, possess any device or component thereof which was capable of illegal interception of oral communication. So, when the FBI started buying bugging equipment from me, I had a problem with that. I told the FBI that I really couldn’t accept orders from the FBI, and they said, well, we use a phony front called U.S. Recording Company. I thought, well, that sounds good, but they are not a government agency. So, I told the FBI, I will build the U.S. Recording Company and deliver the equipment to you, which is what I did.

Built into the Omnibus Crime Bill was an automatic five-year review. Eventually, the House Select Committee on Intelligence came knocking and asking about his sales, including those to the mysterious U.S. Recording Company.

Marty Kaiser – They said, what’s this? I said, that’s the FBI. They said, oh? So, the next thing I know, before the House Select Committee on Intelligence, telling the story that one time at the FBI headquarters, I had seen one of my invoices that had been marked up 150 percent. And I thought, well, that’s strange. I just said that’s their business, and let them do what they want to do. But that was a big no-no. That started a disaster that has lasted now pretty much until today, from 1975. Once I made my testimony before the House Select Committee on Intelligence, I lost all of my intelligence agency customers overnight. I was doing a half-million-dollar a year with the intelligence agency people. After that fateful day, I did zero from then to today. They just cut me off entirely.

You’ve heard the expression, “You can’t fight City Hall” so being as resourceful as he was he pivoted again to bomb disposal, developing hundreds of life-saving products.

Eventually, that too was shut down. All of it is documented in his book Help Yourself. A fascinating read.

Marty Kaiser – It’s hard to look back and think about all this, but the amazing thing is I’ve never had a course in electronics in my life. And when I conceived these products, I just knew how to do it. I don’t know how I did it, but when an audio amplifier was needed, I designed it, developed it, manufactured it, and that was it. And it’s just a certain amount of joy that comes out of that. So, anyhow, it was fun. But despite the terror and the tragedies, it really was a lot of fun.

Looking back on the terror and the tragedy in your life can be a powerful motivation for writing a book—and Help Yourself! is Marty’s story, told by him, from his perspective and from the trenches of real experience.

If you enjoyed Enemy of the State or Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, you’ll definitely want to check out Help Yourself! A Story of FBI Corruption by Martin Kaiser. You can find it wherever you like to buy books, or visit his website at MartyKaiser.com.

That’s going to wrap it up for this edition of Newsgram. As always, Thanks for listening!

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Summary: Eloise Bartlett, whose debut book, It Happened in July, is drawn from the heartbreaking and heroic events of her own life. What follows is a raw and honest journey through the emotional wreckage of attempted suicide, the quiet storm of cancer, and the painful unraveling of a marriage marked by domestic abuse. Don’t miss this powerful episode. It’s a reminder that even in the darkest moments, there’s a light worth fighting for.

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Eloise Bartlett’s lifelong dream of writing a book has finally come true though its inspiration came from a series of tragedies she never wished for. Brace yourself because today we are going to delve into some highly sensitive areas including Eloise Bartlett’s challenges in the face of suicide, cancer, and domestic violence.

Eloise Bartlett – Can you imagine being at work receiving a phone call from your daughter saying there’s no power in the house because she had tried to kill herself?

Eloise Bartlett – On the 21st of July 2006, my eldest daughter stood in a bathtub and dropped a switched-on bar heater into the water.

The worst phone call I could possibly imagine. Of course grateful that the circuits blew but then one year later, tragedy struck again.

Eloise Bartlett – A year later, in July 2007, I was diagnosed with cancer

Dealing with bad news is never easy but we all have an inner strength that we can tap into to deal with these kinds of personal challenges and fears. Despite the diagnosis Eloise was not yet pushed to the breaking point but she was also trying to deal with all of this and her abusive husband so…something had to give.

Eloise Bartlett – and then the following year, also in July 2008, I left my mentally abusive husband. I decided that I’d had enough and I needed to stand up for myself and leave him.

A bold decision that resulted in him stalking her and threatening her life and if you are following the timeline here you’ll see that everything seems to happen to Eloise in the Month of July.

Eloise Bartlett – Yes, that’s right. In fact, it’s called It Happened in July because a friend of mine, I was telling her about my book I was writing. It had a different title at that time and she said to me, wow, funny how everything happened in July. That’s when I decided to change the title.

It Happened in July is a fictional story but it is based on the real life events in her life. In fact Eloise Bartlett is a pen name but her stories are all true.

Eloise Bartlett – Yes, basically, the book is about my life. It’s a pretty honest account of what happened. I was advised to change all the names and that sort of thing because of possible liable things, but it’s a pretty true account of what was happening at the time.

So the main characters are named Wendy and Dave but the decision for Wendy to leave her mentally abusive husband in July 2008 was very real.

Eloise Bartlett – Very early in my separation, it became obvious that I would need to get a restraining order. So, I started keeping a notebook to record conversations and events as they happened to report to the police. I had a good body of evidence. I also recorded how I felt at the time and everything that happened. The notebook actually helped me to start writing my book.

And so “It happened in July “ was born, If you need a book to share at a book-club that is thought provoking and inspires conversation, then this just may be it. It’s based on real-life stories about someone facing tough challenges and coming out stronger on the other side.

Eloise Bartlett – It takes a lot of courage to leave an abusive relationship. I hope to inspire women in a similar situation to be able to reclaim their lives and take charge of them. To be in control, not control.

Domestic violence has to end. And to remember, the most important thing, where do you want to be in five years?

The book talks a great deal about her relationship and there’s a good reason for that. She wants women in a similar situation to understand that, while it may not feel like it, you do have options and you can control your own destiny and be happy. In the case of domestic violence it starts with a restraining order and I know the first response is going to be good, he’s not going to abide by one of those and that’s true but you have to start somewhere and having the law on your side is a great first step.

Eloise Bartlett – If you’re thinking of getting a domestic violence restraining order, you need to keep a record of what’s happening, including dates, times and places. The police need these to take them to court. The domestic restraining order can be issued and then it can be taken to court a bit later and granted by the judge and then that gives the woman, hopefully, a couple of years of safety for the husband to cool down and not be so angry. When I was reporting one of the breaches of the restraining order at a local police station, a woman came in to report that her ex-husband had actually broken into her unit and stolen the computer that she kept her notes on. So it’s pretty important that you’re able to access your information easily and you’ve got to keep it safe.

And I can’t tell you how many authors created their first book from journals they kept on their nightstand., just sayin. Eloise has since moved and met her new husband who she loves very much. It’s not giving too much away here to say there can be a happy ending.

Eloise Bartlett – I have the freedom to walk the streets without looking over my shoulder. I don’t feel the need to barricade myself in the house…I can walk down the street and take my dog for a walk and not be worried that someone is following me. I can go down the beach and have fun there. I can go down the shops too and just go shopping and not worry if anyone’s following me or likely to come up to me at any moment to start intimidating me.

You can hear it in her voice—Eloise lives in Australia now, surrounded by sunshine and beautiful beaches. Her story is a powerful reminder that healing is possible. I’m sure it took her many years to stop dreading the month of July, but eventually, the fear passed.

I want to leave you with this: If you or someone you know is facing domestic violence, struggling with thoughts of suicide, or going through a serious health challenge—you are not alone. And you are stronger than you think.

Eloise reclaimed her life, her safety, and her joy. And through her book, It Happened in July, she’s now helping others do the same. It’s available now online wherever you like to buy books or you can visit her website https://www.ithappenedinjuly.com/.

Thanks for listening to edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com

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Join us as we explore the first installment of Dan Dan the Ambulance Man, a heartwarming children’s book by Paul Eaton, a former paramedic. This delightful story introduces young readers to Dan Dan, a calm, capable hero who shows up when it matters most. Dan Dan and his team—including Lucy Bandage—teach kids what paramedics do and remind us all that help is always on the way. Get ready because Dan Dan the Ambulance Man is about to meet Percy Bunn the Baker…

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Today I thought it would be fun to jump right into a new character that I hope you’ll enjoy meeting. His name is Dan Dan the Ambulance Man and he is the creation of children’s book author Dan Eaton.

He is always ready to assist those in need, whether it’s at a football match, a theme park, or during everyday situations. Dan Dan is a role model for children because he teaches them the importance of emergency services in a fun and reassuring way

Paul – The reason why I wanted to do it this way is because not many people know, particularly young children and also parents as well, they don’t know what paramedics do. They treat whatever they find and then they take you off to hospital.

That simple explanation? Perfect for young children. Paul should know—he served as a healthcare professional in the West Midlands, England, with extensive experience in emergency services.

Paul – What I wanted to bring with the books is that paramedics and doctors aren’t nasty people, but they’re there to help. In the four years that I was a paramedic, I dealt with loads of children. When a stranger turns up in a big ambulance, with blue lights going, and certain sirens, and then these paramedics walking with all their equipment, that children, particularly young children, get really scared, because they don’t know what’s happening. They don’t know what the paramedics are going to do. And not only that, I wanted to bring that point home for the parents as well, because when I’ve dealt with children in the home, the parents, particularly if it’s a serious case, the parents get really scared as well.

Drawing from his background in emergency care, Paul Eaton didn’t just create Dan Dan the Ambulance Man—he built an entire series of children’s books that offer real insight into the world of emergency responders. These stories shed light on the daily responsibilities of paramedics, a role he once cherished until life took an unexpected turn.

Paul – I sustained a severe head injury. And I couldn’t drive. I couldn’t drive the vehicle anymore. And because when you’re a paramedic in England, I don’t know whether it’s the same in America, but when you’re a paramedic in England, even though you’re with a crew partner, you take it in turns to drive. So they said, there’s no way that we can, you know, my station officer, station manager turned around and said, I’m sorry, Paul, but there’s no way that we can sanction you driving anymore. Just in case you end up blacking out because of a head injury.

So I took early, I took retirement on medical grounds. And then I went back to my old career, which was a first aid instructor. And then while I was doing my own business, I ran my own business doing first aid instruction.

And I was teaching members of the public, people at the workplace first aid, defibrillator, the automatic defibrillator, health and safety, handling and lifting, you name it, I did it.

And so his new series of books is just another way for Paul to give back to his community and continue to help people in new ways. In the first book is Meet Percy Bunn The Baker but then in book two we meet Lucy Bandage another first aider that joins Dan Dan to help out at a public event.

Paul – The third one is Dan, Dan, The Ambulance Man Goes to the Football Match. And the fourth one is Dan, Dan, The Ambulance Man Goes to the Theme Park.

In that one everything seems to be going smoothly until Timothy Tornado and George Gander encounter some trouble. Dan Dan’s quick response in an unexpected situation saves the day.

No matter what the situation, Dan Dan is a calm, capable presence in times of crisis and for young children, especially those who might be afraid of emergencies or medical situations. The pictures and narrative are designed to help normalize the presence of emergency personnel and show that there are good people out there ready to help when needed.

Let’s take a look at the first book, Dan Dan the Ambulance Man Meets Percy Bunn the Baker. It tells the story of a bakery fire where Dan Dan arrives to help Percy, who has. inhaled too much smoke.

Paul – There’s a picture in the first book of the bakery on fire and the firemen are there pulling the fire out. And the firemen say your casualties over there pointing to someone on the floor. So Dan Dan the Ambulance Man goes over and puts an oxygen mask on the face of Percy Bunn the baker because he’s having trouble breathing, because of breathing in a lot of smoke. And it says in the book, this will help him to breathe. It’s oxygen. And then he said that he examined the rest of his body while he’s in the ambulance. And when he got to his tummy Percy Bunn winced so he said, I’m just going to put a burn dressing on that and then we’ll get you off to hospital. And then the next scene is where they arrive at hospital and Dan Dan the Ambulance Man’s wheeling the casualty in and there’s a drawing of the doctor as well.

The visual storytelling helps children understand medical procedures in a non-threatening, empowering way. Dan Dan is a bridge—connecting children to emergency personnel with kindness and courage, he’s an ordinary person doing extraordinary things.

Paul – I said, we’re not nasty people. We’re not like to cause harm. We’re there to help and get them to the hospital if they need to go to the hospital. Also, maybe, maybe if it inspires a young child now and when they leave school to be a paramedic or a doctor or a nurse, then those are the points that I wanted to bring across.

Whether it’s a bump, a burn, or just a scary moment, Dan Dan the Ambulance Man shows kids that there are good people out there—ready to help when it matters most.

All of Paul Eaton’s books are now available online.

Stay safe out there and remember—help is always on the way. Thanks for listening to this edition of Newsgram from webtalkradio.com.

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Summary: What began as a simple walk turned into a journey across the world—and across cultures. In this episode of Newsgram, we follow Maureen Armstrong, whose recovery routine led her to teaching English in rural China, writing poetry, and discovering unexpected connections. Her book Essences of Tongcheng is more than a travel story—it’s a moving portrait of shared humanity and the power of embracing our differences..

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Sometimes, a great story begins with a simple walk—just a few steps to get your body moving and your mind wandering. And sometimes, that walk can take you farther than you ever imagined—across cultures, even across continents. For Maureen Armstrong, what began as part of an injury recovery routine turned into free verse poetry, pages of personal reflection, and ultimately a book. Her walks led to a life-changing decision: to travel to China and teach English, a journey that took her nearly halfway around the world.

Maureen Armstrong – And so I departed for China and I found out that the students were well aware of my background in writing verses that I shared fairly freely. I wanted them to know who I was. And so they said to me, will you write about us? Will you write about me? And so when I got back, I started writing a lot of notes about my experiences. And at first I was writing journal notes and thinking maybe my family might want to read about where I’d been and the people I met and who they were, what they were like. They lived in a country far away from us. And so I came up with 40,000, 50,000 words that I realized was a book.

Maureen Armstrong’s book, Essences of Tongcheng, is now a reality. So in this edition of Newsgram, let’s take a journey—spiritually, emotionally, and quite literally—to the Anhui [On-Way] Province of China. That’s where Maureen went to teach English, and where she found something far greater than she expected: a deep cross-cultural connection, unexpected moments of trust, and the kind of transformation that only comes from stepping far outside your comfort zone. I know we’re talking about travel but her book is more than that—it’s a poetic portrait of a place most people have never heard of, but for Maureen, it was one that came to feel like home.

Maureen Armstrong – And so when I first got there, there was no lesson plan. I was just told my hours. And so I had to write up the lessons each day and I would choose topics that might be for the young adult, for example, or simple things like, you know, do they have an English name or how would you like to be referred to in class? Or this is the structure I would have. I would keep attendance, for example, in the classroom and the students would have their name. And so then we would choose a topic. I would introduce the words that were going to be spoken, but they might be about things like shopping or buying fruit, for example. Or what is your favorite color would be a simple lesson to start with. And then we might spend a little time individually and then we would gather together, you know, with five or six people and around the room.

Once in the classroom, Maureen quickly realized that traditional lesson plans wouldn’t work. So she trusted her instincts. It was simple. And it worked.

Maureen Armstrong – Some of my classes were very large, maybe 40 students. So there would be maybe six, seven groups of six people talking about their favorite color or what would be their favorite country to travel to. What’s your favorite food? Simple things like that can expand their vocabulary. And so for the person who doesn’t know an English word, they might learn banana, for example, or peach, or I might discuss the trees outside. And so that’s how the vocabulary would expand to becoming comfortable, really, just like you and I chatting. The conversation would be very relaxed and certainly not dictatorial. It would be far more free flowing.

But not everything was easy. There was an adjustment period. She was a foreigner in a communist country so she had to report to the local police and navigate the complexities of a new society. Thankfully her colleague Maggie helped her through it. Her students became her friends. She had a private apartment that gave her some space to reflect. And she says the food was very good.

Maureen Armstrong – I had a lot of privacy and that was fine. I think keeping the atmosphere healthy was about eating good food. I was lucky that way. I could eat in the cafeteria and the food was good. And so I got a lot of rest and basic things like lifestyle things were the same for me. But I think the change is quite dramatic. You can really notice it because there in Tongcheng, you can go back to, I mean, people pulling carts on the street to lots of traffic. So there’s quite a gap from the old to the modern, which still exists.

I have to give her a lot of credit, the idea of teaching in a non-English-speaking country would intimidate me—but Maureen embraced the unknown and came away transformed. Being able to venture outside your comfort zone is something to be commended.

Maureen Armstrong – I was lucky. If you went there alone, I think it would be absolutely terrifying.But for me, I had people built into my world that helped me through it.

And she says when she returned for a second year, everything felt different—it was much warmer, more familiar. Her students were confident. the school had grown and the street vendor even remembered her hat.

Maureen Armstrong – And when I went back the second year, I went and there was the same lady selling her vegetables. And I came up kind of I wore the same hat and I had a little pin on it from my country. And she just had this big, big smile welcoming me back to Tongchan. And so there was a lot of things like that that I really thought was a win for me. It was really wonderful to feel kind of welcomed. And it wasn’t hostile like, oh, there she comes again. It was completely opposite to that. So I felt really great about it. You know, it was for the students. They were a lot more familiar, a lot more confident. And they just wanted to learn a lot, lot more. So I mean, but that can’t get any better.

We live in such a polarizing society and I think that is what I liked most about this book. The underlying message that we are not all the same and we are not supposed to be.

Maureen Armstrong – Our differences diminish with each passing day. Sometimes if we keep talking with others, with discussions of topics of home, family and making friends, I hope that sometimes. They would be embracing the differences rather than feeling rejecting them, I think, is how I would put it.

Embrace the differences instead of rejecting them — I love that. In the end, Maureen’s walks led her to a classroom in China—but it also brought her home to something deeper: the power of connection..

Essences of Tongcheng is more than a travelogue. It’s a bridge between cultures, a tribute to the power of presence, and a reminder that listening and sharing common interests can dissolve distance.

You can find Essences of Tongcheng wherever books are sold—Kindle, paperback, hardcover, and audio. And who knows, when you read it, you might just find yourself—like Maureen—sitting across from someone new, feeling less like a stranger and more like an old friend.

Thanks for listening to this edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com, I’m Sam Youmans.

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This edition of Newsgram explores the haunting legacy of the Vietnam conflict through the eyes of Barbara Birchim, author of Searching for the Truth—a gripping fiction-based-on-fact account inspired by her relentless pursuit of justice for her husband, Captain James D. Birchim who was declared Missing In Action in 1968. The deeper she looked into the situation, the clearer it became: if she wanted answers, she would have to find them herself. Join us in the search for answers about what really happened to Captain Birchim during the Vietnam War.

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Captain James Birchim, a member of the U.S. Army Special Forces, also known as the Green Berets disappeared in action while serving in Vietnam on November 15th of 1968. According to findings, he was on a Special Operations mission in Laos, a country where the U.S. was not officially active at the time. Here is his wife Barbara Birchim.

Barbara Birchim: And my husband, I knew, was Special Forces when he went over there. But I didn’t know for 30 years that my husband had been pulled into Special Operations. So that told me why in my searching that I was being blocked for information. And to be honest with you, I’m still being blocked. The CIA and DIA still have classified documents on my husband and it’s over 50 years.

Barbara has never accepted the official account of her husband’s disappearance and has since written two books detailing her investigation and what she uncovered about missing servicemen.

Barbara Birchim: The first book I wrote on this issue is called Is Anybody Listening? And that is nonfiction. And I lay out how this issue has been handled since World War Two all the way up to 2005. And I name names. I named the presidents and the department heads and all that. And then I run my journey through it as I become aware of why aren’t they telling me the truth?

And that journey, to find the truth has now led her to publish a second book appropriately, Searching For The Truth. According to official records, the mission took place in South Vietnam. But Barbara’s research—and multiple firsthand accounts—place it deep in Laos, where the U.S. was not officially operating. This contradiction becomes the first red flag, anyway, I am going to do my best to put together the official statement from the government regarding what happened.

According to official reports: On November 15th, 1968, during the height of the Vietnam War, Lieutenant James Douglas Birchim was leading an eight-man long-range reconnaissance patrol, he was part of a covert operations unit that carried out dangerous missions far behind enemy lines.

That day, Birchim and his team were ambushed by enemy forces. Amid the chaos, he suffered serious injuries—a broken ankle and fragmentation wounds. Despite the pain, he managed to call for extraction. Help came the next morning in the form of two helicopters, prepared to pull the team out using McGuire rigs, a rope system designed for rapid lifts in dense jungle; but something went wrong. During the extraction, Lt. Birchim fell from the helicopter—from an altitude of about 2,500 feet. His body was never recovered.

To this day, the U.S. government maintains this account, and Captain James Birchim remains one of the thousands still unaccounted for from the Vietnam War.

The conflicting location was a huge red flag for Barbara.

Barbara Birchim: I started networking with helicopter pilots and they’re like, no, as a matter of fact, we at that time didn’t fly in on a mission with with full fuel tanks…

That detail—fuel loads—might seem minor. But to Barbara, it pointed to something much larger: poor planning or possibly an impossible mission from the start.

Barbara Birchim: …because we had to realize that we were picking up four men and equipment so we couldn’t have that extra weight. So they have to do a weight balance kind of thing. So a lot of times they didn’t even go in with full fuel tanks.

And then she uncovered something that added a whole new layer to the story.

Barbara Birchim: …that helicopter had already reached what they call the bingo, which means you’ve only got a couple of minutes left to get back to base. And they reached the bingo before this helicopter even turned around and saw the flash of light for where the pickup zone was for the last four men. So I and then they had him missing way into Vietnam, way out of range of the Contum or FOB2. So, I mean, it was it was stupid.

Part of this I do understand. These types of operations were and still are highly classified, and so the exact locations of missions like these are often obscured for security reasons but there were other aspects of this story that just didn’t sit right with Barbara and she found out that eventually, if you ask enough questions to the right people some of the truth comes out.

Barbara Birchim: He was the leader of a team, a large team that was sent into Laos, which we weren’t supposed to be there at that time. But they became surrounded by the enemy and he called for extraction and the extraction got the first set of guys out. But it didn’t get the last ones out, namely my husband. They were on what they call strings, which are ropes hanging from the bottom of a helicopter. And they were being pulled through a triple canopy. And unfortunately, there were four men and there were only three viable strings. So it’s my understanding at this point, after all the research I’ve been doing and networking I’ve been doing, that GEMS was left behind in that pickup zone.

A pickup zone that technically didn’t exist. The government never had a pickup zone marked because this extraction was in enemy territory deep into Laos. Which makes sense now but for Barbara it just opened the door for more questions so she set out to get answers from people with first hand knowledge.

Barbara Birchim: I’ve been networking with a lot of veterans. I joined the Special Forces Association that led me to be brought into special operations. They found a way for me to become a member of the special ops guys. And I got a whole lot of information there.

But with new information came new risks.

Barbara Birchim: Government’s not happy with me because they like to come in and out of my house when I’m gone and go through my files and just do all kinds of things. And thank God my neighbors watched this happening because it was when I was out of town or at work. And it just continues. I mean, the last event of this kind of strangeness was after I wrote Searching for the Truth. And they came in and did some things. And, you know, they’re very, they’re just crazy. They’re just crazy. So I’ve had to make a kind of a joke out of the whole thing in order to survive.

So who was rifling through her house while she was gone? We may never know but I can say all this activity does not sit well with someone like Barbara and all it does is drive her to keep digging, to keep networking and to keep doing all she can to piece together what actually happened in the hopes of completing this puzzle and finding peace with the situation. Here’s what Barbara believes actually happened. Brace yourself.

Barbara Birchim: I know that he was left behind. I think he was taken by the enemy and imprisoned. He was moved along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. He was wounded. I know that. And I believe not only a head wound, but shrapnel in his back and a broken ankle. And he was moved into Cambodia to the V211 hospital.

And then this part of the story sounds like something out of a spy novel.

Barbara Birchim: They moved the hospital into South Vietnam. And at that time, he escaped back into U.S. held territory. They realized that he didn’t remember he was Jim Bertram any longer because of this head wound. And they gave him a new identity and they sucked him right into the government’s CIA affairs because SOG, Special Ops, was being driven by the CIA. And I tracked him to Northeast Thailand. He had a family, and was living in Northeast Thailand. And I believe he died about 12 to 15 years ago.

I told you it was a lot. How did the story change from a simple extraction gone wrong to living a new life in Northeast Thailand? Well, it’s enough to fill up two books. The first one is called Is anybody Listening?

Barbara Birchim: I would encourage people to read that one first because you get the historical background and then the things that start happening to me. So I now advocate for not only my husband, but the other fifteen hundred that are still missing in the Vietnam War.

The newest book is Searching for the Truth where she lays out her newest findings and encourages family members of a Missing In Action loved one to be the advocate for that serviceman. She says you have to be a cold case detective when searching for answers. You need to be relentless in researching and networking.

Barbara Birchim: I hope that those who are in the military, the families of military men will realize that they really have to dig. They have to network. They are the detectives. You have to be the advocate no matter how many times the government tells you to just be quiet and go away. And we’re working on it. That’s not the truth. And there are not any kind of cold case detectives in any of these alphabet soup groups and agencies. And so you become the virtual authority on your case. And you I mean, I go to these government briefings once a year and I have to remind each and every one of the alphabet soup guys, no, that’s not right. Here’s the document. Prove it. This is your document on your letterhead. And you don’t even know that you’ve got it.

Barbara Birchim’s fight isn’t just about one man—it’s about accountability, transparency, and the forgotten ones. Her books, Is Anybody Listening? and Searching for the Truth, are a testament to that mission. If you enjoy a real-life espionage-adjacent story with shadowy government operations, classified documents, and possible identity erasure then check out Is Anybody Listening and Searching for the Truth, both books are affordable and available now online wherever you like to buy books. If you Google her name you will them right away and her last name is spelled B-I-R-C-H-I-M

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There is no town in Western Australia which has a richer history and heritage than Fremantle. Established in 1829 it was where the first colonists to what was then called Swan River Colony first landed. However, the history of Fremantle cannot be told in isolation so any story about Fremantle is also a story about Western Australia and if storekeeping was the first occupation to be followed in the new colony, then hotel keeping was the next. Within six months of the colony being founded Fremantle had four hotels so this book traces the history of those early Fremantle hotels and how they, and the hotels that followed, shaped the culture and appearance of Fremantle today. To know the history of those hotels is to know the history of Fremantle.

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What do convicts, colonial pubs, and one of history’s wildest jailbreaks have in common? Settle in, grab yourself a pint and join me for a trip down under.

Before the saloons of the American West, there were the Inns of Fremantle — pouring pints, hiding fugitives, and shaping a young colony one pint at a time.

Alan Graham (Early life) But from the very earliest days, the governor at the time had problems with drinking. So our colony had only been going for six months, and he’s already licensed seven hotels. So we have one of our earliest histories in industries in Western Australia is really its hotels. And because of being a port, they’ve always been a very prominent part of the culture of Fremantle life.

That is Allen Graham, a respected historian, author and past-President of the Fremantle History Society and until recently I was unaware of the similarities between the settlement of the Western United States and the settlement of Western Australia. If we go back to the 1800’s we find that both places were considered the edge of the world — far from civilization and whatever modern comforts there were at the time. Settlers arrived in both places full of hopes and dreams, only to find unforgiving untamed wilderness, isolation and some tough lessons.

In the United States, the West was settled by pioneers, miners and risk-takers. In Australia, it was colonists, farmers and convicts.

While Americans were chasing gold in California, Western Australians were digging for it near Kalgoorlie. And while wagon trains crossed the Rockies, ships rolled into Fremantle’s port, loaded with dreams and desperation. Indigenous peoples were displaced, cultural landscapes were altered, and entire regions had to invent new identities from scratch. But through it all, something amazing happened… communities were born. And at the heart of many of them? The local hotel.

Allen Graham (Escape of the Fenians) Here is a hotel in Fremantle that’s now called the Orient Hotel. But in the 1870s, that was a hotel called the Emerald Isle. And it was run by a fellow called Maloney. So he’s got Irish connections. But one of the big folklore stories of Western Australia’s history is the escape of the Fenians. Now, I don’t know whether that’s a story that’s come up to your audience before, but we had a lot of transported convicts in the 1850s. A lot of them were people from Ireland, but there was a kind of plot was hatched. Some of these Irish Fenians were actually smuggled out. They escaped from Fremantle jail on an American waiver called the Catalpa. Now, it was an Irish American that was actually placed himself in Fremantle at this hotel, the Emerald Isle, and was able to steal the six Fenians out of Western Australia. So it was a big international event in world history at that time. And those Fenians escaped on this American waiver called the Catalpa and made their way back to Boston. So that’s a real standout hotel and a real standout story in Western Australia’s history.

He’s talking about the escape of the “Fremantle Six” and if you’ve never heard about them it’s worth Googling the term because their situation is legendary. In fact Smithsonian Magazine calls the Catalpa rescue an audacious prison break as elaborate and preposterous as any Ocean’s Eleven script”.

Now let’s shift from jailbreaks to buildings—because Allen’s book, Inns and Outs of Fremantle 1829-1929 isn’t just a treasure chest of stories, it’s a blueprint of how Fremantle’s character was built, one inn at a time.

He spent forty years doing research on Fremantle and is compiling a trilogy of books about the area and I should point out Inn’s is spelled INNS because his book is about not only the development of Western Australia but the history of those early hotels and how it shaped Fremantle’s culture.

Alan Graham (Fremantle Heritage) Well, it’s a port. We’ve got a fantastic climate.

We’re in a Mediterranean climate. We’re not very big, but because we’re not very old, we’ve been able to retain a lot of our heritage buildings. So when you walk through Fremantle, you’re walking through a kind of period of time that kind of goes back to colonial times. We’re not a town of old buildings. A lot of people who say come from the States to visit us, they say it reminds them of New Orleans with a lot of the sort of architecture. So whereas Perth hasn’t been able to retain its heritage buildings, Perth’s our capital, Fremantle’s the second city in the state, but Fremantle’s been able to retain its heritage buildings.

These Inns were places where Western Australia’s early history was written and his book explains the role they played in the development of the area’s history. He also talks about how the decisions made in those buildings shaped everything from politics to culture, and sometimes, even the fate of a nation.

Alan Graham (Early Life) It sort of grew from just one man’s ambition to establish a port really on this side of Australia. He gets permission from the home government, and so we started in 1829. But the British hadn’t really put in the sort of mechanisms and that to run this colony at this time. But because of the way he had sold the colony to the people in England, a lot of people wanted to come out here and start this new township and these two townships, Perth and Fremantle, from scratch.

When we talk about how communities were built in the American West, we often forget that across the ocean, folks in places like Fremantle were doing the same thing. Same grit. Same isolation. Same fight to survive. The architecture’s different, sure—but the spirit? You’d recognize it, especially when it comes to sports…

Alan Graham (America’s Cup) And another big event in Fremantle’s history was when Australia won the America’s Cup off the Americans in 1983. The challenge for the America’s Cup, if your audience know about that, was raced off in Fremantle and that revitalized Fremantle through that big international event of the America’s Cup in 1987.

Another event worth looking into deeper if you don’t already know the story. His book is the culmination of 40 years of research and time spent piecing together old papers, tracking down stories long forgotten. This isn’t just about digging into the past, it’s about revealing an entire history of Fremantle and Western Australia that was basically hidden in plain sight.

Alan Graham (History) Your United States has been made up of migrants, settlers, establishing new towns, going through those hardships. If people may not know their own history of their own town, a book like my Fremantle book will actually help them understand. I think it’s easy to underrate just how hard these very early settlements of these towns were, whether they’re in Australia, or in the States, just how much work and how hard it was for those very first settlers in a lot of these towns. And I think that’s what I certainly try to show. In particular, in Fremantle’s case, if you are running it as a private business, in those 1830s and 1840s, you probably would have thought, we should shut this place down, it’s just too hard. We battled for 70 years before we had a big gold strike in the 1890s, which really boosted some economic, really boosted Fremantle and Western Australia. So that’s part of the themes that I’m trying to show in the book, just how difficult those early years were for Fremantle and Western Australia.

Jut to be clear, this isn’t just a fun book about old Inns. It’s a 40-year deep dive into Western Australia’s unsung past. Allen Graham spent a lifetime connecting the dots, and the result is something to be treasured, especially if you’re a history lover.

Alan Graham (broad Perspective) But I’ve really enjoyed it. And I’ve just found so much history of Fremantle. And I have to sort of say, it’s not just the history of Fremantle. You can’t just pick a town in isolation and not talk about the wider state of Western Australia. And as much as the ins is the emphasis on the hotels, the outs is on other matters about the town and about other matters in the state of Western Australia, about the sort of political hierarchies, the social hierarchies, the culture of drinking, the place of women, the rise of sort of big groups like the Freemasons and the Godfellows.So there’s a whole breadth of Fremantle and Western Australia in this trilogy of books that’s much more than just, here’s a hotel, here’s a story of a publican, it’s got a much wider canvas than just those facts.

Fremantle’s coming up on its 200th anniversary, and after flipping through this book, I’ve gotta say—it’s got me thinking about booking a trip to Western Australia.

Alan Graham (200 Years) Yeah, we’re celebrating our 200th anniversary in 2029.

So we’re five years short of that at the moment. So my books are kind of meant to come out to be a little bit of a matching that sort of big anniversary date in 2029.

The West isn’t just an American state of mind. It’s a global spirit—rooted in resilience, reinvention and…a few wild nights along the way. Fremantle may have been carved from hardship, but it was built on character, and its heartbeat still echoes through its heritage inns, its weathered bricks, and the stories poured from every tap.

Allen Graham’s forty-year labor of love is more than a book — it’s a passport to the past. And who knows… maybe your next adventure starts with a cold pint at the Sail & Anchor or the Ball and Chain, one of the oldest pubs in Fremantle. In fact, let’s meet there. Grab a copy of Inns and Outs of Fremantle 1829–1929: A Social History of Fremantle and its Hotels by Allen Graham for your plane ride over — it’s available now at Amazon.com.

Thanks for listening to this edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com

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Who are you beyond your thoughts? Let’s get a glimpse of the book Power of the Mind: Know Yourself – Your Hidden Unconscious-Mind and explore the unseen forces shaping our self-image, healing, and identity. Written by a former surgeon turned artist, this book reveals how the subconscious and unconscious influence us more than we realize. Join us!

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What if the secret to staying young wasn’t about skincare or supplements—what if it came down to just keeping your brain curious and active? I was reading an article recently that quoted Accenture CEO Julie Sweet. She likes to ask job candidates: “What have you learned in the last six months?” That question isn’t just smart—it’s revealing. Because people who keep learning tend to stay flexible, energetic, and mentally sharp. It’s also the key to expanding your mind and keeping you young.

Get ready because this edition of Newsgram is going to introduce you to the fountain of youth. Today, you’ll meet Dr. Anthony Emmett, a plastic surgeon-turned-author and artist, who says the fountain of youth is inside your mind…

Dr. Anthony Emmett – The art of staying young is to constantly take on new things, which develop new pathways in your physical brain, and that translates into new ideas in your mind. And that constant set of new ideas keeps expanding your mind and will keep you young.

Scientists call this neuroplasticity—a fancy word for your brain’s ability to grow and change. It helps you remember things, learn new skills, and even heal if you get hurt. Just like how muscles get stronger when you exercise, your brain gets better at things the more you practice. It’s always making new connections, helping you adapt to new experiences, and learning.

Dr. Anthony Emmett – And bear in mind that as you put new ideas into your brain, with neuroplasticity, you develop new pathways. This is the way you recover from a stroke as well, but you’ve got to keep trying. So you open it, you look at the idea, you try, and as you try, you expand your brain.

He is only half joking when he says reading his book, Power of the Mind – Know Yourself, will make you younger.

Dr. Anthony Emmett – The brain is always developing new pathways. That’s how it functions. And each pathway gives you a new idea in your mind. The brain is the hardware, the mind is the software, and you keep expanding your mind as you put in new ideas. So each new idea you pick up in this book expands your brain-mind connection and keeps you younger. You will make yourself younger by reading and absorbing this.

He says the answer to eternal youth is to keep those neural pathways active. Try seeing the world full of possibilities, keep your childhood sense of wonder alive because when you’re excited about life and life possibilities you’re open, flexible, and ready to explore.

Dr. Anthony Emmett – Bear in mind that we are here to learn.

Exactly studies have shown that lifelong learners have better memory, lower risk of cognitive decline, and they even have improved emotional health.

Dr. Anthony Emmett – By keeping yourself happy, you can make yourself well. Wellness and happiness go together, and it’s because the cells of your body each separately respond to what you carry in your mind.

Happiness is the best medicine? Maybe. I’m not saying you can cure disease with comedies on Netflix but according to Dr. Emmett it doesn’t hurt. Our Unconscious Mind controls a big part of our life and it can be influenced.

Dr. Anthony Emmett – There was a well-known fellow whose name was Cousins. He wrote a book about it. He was told that he would never leave the hospital. He was terminally ill and would die. With the agreement of his physician, he showed himself funny films. And each funny film, they’d do a blood test on him before and after. And after each two hours of laughter, he would be a little bit better. And finally, he was able to leave the hospital and write a book about it because he was a journalist. But the thing is that what you do with laughter is you make yourselves well. And each individual conscious cell will become happier and make you better. Very interesting.

I think so. How we feel about ourselves deep down, in our subconscious, really does affect our self-image, even if we don’t realize it. It’s one of the dangers of social media. Every time you scroll, you’re taking in tons of images and messages: what’s “hot,” who’s “successful”, what’s funny, what gets likes. Even if you know it’s filtered or fake, your subconscious can still treat it like it’s real. Over time, that can mess with your confidence, your self-worth, and how you see the world. Try to remind yourself that most of what’s online is curated, it’s not real life.

Dr. Emmett says our unconscious mind is also working in the background to help the creative process. He is a painter and a sculptor in addition to being a retired Plastic Surgeon and he credits his subconscious mind for much of his inspiration.

Dr. Anthony Emmett – When you give yourself to a work, whether you are doing a painting, a watercolor, an acrylic, an oil, as you give yourself to that work, you go into a different level of consciousness. And you get help from your deeper levels in which you communicate. And you can draw on inspiration that will come to you when you give yourself to a work. And you relax and let your mind be open and things come to you. This has happened to me all my life from my childhood.

Examining this phenomena led him to write a different book which we recently profiled here on Newsgram called Your Unique Consciousness: The Eternal Path of Life, a fascinating look at all levels of consciousness — your mind, heart, and beyond—and how their energy shapes our identity, our creativity, and even our relationships.

Dr. Anthony Emmett – Well, the key thing is that when you’re asleep, your consciousness is working at a different frequency. When you’re awake, the frequency changes and you’ve got to record straight away or you’ll lose it. And many inventors describe the crucial piece of knowledge coming in sleep. And there’s a neurotransmitter called acetylcholine. And the man who described that was unable to figure out the experiment that would prove it. But one night in sleep, it came to him. So he didn’t write it down. He got up, went to the laboratory, and did the experiment and proved the point.

Doctor Emmett has written a number of books on consciousness and the mind body connection and there is one common theme among them and it’s that you are an eternal Soul Spirit here for a short time to live one more life on this planet of mistakes and that is the key takeaway for today.

Dr. Anthony Emmett – Consciousness is a bit like an iceberg. 15% above the water is what we use every day, but then we’ve got the other 85%. You go into another level, another frequency when you’re in the sleep level, and then you have the subconscious, which is very important. We hold our self-image in the subconscious. But there is a deeper consciousness again at a different frequency, a higher frequency than our conscious mind can normally sustain. That is the level at which you meet the organizer of all things, the eternal love we call God. Each human has God within the deeper consciousness. We don’t know that, but we have access to the beauty and joy of eternity within ourselves, so you never need to fear because you have that in your levels of consciousness.

In POWER OF THE MIND KNOW YOURSELF: Your Hidden Unconscious-Mind he encourages lifelong learning and emphasizes that everything you need to know about who you are is within you stored in the Unconscious levels of your mind. Why not take a deep dive into who you are? If youth really is in the mind, then maybe it’s time to explore yours. Who knows what neural pathways you’ll connect.

Keep learning, keep growing and stay forever young!

Dr. Emmett’s book is available now online at all the places where you like to shop for books. I put some links in the show’s notes.

Thanks for listening to this edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com.

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What happens when love collides with war, family expectations, and deep religious divides? Join us as we dive into Blossom with author Margaret Hinton, the extraordinary true story of Frederick and Vida—a young couple whose whirlwind romance in Melbourne took a dramatic turn when an unexpected pregnancy sent Fred running… straight into the trenches of Gallipoli. When he returned four years later, nothing was as he left it. Tragedy, a shocking kidnapping, and a battle over Nina, their daughter, would shape generations to come.

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Today, we travel to Melbourne, Australia, and back in time to World War I to meet Vida Bunting. Along the way, you’ll be introduced to her daughter, Nina, and experience a story of love, loss, and resilience—a childhood filled with hardship, a birth, a death, and even a kidnapping. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. First, let’s meet Nina, the daughter of Vida and the eighth child of Samuel and Elleanora.

Margaret Kinton – Her mother had lots of children, and two had died in childhood, and so she was just one of a family, really, in Victoria, in Soot Scrae, which is a suburb of Melbourne. And she met her husband, but the thing is, he was a Catholic, and she was a Protestant. And she was born in 1915, where Catholics and Protestants just didn’t get on, really.

That is Margaret Kinton and she’s talking about her mother Nina, she will be guiding us through our journey today. Margaret, daughter of Nina, is Vida’s Grand-Daughter and as you can see, religious differences within a family can present some real challenges. If they are approached with open-mindedness and respect, religious diversity can lead to some lively discussions or in the case of Vida it can tear a family apart. Margaret talks about how Vida’s marriage was shaped by the war.

Margaret Kinton – But in the end, she was pregnant, and so they got married, and immediately her husband, Fred, went overseas, because the war was on, the First World War, so anyway, they got married, and I think six weeks after they got married, he was sent over to Gallipoli. And four years later, he came back to my mother, who was then about three and a half, and her mother, Vida.

I’m throwing a lot of names at you but don’t worry. All of this family drama is played out in the book “Blossom” by Margaret Kinton. In the book she introduces you these and other characters and it’s done in a very nice, story telling style. A skill she inherited honestly.

Margaret Kinton – Well, my mother had a very disruptive childhood, and she used to love to tell stories when she was sitting around the dining room table.

You could definitely call it disruptive. It was the kind of childhood that would ultimately lead to depression

Margaret Kinton – Well, the government gave ex-soldiers a block of land called soldier settlement land. And so Fred her husband and Nina, and her mother, Vida, went to live on this small plot of land up in central Victoria. But there, Vida drowned in an irrigation channel, and so that left Fred and his daughter, Nina. And so there was a bit of a killing and throwing there, and that’s when the kidnapping happened, because the Catholic family wanted to send her to a Catholic orphanage, and the other family didn’t want her to go. So, Fred just dropped right out of the picture. Nina was brought up by her grandmother, who died when she was about nine, and then she was brought up by her uncle, her mother’s brother, and then she lived with them until she got married.

We all have family drama, and reading Blossom and hearing Margaret’s stories reminded me a lot of my own childhood. That, I think, is the best takeaway. While it’s entertaining to live vicariously through books and stories—just as we do with great television dramas or compelling novels—real-life conflict often has deeper consequences. Many of our struggles could be avoided if we simply took the time to listen and respect one another, because those caught in the crossfire are often the ones hurt the most.

Margaret Kinton – Just look deeper into people, you know, because if they’d all sat down and talked about it and tried to work things out, it might have been different, but they were just, they just didn’t try and sort out their differences, I think, with poor little Nina.

Follow the true story of Frederick and Vida—a young couple whose love and struggles played out against the backdrop of war and family conflict. Blossom by Margaret Kinton is available now on Amazon.com or BarnesandNoble.com and there are links to it in the shows notes.

Thanks for listening to this edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com.

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Where do we come from before birth? Where do we go after death? Let’s explore the profound mysteries of consciousness with Dr. Anthony J. Emmett, author of Your Unique Consciousness: The Eternal Path of Life. In his book, Dr. Emmett delves into the layers of consciousness—mind, heart, and beyond—revealing how this energy shapes our identity, creativity, and relationships.

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Today you are in for a real treat and before we begin I think it’s important to point out that I am about to take on a subject that is way over my head. Fortunately we have a guest that can make a complicated subject like Consciousness sound simple. Get ready foraphilosophical perspective on Consciousness, Life and the Universe from a former reconstructive plastic surgeon turned artist, sculptor, and author, Dr. Anthony J. Emmett.

Dr. Anthony Emmett – The world is at a stage where it needs to understand more of the spiritual side of life, and I have been affected by this since childhood. I have been a surgeon, a reconstructive plastic surgeon, and I have retired from that and retrained as an artist. During that time, I spent two years going through my past lives with a clairvoyant and a Sathya Sai Baba from India who provided the scenes that I saw. The purpose of this was to prove to myself that I was an eternal spirit, that I’d been around for a long time.

His new book is Your Unique Consciousness: The Eternal Path of Life, and in it he explores consciousness as an eternal force. It explains the mystery of who we are; where we come from before birth and where we go after death and it’s a lot…but you’ll understand what he’s saying as soon as you buy into the fact that we are all eternal beings created by God to love one another and grow spiritually.

Dr. Anthony Emmett – We, as a species, need to understand that we are eternal spirits with a body. We are here for a time. We are here to play the games of life on this stage of Earth, and we shouldn’t knock it around too much before we leave.

I don’t know about you but I’m old enough to remember back in 1976 when the band Rush released their live album All the World’s a Stage and while they weren’t a “spiritual” band in a religious sense, they did explore some deep themes like individualism, free will, existentialism, mythology, and the human experience and they’ve had me thinking about these things for a long time but Doctor Emmett takes it to a new level by simplifying the idea of consciousness.

Dr. Anthony Emmett – The thing is that consciousness is an energy like electricity. Science can’t detect it or measure it, and yet we have it. We are using it now for this conversation. And tonight when we go to sleep, we open a different level of consciousness, a different frequency or vibrational energy.

If you are now asking, if we can’t detect it, then how do we know it’s even there? You are beginning to ask the right questions. The simplest answer is that it is all part of God’s plan. We can see it working in our subconscious and our unconscious mind everyday. Our unconscious mind is at work when we’re dreaming.

Dr. Anthony Emmett – When we’re asleep, we are in contact with our unconscious mind, which is 85% of the way we use consciousness. The unconscious mind will make your body work, tell your bowel which way to go, activate your heart, and it does many things.

On the other hand, our subconscious is at work while we’re awake.

Dr. Anthony Emmett – We have the subconscious, which we use as an everyday reference. For example, the image coming from your eye is upside down, and in your subconscious, you convert it to the right way up. It’s upside down because you’ve only got one lens in your eye. Nature could have chosen to have a two-lens eye and a right way up image going to the brain. Instead, it uses the simpler eye with a computer to convert it to the right way up. But the computer doesn’t, that’s our unconscious mind, doesn’t only turn the image the right way, it deletes what we don’t want to see.

I find all of this very interesting but you might still be saying yes but if science can’t detect or measure consciousness how do we know it’s real. Well, he thought the same thing. So he went to Southern India on three different occasions to seek the wisdom of Sai Baba, sadly he passed away back in 2011.

Dr. Anthony Emmett – But he’s still around in that plane. There are various planes of reality with different… The atoms are at different vibrational frequencies. There are other dimensions around this one. And just as we have different levels of consciousness, which function at different vibrational wavelengths or frequencies. I had to prove to myself it was real. And having done that, Sai Baba has taught me a great deal about all of that. And I can’t prove it.

But it’s real. And I’ve seen it. And I’m an experienced observer.

This isn’t the first person to mention the existence of multiple dimensions, in fact I’ve heard it so many times that at least for me there is no question about it but like he said, you can’t prove it but they are there. Let’s move on because he has a great explanation for how and when consciousness descends upon us as human beings.

Dr. Anthony Emmett – When we’re being formed in our mother’s uterus or womb, at two or three months, or maybe later, the exact time varies, but consciousness comes in. And it’s an energy that comes into the brain to create the mind. And the mind is what we’re using now in this conversation. But of course, consciousness has this ability to be at different levels. Everything in the world is conscious. The planet is conscious. And we need to remember that. Everything has a level of consciousness. We have no way of measuring that and I can’t prove it But it’s true.

Consciousness is one of life’s greatest mysteries and it can be hard to explain. You could say it’s kind of like the light inside you that helps you know you’re alive. It’s what makes you feel happy when you see a friend, or excited when you learn something new.

Everything has some kind of consciousness and it can be simple or very deep, it is a special kind of energy that connects everything in the universe, just like the wind moving through trees or waves moving through water. I can’t tell you exactly what it is, but it is one of the most amazing mysteries of being alive!

Dr. Anthony Emmett – I’ve written many books about consciousness to try and point out to people that we each are an eternal spirit. That what we do here is added to the sum total of what we have done in eons past. Whereas our civilization mostly doesn’t believe in previous lives, I spent two years going through it to prove to myself that it was real. And so I described this in different ways in different books. I’ve had many lives of great interest, but I won’t bother you with them because they’re interesting.

Dr. Emmett’s experiences with past lives are fascinating, but at the heart of his work is something even more universal—consciousness itself. And that’s where I want to stay focused because his perspective on the nature of consciousness is so interesting, just like his perspective on the healing power of love. He believes love isn’t just an emotion; it’s a force of healing, woven into the very fabric of our consciousness.

Dr. Anthony Emmett – Every cell in the body is conscious. And you, by the attitude you hold in your mind, influence their behavior. You can make yourself well by being happy. Broadcast happiness to the cells. Your cells will respond by making you well and happy. In 1960, I was working in a plastic surgery unit in England in the Burns Ward. We had a 10-year-old boy with a 70% burn, which in those days was a death sentence. So we excised 30% and replaced it with skin from our skin bank. We had a skin bank in a refrigerator, and we also had donor sites. We could take split-skin grafts from other parts of his body. Anyway, all of this was doing well surgically, but he was dying. It had just been too much for him. And you could see he was dying. So we got his mother in to live in the next room in the Burns Ward, so she could give him love. Now, the love that she gave him, he started to turn around. He stopped dying. He started getting better, and he lived to leave the hospital and be rehabilitated. But the love that his mother gave him was the strongest medicine. It was stronger than anything we could give him. So love is the most important thing in life. But there are many kinds of love.

Yes and in his book he explains those many kinds of love. To quote from the book directly he says “Love is the totality of divine creation. Love is the power which holds the universe in being”. The Beatles were onto something—’All You Need Is Love’ might be more profound than we ever realized.

So where did we come from and where are we going? It’s different for each of us. We are all eternal and we are each made up of a culmination of lives and experiences that have thus far made us who we are. That’s why it’s so hard to identify the meaning of life. It is literally different for all of us but we do share some commonalities that help make defining life meaning a bit easier and the big one is love. Love can heal and happiness can drive us in the right direction. Love is so important.

Dr. Anthony Emmett – When a child is born, it has to learn love in its first two years, and that gets put into the self-image, which is held in the subconscious. And the self-image of the child builds up with the way parents treat it, the way the relatives treat each other. All of this becomes part of the self-image held in the subconscious.. So people should understand that the love they give to the child in the first two years will be a distinct formative influence on that child through its subconscious for the rest of its life. These things don’t just get forgotten, they get filled in deeper levels of consciousness. This is so interesting.

Your consciousness is eternal—it’s not just about the thoughts you have every day, but also what’s stored deep in your subconscious. That part of you connects to something much bigger—eternity, God, and the source of all love. And every night when you sleep, you tap into that deeper realm. Consciousness exists at so many different frequencies, and we’re always shifting through them.

Dr. Anthony Emmett – God is universal Consciousness, absolute Consciousness and in the beginning it was the word. The word was consciousness.

Dr. Emmett is one of the most interesting people we’ve ever had here on the Newsgram. He is a retired plastic surgeon who sculpts in metal and clay. He is a teacher and an author and someone I believe we could learn a great deal from. Here is a summary of consciousness from the introduction of his book “We live this life in our Body Level Consciousness, a unique one-off-code, which comes into the body as it develops in its mother’s uterus and serves for the duration of the body’s life. This connects into our other conscious levels operating at different frequencies or wavelengths.

The sleep level we know well, it gives daily advice and helps us to correct our mistakes by seeing the other side of things. The Subconscious Level we use every day, a backup system for everyday conscious thinking and doing, contains your Self-Image which forms from early childhood and before, and guides what you want to be.

The Higher Consciousness is there in your conscious mixture, but its frequency is too high, and you must let it come to you, in response to seeking or prayer. It contains the Divine Energy we call God.

With death of our body, we change the frequency and dimension of our consciousness, as we move on in spirit energy levels or planes, described by many who have written on Near Death Experience.

Dr. Anthony Emmett – I think I came to this life as a teacher.

I don’t think there’s any doubt about that. I hope you are enjoying this edition of Newsgram as much as I enjoyed writing it. Dr. Emmett has so many interesting stories that I could have turned this into a three hour documentary so rest assured he will be back because I plan to delve into another one of his books called “Power of the Mind” but for now I invite you to check out Your Unique Consciousness: The Eternal Path of Life. It’s available online at all kinds of places including Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Knowing that you have an all-pervading higher intelligence within your unique many layered consciousness. How are you going to employ it?

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On this edition of Newsgram, we’re diving into a powerful question: What happens when life pushes you to let go of who you were and step into the person you’re truly meant to be? Can you rewrite your own story and transform past struggles into real strength? Jocelyn Merula explores these ideas in her new book, Enlightenment in Rhyme where she shares her insight and some practical tools for navigating transformation. If you are attracting the wrong kind of energy then you’ll love her fresh perspective on taking responsibility for your own universe and reshaping it. Get ready for some life-changing wisdom—delivered with humor to make it easier tackle the heavy stuff. Tune in!

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You know, some stories take shape over time, unfolding bit by bit. Others? They hit like a thunderclap, forcing you to change everything in an instant. The pandemic lockdown gave rise to a lot of those stories—people reevaluating their lives, making big moves, and in some cases, quite literally running for their survival.

Jocelyn – Really, I’d managed to escape a very dangerous narcissist on the first day of lockdown.

That is Jocelyn Merula and as you see she has one of those stories.

Jocelyn – Yes. Yes. It was awful.

On the very first day of lockdown, she escaped from what she calls a dangerous narcissist with seven horses, three dogs, and a cat.

Jocelyn – I had to leave other horses. I had to leave other animals. I had to leave two other dogs, which tore me to shreds. It was awful, but I had to get out. It was, yeah, it was serious. I mean, he did end up in prison. It was serious.

A tough decision to make and not an easy getaway. Here’s what happened when she thought she was in the clear.

Jocelyn – I was driving along, as I say, it was the first day of lockdown. I was on the motorway. I was about, oh, 40 minutes, 45 minutes from the house. And the only other car on the motorway, the guy was tooting, gesticulating, pointing. And I thought, oh, I better pull over because I’m the only other vehicle on the motorway. So it must be me. And luckily, I pulled over, turned off the ignition and he’d seen flames. The fuel pipe had been partially cut over the battery. Wow. And the whole lot of us could have gone up in flames, but we didn’t. We’re here and lived to tell the tale.

That could have been the end of her story. Instead, it was the start of something new. Out of all of this, Jocelyn found her voice. She took her experiences, her work with animals and people — which we will delve into deeper in a minute — and she turned them into the book—Enlightenment in Rhyme: Essential Tools for Navigating Life’s Challenges.

(30 Days) I’ve been trying to write for 30 years and this eventually materialized in 30 days. It just took over me completely.

Her biggest challenge became her biggest joy. For years, she wanted to write, but something always got in the way. All she had to do was clear her mind, make a conscious decision to thrive and start moving forward with her life and the words just spilled out of her head and onto the page.

Jocelyn – It was a pure catharsis. It was just emptying what had been me, ready to be able to fill up what is going to be me. And it just was an unbelievable thing to do and just get out. And yeah, that was just such an amazing feeling to get that done. I moved three times in 2020 and broke my leg. It was becoming farcical, it was becoming a Monty Python sketch. It was just, yeah, becoming ridiculous.

Sometimes life is so crazy that you just have to laugh at its ridiculousness and she says you have to find the humor. You can’t bury your head in the sand and give up, no matter how much you may want to. Life goes on so embrace the tragedy, find the humor and work on changing what you can.

Jocelyn – Whatever happens to you is and can be positive. You can choose to be the victim, but where does that get you really? Where does that get you? So it’s knowing that whatever happens to your universe works for you because it’s your universe. It’s just a reflection of what’s happening inside your head. So your universe will work for you as long as you choose to see things as a gift and something to learn from.

Choose to see life as the gift that it is. What a great quote. I should point out that Jocelyn Merula is a pen name. Her real name is Dr. Belinda Murphy and when she’s not writing she works with horses.

Jocelyn – So what my job has been and is now is to improve their immune system through the many healing modalities I use, such as cranial osteopathy, intentional homeopathy, light body integration, you name it. I’ve researched everything for the last 30 years and continue to do so. And I add all that together with my scientific knowledge from my biochemistry, toxicology degree. So everything comes from every angle and I do whatever it takes to improve the immune system. So I also use my horses. I’ve got five, well, four and a half, four horses and an 11.2 pony. That’s very naughty. And I use them to work with people, basically removing their emotional baggage and helping them to see a way through their troubles and anxiety and challenges that they’re facing. And the horses just cut through all the BS, belief systems that is…

Exactly. Horses have a way of cutting through the mental clutter in ways that we humans can’t. They respond to energy, not words, which makes them powerful partners in emotional healing. Jocelyn has spent years blending science with holistic healing and she’s discovered that some of the best breakthroughs happen when people stop thinking and start feeling. That’s where the horses come in—helping people drop their defenses, face their emotions, and move through challenges in a way that feels natural, even inevitable.

Jocelyn – So you put someone on a horse, they’re immediately out of their comfort zone. So they can’t block what I can then do as I walk around with them on the horse. Because from the 80s, when I first started off doing reflexology, people have become so much more sophisticated. I mean, people thought I was completely mad in the early 80s when I was doing reflexology. But now, you know, everybody knows about that and everybody knows about osteopathy and whatever. So people have become a lot more sophisticated in being able to block the therapist because a lot of people have a vested interest in remaining ill. And that’s why I always had to work with the animals as well, because animals always want to be in complete health.

Another great quote. Some people have a vested interest in remaining ill. Sometimes we hold onto illness because, in some way, it serves us and this goes back to her story about the narcissist. She was reminded that her life needed to be different. So she changed it. It wasn’t easy…you heard her talk about living in a Monty Python sketch but she made it through and created a resource for others. Enlightenment in Rhyme — an anthology of poems highlighting the events in her life that shaped her personality. A roadmap if you will, laced with humor and designed to pave the successful navigation of trauma. It may be just what the doctor ordered.

A bit of wisdom, humor, and some hard-earned lessons about transformation and breaking free from the things that hold us back and since I brought up the doctor, another key takeaway here is this; our health is our greatest asset. Nothing manifests physically unless you repress those difficult to handle emotions.

Jocelyn – And there are many, many books in my head. And as everybody kept saying, you’ve got to get the first one out the pipe and the rest will follow.

Now that you mention it, that leads me to her second book, Successfully Managing The Hypersensitive Horse. You’ll find links to both books in the description. Enlightenment in Rhyme offers insights on breaking free from limiting beliefs.

Jocelyn – It’s a compilation of things that have happened to me, how I’ve dealt with it, and as you can imagine, all a bit tongue in cheek.

While Successfully Managing The Hypersensitive Horse helps equestrians do the same for their four-legged partners.

Thanks for listening to this edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com

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Today we explore A Journey with Dyslexia: Alienation, Assimilation, Acclimation, the inspiring story of Peter James Wilson, who refused to let dyslexia define him. Peter’s is a story of resilience, discovery, and the power of the human mind to adapt and thrive.

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Let’s begin our adventure today with a journey back to the early 1950s—a time of post-war recovery and cultural transformation. It was the era when we first met Elvis Presley, watched Marilyn Monroe light up the big screen, and were introduced to iconic figures like James Bond and Peter Pan.

Pop culture has romanticized this period in countless ways—just think of how many ‘50s-style diners you’ve seen.

But beneath the nostalgia it was a tough time for those who didn’t fit the mold. Back then, learning disabilities like dyslexia weren’t well understood. Instead of getting support, kids were often mislabeled and left to struggle in silence.

PJ (Label) Being labeled dummy was not something that any kid likes, and I certainly was labeled that.

That’s Peter James Wilson. He’s seventy seven years old and all those years have given him a great deal of perspective and wisdom. Like he just said, when he was growing up, children with dyslexia were often called dumb. I know it’s hard to hear but it was a different time. They were labeled by professionals as lazy, unintelligent, or “slow learners” and there was something else.

PJ – Well, there were all sorts of things that happened that contradicted the dumb label, and I was confused for quite a while because I did things that were really smart, and other kids noticed, and some kids would say, you know, you’re only pretending to be stupid. Excuse me. And that was one of the things that I kind of looked forward to in a way because although they were trying to put me down, I was realizing that there was something else there besides the inability to read and the inability to communicate.

He struggled a bit but Peter knew he wasn’t dumb. He could solve complex problems, impress his peers and people still dismissed him—some even accused him of faking his struggles. It wasn’t until much later that he fully understood why his brain worked differently. Thankfully that is all in the past and his recent accomplishment is a book titled A Journey with Dyslexia: Alienation, Assimilation, Acclimation where he documents his experiences in overcoming dyslexia.

PJ – Yeah, I wasn’t able to learn to read until I formed neural pathways, and that was something that I got the information from a psychologist who diagnosed me as being dyslexic. He gave me the information that I needed to be able to form the plan that I formed to create neural pathways. I didn’t know about neural pathways, and neither did he, but once I formed neural pathways, I then had time to learn to read, and I wanted to learn to read because I wanted to write. I’ve always wanted to write, even when I was in primary school, I wanted to be able to write.

I didn’t know much about Neural pathways either, at least not how they specifically relate to reading so I did a bit of research and I discovered that reading is like a team of brain pathways all working together. Your eyes see the letters, your brain figures out what they mean, and another part helps you understand the words. It’s like a road map inside your brain that helps you read and learn! Some people, like those with Dyslexia, have brains that take a different path and that can make reading trickier—but with practice and the right tools, they can become great readers! For Peter it wasn’t quite that easy because he had Autism to deal with as well.

PJ – I was 67 when I was diagnosed with autism, and it wasn’t until I was diagnosed with autism that I realized that the jigsaw pieces that I’d been putting together on dyslexia had a whole heap of other pieces mixed in with them that weren’t dyslexia. And it wasn’t until I sorted the autism pieces away from the dyslexic pieces that I was able to write this book, because along with learning about neural pathways, I was able to understand what had happened during my life with dyslexia and write the book. And that is the big thing that I wanted to be able to get across to people, is that there is a lot in this book that will help many people, not only dyslexic people, but autistic people as well.

By sharing his story, Peter hopes others can learn from his struggles, making life easier for themselves and those around them. He is hoping to raise awareness, promote research, and support teachers, students, and parents in understanding dyslexia.

PJ – It is really heartening for me to be able to say I have now helped some teachers be able to improve the reading in their classes, and that is something that is just going on in my hometown. I’d like it to happen worldwide

For Peter, reading and social skills were inter-connected. He needed to read to communicate, and he needed to communicate to learn to read. But as he worked through his struggles, he found an unexpected connection between literacy and social interaction.

PJ – That’s what held me up was having the two, because I had to learn to read to be able to learn to communicate with people and be socially responsible. And I had to get people to help me learn to read to make friends and that sort of thing, so that I could learn to read. And when I was able to retain what I had read, because I had overcome dyslexia enough by then, to be able to start forming the social skills that allow me to make friends. It was then that I was able to learn to write…dyslexia doesn’t just stop people from learning to read. It also stops them from being able to write. And a lot of people don’t realize that dyslexia is a lot broader than modern diagnostics.

Peter is doing his part by documenting his findings and experiences in the book A Journey with Dyslexia. It includes personal stories as well as insights on dyslexic celebrities, and an appendix outlining dyslexia signs and symptoms. He says solving these kinds of problems isn’t as hard as we think. Peter’s story reminds us that understanding and supporting one another is important. Dyslexia isn’t just about reading—it’s about connection, confidence, and inclusion. If we can embrace different ways of learning, we can open doors for so many people. And really, isn’t that what making the world a better place is all about?

If you’d like to learn more about Peter you can find a link to the book in the shows notes. It’s available now at Amazon.com and many other places. His website is Peter J Wilson Writer dot com.

Thanks for listening to this edition of Newsgram.

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On this episode of Newsgram, we explore The Rock Crystals by Asif Saba—a journey beyond the physical world into the depths of spirituality, heaven, and the afterlife. Have you ever had a dream or meditative experience so profound it felt more real than reality itself? Meet Yusif, a devoted meditator whose recurring vision became a breathtaking reality. Join us for a tale of spiritual awakening, cosmic connection and the mysteries of the afterlife.

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For years, I’ve been fascinated by the idea of spirit guides, the afterlife, and the unseen forces that shape our journey. It’s a topic that once raised eyebrows, but today, more people are embracing the idea that there’s more to life than meets the eye. Now, this is not something I talk about all the time but when asked I will be happy to share my thoughts on the subject. God, The Afterlife, Angels and Spirit guides are all real. Yes, we all have Spirit Guides that help us on our journey through life and I’ve come to realize that the Heaven and Hell we were taught about may not be the full picture.

What if the visions we experience in meditation aren’t just our imagination, but glimpses of something greater—something real?

If any of this resonates with you, then you’re ready to meet Asif Saba, author of a book called The Rock Crystals.

Asif Saba – It was a book that came about by accident, really. It goes back maybe, you know, 30 years. I was at college and I was doing this English essay. And I wrote a really short, 4 page, you know, like a practice page of a little story as part of my English essay.

And then I put it away for a good five, ten years. And then I found it again after all that time. And I started reading it. And then I started thinking about it. And, you know, the thoughts wouldn’t go away. So, you know, I just started writing from there.

Some stories demand to be told. When your thoughts keep knocking on your mind’s door, sometimes you have to answer them. The Rock Crystals, Asif combines his talents as a fiction writer with his knowledge of the Quran and the afterlife to weave together a story that entertains and informs.

Asif Saba – Now, so where it starts is, I’ve got a character called Yusef, and he meditates daily. And he had a vision. Now, he had lots of little different visions, but one day he had a major vision that put all the pieces together, and he couldn’t work out why this vision existed.

Anyway, on one of his meditations, what happened is he came out of his physical body and went to the spiritual world. He met a couple of guardian angels, or these spiritual beings, and they took him further into the afterlife. And that’s where he had this adventure. And the adventure, it’s basically fraught with challenges and obstacles that Yusef must overcome as part of his journey. And these companions are like his guides, even in the afterlife.

His journey mirrors our own lives in a way, just like Yusif, we all face obstacles, but we’re not alone—we have guidance – There is wisdom out there that says we were put on this earth to grow spiritually. We all have a life plan that includes accomplishing certain goals throughout our lifetime. To help us do that we have spirit guides that gently nudge us along to keep us on track. Asif believes this story isn’t just fiction; it’s a reflection of spiritual truths we can all learn from.

Asif Saba – I think for people who like to meditate, and they are spiritual, I think they will get so much out of this book. It’ll help them maybe understand some of their own experiences, because of what Yusuf is going through. And so I think people will really find it fascinating.

Speaking of art mimicking life, one of the major lessons Yusef learns is to choose love over hate.

Asif Saba – The greatest lesson we can learn is to love each other and not hate, because that just brings our vibration down. And love raises our vibrational spiritual body and helps to ascend. And the beauty about love is that when you express love, you know, it opens your consciousness, you know, and you become more vibrant.

A great example of that are folks I call “Shiny Happy People”, a line I stole from the REM song but we all know people that are just beaming with positivity. We are drawn to them and it’s not by accident. They are full of love and they vibrate at a higher frequency. Asif says looking at others as well as himself is what helped him craft this story.

Asif Saba – I’ve had a number of other, I wouldn’t say unexplainable experiences, because everything is explainable when you look at things spiritually. But, you know, it helps me to understand that there is this hereafter. And, just believe even more than what I already did believe before. And so, looking, as I looked at my own experiences, and then worked on creating Yusuf’s character, and how I could use those experiences as a part of his journey. And just thinking of wise things to put into the book about the conversations that Yusuf had with the other characters in the book. You know, you do have to really search your own soul, search your own understanding, and try to bring out some beautiful wisdom, you know, to help other people as well, you know, traveling their pathway.

In The Rock Crystals, we meet Yusif, a devoted meditator. He’s had glimpses of something beyond the physical world before, but one day, everything changes. He steps beyond the veil, encountering spiritual beings who guide him on a journey through the afterlife. His mission? To restore balance to a neglected island in the realm of Bakka—one that could bring Earth closer to Heaven. It’s a fascinating story with real world implications. The key takeaway? Love elevates us. Vibrations matter. And maybe, just maybe, the visions we see in meditation are more real than we think.

The Rock Crystals is more than just a story—it’s an invitation to explore your own spiritual path.

Asif Saba – To Know yourself is the best kind of wisdom you can get.

I could not have said it any better. The Rock Crystals is available now at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and more—with options from $2 to $35, depending on how you want to experience it. A small price to pay for a glimpse into the wisdom of immortality.

Thanks for listening to this edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com.

The author was recently a guest on the Books on Air podcast with Suzanne Harris.

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On today’s episode of Newsgram, we explore The Cordillera by Luis Rousset-Velho, a thrilling tale of courage, adventure, and resilience. Follow the journey of Jacques Laurent, a man shaped by the wild landscapes of Patagonia and the elite training of France’s École Polytechnique. From taming horses and conquering mountains to daring rescues in the Amazon and battling ruthless criminals across continents, Jacques’ life is a relentless pursuit of heroism against impossible odds. Join us as we dive into this gripping narrative of mettle, danger, and adventure.

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It was twenty years when I first felt the call of the mountains. Growling up in the midwest there was always something magical about traveling west. Maybe it was growing up with all those spaghetti westerns but the west was just so different than the flat midwest. For one thing it’s more dangerous. Plants and and animals that can live in such a harsh climate are not to be trifled with. But the beauty is beyond measure. Watching the sun fade behind a backdrop of majestic mountains can put your soul to rest. It’s no wonder there are so many retreats, salons and rehab centers out here. There are also lots of mineral mines. Arizona, where I now live, is the copper state but you’ve heard about the Gold rush right? Back in 1848 it brought hundreds of thousands of people to the west and the mountains and climate continue to do it to this day.

Luis Rousset – When I was younger, I was in the minerals field, and I used to travel a lot in South America and through Peru and Chile and Argentina and I got to see a lot of different places and very beautiful places, interesting places, and places that are never visited by tourists, by regular tourists.

That is Luis Rousset, a 1971 PhD graduate in Mineral Engineering from Stanford University. Throughout his career he traveled through the mining areas of Arizona, California and Utah as well as those he just mentioned in South America and it was there that he found inspiration for his new book, “The Cordillera” which is Spanish for Mountain range. In fact, let me be even more specific it was a small village in the Argentinian Patagonia where he found his inspiration.

Luis Rousset – And I started writing about this young man, and the mountain range, or the cordillera. It represents a kind of a challenge for a young person who must conquer. So I decided to give the book the title of Cordillera, although it takes place not only in Argentina, but in many other places.

The young man he mentioned is Jacques Laurent. The main character.

Luis Rousset – Jacques Laurent, yeah, okay Jacques Laurent.

Now, let’s talk more about Jacques as a character. A young boy whose first challenge is to conquer a mountain. The Fitzroy.

Luis Rousset – It’s too difficult! You must be a really, really good rock climber to go up the Fitzroy. I’ve done some of the easier climbs, but not Fitzroy itself. It’s very, very tough. So, I wanted to start the book in a situation where Jacques had finally conquered Fitzroy. So he had achieved this. And he says, look, I’m not even 17 and I’ve already done that. So this is the opening of the book. This guy promises a lot. So he’s an achiever.

Just to give you a little backstory El Chalten is the National Capital of Trekking in Argentina. It’s very popular and it’s a stunningly beautiful place with some of the toughest mountains to climb anywhere in the world. Luis takes us into this world right away with intense physical hiking, rock climbing, and traversing of slopes. So the hero of the story is Jaques, an over achiever who is fit and determined. Naturally he finds love.

Luis Rousset – And this is his first love with this girl, Anne-Marie. And how the story develops with Anne-Marie. So the second part of the book is more or less the story of Anne-Marie.

Romance aside, there is also a great deal of adventure. From saving missionaries in Central America and rescuing people in the deep Amazon Forest you could say Jacque has his hands full. He fights a ruthless gang of criminals and chases terrorists in the Middle East.

Luis Rousset – And so the book is divided by stories. It all goes together because all the stories are connected by Jacques. Because when he becomes a member of the French intelligence, the DGSE, he starts being sent to do all these adventurous things. He has a problem to solve. They send Jacques

That’s a great way to say it. When there is a problem they send Jacques. If you like adventure, courage and stories about international intrigue then I think you will enjoy The Cordillera.

Dr. Luis Rousset began writing novels as a hobby born out of his extensive knowledge of different places and cultures, The Cordillera is his fourth novel and you can learn more about all of them by visiting his website, https://www.luisrousset.com/ There you can read the Cordillera in both English and French and check out his other novels.

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In this episode of Newsgram, Sam Youmans features Higher Power: My Life of Service by Reverend Michael D. Schmitz. This heartfelt memoir reflects on the lessons learned from life’s mistakes, offering wisdom on personal growth and faith. Ordained at 50 after entering seminary at 44, Reverend Schmitz’s journey of service is shaped by the grace of God and the love of his parents, Leo and Elizabeth Schmitz. Tune in to hear how his powerful story continues to inspire and touch lives.

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If you or someone you know is on the precipice of a major life change then I invite you to keep listening. Today’s podcast is about finding purpose, learning from our mistakes and leaning into faith to overcome personal struggles or addiction. Finding the strength to overcome adversity sometimes begins by hearing someone else’s story because each one of us has a unique perspective to share and that perspective is shaped by our struggles, our triumphs, and our experiences.

Now I’ve heard people say, “Hey, not everyone’s life is interesting”, but I would disagree with that. I think in some way we have all led interesting lives if for no other reason that they are different than our own and sometimes, when they are similar they can be just as interesting because of the shared experiences. Writing an autobiography is both a record for others and a journey of self-reflection. It helps make sense of the past, recognize patterns, and appreciate growth. It can be therapeutic, a way to process life’s ups and downs and with that I will introduce you to Michael D. Schmitz. Father Mike is seventy eight years old and in all that time he has had quite a few life experiences.

Father Mike – and many of them. When I was in the seminary, it kept preaching to me and the students that your life experiences are very important. Every person should write their own autobiography, as each person will learn from each other.

Father Mike went to the seminary to become a Roman Catholic priest at the age of 44. He was ordained at 50. His book Higher Power: My Life of Service is dedicated to his mother and father Leo and Elizabeth Schmitz. So why did he write it?

Father Mike – To give people hope, that’s my main intention, my main goal, whoever’s reading the book, you have a hope in life.

Hope is important. Most of us are going through something and it’s sometimes hard to see clear to the other side of it. Sometimes we don’t even know we’re in a bad situation until something changes in our life and we have the perspective to look back. Hearing someone else’s story can sometimes give us that perspective. When it comes to growing up with an alcoholic it can seem like just they way life is until you realize that it isn’t. Take a listen to an expert from his book and you’ll see what I mean.

Sample of Higher Power – Alcoholism played a major role in my life. When I was growing up on a farm near Currie, Minnesota, in the 1960s, my father was an alcoholic. When my sisters and I attended Catholic school in Currie, our father would drop us off at school no buses were available and, on many occasions, go to the liquor store for the day. After school, my sisters and I would have to walk downtown to the liquor store and wait for him to leave the place so we could all go home. We had to stay in the family car because in those days minors were not allowed in the liquor store. When there was no school, he would leave the farm at about two thirty to go to the bank. Afterward, he would go to the liquor store and have several beers until late at night. Our mother would send one of my sisters or me with him to make sure he would get home safely. This was the atmosphere in which I grew up, and in the 1960s, there was little help available. My family was in disarray.

When children grow up around alcoholics, there is a greater chance they will become alcoholics themselves later in life. I fell into this category. I had my first drink, Seagram’s 7 and 7UP, when I was in seventh grade. The occasion was a Christmas party at my grandfather’s home, when drinking was prevalent among my aunts and uncles present. This was the beginning of my becoming an alcoholic.

He goes on to explain how drinking played a major role in his life. His time in the Air Force reinforced heavy drinking. Working in a restaurant and nightclub further enabled his addiction and then with the loss of his mother, a significant figure in his life, it led to even more alcohol dependency and eventually he sought hospitalization for chronic alcoholism. His life was spiraling deeper into addiction, but throughout it all, he never lost faith. That faith became his foundation for change

Father Mike – I always felt God was there with me with my higher power, in spite of everything.

Yea, for Father Mike it was his faith that helped guide him and it still does

Father Mike – Oh, yes, and one thing that is similar, you always be sure you touch the people some way or another. If you touch one person’s heart, it’s been a very successful homily.

In case you’ve never been to the Catholic Church I should explain, the Homily is a short sermon – five or ten minutes – given by the priest after the reading of the Gospel to help the congregation understand the meaning of the day’s Bible passages. I think it’s the best part.

Father Mike – A lot of people don’t go to church anymore, but now it’s time to read my book and carry on in life.

If you or someone you know is struggling with addiction, seeking a deeper faith, or simply looking for a story of resilience, Higher Power: My Life of Service is worth reading. You can find it on Amazon or Barnes & Noble. Check the link in the description.

Thanks for listening to this edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com.

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This edition of Newsgram highlights a unique cookbook designed to bridge the gap between young aspiring chefs and complex adult recipes. Teens a League of Their Own was inspired by Christine Burton’s experience working with students of all abilities who loved watching cooking shows but struggled to follow traditional cookbooks. By simplifying instructions into easy-to-follow, step-by-step formats, this book empowers young cooks—some as young as four or five—to confidently navigate the kitchen. With 200 tested and photographed recipes, this cookbook is more than just a guide; it has the power to shape future culinary talents.

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Have you watched a cooking show? I’ll bet you have. One of the top rated shows on Netflix is the Great British Baking Off. We are fascinated by chefs, cooking and baking shows. I think it’s because there is something highly satisfying about watching simple ingredients turn into something extraordinary. Then add creativity, competition, and a universal love of food, and you’ve got a recipe for satisfaction on multiple levels. Whether it’s a fiery, spice-packed meal (my personal favorite) or the comforting sweetness of a homemade cake, food has a way of stirring emotions and memories. It reminds us of home, of adventure, of love.

Is your mouth watering yet? Well let me introduce you to a refreshing summer treat called Watermelon Pico de Gallo. It’s a simple recipe that combines watermelon, honeydew, cucumber, red onion, jalapeño, cilantro, basil, mint, some honey and lime. It is the perfect balance of sweet, spicy, and fresh. One bite, and you’ll taste the magic.

Christine Burton – If you really want something different for the summer, mix up your melons, watermelon, honeydews, anything, just you put it all in there. But when you’re following the ingredients, it’ll say for a crowd. But if you only want to do it for one person, take a couple of little pieces and just do a separate little bowl for yourself and just, you know, chart it down.

That is Christine Burton and she’s responsible for this recipe and many, many others – 200 to be exact – and they make up a new book called Teens A League of Their Own: A Perfect Culinary Blend Cooking and Baking Recipes and I think you are going to love hearing the backstory on this book.

Christine Burton – I worked with kids in grades kindergarten all the way through the charter school after high school, and the ones that are still trying to get their GEDs. I worked with a lot of the disabled, the anger management, and I was there to assist these kids daily in the majority of their classes. One in particular was the cooking class, and I would hear all kinds of stories from during the day, and they wanted to help, and some teachers wouldn’t let them help unless they had someone. So we went, and I started helping them there, and they got to love it, and then they started asking, oh, I wish there was a book on the market that had stuff other than celery and peanut butter, stuff like that, and they wanted more adult recipes. The high school kids wanted to challenge themselves, and the younger kids, which to my surprise, the four and five-year-olds were the best. They wanted to help mom and dad out.

So she went about creating various recipes that went beyond the simple, non-cooking recipes that she mentioned earlier and testing them out with the kids. She knew was onto something when the kids were able to read the recipe and create their own dishes. One of her most rewarding success stories involves a student on the Spectrum.

Christine Burton – I became friends with one of them and would go to his house. And I knew him from like third grade, but we’ve been in high school now. And so we went and I would write the recipes, which was like we made noodles. And his mom thanked me very much after, because he loved making noodles. He could just pat them down and cut them the way he wanted them. But then he always wanted them, if you know autistic, they always want to keep doing the same thing and everything. And I thought, Oh shoot. So the mom said, Oh great. You know, but the kid loved it. And then he wanted to make lasagna. So he had company coming and I taught him how, and then I said, would you like to have me help you make another pan? And he said, Nope, go away. And he wanted to do it himself. He was reading the instructions and he made it very nicely. So he was very proud of himself.

I thought something interesting about the teen aged kids was that they wanted to cook using recipes from adult cookbooks but they found them confusing—and, surprisingly, I had the same experience. Many cookbooks are written for those who already know how to cook, but if you’ve never learned the basics of combining ingredients, much of the content can be hard to understand. That’s what makes this book so great—it’s accessible for all ages and skill levels.

Christine Burton – I wanted it to be so simple that anybody, and I’ve been selling the books to a lot of senior citizens who are living by themselves and have never really cooked. And so they’re taking it and they’re really enjoying it because the recipes are adult recipes. You can down them. You can make them more into team type recipes if you want, or, you know, have parties, the teams can have parties with their friends, one culture, all different cultures and start doing recipes and using their different spaces and stuff and learning different things. So that was my purpose in this was for them to challenge themselves.

Part of the process of making it simple was also the need to make it adaptable for dietary needs and preferences so her recipes are designed as “base recipes” that can be modified based on personal preferences.

Christine Burton – Each recipe should be treated as a base recipe. So you can follow them as they are, if you’re just starting out, but if you’re a little bit more progressed in it and stuff, you can, if you’re a diabetic or you have gout or other type of diseases or whatever, you can adjust the recipe to fit your, even if you’re on a diet, you can use nonfat ingredients or gluten-free ingredients. So it’s all adjustable to what you want to put in it. And then the herbs and spices, you can put in what you want. If you don’t have what I list, I give ideas. Don’t let them intimidate you because they’re just ideas. And you can buy them sometimes in a bottle in the store that’s already pre-packaged with like five or six different herbs or spices in each little bottle. So I let them let you know how to utilize that kind of stuff in the book.

Since the students helped test the recipes in her book, it became clear that they were fully capable of following instructions, using kitchen tools, and applying cooking techniques—making the project a success.

Christine Burton – I want them to have success…in the kitchen. A lot of times, if you don’t know what’s going on, you’re going to have these recipes come out and they’re not going to look good. They’re not going to taste right. And so you, you are not going to try it again.

Another interesting thing she did was feature photos of the dishes that were not perfect. Food is typically hard to photograph so most books have gorgeous professional looking dishes that never really look that good in the end. I think her approach ended up being pretty perfect.

Christine Burton – And then the photographing. I did not want touched-up pictures. I wanted my readers to know exactly what it’s like while they’re cooking. I didn’t want them intimidated by these doctored-up photos. I wanted them to see this is how it comes out of the oven, and it’s all right if it’s this color or that color. So then they would try and photograph it, and they would try displaying stuff on the plates with it so that it looked presentable. And they just kind of worked the whole steps with me as we went along.

The finished product is a cookbook full of kid tested recipes, created through a unique collaboration with children, friends and neighbors using real looking photos of dishes that were created with love.

Christine Burton – It was my friends that would do the proofreading. After everything was said and done, we had to go back and proofread these recipes to make sure everything was written correct because you just don’t want to have a cup of salt sitting there. So I wanted to recognize those people that assisted with that.

It’s no wonder this book won the Notable Indie Award and the Gold Seal of Literary Excellence. Teens A League of Their Own: A Perfect Culinary Blend Cooking and Baking Recipes By Christine Burton. It’s a long title so do me a favor and head over to Teenscookbook.com that’s her website and you’ll find everything you cold possible want there.

So whether you’re a teen, a senior citizen, or just starting your culinary journey, this book has something for everyone. Check it out at TeensCookbook.com. Thanks for listening to this edition of Newsgram from WebTalkRadio.com!

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Have you ever dreamed of building your own fishpond? Today on Newsgram we dive into Sue’s Splashy Surprise by Mamimo Chan. This episode explores the heartwarming tale of family teamwork, childhood adventures, and the traditions that turn simple moments into lifelong memories. From the small victory of starting a lawnmower to the excitement of building a fishpond with her siblings; experience the thrill of watching the water flow, the joy of seeing pet fish play, and the suspense of an unexpected challenge. Can Sue save the day? Tune in and find out!

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Today’s episode is dedicated to anyone who has ever taken on the challenge of finding fun and engaging activities for children. Anyone can turn on the T.V. I’m talking about parents, grandparents and even babysitters brave enough to get the children in their care involved in baking or building a volcano or some other science experiment, taking a trip to the museum or even building a birdhouse. These kinds of activities are not just fun but they activate a Childs natural curiosity. Something Mamimo Chan says is very important and one of the key things she sees when interacting with children.

Mamimo Chan – When I interact with children, I see in them a lot of curiosity, a lot of wanting to know more and explore the world. And that’s what I always incorporate in my teaching during my education year. And at the same time, I make sure that the children enjoy the process. So that is something that I weave into the book to kind of give the children the curiosity of what’s happening at the same time to have the courage to explore the world.

Mamimo Chan is a mother of four, a grandmother and an educator with over thirty years of experience. She’s also author of Sue’s Splashy Surprise: A Pond-ering Adventure — where Pondering is a double entendre.

Mamimo Chan – The title speaks a lot about what’s happening in the book as well. A pondering adventure. It requires the making of a pond in the book. It teaches about the capillary action, of how we are actually taking care of the fish in the pond. But it’s also a pondering adventure for Sue because she realized that at times she made mistakes along the way and with that mistake, how is she going to actually save the day? So it is pondering in the sense to Sue because she has curiosity, she wants to explore. By the same time, she probably understands now that she needs to have certain steps, instructions taken well and at the same time to make sure that the fish are safe. So she saves the day with the adventure.

The wordplay in Pond-ering reflects the book’s blend of curiosity, learning, and family teamwork. As Sue and her siblings build their fishpond, they learn life lessons along the way—all while introducing young readers to science in a fun and accessible way.

Mamimo Chan – I feel that really, you know, in this very fast-paced society that we’re in now, brought about with technology, we mustn’t forget about the basics of our being. Our being came from a family. And to us, family is really very critical in how we grow up. And the polarity of growing up together in a family, but at the same time, giving the independence to the young children when they’re growing up so that they make decisions and they actually will explore the world. They can have different experiences and they may make mistakes along the way. But that is part of their learning journey.

Mamimo’s ideas about family trace back to her roots in Singapore. The book’s illustrations are inspired by her childhood home in 1970s Singapore.

Mamimo Chan – The Illustration is my original home, my first home. And I had a photograph of that captured in the year of 1970s in Singapore. We don’t quite see such homes around us anymore because we have developed very quickly over the past 50 years. And as a result, I wanted to be captured and put in a book. I have a granddaughter now, and I would love that this book becomes something that is a legacy for the family so my granddaughter will know that, oh, that’s how it has been during my grandparents’ time. How we live, what is our home like, what does it look like around us? Yeah, so that’s the illustration in the book.

In the drawings you can see Sue and her family working on the fishpond. The illustrations combined with the elements of childhood curiosity, family teamwork and the kinds of traditions that turn simple moments into lifelong memories are what I believe earned this book an honorable mention in the 2025 Reader Ready Awards and a winner in the 2024 American Writing Awards.

Mamimo Chan – It was a very pleasant surprise for me, and I think it kind of encouraged me to continue writing and to try to bring delight to children as well as parents and grandparents.

I think Curiosity is the real essence of learning and whatever we can do to light that fire in our kids is time well spent. You may not be able to build a fish pond in your yard but you read a book about it and who knows where that will take you. You might be surprised.

Mamimo Chan – I think for the children who are listening to the story, I hope that they can recognize that children are capable of validating their own feelings, they are able to make decisions, and most importantly, they have the courage to try new things, the resilience to learn from mistakes and to share the love and tradition in a family. For the parents and grandparents, I really hope that we can validate the children who are growing up at different stages of their lives and allow the space for them to learn independence and decision-making, giving them the space to even learn from mistakes.

That’s a lot to get out of a story but it’s all in there. I told you it was an award winning book. I want to leave you with a quote from the author. She says “Life’s lessons are the homework for the heart.” And doesn’t that ring true for all of us, no matter how old we are or what stage of life we are in. So whether you’re reading it with a child or using it as inspiration to build something together, remember—every small adventure has the power to spark curiosity and create lasting memories.

Sue’s Splashy Surprise: A Pond-ering Adventure by Mamimo Chan. Grab your copy today and start exploring! It’s available now online at all the places where you like to buy books. I would suggest having a look at her website: adventuresbymamimo.com. And that will do it for this edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com

Mamimo Chan was recently featured on the Books on Air Podcast with Suzanne Harris

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Sonja Wilson had a profound spiritual awakening after driving through both ends of a rainbow. It led to her enlightenment and writing gift. Her book of poetry “Have You Ever Seen a Rainbow Dance?” Is our focus today.

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We all find inspiration in our own unique ways. For many of us, it can be found in our personal experiences, our conversations with others, our struggles and achievements. Maybe you find inspiration through journaling, listening to music or meditating. For Sonja Wilson it was an up close and personal encounter with one of natures most beautiful spectacles.

Sonja Wilson – I was in a car, and I was driving a car that needed repair. So the windscreen wipers weren’t working. And as the rainbow appeared across the road, the wind shifted, and I went through it. And it did a dance on my dash. It was just the most magnificent feeling that you could ever experience. And then I turned the corner as I had gone out of the rainbow, and I went through again. And it just gave me an opportunity to take everything in. And ever since, I’ve just been appreciating everything I have and everything the world has to offer. And I see the world in a very different way to most people.

If you’ve ever been through a profound experience like this it can definitely be life changing. These kinds of events tend to shift our perspectives, reshape our values, and they can open our minds to new ways of thinking. For Sonja it helped to redefine her faith and lead to enlightenment.

Sonja Wilson – Spirituality is about everything that isn’t material. It’s about life. It’s about why we’re here. It’s about our purpose. It’s about everything that isn’t material. And that’s what’s in the pot of gold. And the pot of gold, what applies to one applies to all. So the fact that I’ve been enlightened is everyone’s destiny and everyone’s journey. And for example, we’re supposed to live forever, but that seems like an unachievable goal. In actual fact, it isn’t. It’s inevitable because of evolution.

Sonja has had many profound experiences that have shaped her perspective and the culmination of them is now available in a her book “Have You Ever Seen a Rainbow Dance?: A poetry and song book”, twenty-five years in the making where her spiritual insights extend beyond personal enlightenment—she also reinterprets biblical history

Sonja Wilson – Well, the main thing I wanted to address is enlightenment. The greatest enlightenment in the book is the fact that Jesus Christ was actually originally Adam. So Jesus and Mary were originally Adam and Eve. And even Adam and Eve, they weren’t respected because they sinned and cast us into hell. But the fact is that this is a step that we had to take in order to create a perfect world. So we should be celebrating them, not looking at the negative, but looking at the positives that they left behind and worshipping them, not just Jesus, but Jesus and Mary, Adam and Eve, and God. When I looked into Christianity, it was all about Jesus, Jesus, overkill on Jesus, where I really wondered where the worship of God was. And that’s where I’m from. I don’t follow religion. I respect all religions and learn from each and every one of them. But I follow God. And that’s what I want to teach people to take away from this and my books.

Her journey hasn’t been without challenges. She’s faced mental health struggles, but her faith has been the guiding light that helped her through these challenges.

Sonja Wilson – I suffer from manic bipolar, and I had 13 nervous breakdowns. And each time, the enlightenment was the one thing that carried me through. And I was able to appreciate, even at the worst of times, everything that I did have and everything that I was receiving. So I’ve learned to appreciate the negatives and the positives, and see both of them, and see a world that I didn’t see when I was younger. I know what it’s like to feel like, does God exist? And all the questions. And because I asked so many questions, I got all the answers that I wanted. And I still do. And that’s accessible to everyone. All you have to do is ask, and you shall receive.

Sonja believes life is a journey of lessons. She sees hardships as opportunities for growth and designed her book to help readers understand life’s meaning, find their own inner peace, find positivity and embrace their personal journey with hope and faith.

Sonja Wilson – Everything you need is found within. Like, for example, I have that little bit of something inside of me that’s been missing, that isn’t missing anymore. And that’s why I want to help other people. Because once you know what the future has in store, what we’re here for, why we have to go through all the pain that we do, once it makes sense, and that’s what I’ve tried to do with my book is make sense of it, of life, it becomes easier to put up with the things that you have to.

A tool that helps you to find enlightenment and put up with the hardships of life sounds pretty good to me.

Have You Ever Seen a Rainbow Dance? by Sonja Wilson-Watterson is available now at Amazon.com and many other places online. Check the show notes for links. And that will do it for this edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com.

Sonja Wilson was recently featured on the Books on Air podcast with Suzanne Harris.

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Sam – Welcome to this edition of Newsgram!

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Apple PodcastsAndroidRSSIf you’ve never been to our nation’s capital I highly recommend it. We once took a family vacation in early April, which was unusual for us because the kids were in school, but we were able to be there for Cherry Blossoms season which made it extra special.

In addition to walking the National Mall, one of my favorite memories was walking through the Arlington National Cemetery and visiting the tomb of the unknown soldier. Put this on your list if you plan to visit. As we journey there today on our virtual trip I want to set the scene by taking you back to Memorial Day 1982 when then president Ronald Reagan said “I have no illusions about what little I can add to the silent testimony of those who gave their lives willingly for their country. Words cannot repay the debt we owe these men. Theirs is a noble cause”.

One of the most visited grave sites is that of former president John F. Kennedy who just weeks before his assassination in 1963 said, “As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.” And I think that’s exactly what Pasquale Varallo is doing. Pasquale Varallo once served as a Tomb Guard and in 2018. On the anniversary of the end of WWI, – a full century after the signing of the Armistice of 1918, he put together a tributecalled “ A Tomb Guard Remembers” and thanks to the help of his good friend Jen Gordon it is now a book.

Jen Gordon – A Tomb Guard Remembers was written by my friend Pasquale Varallo because he was a former tomb guard of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in the late 40s after the Second World War for about eight or ten months before he went into the regular military. And he stayed a part of the Tomb Guard Association his whole life until he just turned 94 about two weeks ago. He’s still kicking strong.

Sam – That’s incredible and it’s really a testament to the bond Pasquale feels with that sacred place. Just to give you some perspective, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is a monument located in the middle of Arlington National Cemetery. It has been there since 1921 and is dedicated to unidentified American service members who died in war. It is a symbol of honor and sacrifice for U.S. military personnel who have given their lives in defense of the nation. If you’d like to visit there is no cost and the changing of the guard takes place every hour. I think you will really enjoy seeing it. Anyway, the book is a powerful collection of poems and songs written by soldiers who fought in the war, some even by Pasquale himself and the loved ones who waited for their return.

Jen Gordon – Because he was such a big part of the Tomb Guard Association, and he has published books in the past, mostly on his own of poetry, they asked him to put together an anthology for the 100th anniversary of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier that took place in November of 2021. So what he did was he went through a whole lot of time he spent going through poetry that had to do with war, whether it was written by soldiers, by soldiers who’ve come home, by family members left behind while their loved ones were at war, starting as early as the Revolutionary War up through the First World War, which is what the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier starts at. He put together this book, and he really wanted somebody to kind of have another set of eyes on it who was good with English and writing.

And through a mutual friend, we got connected. And we met one day at the library one afternoon on a Sunday, and he showed me his story, which I fell in love with. And I helped him put it together in book format. So in the height of the pandemic, I decided that I was determined to get this book published for him so that he could see it in his hands while he was still able.

Sam – Isn’t that amazing? It was written during a period when people had a lot of time to reflect — thanks to the pandemic. It is an incredibly moving tribute to military history but you don’t have to be a history buff to appreciate it. If you enjoy poetry, war history, or just a good story, I think you’ll find something meaningful in this book.

Jen Gordon – I think it’s just so diverse in that way, because you get a little taste of the Tomb Guard and what it was like at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, but you get to see what Americans’ eyes were through war, starting with World War I, all the way up to, excuse me, starting with the Revolutionary War, through the Civil War, and then up to World War I. He chose to stop with World War I because of the impact of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. But I think that it’s just such a good genre for multiple facets. So please don’t let the title turn you off. There is a little bit about past war in his life, but the majority of it is poetry he took the time to put together that he felt was an important portrait of war in different facets.

Sam – The cover features a black and white photo of a soldier in battle gear with the title “A Tomb Guard Remembers”. Its a great picture but Jen reminds us not to judge a book by its cover.

Jen Gordon – Some people may get turned off by the book when they see the cover because it says, A Tomb Guard Remembers, which is what Pasquale wanted it to be called, because in the beginning before the poems, he does a little reminiscence about war in general, a little bit about his time as a tomb guard and why he put the book together and what it meant to him. So I think a lot of folks, when I’ve talked to them, just think this is a whole 155 page book of a gentleman talking about his time, and it’s not.

Sam – She says her favorite poem was number 11, Here Dead We Lie by A.E. Housman and while Housman was not a soldier himself, World War I had a profound impact on him, like it did many others in Great Britain.

Jen Gordon – Here dead we lie, because we did not choose to live and shame the land from which we sprung. Life, to be sure, is nothing much to lose, but young men think it is, and we were young.

Sam – A great way to summarize this book is found in the online description which reads A Tomb Guard Remembers offers a moving glimpse into the past through the voices of those who lived it. Jen couldn’t resist adding her own touch to the collection, the female perspective if you will, featuring a poem from a collection representing the voices of women who experienced the Vietnam War firsthand.

Jen Gordon – The one thing that I added to the book as a personal touch is on the last page, page 195. And it’s not really a poem. It’s more of a quote by Norma J. Griffiths, who wrote about the Vietnam War, ironically enough. But it’s called The Peace to End All Wars. Let us think no more of the war to end all wars. For only in complete destruction of all would that be possible. So let us think of the peace to end all wars. And perhaps finally, working with the right tool, we can create the goal.

Sam – For my entire life the United States has been involved in some type of conflict and it seems there is always a war going on. While we currently celebrate a ceasefire between Israel and Gaza there is still a war going on between Russia and Ukraine but that doesn’t mean we should stop hoping for peace. Maybe it’s a long shot, but peace is always worth working toward.

Jen Gordon – World War I was either called the Great War or the war to end all wars. And of course, we all know that there have been wars since then. Norma J Griffiths wants us to understand that there probably will not be a war to end all war because like she said, none of us would most likely make it survive it at this point in this day and age with weaponry. But if we all think about peace, maybe we can only have to reminisce and remember and read about war and not actually have to live it.

Sam – Wouldn’t that be something?Pasquale Varallo is now ninety-one years old. He lives in an assisted living facility. Here’s Jen talking about the moment she showed Pasquale a hardcover copy of his book.

Jen Gordon – He was just enthralled. I mean, I have photos I took of him just holding the book in his hands. He had tears in his eyes. And as much as I’d like to say it’s become a bestseller, it is not, but every penny was worth it to see my friend Pasquale’s eyes light up, to see the book that he worked so hard on in his own hands.

Sam – If you choose to purchase this book you should know that the proceeds do not go to a large publishing house. They go to the people who put this book together. A Tomb Guard Remembers by Pasquale Varallo’s is an emotional tribute that I think is worth considering and I’ll leave you with the words inscribed on the sarcophagus itself, “Here rests in honored glory an American soldier known but to God.”

And that will do it for this edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.

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Welcome to this edition of Newsgram!

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Apple PodcastsAndroidRSSSam – Today we are going on a self-improvement journey. Mairead Ashcroft is going to share her story with us. Now, just a heads up, it does touch on some delicate material but her ability to share her experience openly and honestly with us is one of the things you’re going to love about her.

If you’ve tuned into Newsgram in the past then you know this program at its core is all about finding and showcasing interesting people living their lives in unique and interesting ways — and of course writing a book about it.

Today’s book is one that breaches many different modalities and you’ll figure that out from the title, “Art of Life and Curiosity: Creative Mental Health, Wellbeing and Life Balance Exploration” by by Mairead Ashcroft

Mairead Ashcroft (Abuse): So I’m a survivor of childhood sexual abuse. And it happened to be with a member of the Catholic Church. And it took me 17 years to put this man in prison. And during that time, I used my own mental health techniques to keep myself sane, really. So everywhere I went, I brought pens, paper, some pencils, and I would draw my feelings everywhere I went. So that would be in courtrooms, police stations, going to see my own counsellors, going to catch the train home from these appointments.

Sam – Did you catch that? She’ was journaling for seventeen years about justice and all the feelings related to her situation. If it were me, it would lead down a very dark spiral but that was not her experience.

Mairead Ashcroft (Circles): It was quite harrowing. It took, like I said, 17 years. But while I was doing that, I noticed that I was drawing a lot of circles. So I started to investigate circles and the importance of circles in mental health, the importance of circles in humanity, and the importance of circles in our history and in cultures from all around the world. And I found that the healing circle was just prolific in cultures all around the globe, right back to caveman times. So I looked at the similarities between those historical and modern similarities and put together this book in a way for people to explore what does the circle mean for them? And where do they see these healing circles in their everyday life without even realizing? So it’s about becoming curious about how the circle and how ancient mythology, the cultures around them, that we live in a multicultural world, how this multicultural world helps them now in their own lives.

Sam – Interesting right?Let me take a minute to explain the healing power of circles because I didn’t immediately get it but when you take a minute to think about it it makes more sense. In one of my college writing classes the teacher was obsessed with our chairs being positioned in a perfect circle. If you’ve ever undergone group therapy then you know about healing circles, where everyone sits in a circle to share their experiences. It fosters connection, and promotes mutual support. I’m sure you can think of examples where circles have played a role in your life, or how art might help you process what words cannot.

Mairead Ashcroft (Art Therapy): So we’re talking about creative arts therapy. So that could be movement, music. Think of any of the arts. They express our emotions. It expresses our deepest, sometimes hidden feelings. When you listen to lyrics of songs, even not just the lyrics, some of the tonality of music, some of the tonality of colors, some of the mood of dance, without saying any words, will express to you a whole story. Art therapy is a way of expressing your story when words are just not enough.

Sam – Because not everyone has the capacity to articulate their experiences with words. Sometimes you have to draw a picture.

Mairead Ashcroft (Pictures) And for me, it’s not music or movement, but it is the actual putting of image on paper that works for me. So much so that when I was in court, in my victim’s impact statement, I actually put a piece of art in my victim’s impact statement that was put up on the screen. And in the courtroom, the whole courtroom had an in-breath. Like, everybody felt. The words weren’t doing it, but the impact was, wow.

Sam – They say a picture is worth a thousand words…

Mairead Ashcroft (The healing) But anyway, the book’s not about that. The book’s about the healing.

Right, let’s keep all this in perspective. The book is about healing and it stands out because it combines creativity, personal storytelling, cultural depth, and practical guidance in a way that I think you’ll find refreshing. It’s not just a guide—it’s a resource that invites readers to explore themselves in imaginative and meaningful ways and it’s for…

Mairead Ashcroft (The Who) People who are stuck in a rut. People who are just beginning to explore their authentic selves. People who need a little guidance to be, to take small steps. This isn’t a big, big step book. This is a little step book. And I think that sometimes taking too big a step can be overwhelming, particularly in trauma

Sam – Trauma is a great example and since there are many different types of healing let’s begin there. She says when it comes to personal trauma the first thing you need to do is be honest with yourself.

Mairead Ashcroft (Trauma) It’s about putting into place, okay, what am I responsible for? I’m not responsible for my own trauma here, but I am responsible for how I get through this trauma. And what I found worked for me was to be curious. So when I would have a feeling come up, rather than beat myself up with that feeling or about that feeling, I would say, what was that? Where did that feeling come from? Does that feeling belong to me? Was that feeling something that has been conditioned onto me by somebody else, possibly society, possibly my upbringing, possibly the perpetrator? Where has that come from? And does it work for me? Is it serving a positive purpose in my life? If it’s not serving a purpose, a positive purpose in my life, then I don’t need it. What am I going to do to replace that? So it’s about being curious and finding a way of doing something positive with that feeling.

Sam – There are all kinds of situations where you just need to take a minute and think about how your feeling. Being human, you can’t help but have them but you can control what you do with them. Taking the stage is going to give you butterflies. Public speaking makes me physically nauseous but that energy can be transferred.

Mairead Ashcroft (Job Interview): So we’ve all probably been, you know, adults for a job interview, and we feel nervous about going for that job interview. So we can think, oh, you know, am I good enough for this job interview? What are they going to think about me? Are they going to judge me? Are they? These are all the self-taught things that we tend to do for ourselves….If you’ve got an interview, you’re already, you know, you’ve already got your foot in the door, so you’re doing okay. So it’s about, okay, what are all the great attributes that I have that I can bring into this interview? If they don’t choose me, because there’s probably going to be maybe 10 people that go for this job, it’s not a personal affront to my individuality. It’s just that I don’t fit a certain criteria that they’re looking for, because they’re just ticking boxes.

Sam – They are just a bunch of box tickers. Maybe you will get hired, maybe you won’t but its nothing personal. It is excruciating but those feelings don’t last and this is just a small example of the kind of wisdom available in her book, Art of Life and Curiosity. It’s really not just a book—it’s a personal guide to helping you see life from a fresh perspective. A tool to help you break free from some of those old habits that may be holding you back. You can open it to any page and find something meaningful to reflect on, which is pretty handy when you need a little inspiration or some clarity. Here’s an example.

Mairead Ashcroft (Example): I’ll just grab my book here. So I’ll open the page. What have I got here? All right, I’ve got noon. I’ve just opened the book and it opened up at noon. And at the end of noon, it says, what feelings presented themselves today about noon? If life goals were placed on a clock face, where would they be sitting? So in that question, you would say, all right, your life goals, if they were placed on a clock face, are you at the end of that life goal? Or are you just beginning that life goal? It’s a way of actually thinking about life. Asking questions that you may not normally contemplate. If your goals are not going according to your wishes, what needs to change? Are you taking time to fit rest and mindful meditation into your daily practice? So you would read the chapter and then you would ask yourself these questions. So it’s just a way of having some daily practice.

Sam – Her book blends together ancient wisdom, like the Native American Medicine Wheel, mindfulness practices and other tools for self-discovery.

Mairead Ashcroft (Ancient Wisdom): One is the Celtic cross, because I was born in Ireland. Two is the Native American medicine wheel. My kids play lacrosse, brought up with the ancient teachings of lacrosse, which is the elders are playing in the sky while the humans are playing on the land. So you’ve got to play a fair game because the elders are watching. And then there’s also the Aboriginal medicine wheel. And then there’s the mandala. So I take the teachings from the four of those medicine wheels, really. And I break them down and they end up with 58 subjects that are very similar. And in those, I look at sort of the yin and yang, so the dark and light sides to life.

Sam – Can you see the blending here? Ancient wisdom applied in a practical way and laid out very creatively. She also offers gentle encouragement to explore big life topics in a small way, make sure you are taking good care of yourself, and finding balance in all areas—body, mind, and spirit while at the same time trying not to take yourself too seriously.

Mairead Ashcroft (Get Help) As I say in the book, I am an expert in nothing except being me. And I get that wrong all the time. So I have a bit of a laugh at myself and say, yep, stop taking yourself so seriously. And you’ll be OK. But as I always say in my chapters as well, when things do become overwhelming, get help.

Sam – While this book is a nice resource, if you are in need of counseling, talk to a friend or do your best to seek counseling and find the help you need before things get out of hand, or do both. Combine some her personal tools in the book with professional support. There are lots of great organizations out there like Lifeline or SAMHSA(Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration).

Mairead Ashcroft is an inspiration. She has overcome incredible challenges, including childhood trauma. Her journey inspired her to become a counselor, an art therapist, and a wellness coach, and she shares all of that wisdom in her new book, Art of Life and Curiosity: Creative Mental Health, Wellbeing and Life Balance Exploration. Grab a copy on Amazon.com and learn how to create your own “Wellness Wheel,” a simple and powerful tool to map out your well-being. Then let’s see where your journey takes you. This book is a toolkit for healing and self-discovery. Whether you’re searching for clarity, balance, or a way to express what’s hard to say, Mairead’s wisdom is here to guide you. And that will do it for this edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com.

Mairead Ashcroft was recently interviewed on the Books on Air podcast with Suzanne Harris. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/books-on-air/id1208216729

SAMHSA Helpline

• Website: findtreatment.samhsa.gov
• Helpline: 1-800-662-HELP (4357)
• This free, confidential service connects people to local mental health and substance abuse treatment providers, including counselors and therapists.

National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)

• Website: nami.org
• Helpline: 1-800-950-NAMI (6264)
• Offers referrals, guidance, and information on finding mental health counselors.

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Apple PodcastsAndroidRSSToday I have another remarkable story for you about a book created out of the diaries and recordings left by a loved one. A story that tells the remarkable double life of an American woman named Jean Heringman Willacy.

Sue Heringman – I was going through her papers and found this incredible treasure trove of detailed diaries of her life in Afghanistan and in Pakistan and with those diaries there was also incredible photographs and there were drawings by Afghan refugee children and I think most priceless were cassette tapes that she made of recordings of when she was out and about in Afghanistan and also in the refugee camps and finding all of those things, I felt that it was really important to get them into a book and to get the book.

That is her daughter Sue and yes, compiling all that material into a book is a great idea. Sometimes it’s easier said than done. The final nudge to get going on this project came from the last entry she found in her mothers diary. Here are her words read by an artificial voice actor.

Quote read by voice actor – I have a lifetime of memories and experiences during my years in Afghanistan and would deeply love seeing something rewarding from those days.

Sue Heringman – So I really felt I owed it to Jean and to her adopted extended Afghan family to make every effort to transcribe all this diary material, which in the first draft ran to 600 pages, so you can imagine.

And that’s how it began. Sue, not unlike her mother, has led a life filled with international experiences. Born in Los Angeles, she attended High School in Arizona and college at the University of Iowa. She followed her mother to the UK, where attended college in London and that’s where she lives now.

Sue Heringman – When my mother came to live in the UK, then I went to the University of London and following that I was in Spain working for the University of Southern California, so that’s me and I live in the UK now, not far from where my mother used to live, so it’s really nice.

If that’s a bit confusing don’t worry about it. My Goal was to show you that these women are not afraid to travel and when you have the heart of a wanderlust, and adventurer, then exciting things are going to happen.

Sue Heringman – This was about 1967. She was traveling to the Hindu kush mountains and just arrived there and she fell in love with the country and also I have to say was an Englishman who was a fur trader in Kabul at the time and so that’s where she wanted to settle and make her home, so she lived in Afghanistan up until these first, the Soviet coup, which was in 1978, the Czar revolution, and she was one of the few foreign eyewitnesses to that military communist coup. She stayed on, yeah, afterwards for another year until 1979 when the Soviets then invaded Afghanistan, so there’s a lot of relevant material in the book.

You can say that again. Eye-witness accounts and photographs of the communist coup, Live recordings from the streets of Kabul, a first-hand experience of what it was like living in a Soviet puppet state. I would say that is some pretty interesting stuff. Let me backup for a second. In that last soundbite you heard her say “She was traveling to the Hindu kush mountains”. This mountain range straddles the borders between Pakistan, Afghanistan, and India and she just happened to be going there?

Sue Heringman – Yeah, when she first went, when she first went, Kabul was a completely different place. It was considered to be the Paris of Central Asia and girls could wear mini skirts and women could work, even be judges, and so that happened up until the communist invasion, Soviet invasion, and then everything changed, of course, and that’s when my mother went to Pakistan

It was a different time. And, if you’re going to visit Pakistan you may as well drop in on the refugee camps and talk to some of the people living the life of a refugee in exile.

Sue Heringman – I don’t know many people who would say, I dream of going to the camps in Pakistan, sheltering on the border with Afghanistan, and to help those people who have been fleeing for their lives, and that’s basically what she did. She wasn’t affiliated to anybody, any group, NGO, and she just went about it quietly in her own way, befriending people, sponsoring people, and doing the best that she could.

For someone like me, who’s never ventured far from the good ole US of A, Jean’s story of courage and adventure is truly eye-opening, and if you’re thinking Jean was a young Wayfarer out sowing some youthful roots you would be gravely mistaken.

Sue Heringman – Well, the amazing thing was her age, and she was 60 when she went into the camps, and she, when she first went to Afghanistan, she was 50, and so, yeah, not many women would do that, and particularly, she lived in some of the camps.

Did you get that? She lived in some of the camps and while she was there she interviewed women and lived out her dreams of travel and photography.

Sue Heringman – My mother had over 3,000 slides. She had drawings by these Afghan refugee children of their wartime experiences. And my mother’s greatest regret was that she couldn’t go back to Afghanistan after the evasion.

This is just a snapshot of the experiences documented in her book and I hope I’m doing it justice. Sue Heringman’s mom was a pretty incredible person and if you’ll allow me one quick addition to her legacy I also want to point out that she once worked with Afghan women to make embroidered coats. I don’t know if you remember these Afghan coats but they were very popular in the late ’60’s. In the U.K one of them was called the ”Penny Lane” coat.

Sue Heringman – The hippies loved them, the embroidered Afghan coats, and the embroidery was what my mother was involved with, helping these widows, and she exported them and made sure that the proceeds went directly to the women.

Did early Beatle fans wear an Embroidered Afghan coat made by her mother and she other Afghan ladies while strolling down Abbey road, I really don’t know, maybe but I think you will enjoy getting to know Jean Heringman in a book that paints a portrait of some real people in a very different time. Well, different in some ways and very much the same in others.

Sue Heringman – Jean makes us care deeply about the real people in the book. You’ve got Dr. Ghulam facing deportation from Canada. You’ve got Soraya in Germany trapped in a clash of cultures and red tape bureaucracy. And you have Habiba, a midwife, who is receiving death threats in the camps. So, Jean makes you care for these people and what happens to them. So, hopefully, that will help readers have increased awareness and empathy for not just their plight, but refugees worldwide. To be a refugee, Dr. Ghulam wrote, more than losing your country, more than losing your history and your culture, you lose the right to choose your way of life.

Before we wrap up here I wanted to share one more thing about Sue because publishing a book can seem like an impossible task for some people but it was kind of perfect for her. As a retired Spanish and English Teacher and translator she was always interested in writing and that is the skill that helps bring to life the amazing woman that until now we never knew. Here is Sue with a final takeaway for you.

Sue Heringman – Jean was able to overcome her own huge self-doubt. She always felt that she was too old to be able to make a difference. But that gave her the courage and determination to become the fierce foe she did when she was fighting the tyranny of bureaucracy or the staunch ally of all whom she befriended. And so, it’s important, I think, for us to take Jean’s inspirational example that no matter how limited one is in age or ability, there’s always some small thing that we can do to help whose world has just been turned upside down, even if it is just giving hope.

Care to take a trip back in time without leaving the country? Check out he Keeper of Families: Jean Heringman Willacy’s Afghan Diaries by Sue Heringman and for even more of the archives she uncovered you can check visit the University of Nebraska’s Chriss Library, they have the huge collection of Afghan material, secondary only to Afghanistan and its where you can find this book and all the rest of this amazing material where it can be studied and appreciated for years to come. And that will do it for this edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com.

Sue Heringman was recently on the Books on Air podcast hosted by Suzanne Harris.

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Welcome to this edition of Newsgram!

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Apple PodcastsAndroidRSS[Train Sounds]

It’s the early 1960s. A passenger train is en route from Iowa to Chicago, carrying a young chemist named Bill. Bill’s destination? The headquarters of the Sanford Ink Company in Bellwood, Illinois, where he’s set to meet Keith Beal, the company’s head of research and development. Here’s Bill…

Wm. J. Green (Closer to Family) Home was Iowa. But I wanted our kids to know their parents, their grandparents, their grandparents and their cousins and so on so I went looking for a job in the Chicago area where we could be a little closer to the family.

Bill was and is a family man. He was heading to the big city with hopes of stability, but it turns out his contributions will resonate far beyond his own family. Ever heard of the Sharpie marker?

Wm. J. Green (Sharpie 1) There was a lot of interest there. It kept growing and growing. And finally I was on a train between Albuquerque and Chicago.

We sat down for a meal with a group of people and somewhere in the middle of the conversation, I dropped my little comment about my work developing the Sharpie marker and it was that there was a lot of interest.

I’ll bet there was. Let’s properly introduce our guest: William J. Green, chemist at Sanford Ink Company and an instrumental figure in the Sharpie’s development. Here he is to finish his story.

Wm. J. Green (Sharpie 2) But when lunch was over, I went back to my seat. And I’m sitting there and suddenly this young man walks up and looks at me and says, Excuse me, but I understand you’re the chemist that put together the Sharpie marker and I just wanted to meet you. And that woke me up. I said, Do you know what? This is a story that needs to be told. And not told just because it’s a success story in business, but there’s a lot of human interest stories that really puts it together.

Can you imagine being on that train, hearing Bill’s story firsthand, I’d want to know more too! So after realizing that there was a lot of interest in his work he decided to write it all down in a book titled “The Sanford Tales: And Other Stories, Both Tall and Short”. Just to clarify, Bill didn’t invent the Sharpie, but he played a crucial role in refining its formulation and popularizing it as the versatile Sharpie you know and love today. Here’s an excerpt from the book read by an A.I Robot…

Excerpt: No, the product was not my personal brainchild. There were several people who shared credit for this product. First and foremost Chuck Lofgren Sr., the president of Sanford Ink company when Sharpie was developed. Then there was Francis Gilbert, the executive vice president of the company, and the man who turned Lofgren’s dreams into marketable realities. There was also Walt DeGroft, the manager of new product development, and someone with a most unlikely background for the position he held. There was Ted Jensen who transformed prototypes into assembly lines. And then there was me, Bill Green, an ambitious young chemist fresh from the University of Iowa.

Together we made it happen…

The Sharpie was developed by the team at Sanford back in 1964 originally as a permanent marker, Bill Green, was instrumental in improving the marker’s ink formula. His work helped make it more reliable and long-lasting on a variety of surfaces, characteristics that eventually turned it into the trusted marker we know today. Anyway this story is really more about the people and the culture at Sanford back in the 60’s and 70’s and of course Bill, a fascinating guy with plenty of options.

Wm. J. Green (The Job) I love to tell stories. OK, I’m going to give you another here. When I took this job with them, with this. Small private company, the company. Also, I took that job and then I got a phone call from General Electric. And they offered me a job as a chemist being part of the team that was going to develop the color television for General Electric. And I think I got to be absolutely crazy to turn that down, but I’m going to put my family first and I’m going to go to Chicago and work for this very small private company. And I’m looking back at it now, I’m talking to you about the work that I did there all over the world. And General Electric colored television tube is in the trash of history.

Hahaha, that’s one way to look at it. The Sharpie is here to stay. If you don’t have a Sharpie in your hand right now then you definitely know where to find one, whether you’re at home or at work. Bill’s journey captures an era in American history full of transformation. He joined the Sanford Ink Company in the early 1960s, right as America was on the brink of massive cultural, social, and technological change.

Wm. J. Green (Culture) When I walked into Sanford Inc. Company, I walked into something that was really amazing. There were blacks from the inner city and there were blacks from college educated. And there were also this group of Cubans. When Castro took over Cuba and these people escaped off the island literally at the risk of their lives. They gathered together in these flotillas and tried to get them to Miami. And President Kennedy had to do something with all these people in one place. And he asked companies all over the country that were willing to let him know. And he’d send them some people to join the workforce. So when I walked into Sanford Inc.Company, I walked into an ethnic mix that included these Cuban refugees. And it was really a cultural adventure for me to hear their stories and get to know them. And some of those stories are in my book and a couple of really good ones.

Bill grew up in all white neighborhood and attended an all white college so this was a real change. To his credit he embraced it and enjoyed the diversity. You see, in the early sixties this country was entering a decade of experimentation and bold ideas—it was a time when innovation and creativity were thriving in nearly every industry and looking back, his time at the Sanford Ink Company was a snapshot of Americana that needed to be recorded.

Wm. J. Green (Civil Rights) There was a cultural and ethical ethnic mix that all came together under the supervision of some very wise and honest people. And it all came together. While we were doing this Dr. King was beginning his career promoting civil rights and it was already underway at Sanford Inc. Company. Looking back on now, I can see it and understand it. Back then, I just experienced it. But now I can look at my experiences and begin to understand them. And that was really a wonderful, wonderful experience to see everybody come together that way.

And at the end, produce something that’s now part of the broader history.

I think it would be a real treat to take a long train ride with Bill, hearing his stories first hand about that time in American history. He also has stories about working with Chuck Lofgren and Francis Gilbert, the founders of the Sanford Ink Company. Now Chuck Lofgren was the company president, but he say’s he wasn’t the type to stay hidden away in an office. He was closely connected with the workers and it was important to him that he understood what was happening on the ground floor.

Wm. J. Green (Lofgren) Oh, absolutely. The fact that the president of the company would go walking through the factory and talk to an hourly employee was part of how he put together his products. We’re getting ready to go on the market with the factory line to set up and running. And he walked out into the factory. And when he walked by the line where this new product was being made, he overheard a comment by one of the workers on the assembly line. He stopped in his tracks, went back to the PA system and called an emergency meeting and he shut down the assembly line just based on the comment of one of the people on the assembly line. That whole product got a brand new beginning and it was an everyday thing, not just an occurrence, but it was an everyday thing. This is Chuck Lofgren.

What a great example of putting the product and the team first. Tough calls like these are never easy, but they tend to pay off in the long run. A little humility, openness, and respect go a long way in building a strong team. Bill truly cherished his time at Sanford, and you can hear it in his stories. Here’s another short clip from the book.

Excerpt 2: As I think back on that part of my life, I indeed take great pride in what was accomplished. The Sharpie has been produced and sold for many years now. It has provided many jobs right here in America. Many of my personal friends from those days spent their entire careers producing and selling Sharpies and are now enjoying retirement funded by Sharpie’s success.

If you’d like to dive deeper into his experiences, his book, The Sanford Tales: . He says as he wrote it, the memories felt frozen in time, just as vivid now as they were back then.

Wm. J. Green (Family) They’re frozen in my mind at the same age and time that they were. They’ll never change in my mind. And it was a fun experience to go back and say hello to them again. Laugh with them. We we just live together. We didn’t work together. We live together emotionally. Sanford was different from some of the other companies. It wasn’t uncommon for a married couple to both work in the same factory. There were a number of married couples that worked together there in the summertime when their orders were the biggest in the workforce. So taking vacations, they like to bring in the factory workers, kids that needed some money to go to college and we need some money to get on with their careers and so on. So I got to know not only the people I work with, but I got to know their families. It was really a unique experience. I don’t know how you would create it today. I don’t know how you would promote it. It was an experience that needs to be preserved and shared. And that’s what I tried to do.

The book features some fun diagrams from the patent office.

You’ll also find wonderful first had stories and cultural reflections along with a look at Bill’s life growing up in poverty and meeting a generous man named Richard

Wm. J. Green (Richard) He had a beautiful family of about eight children and they were all wiped out in one accident. And it literally shook the nation. And when he put me in business, the man’s name was Richard and that’s the name of the chapter of my book. Richard put me in business and he was putting me through college while his own children were all buried in a cemetery outside of town. And there’s something about this that somehow my poverty and his horrible experience come together to produce a product that’s now used and loved by people around the world. And there’s some sort of redemption message in there that I’m not going to try to explain to anybody. But it gives you something to think about.

Absolutely. He dedicates a full chapter to Richard. The Sanford Tales: And Other Stories, Both Tall and Short, capturing the story of a man, a marker, and a well-preserved slice of American history.

Bill’s journey reminds us that even the most humble paths can leave lasting marks on the world. Thanks for joining us for this edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com.

Be sure and catch the full interview with William J. Green on the Books on Air podcast with Suzanne Harris.

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What does it really mean to live wisely? Is it about making smart decisions, or is it something deeper? Today, we’ll explore how Scott Curtis Mieschen sees it—through faith, wisdom, and the guidance of God. Scott is an interesting man who wears many hats including teacher, consultant, Minister and author. He just wrote a book titled Live Wise. A title that I found intriguing because the way I interpret those words, to “Live Wise” means to think first, to keep an open mind and to live your life guided by wisdom, intentionality, and alignment with your values and hopefully those values lead you to fulfillment, peace, and purpose. In the context of Scott’s book, the concept of Living Wise, is closely tied to living in accordance with God’s wisdom and the teachings of Christianity.Here he is to explain all that for himself.

Scott Curtis Mieschen – The joy of a life well lived is part of what I mean by live wise. And God calls us to live wise. He invites us to live wise. So the book is about how God instructed me and I’ve always enjoyed helping people. So this book is a product of my liking to help people. I always was like when I was employed, I always had the summer interns, even if they were assigned to another manager.

Eventually they migrated over to me because I really enjoyed that process of taking a young person and helping them. So this idea is my faith in Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior, and my love for caring, caring for people.

The complete title of the book is Live Wise: A Guidebook to Facing Life’s Complexities with the Wisdom and Love of God and it was born out of a very stressful situation. It started with Scott being a single parent of three.

Scott Curtis Mieschen – I was working at a very competitive organization. The Federal Reserve, and I was an internal audit manager. So one of the challenges is you have to be right. So there’s a lot of pressure to come to the right conclusion. You’re asked a question, is this working right or not? And you have to set up to do all this testing. So under those conditions, my Christian faith matured. Stress in life will either make you better or bitter. But I’m a very strong believer, and I would not be sitting here without the help of God, the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, and God the Father. So this was what I developed to live wise in my life under the most stressful conditions.

I love how he puts that: stress can make you bitter or better—what a great quote! And I would add that it can do both. So let’s get into the core of this book. It is designed to be a guide and there is quite a bit of information here so to help lead you through these sometimes complex ideas, Scott has included a glossary at the front of the book and in it he defines all the different terms as well as acronyms like FSN—Faith Support Network, and GARP—Generally Accepted Reasoning Principles. That way, we’re all on the same page as we dive into the concepts.

Scott Curtis Mieschen – One of the things I’ve learned in life is that if you and I are to communicate well, then we need to know what we mean by right, or we need to know what if you want a word that is highly malleable, fair. What’s fair? OK, if you got 50 people in the room, you’re going to have 75 definitions of fair. OK, so to try and help people with the idea, just the idea, I put the acronyms and glossary in the front.

The heart of Live Wise lies is Scott’s belief that faith can help us tackle life’s messiness with grace and purpose

Scott Curtis Mieschen – Just skim it, get a feel for it. And then the first part of the book is what is called, I term, the salvation journey. And then the sanctification journey and the glorification journey. And those are divisions of someone who comes to faith in Jesus Christ as personal Lord and Savior. It’s called salvation. And that’s a point in time event. I don’t know the specific day. I know the period of time when I came to faith. Some people actually know that you’ll meet a lot of people who actually know that day, like C.S. Lewis, the great Christian apologist. He knows the exact day and location.

I put together some of the key takeaways for you and those include to first, Stop, Think, Believe and then Live Wise: Scott’s central message is to encourage you to take a moment and reflect on faith and the role it plays in making wise decisions.

He talks about Faith as a Lifelong Journey: Live Wise is designed to guide readers through the process of faith, helping them face life’s messiness with wisdom grounded in Christian beliefs.

And then there is Trust and Commitment to Growth: Your Personal growth and gaining a deeper understanding of God’s love is an ongoing process. In fact he likens it to running a marathon.

Scott Curtis Mieschen – Marathons are inherently difficult. Life is inherently difficult. But if you prepare, it’s actually both a challenge and a celebration. And you learn to enjoy the process of the run, even when it gets challenging. And you run your own race. You’re not trying to run the other guy, our girls race, you know, ladies race. You run your race. And that’s called pace. You run at your pace. And if you have to walk some walk, you know, but and that’s, that’s the same, the sanctification part of the journey. Once you come to faith, you have to realize that the world does not like Christian values. And so you’re going to run into some difficulties.

Yes the world is full of discrimination of all sorts. I like to think we are living in a more enlightened age. I mean there has been some progress when it comes to promoting inclusion, understanding, and respect for diverse cultures, religions, genders, and identities. But discrimination, intolerance, and polarization still persist. To find the light through it all Scott has put this guidebook together, He says his faith was crucial in navigating his life’s challenges and it inspired him to write this guide for others to help them on their journey. Remember those takeaways I mentioned earlier?

Scott Curtis Mieschen – Stop. Think. Believe. Live wise. Okay. And so the first thing I would say is in this flood of media. You can become numb. You can become overwhelmed by it. And so you just one of the ways we cope when we get overwhelmed is we tune out. You start just limiting what you’re paying attention to. And so what I’m asking, would it challenge or encourage or challenge? Even I use that word in a friendly way, just to stop and give God a chance. And with it with an attitude of let me think about it, approach God with not a skepticism. Just to seek understanding. So that’s the first step. And when you understand something, it doesn’t necessarily mean you agree with it.

So he says keep an open mind, give God a chance, read the Gospel of John and then pray.

Scott Curtis Mieschen – First to stop, then go with just a discovery, an attitude of discovery, read the Gospel of John in the message and then pray. Prayer is just talking to God. That’s what prayer is in its most fundamental way. And you’re praying, you’re talking to the person that God is both God that created you and loves you more than anyone. So God loves you the best, but you have to give God the opportunity to love you

He also says to get the most out of your time spent reading and praying to be sure and journal about it, write down all the things you feel and don’t hold back. If you have a dispute with God, write that down too. It’s important to be honest about how you feel.

Scott Curtis Mieschen – And then write that down here, and then go back, though, after you’ve prayed about it, and write what additional insights God will bring to your mind. And if you let him, he will.

And if you are so inclined, let us know how it all works out.

And that brings us to the end of today’s episode of Newsgram. We’ve learned a lot from Scott today about what it means to ‘Live Wise’—facing life’s complexities with the wisdom and love of God. What does living wise mean to you? Take time to reflect on your faith—whatever it may be—and see how it guides your decisions.

If you want to explore more of Scott’s insights, pick up his book, Live Wise: A Guidebook to Facing Life’s Complexities with the Wisdom and Love of God. It’s available now,

Scott Curtis Mieschen – You can go to Scott Mieschen dot com. And that’s my author website.

And in case you are wondering how to spell that…

Scott Curtis Mieschen – It’s German by heritage. And so it’s M as in Michael, E, I, S, C, H, E, N. And it’s just pronounced like saying my shin, like on your leg. But you just say it quickly, my shin.

Until next time, remember: stop, think, believe, and live wise. And that will do it for this edition of Newsgram from webtalkradio.com.

Scott Curtis Mieschen was recently a guest on both the Talking books show with JT Crowley and Books on Air with Suzanne Harris. Tune in to hear more about his work and message.

Be sure and subscribe to the Newsgram audio podcast so you don’t miss a single author spotlight.

Every journey requires a guide so author Scott Curtis Mieschen has put together a guide to navigating life’s journey with God’s wisdom and love.

It’s called Live Wise: A Guidebook to Facing Life and Reality’s Complexities and Messiness with the Wisdom and Love of God

Rooted in biblical teachings, Live Wise will help you discover how faith can guide you through stress, confusion, and uncertainty.

If you’re struggling with life’s complexities, find clarity, strength, and peace on your journey through life with Live Wise, Available now at Amazon.com

The post Live wise appeared first on WebTalkRadio.net.

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Live Wise: A Guidebook to Facing Life and Reality’s Complexities and Messiness with the Wisdom and Love of God

Summary: Every journey requires a guide. This episode is based on the book “Live Wise” which offers guidance to life’s journey. It is rooted in biblical wisdom. “Live Wise is a guidebook to living with God’s wisdom and love, offering hope and purpose to those who choose to believe. It not only addresses the search for truth and love, but acknowledges that human-made explanations of life often lead to chaos, confusion, and despair. As directed by God, Live Wise is a Jesus sourced how-to guidebook for facing life and reality’s complexities and messiness with the singularly valuable wisdom and love of God only found in God’s explanation of life and reality: Jesus and the Bible.

Welcome to the edition of Newsgram!

What does it really mean to live wisely? Is it about making smart decisions, or is it something deeper? Today, we’ll explore how Scott Curtis Mieschen sees it—through faith, wisdom, and the guidance of God. Scott is an interesting man who wears many hats including teacher, consultant, Minister and author. He just wrote a book titled Live Wise. A title that I found intriguing because the way I interpret those words, to “Live Wise” means to think first, to keep an open mind and to live your life guided by wisdom, intentionality, and alignment with your values and hopefully those values lead you to fulfillment, peace, and purpose. In the context of Scott’s book, the concept of Living Wise, is closely tied to living in accordance with God’s wisdom and the teachings of Christianity.Here he is to explain all that for himself.

Scott Curtis Mieschen – The joy of a life well lived is part of what I mean by live wise. And God calls us to live wise. He invites us to live wise. So the book is about how God instructed me and I’ve always enjoyed helping people. So this book is a product of my liking to help people. I always was like when I was employed, I always had the summer interns, even if they were assigned to another manager.

Eventually they migrated over to me because I really enjoyed that process of taking a young person and helping them. So this idea is my faith in Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior, and my love for caring, caring for people.

The complete title of the book is Live Wise: A Guidebook to Facing Life’s Complexities with the Wisdom and Love of God and it was born out of a very stressful situation. It started with Scott being a single parent of three.

Scott Curtis Mieschen – I was working at a very competitive organization. The Federal Reserve, and I was an internal audit manager. So one of the challenges is you have to be right. So there’s a lot of pressure to come to the right conclusion. You’re asked a question, is this working right or not? And you have to set up to do all this testing. So under those conditions, my Christian faith matured. Stress in life will either make you better or bitter. But I’m a very strong believer, and I would not be sitting here without the help of God, the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, and God the Father. So this was what I developed to live wise in my life under the most stressful conditions.

I love how he puts that: stress can make you bitter or better—what a great quote! And I would add that it can do both. So let’s get into the core of this book. It is designed to be a guide and there is quite a bit of information here so to help lead you through these sometimes complex ideas, Scott has included a glossary at the front of the book and in it he defines all the different terms as well as acronyms like FSN—Faith Support Network, and GARP—Generally Accepted Reasoning Principles. That way, we’re all on the same page as we dive into the concepts.

Scott Curtis Mieschen – One of the things I’ve learned in life is that if you and I are to communicate well, then we need to know what we mean by right, or we need to know what if you want a word that is highly malleable, fair. What’s fair? OK, if you got 50 people in the room, you’re going to have 75 definitions of fair. OK, so to try and help people with the idea, just the idea, I put the acronyms and glossary in the front.

The heart of Live Wise lies is Scott’s belief that faith can help us tackle life’s messiness with grace and purpose

Scott Curtis Mieschen – Just skim it, get a feel for it. And then the first part of the book is what is called, I term, the salvation journey. And then the sanctification journey and the glorification journey. And those are divisions of someone who comes to faith in Jesus Christ as personal Lord and Savior. It’s called salvation. And that’s a point in time event. I don’t know the specific day. I know the period of time when I came to faith. Some people actually know that you’ll meet a lot of people who actually know that day, like C.S. Lewis, the great Christian apologist. He knows the exact day and location.

I put together some of the key takeaways for you and those include to first, Stop, Think, Believe and then Live Wise: Scott’s central message is to encourage you to take a moment and reflect on faith and the role it plays in making wise decisions.

He talks about Faith as a Lifelong Journey: Live Wise is designed to guide readers through the process of faith, helping them face life’s messiness with wisdom grounded in Christian beliefs.

And then there is Trust and Commitment to Growth: Your Personal growth and gaining a deeper understanding of God’s love is an ongoing process. In fact he likens it to running a marathon.

Scott Curtis Mieschen – Marathons are inherently difficult. Life is inherently difficult. But if you prepare, it’s actually both a challenge and a celebration. And you learn to enjoy the process of the run, even when it gets challenging. And you run your own race. You’re not trying to run the other guy, our girls race, you know, ladies race. You run your race. And that’s called pace. You run at your pace. And if you have to walk some walk, you know, but and that’s, that’s the same, the sanctification part of the journey. Once you come to faith, you have to realize that the world does not like Christian values. And so you’re going to run into some difficulties.

Yes the world is full of discrimination of all sorts. I like to think we are living in a more enlightened age. I mean there has been some progress when it comes to promoting inclusion, understanding, and respect for diverse cultures, religions, genders, and identities. But discrimination, intolerance, and polarization still persist. To find the light through it all Scott has put this guidebook together, He says his faith was crucial in navigating his life’s challenges and it inspired him to write this guide for others to help them on their journey. Remember those takeaways I mentioned earlier?

Scott Curtis Mieschen – Stop. Think. Believe. Live wise. Okay. And so the first thing I would say is in this flood of media. You can become numb. You can become overwhelmed by it. And so you just one of the ways we cope when we get overwhelmed is we tune out. You start just limiting what you’re paying attention to. And so what I’m asking, would it challenge or encourage or challenge? Even I use that word in a friendly way, just to stop and give God a chance. And with it with an attitude of let me think about it, approach God with not a skepticism. Just to seek understanding. So that’s the first step. And when you understand something, it doesn’t necessarily mean you agree with it.

So he says keep an open mind, give God a chance, read the Gospel of John and then pray.

Scott Curtis Mieschen – First to stop, then go with just a discovery, an attitude of discovery, read the Gospel of John in the message and then pray. Prayer is just talking to God. That’s what prayer is in its most fundamental way. And you’re praying, you’re talking to the person that God is both God that created you and loves you more than anyone. So God loves you the best, but you have to give God the opportunity to love you

He also says to get the most out of your time spent reading and praying to be sure and journal about it, write down all the things you feel and don’t hold back. If you have a dispute with God, write that down too. It’s important to be honest about how you feel.

Scott Curtis Mieschen – And then write that down here, and then go back, though, after you’ve prayed about it, and write what additional insights God will bring to your mind. And if you let him, he will.

And if you are so inclined, let us know how it all works out.

And that brings us to the end of today’s episode of Newsgram. We’ve learned a lot from Scott today about what it means to ‘Live Wise’—facing life’s complexities with the wisdom and love of God. What does living wise mean to you? Take time to reflect on your faith—whatever it may be—and see how it guides your decisions.

If you want to explore more of Scott’s insights, pick up his book, Live Wise: A Guidebook to Facing Life’s Complexities with the Wisdom and Love of God. It’s available now,

Scott Curtis Mieschen – You can go to Scott Mieschen dot com. And that’s my author website.

And in case you are wondering how to spell that…

Scott Curtis Mieschen – It’s German by heritage. And so it’s M as in Michael, E, I, S, C, H, E, N. And it’s just pronounced like saying my shin, like on your leg. But you just say it quickly, my shin.

Until next time, remember: stop, think, believe, and live wise. And that will do it for this edition of Newsgram from webtalkradio.com.

Scott Curtis Mieschen was recently a guest on both the Talking books show with JT Crowley and Books on Air with Suzanne Harris. Tune in to hear more about his work and message.

Be sure and subscribe to the Newsgram audio podcast so you don’t miss a single author spotlight.

Every journey requires a guide so author Scott Curtis Mieschen has put together a guide to navigating life’s journey with God’s wisdom and love.

It’s called Live Wise: A Guidebook to Facing Life and Reality’s Complexities and Messiness with the Wisdom and Love of God

Rooted in biblical teachings, Live Wise will help you discover how faith can guide you through stress, confusion, and uncertainty.

If you’re struggling with life’s complexities, find clarity, strength, and peace on your journey through life with Live Wise, Available now at Amazon.com

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Welcome to this edition of Newsgram!

Remember when you were a kid and someone asked you the question, what do you want to be when you grow up? Do you remember the answer? Was it a Security Guard at the bank or an Underwater welding specialist? No, of course not unless your parents did that job you probably didn’t know it existed. Most kids say they want to be a Police Officer or a Firefighter. Some say Doctor or even Astronaut. Lots of kids want to be Athletes and Actors and many say a Veterinarian because they love animals — and that’s where our story begins today.

Natasha Burrell – It’s always a bit worrying when you get those middle-of-the-night ones because you know it’s going to be serious.

That’s Natasha Burrell, a Veterinary Surgeon remembering the time she got one of those dreaded late night calls that an animal was in need of emergency surgery. This time it was a cat that had been hit by an Ambulance.

Natasha Burrell – So, it’s probably around 2010, this actually happened. It’s the only animal patient I’ve ever had arrive at the clinic in the middle of the night in a human ambulance with a paramedic. And it stuck in my head as the paramedics had treated him so well. He’d had oxygen.He was all wrapped up. He was getting the five-star paramedic treatment. And it also stuck in my mind as he was just a lovely cat. He was a real smoochy, friendly, cooperative patient. And even though we couldn’t find the owner, everyone at the clinic was so committed to giving this cat another chance. I mean, he had a pretty serious, serious injury. And I think also the fact that the paramedic took him home, that we know he had a wonderful life after everything he went through and just the chances of it happening the way it did was quite unusual.

This story is now the subject of her book St John the Ambulance Cat: Based on a true story and if you’re following the timeline you might be wondering why now? This happened nearly fifteen years ago.

Natasha Burrell – I have three school-age children and my youngest daughter is eight. And I was asked to give a talk to her class about being a vet last year. And part of that, I decided to tell the story of the cat that we called St John. And the kids just really seemed to enjoy his story. They asked wonderful questions. And I kind of thought it would make a good book. Like, it’s quite an unusual story from the point of view of what happened to the cat. And yeah, just a happy ending as well. So, yeah.

Just to recap a bit its 2010 in Dunedin New Zealand, Dunedin is located way down on the South Island’s southeast coast. An ambulance is being dispatched to help a person in need when it accidentally hits a cat.

Natasha Burrell – It was a bit more complicated than the story because obviously they had to get an ambulance quickly to the human patient. So another ambulance was diverted straight to the human patient. And then St John actually went back to the hospital, got transferred to another ambulance and came out to the vet clinic. But the paramedic that was driving the ambulance came into the clinic the next day and asked how he was. And because we couldn’t find an owner, she offered to pay for his treatment. And after he’d recovered enough she actually took him home and he lived with her for quite a few years. Apparently, I talked to the paramedic recently, apparently he still had a bit of a limp. He wasn’t over 100%, but she changed his name to Ollie.

Makes sense. St. John was the name of the Ambulance company and while the nurses originally named him that she worked for St. John so she decided to give a different name.

When I first came across this story I thought it was unusual to make a children’s book out of a tragedy

Natasha Burrell – It was very hard to write a children’s book where you’re actually starting by running over a cat

I can imagine…but then when you see it you’ll understand. It’s a true story with a happy ending and like I said in the beginning, it’s one of those professions that children find most interesting so this is a real life example, told from a young person’s perspective of course, of what that job might entail.

Natasha Burrell – I just wanted it to be a story that they could, a simple story that they could follow along and just say what stages go through with the treatment for an injury. And I just, I wanted to be realistic but still try and aim at that, a child’s level of understanding.

And she’s done a wonderful job. There’s nothing graphic in the book, plus it gets them talking and sharing experiences of their own.

Natasha Burrell – Yeah. I mean, I think for when I read to my daughter’s class, a lot of the kids started to tell me their own stories of their animals if they’d been to the beach and what had been wrong with them and I think it’s, I think grandparents would be the same, you know, you can relate to things that you’ve been through with your animals in the past and, you know.

And I don’t think you could ask for more than that, a heartwarming tale based on a true story about how one day a tragedy was turned into a triumph of love, teamwork, caring, compassion and companionship. If you’re explaining it to the kids Natasha has a better description.

Natasha Burrell – So I’d tell ‘em it’s about a cat’s veterinary tale, basically. His treatment through coming into the vet clinic till when he found a home and it’s sort of a glimpse into what a veterinary case may be like.

St John the Ambulance Cat: Based on a true story

by Natasha Burrell is available now at Amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com. And that will do it for this edition of Newsgram from webtalkradio.com.

Be sure and listen to the interview with Natasha Burrell on the Books on Air podcast with Suzanne Harris.

Natasha Burrell also appears on the Talking Books podcast with JT Crowley. Catch this episode on Apple Podcasts or on Youtube.

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Welcome to they edition of Newsgram!

According to a recent survey approximately 67% of American households have pets. Dogs are the most popular pet followed closely by cats and then of course there’s fish, birds and other small animals like Guinea Pigs. Our family has always had pets and if you are a pet owner too, then you know the emotional roller coaster these lovable creatures can lead you down.

Having a pet is one of the most joyous things you can do for yourself and your family but losing them is, well…the opposite of that.

One day, when our kids were young we decided that we were done with pets. The emotional toll of losing them was just too great but the kids were young and very insistent so we reluctantly agreed on a hand-fed cockatiel. Long life and easy to care for right? So Mr. Peepers joined our family and everyone loved him — and in case you’re wondering, his wings were clipped and he was not confined to a cage. Mr. Peepers was free to leave the cage whenever he chose and yes we took all the necessary precautions to make sure he was safe when flying about. But Mr. Peepers preferred to be in or near his cage anyway. From time to time we’d find him on top of the kitchen cabinets or some other place and I’d have to get out the ladder and bring him down. I’d put him on my shoulder like a pirate and he’d nibble on my ears then one day Mr. Peepers laid an egg. And, that’s the day we re-named him Mr’s Peepers.

Everyone loved holding Mrs. Peepers, especially my grandkids — yes that’s how long he was in our family—our young kids had kids of their own.

Pam Henry Smith – Mack Lived to be about sixty

That’s Pam Henry Smith talking about her family’s pet, Mack the Amazon Parrot

Pam Henry Smith – He brought us joy, frustration and amusement and knew kids would love to hear about it.

So she put together a picture book that showcases some of the more outrageous exploits of this cherished family friend.

Pam Henry Smith – And I really got the inspiration to do it from my grandparents and my students at school.

Pam graduated from the University of Central Arkansas with a Bachelor of Education degree. She taught fourth grade for 32 years in White Hall, Arkansas.

Pam Henry Smith – Well, fourth and fifth and several other grades. And as I was writing books and teaching them how to write stories, I decided to write one with them. So this is the first one that I got published. So I do want to continue.

So Meet Mack was born and it tells the true story of an amazing Amazon parrot — this breed, when given the right amount of love, care and interaction can form a deep and lasting bond with certain individuals, and in her house that individual was Grammy.

Pam Henry Smith – But, you know, Mac kept up with Grammy. It didn’t matter what she was doing, whether she was cooking, it would entertain her in the kitchen. If she was cleaning up, he was listening to what she was doing and watching over her. And I showed that in my book when she fell off the ladder one day. And I mean, Mac was in the other room and he yells out, Grammy, you okay, Grammy? I mean, this bird truly loved Grammie

In case you were wondering, Grammy’s fine. It’s fascinating how intelligent species like parrots and cockatiels are—they have an incredible emotional capacity. They recognize and respond to their favorite people, showing affection in different ways while seeking physical closeness. Their loyalty to those they trust is remarkable. And, much like a child, they have no filter, which can be a bit embarrassing at times.

Pam Henry Smith – I mean, I can remember one time we were sitting at the table and we had an aunt that came into town. And she was quite a character. And she never let anybody have time to talk. And all of a sudden, we were eating dessert. Everybody was quiet. And they were listening to Anne Elsie. And then Mac yells out, oh, shut up. He told her to shut up. We just about died. But she looked up and she said, I guess it’s about time I shut my mouth when the bird tells you to shut up.

Yes, that’s part of their charm isn’t it. They just say whatever they feel like saying.

Pam Henry Smith – Well, my grandparents lived really close to a bus stop. The bus stop was on the corner. So Paula and I would always put the cage on the front screen and porch. And of course, nobody could see the bird. And everybody would walk down the street. Well, this one guy was walking down the street and Mac always talked. And he would say, hey boy, and that guy turned around. And of course, Mac turned around and said, hey boy. And the guy turned around again. He said, can’t you talk, boy? And by the time Mac said that, the guy ran. I mean, he was scared to death because he didn’t know he was talking to him. But it was always, always something that Mac was doing all the time.

And now, I think it’s time for you to “Meet Mac.” This heartwarming story, born in a fourth-grade creative writing class, shows how a mischievous family pet can create a lasting bond across generations.

Pam Henry Smith – That’s what’s so special about this book. I mean, I told the stories to my grandkids when they were two and three. And then they always said, maybe you ought to do a book. And now I’ve done it. And they’re just really excited. But I just think, you know, this book will probably go on up to sixth grade level. And you can, as a teacher, I love to work with teachers on how to get kids enthused in writing. And, you know, teaching them what I did. It did work. We had pretty good literacy scores. And it was just exciting. But yes, it’s one of those books that you can put into a lesson if you’re a teacher. It’s one of those that you can read to the little ones. And second grade on up could read it. If they’re pretty good readers, the second grader could read it. And my grandson has read it to his little sister. And he’s going into the fifth grade so…

An Amazon parrot may not be the ideal pet for every family. These birds have long lifespans and can bite and show other challenging behaviors, as you’ll see in the book. It’s important to consider these factors carefully before deciding to bring one into your home.

But books don’t bite and Meet Mac beautifully illustrates how a pet can forge a strong family bond, creating cherished memories that last a lifetime, while highlighting the vital role grandparents play in shaping their grandchildren’s lives.

As Mac brings both laughter and challenges, he intertwines love and understanding that will be treasured for years to come. This story goes beyond just a pet; it’s about the power of family, connection, and the unspoken lessons we pass down through generations.

And that will do it for this edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com.

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Welcome to this edition of Newsgram!

Today we are going to focus on the work of an author, curious about many of the things he’d been told about Jesus. It’s about an author striving to understand and clarify many of the things within the New Testament that seemed to contradict one another and he found that there are in fact no contradictions within the four texts of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

Peter Boaz Jones set out on a journey to discover the truth and he discovered that the so-called contradictions, actually complement each other rather than conflict and he discovered all of this and much more while combining those four gospels into one.

Peter Boaz Jones – This particular formulation of the four Gospels into one complete whole, with the given explanations of the text in question, including a complete scripture graph, is an attempt to give the answers to the age-old problem of the natural synchronization of the successive events in the four Gospels without any of the so-called contradictions, thus producing an entirely new work for those who are seeking answers to some of the seemingly perplexed anomalous questions that people interested in this field have halted at. Consequently, and hopefully, therefore, it will give the subject the proper credence it had from its original conception when these miraculous events were first written down. Moreover, it will create one natural flowing Gospel in combining the four, but at the same time, not taking anything away from the importance of the individuality of each of the authors and their separate books

That is Peter reading a summary from the back of his book, The Gospel of the Four: A Unique Conflation of the Four Gospels into a Single Continuous Narrative, Explicated by the Author’s Commentary. I enjoy authors like Peter who are driven by their inner curiosity and have a healthy dose of skepticism. It drives them to find objective answers.

Peter Boaz Jones – Yeah, well, my parents, you know, my stepfather, they were quite religious. And some of the things they said, I didn’t always agree with, and I started checking up on things then. I mean, I don’t want to knock one religion against another one, because they’ve all got the truth but I was just interested in some of the things they were saying.

One of the things he discovered is that Christianity stems from Judaism, a fact well known to some. And while Christianity eventually developed its own distinct beliefs and practices, such as the belief in the Trinity and salvation through Jesus, its roots are firmly embedded in the Jewish tradition.

Peter Boaz Jones – Understanding the Old Testament properly is paramount to understanding the new though, you know, one can understand the New Testament without the Old Testament in one way, but to get a complete picture. And it depends on one’s interest. If one is interested in expanding one’s knowledge, then, naturally, one has to acknowledge that Christianity came from Judaism. Of course, a lot of people wish they didn’t, you know. But, you know, that’s basically the truth, you know.

His book is a detailed work, written in a way that’s easy to follow, which makes it great for all readers, whether they are scholars or just curious Christians. Even if you don’t agree with all of his conclusions, the book will still help you to discover new truths. To put it very simply, it’s written for anyone looking for answers.

Peter Boaz Jones – Well, basically, for people who are interested in this subject, I feel that people who are interested in it are people who study. And in this sense, the book is a study aid. It’s a reference work to keep going back to, to keep checking. And that’s basically what I want people to do is to check on some of the things that some of the stories are going around about that have gone around years about Jesus’ miracles and the text. You know, a lot of even scholars say a lot of the texts contradict each other. When on closer examination, you find that they don’t. They only enhance each other. So that’s what I want the reader to understand that it’s miraculous. The Gospels put together, even by the authors themselves, is a miraculous thing that happened. And still now, one can grasp that through my book. And that’s really what I want people to take away from it.

The Gospel of the Four by Peter Boaz Jones is a unique and award winning book! It won the 2023 Christian Book Award contest, and the 2023 New York Book Festival Award — so congrats on that.

This unique, award winning work of non-fiction combines all four Gospels into one cohesive text, which makes it easy if you’re trying to grasp the true context of many of Jesus’ sayings and parables.

His approach makes it a great resource for students, scholars, or anyone curious about Jesus and Christianity. It’s available now at Amazon.com or wherever you like to buy books and we’ve put a link to some of them and the authors Facebook page in the show’s description; and that will do it for this edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com.

Peter Boaz Jones was recently interviewed on the Talking Books show on Youtube by JT Crowley. Here is the link. Subscribe to the Talking Books audio podcast on Apple. You can also hear him speaking with Suzanne Harris on the Books on Air Podcast.

Author’s Facebook page: Author/Book Website: https://www.facebook.com/PeterBoazJones/

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Welcome to this edition of Newsgram!

Today we have a hot topic and it’s more than a little bit controversial for a number of reasons. First, it features two men talking about women but don’t worry, this isn’t some barroom chat before a bachelor party. Instead, it’s an intelligent conversation centered around Barry Wren’s book Sex! (for females only)

Wren takes us on a journey through history, examining how our views on gender inequality were first formed and solidified in many cultures. His book also tackles a host of issues women have faced over the centuries—like sexual objectification, the value placed on young women, and male dominance. And yes, there are some statements in there that might make you bristle, like “Sexuality begins when the brain decides the body is ready” or “Female beauty lasts as long as she has ovarian eggs.” But before you get too fired up, remember the main goal: to shine a light on how we got here today by taking a peek into the past. So let’s have a look in the rearview mirror — and if we’re going to go back we might as well go all the way back to the beginning…

Barry Wren – The Garden of Eden that everybody hears about, that was the land which lay between the two major rivers running out of Turkey at that stage. And lots of people thought about it there. But in the myth that was developed, God planted plants and animals and fish and birds into that area there, and he then put Adam in there to look after the whole process. And Adam became very, very bored with what he was doing, and he wanted a companion. So God made a companion for him out of one of his ribs.

And her name was Eve. Did you hear him use the word Myth? I told you this was gonna be a bumpy ride. The story of Adam and Eve teaches us lots of important lessons like obedience to God, sin and sacrifice, good vs. evil, marriage and monogamy — to name a few and just to be clear I have no reason to believe that the story isn’t true but I think his point here is that the idea of women being subservient to men started here and we’ve taken it too literally, focused on only that point and distorted that element of the story over time to the detriment of women.

Barry Wren – Unfortunately, people still think about Adam and Eve, and Eve was the evil woman because she ate from the Tree of Knowledge. We all would love to get that Tree of Knowledge ourselves, but she ate from that and was then discarded from the whole Garden of Eden. That went down, and a lot of people lost their lives because that particular type of mythology persisted. Male dominance and women being at fault all the time. In my book, I’ve mentioned several instances like that, but I think that mythology is one of the biggest problems we have, is to look at reality rather than religion and myths which have persisted in these areas. I get a little upset about it sometimes when I think of how people’s lives are affected by myths rather than by truth.

Barry says gender inequality has deep roots in human history. It has been tied to cultural, religious, and legal systems for thousands of years. Religious texts from various traditions have put men in dominant positions.

Even today, despite making significant progress, the fundamental structures that support gender inequality remain intact. We’ve made some progress here in the states but women continue to face disparities in pay, representation, and rights worldwide and more interesting is the fact that not much has really changed.

Barry Wren – My real reason for looking at this is to look at the problem which has not changed over those three to four thousand years.

And he says a big part of that is simply due to the average Mans’ physical size. Tieing a person’s worth to their size seems kind of crazy but I guess it was a different time.

Barry Wren – Men are big and strong and dominant and were like that three or four thousand years ago. And women were small and rather passive. So they pushed the women around and said, you must do this or that. And the main reason that they had women in their society was to look after the men, to be really a servant to them. They were subjected to these people, but they also provided sexual opportunities for the men. And the men wanted to have mild infants born to follow them. So that started thousands of years ago and followed. And women were being taught that they had to follow those rather passive approaches. There’s very little difference even now in our present century. We find that a lot of men think that they’re stronger and better and should have a more dominant role in the household. And the end result is a lot of conflict. Sometimes women are beaten up. Sometimes women are actually killed by their partner because she’s not following what he wants. So life hasn’t really changed and all the problems are still there. I’m trying in the book to bring the thought that the discrepancy, the dissonance which occurs between men and women at present really has been exactly the same for the last four or five thousand years.

Research does show that men with lower levels of education and those that hold traditional views about gender roles, are the ones who have more negative attitudes toward women and those men are more likely to be abusive. Not in all cases. There are plenty of College educated wife beaters out there but he says sticking to outdated ideas about men being in charge, can increase the chances of abusive behavior.

Barry Wren – The main reason that they had women in their society was to look after the men, to be really a servant to them. They were subjected to these people, but they also provided sexual opportunities for the men. And the men wanted to have mild infants born to follow them. So that started thousands of years ago and followed and women were being taught that they had to follow those rather passive approaches.

Women will always be the ones that have babies. That’s just science but will pretty girls always be able to walk on water? I like to think that’s changing.

Barry Wren – You can look at the various stories that always have a young woman, a very attractive young woman, being very athletic and very attractive, and men fighting over her and having close contact with her. Occasionally, some of the men actually acquired one of those women and protected her until she became old and then dismissed her. So being young and attractive was the major thing which was happening in those years, and those women were worshipped. Men loved to have them. They were like a trophy that they had. Put them up on the pedestal for the period of time that they owned them.

Is that where we got the term “Trophy Wife”? — That’s another podcast entirely and since I’ve probably infuriated you enough with our look at history I won’t go into his thoughts on sex before the age of 18 because the past has changed there as well, largely due to the legal system. The book does go into a great deal of detail there emphasizing the need for more education. Anyway, we’re going to move on to Hormones and why beauty fades.

Barry Wren – That’s what happens when a woman enters the menopause. What happens is that she’s born at birth with about 2 million eggs in her two ovaries. She uses an awful lot of those eggs every time she menstruates. Eventually she runs out of those eggs, usually about the age of 45 or even up to 50. And the production of the hormones, there’s at least six or seven different hormones, but estradiol is the most important one that stimulates the tissue that makes a young woman grow into the beautiful young woman that we love so much. When the eggs run out from the ovary, so does the production of the hormones. So those special cells and organs begin to fade and become old and worn out. They’re not there, they don’t even function.

And while that clinical explanation can sound a bit depressing there is a silver lining. Wanna keep that youthful glow well into the post-menopausal years? Here’s a tip.

Barry Wren – Women can maintain their hormonal or cellular activity by taking the right hormones and that’s why gynecological endocrinologists are very important for them to see.

He says, pay a visit to an Endocrinologist, Gynecologists or even doctors who focus on anti-aging that offer HRT as part of their practice and have a discussion to see if there’s a treatment that works for you.

Barry Wren – Many of my female friends are taking hormonal therapy and they look just gorgeous. They’re marvellous. They’re in their 70s and 60s and some of them are even older than what they look marvellous, still on hormonal therapy.

Barry is a doctor after all so his book,Sex! Is subtitled For Women Only because it’s part history, part Hormonal Therapy but 100% women.

Barry Wren – I love women and I love to help them as much as I can. And I look back at the misuse by men of their power over women in those days. It’s changing and now women have so much power. Their sexuality is a powerful thing, as powerful as any man’s strength, muscular strength. But men still bash their women around, which is wrong.

He is not a fan of violence against women or trophy wives and he makes that clear. He’s also against women using their sexuality to make a living because while the right hormones can help prolong the process, beauty fades and a woman’s value should not be defined by her looks.

Barry Wren – Women should not ever be a commodity. They should be revered and loved and enjoyed because they are an individual in their own right. The males don’t own them and they should never be using them as a commodity to gain more money, more power, more whatever it might be.

And since this show is being produced on the eve of a major presidential election here in America I would be remiss if I didn’t include this final point…

Barry Wren – Right now we’ve got four or five major wars going on around the world. The people who instigated those wars are always the male and it’s the women that are now saying, stop this stupid war.

Just sayin’

The book is Sex! (For females only) by Barry Wren and it’s really for men and women or anyone who can appreciate a collection of stories and essays designed to reexamine and retell the events that led up to modern discussions about gender inequality. It’s available at Amazon and all the usual places online.

Barry Wren (Selling) I understand that it’s selling to people around the world. And I’m hoping it sells a lot. I need the money.

And that will do it for this edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com.

Check out Barry Wren on the Books on Air podcast with Suzanne Harris, or the Talking Books podcast with JT Crowley.

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Welcome to this edition of Newsgram!

In the course of doing the podcast I’ve been exposed to a number of different authors. If you’ve listened to more that one one these then you know how random the topics are. I like to say Newsgram is all about interesting people living their lives in interesting ways — and then writing a book about it.

Some of authors say writing their books was extremely easy, It just flowed out of them and for others it took many years but in the end it is a passion project and these projects are born from a deep dedication, they are the result of countless hours of commitment, meticulous attention to detail, and an unwavering love for their craft. The finished book is not just a product; it’s a testament to the author’s perseverance and the realization of their creative vision — it’s one of the things I enjoy most about this podcast and today we have an author passionate about Christianity and the need to pray for a better world.

When the world around us gets dark and scary, many of us turn to prayer. Life can get overwhelming and when we feel the weight of the world crushing us, or when the path ahead is lost in shadows we need a place to turn especially when we lose strength and want to give up.

Her Righteousness – I was hoping to impact the world with love. Mind you, the old world was built on prejudice, hate, and illusion. I’m still hoping to impact the world with love so that we can wash away the inappropriateness of the old world, so that we can all step into kinship, unity, freedom, and love. And love one another. It’s possible.

That is Ekhosuehi Ibie and she likes to be called “Her Righteousness”, She is author of a prayer book entitled Spiritual Empowerment. She says while it is about trying to bring a message of love to the world, she first started writing prayers as a way to fend off personal attacks.

Her Righteousness – They were wondering about my difference. They said I was different from everybody else, and they wanted to know why I was different. I had no control over this because I didn’t create myself. So while they were attacking me, I started writing prayers. The prayers were like a counterattack against their attack, if you like.

And in no time at all she had written quite a few prayers.

Her Righteousness – Gradually I realized I had a heap load of them, a heap load of prayers.

The full title of her book is Spiritual Empowerment: Using Your Authority as a Christiana book about empowering believers to be good Christians.

Her Righteousness – God is in control. God has empowered me to pray for a new world, a new world order in which God’s reign, the holy reign, will come into being.

So she did, back in 2016

Her Righteousness – I was told, the Holy Spirit told me to re-publish the book. When I re-published it, I re-published it with a company in America and it was just under us. I don’t know if it was made public, but it was just there, quiet. The Holy Spirit advised me to re-publish it.

And now her newly released book works even harder to repair the breach between light and darkness. In it are prayers for all of life’s circumstances and it offers the promise of freedom.

Her Righteousness – This book applies to everybody. Anybody can read it and experience their freedom, their freedom from secrecy, freedom from satanic captivity, their entire freedom. It’s a book suitable for everybody, whether you are a Christian or a non-Christian. If you believe in freedom, you believe in freedom, you know that you want to be free, you are honest enough to know that there was something wrong in the old world. Then it’s a book that you want to read in order to step into the new reign. We are already in the holy reign and yes, God is in control. There are pockets of resistance to the holy reign, but they will die out by the grace of God.

She says hers is a book that will help you to find the strength to face down the darkness in your life and face it with the power of light.

Her Righteousness – I discovered that I have a prayer anointing, that God answers my prayers. And so this was an added impetus to encourage people to fight for their rights as Christians whenever they encounter any confrontations with darkness. Because as a Christian, you are scared of darkness. So we should not be afraid of them. They should be afraid of us. That’s what I’m trying to tell the average Christian.

Whether we face personal struggles or navigate through the chaos of a confusing world, prayer offers a connection to something greater, a source of hope and inner peace that helps us find our way through the darkest times. Her Righteousness says, fighting for your rights as a Christian is important and it’s also important to fight for a better world; one that is filled with less hate and more love.

Can a book of prayers can single-handedly bring about a global transformation, liberating us from ‘satanic captivity’ and secrecy — that might seem like wishful thinking but you have to start somewhere right?

If you want to learn more about Her Righteousness and the book Spiritual Empowerment: Using Your Authority as a Christianwe’ve put a link to sites that sell the book in the shows description for you, and that will do it for this edition of Newsgram from webtalkradio.com.

Tune into Her Righteousness on the Books on Air podcast with Suzanne Harris or watch the video with JT Crowley on Talking Books.

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Welcome to this edition of Newsgram!

Sam – I hope you are ready for adventure because today we are going deep into Australia to the magical town of Walgett where I will introduce you to Irene Holmes – a mystery writer:

Irene – Just like Uncle Sherlock. With a name like that I have to write murder mysteries right?

Sam – Can you tell we’re in for a bit of fun today? Before we get to the Murder and mayhem let’s set the scene because I think it’s important to know where an artist finds inspiration so if you’ll indulge me it’s time for Sam’s Travelog!

If you’re a creative person like Irene, Walgett is basically paradise. It sits nestled at the intersection of the Barwon (Barwin) and Namoi (Namoi) Rivers and the view is spectacular. It is a very small town rich in culture and community. It’s in Northern New South Wales — which is about 400 miles from Sydney (642 Kilometers) in fact it’s an eight hour drive from Sydney, Canberra and Brisban — not to get to in fact it’s a place where four-wheeled drive vehicles are recommended bot not required. Once you get there you can enjoy a hot bath from a 2 million year old basin. Natural pressure sends the water to the surface through an artesian bore where it maintains a constant temperature of 102-104 degrees.

Are you starting to see it? Sounds pretty amazing right?

Walgett’s most famous resident is the renowned Aboriginal country music legend Jimmy Little, who lived here in the 1950s and sadly passed away in 2012. If you were to visit Walgett you’d see the beautiful mural that bears his likeness painted on a water tower. You can also pay your respects if you’re a fan because he is buried there. Jimmy Little is a story unto itself so perhaps we’ll go there on another show but for now suffice it to say that there’s something in the water in Walgett that inspires creativity.

Irene – Yeah, I did an arts degree, printmaking, art history, drawing. They were the core ones, core units. And then I did an elective, which was ceramics. And my husband at that time was also interested in ceramics. So we started our own little pottery in the back garden. And then with some other friends, I opened a gallery and sold our work through the gallery. And I loved it. I really did enjoy the creativity and the solace really. It’s quite a soothing thing to be doing. You don’t have any fingernails, mind you. They disappeared after about week one.

Sam – Ceramics is not a good hobby for those who like to stay well manicured. In addition to being a wife and professional potter, Irene Holmes is also a mother a recruiter and a teacher.

Irene – Well, being a teacher, you’re always a storyteller and a bit of a performer. And I could get kids engaged in stories. And I thought, well, I may as well write them down. So I was sitting and waiting for a friend one day. I was inside a little cafe and she was on her way to meet me. And I could see her coming up the street. But because of the reflections on the outside of the window, she couldn’t see me inside. And the way my creative, quirky, somewhat strange brain starts to work, I was sitting there and thinking, oh, I wonder what a criminal or a killer, how could they use that, see the other person but not be seen themselves. And so my little brain started to tick it all over. And that’s how this one started. That’s how this book started, really.

Sam – Interesting, feels a bit voyeuristic but that is the Genesis of “Reflections” her new mystery novel and like a polished window there are all kinds of reflections but none are more powerful than our own personal reflections and recollections.

If you’re a fan of who-done-it’s I think you’ll like this one. Here is the description from her website — In this gripping narrative, deception, threats, and a relentless quest for truth intertwine with the ordinary rhythms of daily existence. Will justice ultimately prevail?

Irene – Okay, well, it is a murder mystery. Okay, that’s no big surprise there.

Sam – Right but now we are going to leave Walgett Australia and go back in time to 1926 England where the story is set.

Irene – I’ve set it in England 1926 ish, because England and Europe and the whole world really was just picking up the pieces after the First World War, horrific time. And everybody in the book, well, everybody in the world was affected by that in some way or another. But in 1926, people were trying to put their families back together and villages and towns and the economy and all of that.

It’s a quiet, more gentle time where good manners are expected. And that’s just a social norm. People valued their privacies. No one being pushed around by a little telephone in your back pocket kind of thing. So that’s why I chose where I chose. But there was also the influence of the Spanish flu raging through England. And that does have a little tiny link with Lady Gregson. Good old Matilda. She’s a good joke.

She’s okay. Conveniently dies early in the story, which is fine. And then the snowball effect happens after her death. And it’s a fat death in her house. She was an old lady. She was ill. So it was expected, not friendly, but expected that she was going to die. So there was no big deal about that, really. But everybody in the house, of course, is affected by that.

And people in the village, the way you drop a pebble in a pond and all those little wrinkles go out to the edge. Well, that was what her death did to the household and to the village. Those little ripples started to wander off to the edge of the villages and houses.

Sam – So that’s where our story is set and why it’s set there. Let’s have a look at the cast of characters.

Irene – So you get to meet her nephew that she’d never really met before, but she didn’t have any male heirs to hand down her estate. And that’s the way it works in the British or did at that time in the British system. You had to go to a male heir. He didn’t have one. So young James was sort of popped into the picture there. And he’s a nice young lad. Well, 30, and we learned about him and how he grows from a business, a young business partner in London and how he grows into the man of the manor kind of thing and how he deals with people.

We also meet some of the staff in the household, two housemaids in particular, Lily and Ruby. They’re quite young, like Lily’s about 18 thereabouts and Ruby’s a bit younger than that. Good old country girls from Yorkshire, not really been anywhere in the world. And we watched them grow into one of them, quite a strong, courageous young woman rather than a little boppy housemaid. And then we get to know Ruby’s a bit more strong and a bit more feisty than everyone saw her as being initially.

Then we meet Mr. James’s intended Dorothy Bosworth. She’s not aristocratic, but just a tiny step down from there. But is she really as sweet and lovely as she presents herself? I love it.

And of course, you meet the nurse because she’s been hired as a contract nurse to look after Lady Gregson, knowing what the end result was going to be. But she’s efficient. She’s effective. She’s very professional, but she has her own secrets that affect decisions she makes from her introduction through to the end of the book.

Sam – Now that you’ve been formally introduced to these intriguing characters, each with their own reflections, it’s time to crack open the book and find out if it really is a captivating read or not — and keep in mind it is a mystery so we can’t take you into anything that will spoil the story for you.

Irene – Okay, now this is the part sort of just leading into Lady Gregson’s funeral which is happening tomorrow and James has gone to the train station to pick up his mother, Maud. All right, as he says to her, why did you leave your arrival until now, the night before the funeral, on the very last train? Ah, well, for several reasons, dear. You see, people in our position should do their grieving in private, don’t you think? Not make a spectacle in front of the villagers and the whole county.

We must maintain our position. And besides, I needed to be sure that Winifred had everything in order before I left the house, you see, to be sure that nothing goes amiss while I’m away. Mother, you will only be gone for one week and Winifred’s been running the house for more than 30 years. I hardly think she needs any extra instructions. Also, mother, you don’t live in this county and you don’t have a position to maintain. Oh, only one week, dear. Hmm, well, perhaps. You never know in these situations, do you? She asked with a smug smile. Oh God, thought James. That does not bode well. I wonder if father really did die of a fever or if he just held his breath long enough until his brain popped just to escape from her. I wouldn’t be surprised.

I love it. Maud was settled in the back of the seat Now that she was settled in the back seat of the car with James, she leaned across and patted his hand in a conspiratorial, domineering manner, saying, Now, I don’t wish to be indelicate, dear, but now that your position has changed and you’re a man of property and wealth, you really do need to start thinking about marrying. A gentleman who owns significant estate really does need a wife.

James just stared at her mouth agape, incredulous. You don’t mean to sound indelicate. Do you think perhaps we might at least lay your own surviving cousin in the ground before you start taking over my household and my staff and my private life and reordering the whole county as well, I imagine. He was really angry and loathing his mother with each additional word. Of course, dear, she smiled again, completely ignoring his anger. There’ll be plenty of time for addressing all those things after the funeral. Next week will be enough time to start. Really, mother, you are too much. Quite horrid, actually.

Sam – And there you have it, Reflections.

Irene Holmes – It’s not the standard formula of sex and violence, because a good story doesn’t need those things to make it a good story. It’s not the boy meets girl and everybody’s happy or the detective comes along and solves it all and takes it out of the hands of the characters. It’s the story where the characters are in charge of all the unveiling of information and putting things together. So I’d like the readers to think, well, that was a different way of writing a murder mystery. So, yeah, those kinds of things are what I’d like them to take away.

Sam – A tale of mystery and human drama, intrigue and some moral ambiguity to keep things interesting. Will justice prevail? Find out for yourself by downloading your copy of Reflections by Irene Holmes. You can get it online at Amazon.com but why not go straight to the authors website. Ireneholmes.com, spelled the same way Sherlock does it, and that will do it for this edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com.

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Welcome to this edition of Newsgram!

Today we’re going to be talking about attacks on women. Physical abuse is the most prevalent form of violence against women. I found a stat that said over 26% of women have experienced “intimate partner violence”, and most of that is physical or sexual abuse. I also found a stat that said Less than 40 per cent of the women who experience violence don’t seek help, which is a shame but I want to get to today’s guest so let’s start there and then we’ll explore the other — and there are many other — types of attacks and I think some of them will surprise you.

According to Danny Goju, author of the book Roar of the Tigress (for Women Only), Most women are attacked because they either leave their guard open or are unaware of the potential dangers; and this allows the attacker to succeed so one way to protect yourself is by having some basic knowledge of self-defense.

Danny Gee Goju – You see, in Martial Arts, I’m used to walking with confidence because I can fight and I’m used to not fearing anybody so I just thought what about those who can’t fight or have no way of defending themselves so what I’ve been teaching my students is yes, you can learn how to fight but the most important thing is spotting the sign before it happens so you don’t need to fight.

That is Danny Gee Goju and he knows a thing or two about fighting and the confidence that comes from knowing how to do It.

Danny Gee Goju – I write songs as a hobby and then I’m actually a Martial Artist. I don’t know if you understand, I’m what they call a Grand Master. The highest level of Martial Arts, put it that way.

A Grand Master is someone you don’t want to mess around with and it’s the combination of skills he just mentioned that intrigued me. Danny is an interesting guy. He is a very humble GrandMaster with a 10th Degree Black Belt and a 10th Degree Red Belt but he believes that he is only as good as the next workout.

I think most anyone who teaches self-defense would agree with him that spotting an attack before it happens is a crucial aspect of good self-defense. Awareness and prevention strategies are effective defense techniques and that is kind of the point to this show because not all attacks are physical.

Danny Gee Goju – You have to spot these signs before they happen and the way to stop it happening is to know the man before you get into any relationship with him. When you first meet a man, just study him. Does he order you around? Does he say please, thank you, sorry? These little things become bigger things after five or ten years of marriage. Plus, he now has a ring on his finger so he feels he owns you but you knew he was a bully before you married him.

Knowing what you’re dealing with is crucial because emotional, mental, sexual, and financial abuses are happening all the time.

and he says that by understanding these different forms of abuse you can stop an attack long before it ever happens.

Danny Gee Goju – Now people are finding new ways to hurt a woman and the reason they are doing that is a lot of men feel that, basically, that their balls are being cut off. Women are on the up. They’ve got nothing left. All that is left is their strength and as a woman you need to be aware that this threat is there.

Yes, some men are highly competitive and they can be made to feel emasculated. I’m not one of them but our society is full of people who feel like the world should be a certain way and when its not, it makes them uncomfortable and can bring out their dark side . Change is inevitable but accepting change is not.

Danny Gee Goju – The Attacks on women, everybody seems to zoom in on the physical but what about emotional attacks, mental attacks, sexual attacks happening in the Homs which nobody talks about and another thing about financial attacks which is actually new because women are starting to make a lot of money and so now there are certain kinds of men that are targeting women for their money. Beating up a woman is dining out slowly.

Yea, Financial abuse is also controlling a woman’s ability to make money, to use it as she sees fit and to maintain and control her own financial resources. Being financially literate pays dividends.

Danny Gee Goju – Ha, for example you see a woman at the bar, a guy comes down, let me buy you a drink. Yea, no. I’d rather have the money. You have to keep that sense of humor. nNot get annoyed, you know get out. Leave me alone. You have to smooth your way out of it.

Did you get all that? A man asks a woman if he can buy her a drink and she says, I’d rather have the money. He’s kidding but if you do it with a smile, a bit of well played sarcasm can go a long way to keeping your control. Here’s another example.

Danny Gee Goju – He takes you out for dinner and he’s forgotten his wallet in the house, I’ll pay next time.

And when next time comes around if he doesn’t pay you gotta let him go.

Danny Gee Goju – Even if he borrows a dollar from your purse without telling you, you can’t take my money out. Oh it’s only a dollar. No it’s not only a dollar you crossed that boundary into my world but women say nothing because it’s only a dollar but that dollar could become five dollars in the future it could be thousands and the next thing you know, why should I go to work when my wife is making money and a lot of men now are playing golf when the women are working. Women have gone through hundreds of years of subjugation. They’ve finally gotten feminism to give them a bit of self respect with equal pay. Even with equal pay my view is that it shouldn’t be equal pay. Women should get more than men. Not because I like women or they deserve more. They should get more because men have to feel what it feels like to earn less. Just for a year or two every company should say that when a woman starts she gets more than the men in that sector, just for a year or two so that the men now feel like oh, this is what it feels like to get less and they have more empathy toward equal pay.

Danny says many women today are not being treated with the respect they deserve and it’s because they are strong. Side note here — I just watched Titanic and it reminded me of a different time. The days of “Women and Children first”, does it feel like those days are gone? In his book Danny says there’s a reason for that and it’s because the modern woman is now seen as much more than just a child-bearer; she has become as competitive as the modern man. This shift in gender roles has caused women to lose some of the respect they deserve from men.

I realize this is a highly debatable subject but that’s what makes it so interesting. One thing he suggests is that women stay strong and take pride in their femininity no matter what. He even wrote a song about it.

Danny Gee Goju – Danny talks about the song he wrote and we hear a snippet to enforce the message. I wrote the song because with the books If you hear the song, it’s to take pride in my femininity. That’s how I want every woman to be. It’s like having that song singing Long ago Now I’m me, you know. I’m proud of being a woman. I’m proud of who I am. Yes. I don’t like what you do if you don’t do this or if you do this. We’re over. You have to have that line. And that is, that’s what, if you remember, in the middle of the song is that leave me alone, I’m on my own. You can’t force me to go with you. You know, I’ve seen it. When a club closes in the night, somebody lets go out the door. I know I’m going to go with you. I didn’t come with you, why should I go with you?

Communication also plays an important role.

Danny Gee Goju – Not all men about. But they all have been tailored to […]you because every woman is different. So what you would want in a man could be something different. But you have to let him know what you want. Don’t expect him to already know it. You know, I love you, but I don’t like the way you were drunk last night and tried to kiss me in public. You know, I didn’t like it, so please don’t do that again. You are nice. The next time, look, you’re doing it again. If it happens again we’re over.

That’s the line in the sand and you have to stick to it. The book is Called Roar of the Tigress (For Women Only) and it’s all about prevention which is only possible if you are aware of what needs to be prevented in the first place.

Danny Gee Goju – That’s why I say for women only. It’s for anybody, really, but I say for women only because you need to be aware.

If you can spot the signs that lead up to an attack you can take steps to avoid it and keep it from happening in the first place.

Danny Gee Goju is a Martial Arts Grand Master. He is thethe Founder and Chief Instructor of African Goju andSouth American Goju and now author of the book Roar of the Tigress. To learn more about Danny I would encourage you to visit his website where you can see a video of him being run over by a truck! Seriously, it’s a stunt he calls the “Car on the stomach stunt”where he lays down and what looks like a Ford Bronco runs over him – definitely not something you wanna try at home. And that will do it for this edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com

Visit his website (https://africangoju.com/danny-gwira)

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Welcome to this edition of Newsgram!

Do you have a favorite teacher? Mine was a middle school science teacher named Mr. Pudlewski and he was a favorite for lots of reasons but one of them was he encouraged us to call him Mr. Pud – a bold move trusting a bunch of immature kids like me but he was so cool we couldn’t make fun of his name.

We all have memories of good teachers as well as bad ones. I had a very impatient music teacher in sixth grade and his attitude and impatience with me are what made me give up on music altogether. No choir, no instruments and that’s a shame. He was just so mean and that negative memory has lasted my whole life.

So, we take the good with the bad and we grow up but I recently found a kindred spirit by the name of Timothy Powell.

Tim Powell – I had a horrible teacher in seventh grade. I raised my hand to read out loud and she only let me read one sentence. Everybody else got to read a whole paragraph. I was discouraged with reading and writing and everything to do with English.

Of course he was. Kids are vulnerable at that age but fortunately for Tim that all changed when he got into High School.

Tim Powell – Connie Kole of Ground Ledge High School. She encouraged me to write in a journalism Class.

And that was the spark that re-ignited his interest in the written word. Sometimes that’s all it takes; a good, creative teacher encouraging you to take it a step further. Now, he has a children’s book out and it’s wonderful.

Tim Powell – It is Gilda’s and Glen’s Geese Nest. The story starts, Gilda is in the nest sitting on three eggs with three Goslings inside the nest.

No, one of them is not named Ryan but there is a Shooey, Freely, Mimi, Ricky, Lucy and a Mikey. Gilda and Glen’s fun loving family of six are all based on real life characters observed by the author at the pond outside his home and their antics are nothing short of heartwarming. For example, one day the goslings are doing what goslings do…

Tim Powell – They are wrestling, trying to get out of the nest. And Freely fell back on his back and he was flapping his wings and kicking his feet. Couldn’t get up and it was so cute. I saw Mimi nudge him up around his neck and help him up. It was really touching.

And then in the book Mimi says ‘You owe me a favor” and Freeley takes it a step further saying “I owe you two favors…I had a stick poking me in the back and I couldn’t get up”. He was very grateful.

The book is beautifully illustrated, but it’s not just the pictures that tell the story. While the illustrations enhance the narrative, this is a true story that you can read aloud to your children. It’s filled with valuable lessons like gratitude, caring for your siblings, and respecting wildlife, especially geese. Approaching a nest of young goslings, no matter how adorable they are, can be dangerous. Animals can be very protective of their young.

The story becomes even more engaging when you realize that it was written by an empathetic author who brings his own depth and warmth to the tale.

Plus, Gilda’s and Glen’s Geese Nest goes beyond just entertaining; it provides opportunities for meaningful conversations with your kids about the natural world. It encourages children to understand and appreciate the behaviors and emotions of animals, fostering a deeper connection with nature. Tim’s sensitivity to these themes makes it not just fun to read but also a powerful tool for teaching compassion and awareness.

Tim Powell – I enjoy writing so much. Can you imagine a young Gosling almost Gander age and you’re going up in the air and then you find yourself, not that we’re up here how do we get down?

See what I mean, he puts himself in the mind of the characters and that gives them a lot of depth which I think you’ll relate to. Timothy finished this book back in 2018— which was twenty-five years after he started it. Now that his labor of love is finally printed and published he’s not stopping there.

Tim Powell – Gilda and Glen’s Geese Nest, I’m gonna donate money to save the whales, a good earthly charity. I need to do that.

As you can see he cares deeply about wildlife and doing all we can to protect what we have left. He also wants to encourage children to read and write because just like him, it is never too late.

Gilda’s and Glen’s Geese Nest by Timothy J. Powell is available wherever you like to buy books. We put a link to a couple of the big ones like Barnes and Noble and Amazon in the shows description for you. And that will do it for this edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com.

Be sure and catch the full interview with Timothy on the Talking Books podcast with JT Crowley. You can hear the audio version here or watch it on YouTube.

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Poems of Divine Power is a book of poems featuring testimonies, teachings, prayers, and Prophecy of Divine Power, all being inspired by the Holy Spirit through the author’s journey to the Cross and Salvation. Each page stands on its own, touching the heart of those who embrace the work of the Cross and the written Word, the Bible.

Welcome to the edition of Newsgram!

If you read the description of this episode then you know you’re in for a spiritual experience today. Annie Lean is an author from a small town just outside Toronto and while we are in very different places in the world we share a common sentiment.

Annie Lean – The cry for Peace. You know my heart has always been that for a cry for peace because the world needs it.

It sure does. There are lots of wonderful things happening every day in our world and it is hard to appreciate them because we are overwhelmed with negativity because well…

AnnieLean – People are People.

Exactly. People are People. We are who we are — complex organisms characterized mainly by our capacity for thought, emotion, communication, and social interaction. While we are all made in the image of God we possess free will to make our own choice and no matter how hard some people try they can never take that away from you.

Annie Lean – I just like it, but that cry in heart is just there for peace so that people can come together and live their lives and allow others to live their lives and not try to overrule other people. Control I guess is the word.

It’s a tall order, but Annie is doing her part by writing poetry. Her book is called “Poems of Divine Power” and in it there are 117 powerful poems designed to uplift and inspire but before we get too deep into all that I want you to hear the inspiration for all of this. Her literal “Come to Jesus moment”.

Annie Lean – Annie talks about how her prayers led her to be healed from kidney failure.

We’ve done other podcasts on this phenomena and they are not always from a spiritual point of view but it does happen. People are healed from life threatening illnesses all the time and there is no scientific explanation as to why but it’s definitely happening. Is it a miracle? Is it a coincidence? You have the Free will to choose your own explanation but Annie gives credit to Jesus and she says the only way we can truly find peace is by having a relationship with Him so she wrote this poem about it..

Annie Lean – So we’re going to do a Cry for Peace on page four…Annie reads the full poem from her book about a need for peace and her confusion about why we are not receiving it but hopefully we soon will.

Annie Lean is an Ordained Minister so she is no stranger to communicating and you feel that at the end of each poem where she talks about where the poems come from; the date, the theme, the inspiration for them. It’s not a sermon but it does help convey the ultimate message of the poem.

Annie Lean – My heart cries for people who do not have peace. I look at the people today with drugs and alcohol running rampant, with hate and anger, confusion, not knowing what to do there’s no answers for them and that’s where my heart is, for the lost. For those who need consoling, who need hope and need encouragement and that was always my forefront even as a child I always had tears for those who were helpless and there was no-one there to help.

That is the root of who she is. A compassionate person using her free will to share a message of hope and peace to anyone who cares to hear it. It’s a message that she says came from God.

Annie Lean – And then I heard from within myself this voice saying, ‘you meditate on the word and when you finish each book or each chapter of the Bible you will receive a poem” and it did it all came forward every time I finished a chapter a poem would come.

There you have it. Divine inspiration available now in the form of two different books of poetry, Poems of Divine Power and Poems of Divine Power two. A gift from Annie Lean to a complicated world in need of hope, peace and friendly reminder of a core Christian belief in God’s love for humanity — John 3:16.

Annie Lean – “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” It’s a love story and I want people to realize that if you have nothing to hope for, nothing to hang onto, Jesus Christ came to save us. When I grasped John 3:16 it became the foundation for these books because its the love that you have for Him that brings you into a hole, encouragement, love and anything else that you need and that’s what I want people to know.

If this sounds like something you’d like to explore further there are links to the books in the show’s notes as well as some other interviews where you can hear Annie Lean reading poems and sharing her inspiration.

And that will do it for this edition of Newsgran from Webtalkradio.com. Watch JT Crowley’s interview with AnnieLean on Youtube https://youtu.be/nILm7D-jzCI?si=DQoriqlo8OEV0nR4 or visit webtalkradio.com, or Expertsandauthors.tv.

Annie was also profiled on the Books on Air podcast with Suzanne Harris.

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Welcome to this edition of Newsgram.

Today I have a story for you that is guaranteed to warm your heart but to that I’m hoping you can give me a bit of latitude so I can offer some perspective. While I’m sitting down to write this edition of Newsgram there are news stories circulating about Israel and Gaza, the war between the Ukraine and Russia, Trump’s guilty verdict and the aftermath of that along with numerous natural disasters happening all over the world and the damage done by them. Then there are our own personal struggles over things like interest rates, the price of gas or the economy. I’m sure you have issues personal to you like childcare, joblessness or any number of things that are creating tension for you over a backdrop of world chaos and political infighting but for just a minute let’s put a pin in all that and listen to Miriam Steiner-Aviezer born in 1935 in Yugoslavia to Jewish parents.

In 1941, the Nazi’s invaded Yugoslavia, arrested Miriam and her parents and forced them onto trains bound for a concentration camp in Croatia. This is not the story of that horrific time and fortunately she and her parents survived the Holocaust. This story is about her experience in the refugee camp.

Miriam – No it was a nice place. They did all the efforts to make us happy and to provide us a nice place to live in but maybe they didn’t understand our feelings and our mental situation. I just want to be alone all the time.

In case you aren’t familiar I will give you the Wikipedia definition of a ‘displaced Persons camp”. It was a temporary facility where unaccompanied Children of all ages were gathered together and looked after until a more permanent situation could be found for them. Miriam was one of those children. A scared little girl who just wanted to be left alone.

Miriam – I was just a person that liked to be alone and I was just happy they didn’t join me in their singing and dancing. There was not one single thing that could move me.

Most people are well-meaning and try to help by encouraging you to join in on group activities and games but we all process grief differently. Some kids just want to be left alone and it can be very hard to reach them.

Now, we can argue all day long about congress spending our money but today I thought it would be nice to transport you back to a different time and reflect on an aid package sent by the people of America to children living in this refugee camp in the aftermath of World War Two.

Miriam – I really admire the people of America. Americans are so concerned about what is happening around them and they are always ready to help and they’re always read to share what they have with others.

Miriam is going to read an excerpt from her book “Dear Mary” about her experience and the thing that changed her life for the better.

Miriam – Then one day I found a big package on my bed. I was not sure it belonged to me so I did not try to touch it but they took all the things that were in the package and put it on my bed.….somehow I knew that this was not the name of the doll but of the girl who sent it. I imagine a girl my age

A doll with one shoe and the name Mary written on the other foot that got sent from America as part of a large care-package and managed to reach just the right person.

Miriam – I imagined a girl my age kissing her goodby and putting her in that big box. This doll made a very long journey before she came to me. I took her in my arms and embraced her body as if I finally met a dear friend of mine. From that day on I was not alone or lonely. I had a friend. I was you Mary. I remember I was told, it was a gift from the people of America. The people of America sounded so beautiful that I enjoyed repeating it on and on until it came to be a melody caressing my ears and I began mumbling silently to myself. The people of America.

Miriam wanted to thank Mary for sending her this doll but she had no individual address and you can’t just send a letter addressed to “the people of America” so now, years later she’s published this book that will hopefully serve as a thank you.

Miriam – Many years have passed since and you Mary probably have a big family with children and grandchildren, just like me. I’m sure you have forgotten about the package you sent me years ago but I did not forget. All those years all I wanted was to write a letter and to say thank you to the people of America.

What a beautiful vision it would be for Mary to read this letter and know that her doll touched the life of some little girl that needed it so badly but Miriam has a more important take away for us.

Miriam – Mary is a symbol. It’s not really a person it is a symbol of a generation and I think that this generation of Mary, this was the finest hour in your history. You personally didn’t go through the holocaust but you identify yourself with those that did. Those activities of sending packages; not only what was in the packages but it was the gesture. It exudes the message of human love and kindness, compassion and the power of goodness.

A Kindness done for no other reason than to brighten someone’s day. No politics, no religion, just love.

We send care packages out all the time in the form of financial aid, supplies and necessities and don’t often get to hear how much these things are appreciated. Maybe it’s because we don’t ask, we just give because it’s the right thing to do.

Miriam – I really admire Americans and I really think that people should have more respect for the simple American who is always concerned about what is happening around and is ready to help.

Are you familiar with the concept of The Butterfly Effect? It’s a concept that comes form the modern Chaos theory developed by Edward Lorenz an American mathematician and meteorologist who discovered that minor variations in the initial conditions of a weather model could lead to vastly different outcome but it’s a lot more that that for the purposes of this podcast lets just say that sometimes, the things we do can have far reaching effects because the world is interconnected in so many ways.

Do something out of love and you could be sending out waves of kindness into the universe that reach far beyond our expectations like a care package sent to a child refugee camp nearly eighty years ago resulting in a book written in 2023 that can bring a smile to sick women and continues to pay dividends.

Miriam – I once received a letter from a young woman. She said when I read this story to my grandmother who is sick and not responsive she smiled.

Miriam – And I think there are still alive people that were handling these packages and my wish is that those people will read my book.

Dear Mary, a thank you letter from a WWII refugee to the People of America, a wonderful story for not only the people involved but anyone who needs a smile or a reminder that kindness is a good thing. A loving gesture doesn’t have to be on a grand scale, and it doesn’t have to take place at Christmas time. It’s always a great time to reach someone in need in any way you can because, well, you just never know.

Her name is Miriam Steiner-Aviezerand you can see a photo of her with her doll if you visit theUnited States Holocaust Memorial Museumin Washington DC. If you can’t make it to DC look up the museums page on Facebook and you can find it there.

To find the book just Google “Dear Mary by Miriam” and you’ll find it. We put a link to some of the online bookstores in the show notes for you. And that will do it for this edition of Newsgram from webtalkradio.com

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Amalia, a young woman in nineteenth-century Spain, faces a harrowing experience after being uprooted from her already troubled life and then thrust into an abusive nobleman’s household. Finding temporary solace in the arms of the future king of Spain, she becomes pregnant and is forced to flee for safety. Enduring hardship, including forced prostitution, Amalia reaches her lowest point and ultimately must forgive herself and confront her past to embrace an unlikely ally.

Welcome to this edition of Newsgram!

Let’s begin our adventure in 19th century Spain—a romantic time when corsets were so tight they could squeeze secrets out of you; when skirts were so voluminous they had a life of their own. Can you hear them rustling and bustling down the cobblestone streets echoing with the passionate rhythms of flamenco guitars.

This was a time when gentlemen peacocked around town in well tailored three-piece suits and top hats. The air was filled with excitement. Spain was a tapestry of vibrant colors, rich traditions, and an irresistible zest for life.

It was also a time when religion, power and family authority were concentrated mostly in the hands of men. A time governed by rigid patriarchal structure when men held sway over not just wealth and political authority, but they also dictated the upbringing of their children and in our adventure today it was time when all this power and influence in the hands of bad men was a recipe for disaster and for Amalia that is exactly what happened.

Holly Brough (Rollercoaster) It’s very real to life. It’s the fun of tragedy but it’s all the feels you’ve got love and companionship and then you have deception and intrigue and even murder but that’s what life is right? That’s what this is a rollercoaster ride for sure.

Riding that Roller Coaster is Amalia a fifteen year old girl, born in a Patriarchal society to an abusive father who does the kind of things that make you glad it’s not a real story — but at the same time grateful for the page-turning narrative that is titled “The Name I Choose” by Holly Brough.

Holly Brough (Screenplay) It was writing a screenplay for this movie that’s in my head.

That’s a great way to put it because this book does read like a movie. It’s amazing how quickly your mind will wash over the words while you take in the story and the characters. Here’s the premise…

Holly Brough (Premise) Holly explains the premise of the book where Amalia is sold into servitude by her abusive father into the household of Manuel Tudó, an abusive nobleman.

So, she had to find a way to come to terms with all that and she did that by first swallowing the bitter pill that is her new life and then trying to live it the best way she could which for us means more adventures. So she falls in love with the Duke of Cadiz, a fellow foodie.

Holly Brough (Food) He seduces her with yummy foods which is something she loves. She loves food. She’s a chef herself because she’s been cooking for her family for eight years and he’s also food connoisseur so that’s something they had in common and he would bring her these delicious treats to taste and whatever. They had a short love affair and he left her pregnant.

I just love this book’s visuals. You can see the foods and feel the romance in your minds eye while experiencing this roller coaster of a plot going up and down again as Poor Amalia, sold off and abused, finds love and connection only to be left pregnant and wanting, forced to find a way to deal with her newest of circumstances, her master and now her unborn child.

Holly Brough (Fled) And so she fled

Of course she did. To demonstrate how that played out Holly is going to read an excerpt from the book.

Holly Brough (Expert) Holly reads an expert from her book, The name I chose. The scene is one in which Amalia flees the Tudo’s home and finds a wanted poster with her face on it. Running through the forest in panic she meets two men, Commander Gilbert Channing and Captain Joshua Hastings who commit to helping her.

And so goes another plot twist that I think you’re going to enjoy. I would love to share more detail but where’s the fun in giving away a brilliantly told story. I will say that there is a lot more going on than you might think. This is not a typical romance novel. Far from it. Amali a is a strong determined woman and while the setting is in a different place and time, there are many aspects of her character that modern readers can relate to. For example, there comes a time when she is asked to compromise herself by letting “lonely strangers” share her bed.

Holly Brough (The Plan) And she’s like, I’m not going to give my child a whore for a mother. I’m not going to do that. They threatened to send him to a workhouse. Well she’s not gonna lose her child either so she formulated a plan.

It was a scheme featuring a field of poppies and some opium-laced tea—just the remedy for a weary traveler to transform their desires from passionate yearning to peaceful slumber. Intriguing, resourceful and a real demonstration of the kind of woman Amalia has become.

Holly Brough (Child of God) That’s kind of how Amalia is. She’s very resourceful. I believe women can be strong where they stand. They don’t have to step into someone else’s shoes to accomplish those goals and names I believe are limiting. They keep from becoming who we were meant to become and I believe we are here in this life, on this earth, at this time to learn and grow and become more than we see ourselves today and I believe the only name, the only label that we can claim that is limitless and lasting, everyone can claim it is child of God. If we truly embrace that then we know our potential is limitless. It is lasting. It is a former thing. We can continue to grow and become who we want to become. We can become the best of ourselves if we actually understand who we are at the core.

You are not what you are called. You are what you are inside. I told you there was more here than you might expect.

Holly Brough (Who we are) We know who we are by our actions when no-one else is looking. So if we think about that. What am I doing when no-one else is looking? That’s who I am and do I like that person? If I don’t I know I can improve. I can change because I am a child of God.

The Name I Choose by Holly Brough (Bruff) is getting great reviews and I’m not at all surprised that it pulls you into its world with captivating storytelling and a spot-on depiction of the historical era. The characters feel real, the insight into nineteenth-century Spanish culture is fascinating, and the plot keeps you guessing and the pages turning.

It’s available now online at all your favorite places to buy books. I put links to some of them in the shows description for you. And that will do it for this edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com.

You can see Holly Brough on the Books on Air podcast, Books on Air on Youtube as well the Talking Books 0podcast and Talking Books on Youtube program.

The post The Name I Choose appeared first on WebTalkRadio.net.

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Today’s show is based on the book, “The Name I Choose” by Holly Brough; a novel in which Amalia’s quest for love and freedom from her troubled past takes us on a captivating journey between historical drama and heartfelt romance.

Book summary: Amalia, a young woman in nineteenth-century Spain, faces a harrowing experience after being uprooted from her already troubled life and then thrust into an abusive nobleman’s household. Finding temporary solace in the arms of the future king of Spain, she becomes pregnant and is forced to flee for safety. Enduring hardship, including forced prostitution, Amalia reaches her lowest point and ultimately must forgive herself and confront her past to embrace an unlikely ally.

Welcome to this edition of Newsgram!

Let’s begin our adventure in 19th century Spain—a romantic time when corsets were so tight they could squeeze secrets out of you; when skirts were so voluminous they had a life of their own. Can you hear them rustling and bustling down the cobblestone streets echoing with the passionate rhythms of flamenco guitars.

This was a time when gentlemen peacocked around town in well tailored three-piece suits and top hats. The air was filled with excitement. Spain was a tapestry of vibrant colors, rich traditions, and an irresistible zest for life.

It was also a time when religion, power and family authority were concentrated mostly in the hands of men. A time governed by rigid patriarchal structure when men held sway over not just wealth and political authority, but they also dictated the upbringing of their children and in our adventure today it was time when all this power and influence in the hands of bad men was a recipe for disaster and for Amalia that is exactly what happened.

Holly Brough (Rollercoaster) It’s very real to life. It’s the fun of tragedy but it’s all the feels you’ve got love and companionship and then you have deception and intrigue and even murder but that’s what life is right? That’s what this is a rollercoaster ride for sure.

Riding that Roller Coaster is Amalia a fifteen year old girl, born in a Patriarchal society to an abusive father who does the kind of things that make you glad it’s not a real story — but at the same time grateful for the page-turning narrative that is titled “The Name I Choose” by Holly Brough.

Holly Brough (Screenplay) It was writing a screenplay for this movie that’s in my head.

That’s a great way to put it because this book does read like a movie. It’s amazing how quickly your mind will wash over the words while you take in the story and the characters. Here’s the premise…

Holly Brough (Premise) Holly explains the premise of the book where Amalia is sold into servitude by her abusive father into the household of Manuel Tudó, an abusive nobleman.

So, she had to find a way to come to terms with all that and she did that by first swallowing the bitter pill that is her new life and then trying to live it the best way she could which for us means more adventures. So she falls in love with the Duke of Cadiz, a fellow foodie.

Holly Brough (Food) He seduces her with yummy foods which is something she loves. She loves food. She’s a chef herself because she’s been cooking for her family for eight years and he’s also food connoisseur so that’s something they had in common and he would bring her these delicious treats to taste and whatever. They had a short love affair and he left her pregnant.

I just love this book’s visuals. You can see the foods and feel the romance in your minds eye while experiencing this roller coaster of a plot going up and down again as Poor Amalia, sold off and abused, finds love and connection only to be left pregnant and wanting, forced to find a way to deal with her newest of circumstances, her master and now her unborn child.

Holly Brough (Fled) And so she fled

Of course she did. To demonstrate how that played out Holly is going to read an excerpt from the book.

Holly Brough (Expert) Holly reads an expert from her book, The name I chose. The scene is one in which Amalia flees the Tudo’s home and finds a wanted poster with her face on it. Running through the forest in panic she meets two men, Commander Gilbert Channing and Captain Joshua Hastings who commit to helping her.

And so goes another plot twist that I think you’re going to enjoy. I would love to share more detail but where’s the fun in giving away a brilliantly told story. I will say that there is a lot more going on than you might think. This is not a typical romance novel. Far from it. Amali a is a strong determined woman and while the setting is in a different place and time, there are many aspects of her character that modern readers can relate to. For example, there comes a time when she is asked to compromise herself by letting “lonely strangers” share her bed.

Holly Brough (The Plan) And she’s like, I’m not going to give my child a whore for a mother. I’m not going to do that. They threatened to send him to a workhouse. Well she’s not gonna lose her child either so she formulated a plan.

It was a scheme featuring a field of poppies and some opium-laced tea—just the remedy for a weary traveler to transform their desires from passionate yearning to peaceful slumber. Intriguing, resourceful and a real demonstration of the kind of woman Amalia has become.

Holly Brough (Child of God) That’s kind of how Amalia is. She’s very resourceful. I believe women can be strong where they stand. They don’t have to step into someone else’s shoes to accomplish those goals and names I believe are limiting. They keep from becoming who we were meant to become and I believe we are here in this life, on this earth, at this time to learn and grow and become more than we see ourselves today and I believe the only name, the only label that we can claim that is limitless and lasting, everyone can claim it is child of God. If we truly embrace that then we know our potential is limitless. It is lasting. It is a former thing. We can continue to grow and become who we want to become. We can become the best of ourselves if we actually understand who we are at the core.

You are not what you are called. You are what you are inside. I told you there was more here than you might expect.

Holly Brough (Who we are) We know who we are by our actions when no-one else is looking. So if we think about that. What am I doing when no-one else is looking? That’s who I am and do I like that person? If I don’t I know I can improve. I can change because I am a child of God.

The Name I Choose by Holly Brough (Bruff) is getting great reviews and I’m not at all surprised that it pulls you into its world with captivating storytelling and a spot-on depiction of the historical era. The characters feel real, the insight into nineteenth-century Spanish culture is fascinating, and the plot keeps you guessing and the pages turning.

It’s available now online at all your favorite places to buy books. I put links to some of them in the shows description for you. And that will do it for this edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com.

You can see Holly Brough on the Books on Air podcast, Books on Air on Youtube as well the Talking Books 0podcast and Talking Books on Youtube program.

The post The Name I Choose by Holly Brough appeared first on WebTalkRadio.net.

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Welcome to this edition of Newsgram!

Today I want to introduce you to a man that spent 35 years researching and writing a book about in-depth Bible study and it is deep. We’re going to get into some of his findings but before all that you might be wondering why it took so long? Well, it was because of the murder…

Arthur Rutledge – I went to prison for Killing a man that was robbing me. He robbed me with a gun and I killed him with a knife and I went to prison.

Going through something as scary as that and knowing you’ve got a tough road ahead, locked up, away from society, dealing with all the challenges of prison life can be a lot to handle. That’s when a lot of folks start leaning on their faith, looking for some guidance and comfort from something bigger than themselves.

Arthur Rutledge – I didn’t know God. Didn’t know a thing about God, nothin’! I read the Bible while I was in prison and I heard what people said and I said look God if you are half of what you say you are. If you are even a fraction of what you say you are then you will come right here, right now to my Jail cell and he did.

A brave thing to do, issuing an Ultimatum to God but when you’re locked up, what do you have to lose.

Arthur Rutledge – I couldn’t believe what happened because I never knew God and when this happened it just floored me. He anointed me with Spirit and he put a couple of Angels with me to write this book called Legacy Of The Melkizadek.

That title requires a bit of explanation and I’m going to do the best I can here; Melchizedek is not Jesus; he is a representation or prefiguring of Jesus. He shows up suddenly, offers a gift of bread and wine, and gets a thank-you gift from a guy named Abram (who later becomes Abraham). Now we don’t know much about him because he’s mysterious, and for the sake of this episode what’s important to know is that he predates Jesus and helps us to understand some important things about Jesus and ultimately his priesthood – or his service to mankind. His book takes us back to the beginning, and attempts to unravel all the mysteries about God the Creator.

Arthur Rutledge – So I write this book in prison. I did thirty three years and three months in prison and I wrote this book and I brought back 300 pages of handwritten notes and I finished it once I got out. I got up at three o’clock every morning and I worked on the book and I went to work . In thirty five years I completed it with extra biblical stuff that I needed that I couldn’t get in prison out here. He delivered everything I could possibly need and now when he brings me out of prison he delivered me the rest of it and so I wrote this book called Legacy Of The Melkizadek which the church calls Legacy Of The Mekizadek which is the priesthood of which Jesus is the highest priest.

In the book Arthur offers up a complete explanation of the plan of salvation for man, he explains evolution, and revelations…and if you’re curious he says yes we are living in the “End Times” and to be more specific they will begin with the second financial crash, which is going to occur in about 5 years but he starts out with a brief history of Israel.

Arthur Rutledge – The first thing I started off with is a brief history of Israel, a divided nation because its sets a pattern and a stage for everything that happens next, That where God begins. He starts to let himself be known to the world through Isreal that’s why he did what he did with ‘em. I want myself to be known through you to the world.

If you have a deep knowledge of religion or an intense curiosity about all things biblical this may be a book you want to look into. Something in it that I found very intriguing was a point he made about love. Love raises our personal vibration and it’s a good thing.

We know love is important and we are taught to love one another, to forgive to live by the Golden Rule, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” these are the basics of being a good person or you could say the core of building righteous character, the kind that was taught by Jesus. Arthur explains why.

Arthur Rutledge – It is parent and child love between the father and the son to carry forth this discipline of righteous character. The father and the son, the love between them is the Holy Spirit. It’s not a he, it’s a disposition or frame of mind. The bonding of parent and child love between the Father and the Son is the Holy Spirit in this context. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit or disposition of God. God is love. ‘Did I not say I have loved you as the Father loved me?’ That’s fatherly love. “Love one another as I have loved you”, that’s John 15:12. I also say if you Blaspheme the other or the son that can be forgiven and that’s at Mark 3:28, 29 but Blast me of the Holy Spirit the love between the Father and Son and that cannot be forgiven. Thus the father and the son must hold the love they have for one another higher than themselves. Are you following me so far?

Yes, Higher Love is not just a song by Steve Winwood…or Whitney Houston for that matter. He says one of the problems with our society is that we are drifting away from Family values and those values are the very things that are supposed to hold us together. He also says the Holy Spirit has not been explained properly by mainstream religions. It is the love between God and his son Jesus and that point is very important.

Arthur Rutledge – Because if Love fails on a large scale mankind will cease to exist. It preserves us. It keeps us from pulling the trigger on the big Bomb, Get it?

You can’t annihilate the ones you love. Arthur talks about the Virgin Birth and technology, he explains Baptism and why we do it in the name of Jesus. He details the first and second advent of Jesus…

Arthur Rutledge – I explain every single mystery of the book completely and I I give them all the scriptures and I explain all the mysteries that nobody ever understood for thousands of years. So the angels that God gave me to do this book gave me a direct revelation.

One of his goals was to completely put the entire Bible in sync with no contradictions — which is a major sticking point for critics of the Bible. One of the biggest complaints of those who say the Bible is not a divine work, is that there are contradictions in it which he says were caused by mistranslation.

So he did extensive translational work, putting this book together which clears up those errors in the translation and resolves the contradictions caused by these translations.

He also says the complete story of God the Creator has been held back until now, because now is the time for these things to be known — here at the end of days.

Arthur Rutledge – I bought a bunch of copies and sold them around to people I knew. I talked to them and they were very interested in studying the word of God. I mentioned my book and had one guy pay me double what I asked for. He is a constable that works here and he’s a deep bible student. He said. “That is an eye opener, I loved it. All the questions I always wondered about and the mysteries, and how this whole thing works it blew me away. You were right on point”.

Now it’s your turn. If you want to learn more about Arthur I put links to some interviews that featured him in the show notes as well as a link to his website. Legacy of the Medkizadek.com. Ans that will do it for this edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com

Check out Arthur Rutledge on the Talking Books show with JT Crowley on Youtube or the the Books on Air podcast with Suzanne Harris.

Author website: https://www.legacyofthemelkizadek.com/

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Welcome to this edition of Newsgram!

Doing this podcast I’ve learned a lot of different things thanks to the great authors I’ve been lucky enough to meet. The topics are so broad and varied from children’s books to autobiographies to fiction and spirituality — you really never know what you’re going to get so thank you for clicking on this episode.

Today we are taking a common sense approach to the question “Who am I?” and what was I put on this earth to do. Just to clarify — you are probably already living your purpose and don’t even realize it. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking that there must be more to life and in the course of doing that we tend to forget the little things that actually mean a lot. Like simple kindnesses that are so easy to do you don’t even think about them. You just do it but they mean something to the recipient.

How grateful are you that water comes out of the tap? I wasn’t until recently when I was reminded that in many parts of the world people have to go and get water from a river or a well, and it’s not clean. Billions of people don’t know the luxury we take for granted. It puts things in perspective — but this is not a show about water — or gratitude, although that is important, it’s a show about finding peace.

Rebecca Payne – We get so busy running around doing things for the kids if you are married with children or you have children. Running about. Our daily lives running to the store and getting this or that. Going to work, coming home, taking care of the shopping and all of that kind of stuff that we don’t take out time to rest and that’s one of the principle teachings in the book “Finding Peace” is to rest. That’s one of the secrets, to take that day, take that time to just slow down and be at peace and sitting on the porch is one way to do that.

That’s Dr. Rebecca Payne, author of the book she just mentioned, Finding Peace. The cover features a bistro table and a couple of chairs on the front porch of a house that serve as a reminder to take time out to rest.

Rebecca Payne – Life is a journey and you have to take time to slow down and enjoy it. We get so caught up with running around and spinning our own web that we forget that we are here to enjoy this life, to discover one another and have peace. You can’t have peace if you don’t slow down.

Stop and smell the roses. It’s just that simple but hearing it and doing it are two different things. It’s not always that easy. Our lives can be very complicated so in her book she created a fun way to teach us how to slow down and live a peaceful and rewarding life. To do that she created two characters, Jamie and Miss Mazey. Jamie is looking for answers and Miss Mazey is keen to teach them using biblical principles.

Rebecca Payne – Rebecca discusses the creation of these two characters and that they are a reflection of Rebecca and her spiritual mother.

Jamie is on a path toward enlightenment and Miss Mazey is offering up the spiritual wisdom to help her get there. Here’s an example. We already talked about the importance of taking time out to rest — like God did on the seventh day.

Rebecca Payne – You cannot go seven days a week running around all day every day and not rest. Rebecca cites scriptures like Jeremy 1:5, Matthew 6:33 to illustrate that in the scriptures you will find wisdom to find freedom and freedom will give you peace.

And there’s that word again, Peace and believe it or not peace is just the beginning.

Rebecca Payne – I discovered that with peace comes joy. With joy comes happiness. These are fruits of the Holy Spirit so the fruit of the spirit becomes evident in your life. You have joy, you have peace, you have happiness , you take on goodness, you take on kindness, you take on the ability to persevere and have patience. All of these things start transpiring in your life as you allow the Holy Spirit to work in your life. You can’t do these things, you can’t make these changes by yourself. I tried it does not work but with the guidance of the Holy Spirit of God you can have your life transformed and then literally find peace and with that peace comes the simplicity of life.

If you’re someone who is looking for answers this book will show you what a life as a Christian is like. By bringing in characters like Jamie and Miss Mazey she’s letting us see through their relationship the lessons that can apply to our life. I guess you could say it’s a practical guide to living a good life with faith and belief in something more and how that belief can shape our lives in positive ways. Here’s another example. In the book Jamie just went through a divorce. Highly stressful and very difficult.

Rebecca Payne – I too like Jamie went through a divorce and during that time my life was in total upheaval. I was going to school and getting my doctorate. I was moving around doing different jobs. I am a technology project manager by trade and my projects were coming to an end so I’m also moving around. My career. Everything was in upheaval.

And when life starts to feel like it’s spinning out of control we naturally get frustrated and confused and we start looking up and asking questions and according to Dr. Rebecca Payne, one of the big answers to those questions is, slow down, have faith and let God guide you. When your head is full of questions and they’re making you anxious…well, there’s a scripture for that.

Rebecca Payne – One of the biggest ones that I learned was in Philippians 4:6. Be anxious for nothing but in thanksgiving let your request be known to God. That was such a huge leap for me because I was anxious about everything. Where is my life going, what am I going to do now? I’m in upheaval here. I’m trying to get this doctorate at the same time and I’m trying to focus and should I stop? Should I keep going? What should I do? So with her guidance I found that I needed to settle down and have peace and continue what I started to do. Trust in God.

As human beings we all have trials and tribulations in our life. We have what she calls “afflictions and additions”. We have all kinds of pain, physical, emotional, spiritual and we have free will. We are totally capable of making all kinds of decisions that may or may not be good for us — like self medicating.

Rebecca Payne – Part of the journey is to know that it exists. Part of the journey is to know that there is a light. Some people don’t know that . So I’m trying to show them that God is there for you. God is with you. God will guide you if you seek Him.

So getting back to the question “what does it all mean?” Let’s have a look at the words of Miss Mazey; “Whatever it is that calms your soul and lifts you to a curiosity about your Creator, that is what you are meant to do to set you on the path to peace.”

The book is called Finding Peace by Dr. Rebecca I. Payne and you can get it in paperback at all the places you like to shop online for books. In fact right now you can download it from Amazon for about $6. Not a bad price to pay for the meaning of life. And that will do it for this edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com.

Listen to Dr. Rebecca Payne on the Talking Books podcast, the Talking Books YouTube interview with JT Crowley or the Books on Air podcast with Suzanne Harris.

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This is the story of those psychological forces that help define us. Who are you and where did you come from? Learning more about your past brings a sense of security and inner peace. Mario Cartaya went back to Cuba to reclaim his forgotten Cuban past and wrote a book about it called Journey Back Into the Vault, In Search of My Faded Cuban Childhood Footprints.

Welcome to this edition of Newsgram

Have you ever wondered about the forces that shape our identity? Who we truly are and where we come from? In a world filled with uncertainty, reconnecting with our roots can offer a sense of security and inner peace. Today we are going to journey back in time to explore the captivating tale of one man’s quest to reclaim his Cuban roots.

Mario Cartaya – How do we go from all the hate and the anger and the fear that we are exposed to daily into achieving an inner peace.

That’s Mario Cartaya. He is the author of “Journey Back Into the Vault: In Search of My Faded Cuban Childhood Footprints.” His is a very personal adventure but it’s also a reminder of how powerful it is to learn about ourselves and where we came from.

Mario Cartaya – Come to terms with who you really are and then try to find that inner-peace within us that we all need so much.

He knows something about this. In an effort to reclaim his forgotten Cuban childhood and his original identity he did some digging into his own past. The results are in his new book Journey Back Into the Vault, In Search of My Faded Cuban Childhood. When he was nine years old he was forced to flee his home country with his parents and older brother in a pretty dramatic way.

Mario Cartaya – The head of the Cuban Nationalization program of American properties putting a gun to my dad’s head demanding his books. My dad did comply eventually and that forced us to leave the island when Guevara told him your future safety in this country is no longer guaranteed.

When you’re forced to leave your country in this way you have to leave everything behind, your aunts, uncles, friends and acquaintances.

Mario Cartaya – We just never got to say goodbye. The 1960’s if you remember was a time of the Cuban missile crisis, it was of the bay of Pigs invasion, it was time when many, many things happened and there was no communication between us and Cuba so they did and we only found out through Western Union telegraphs that would tell us your grandfather died, your uncle died.

I can’t imagine the culture shock of coming to America from Cuba in the early 1960’s. I guess one of the cool things would be the fact that he was very young and didn’t have to be concerned with the draft or politics. You get to just try and fit in as an American kid. play some baseball, make new friends, eat a hot dog and learn why we call it soccer….

Mario Cartaya – It was wonderful. Becoming an American was easy, however that vault that I built to protect me from all these painful and relevant memories would come to play a few years later.

Yep, at some point in the growing up process we are all forced to breach that vault where we’ve stored all those painful memories and see if enough time has gone by to have another look. For some of us it happens naturally and for others you have to crack open your own unconscious ‘vault’ and retrieve the buried memories to better examine them in with the wisdom that comes from growing older.

Mario chose to head back to Cuba.

Mario Cartaya – I was hoping that the stimulus of going to the buildings, the places where I lived, would remind me however what that stimulus did was it took me to a place inside me where all those memories lived. I had never lost those memories that I thought I’d forgotten. I had never forgotten it. I just stopped myself from remembering. I protected myself from remembering in the subconscious vault that we all build and I realized that as the memories returned the demos of long ago belonged long ago and the more I opened myself to going inside that vault and discovering who I am. It’s not who I was, it’s who I am because all those memories that lurk inside ourselves are really a part of you and they’ve made you.

That’s right, you can’t blame your father for doing what was best for his family. Do you blame the Castro regime for the forced exile or do you look for positive memories? The things you can be grateful for? They are all there. Sometimes you just need to be willing to look. Here’s a great example…

Mario Cartaya – My mother unfortunately passed away and I was going through her items and there’s a box with a letter from her saying this is for you and among the things that I found in there was this pocket watch that my grandfather used to own. I just found it and the moment that I saw that watch I remember it because I was in a school play in kindergarten where I played an elderly watchmaker. My parents were dressing me up as an old man for that school play and my grandfather said to me, “Here, you can’t be an old man without a pocket watch.” and so he gave me this pocket watch and here after all these years it is in my head and all i could feel was love, not fear just love. There are no demons anymore. just love. It’s beautiful.

And that love is something that makes this story come alive. The book is called Journey Back Into the Vault, In Search of My Faded Cuban Childhood Footprints by Mario Cartaya. Download a copy from Amazon.com or BarnesandNoble.com and see if it inspires you to open your own emotional vault. Who knows, you might find it to be therapeutic. And that will do it for this edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com.

Listen to the Books on Air podcast with Suzanne Harris for a more in-depth interview with Marion Cartaya.

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The Story of my Soul by Helen P. Slater is the personal healing journey of Helen P. Slater. The book is written from a spiritual perspective, about divine love, abuse, trauma, spirit guides and soul healing.

Welcome to this edition of Newsgram!

A long time ago in a land called the eighties I was working for a company that produced radio programs. We syndicated them to stations all over the country and I was lucky enough to work on a Pete Townsend special featuring the music of The Who. Pete Townsend is a fascinating and deeply religious man. At the time he was working as an editor at the publishing house Faber & Faber, the book publishing company that also published his book “Horses Neck”. Anyway, when asked about the single “Who are You” – a progressive rock-N-roll song he said it was actually written about God. Imagine looking up to the sky and asking God “Who are you?”

That story has stuck with me all these years. Today’s show is for anyone who has ever asked the question ‘Who am I?’ ‘Who are you?’ and ‘What am I doing here?’

Helen P. Slater is someone who did that very thing and got an answer…well, sort of…

Helen P. Slater – I called out one night, “Please help me” because I was feeling so helpless and one of my guides appeared to me and said his name was Jeremiah and he could help and then a whole host of guides turned up and I was told that I was seeing them on the Astral Plane and that I had extra sensory perception abilities. And they said we can take you on a healing journey because the reason you are actually sick is because of Karma and trauma and so I said ok, I’d like to go on this journey.

I’m going to jump in here because that was a lot. Her story is nothing short of fascinating and it’s all detailed very clearly in her book “The Story of My Soul” but to get the most out of this podcast you need to believe that anything is possible. That there is a world outside this one. That we all have Spirit Guides and they have a boss who we call God.

Helen P. Slater (New Reality) There is actually a reality behind the normal reality that we see and when you have Extra Sensory Perception which we all do have we can see into the astral plane. We can see things that we might not otherwise see.

How cool is that? Helen was at a very low point in her life so she looked to God for help.

Helen P. Slater – I got rich with chronic fatigue syndrome and had to move out of my house, had to use my savings to live off. I couldn’t work and then I met my guides.

She was not only helped but she was told that she had the ability to help others.

Helen P. Slater – They said to me you will go on a long journey because then you will know each step in the healing journey and you will. Be able to help other people quickly. And they said you have special gifts. You can heal peoples worries and anxieties from the root causes and I said I’d like to go on the journey. And so then they took me up in a meditation into a high white space and said that I could ask questions of the creator and they called God the creator because it’s a very different, very loving, very caring energy in this high white light space. And so that is the start of the journey and then my guide Madeline said please write it all down and then other people can benefit from this journey to heal Kharma and trauma.

And if you’re saying to yourself, hold on a second Sam, you said she was sick with Chronic fatigue what is all this about Karma and Trauma…I’m glad you asked… and we will get to that in a minute but first let Helen explain what what is was like to be taken by her guides on a healing journey into the astral plane.

Helen P. Slater – Now these beings are on this platform in our universe. They were surrounded by stars up in the universe it was very eerie and very stressful because I thought, I know something’s happened something very dangerous and these people are telling me to heal it basically and so I followed and followed and went to this star where there was a psychotic warrior and a beautiful being having a battle.

It was very eerie and very psychotic energy with this psychotic warrior and I was told that to heal insanity was one of things that I was asked to do because I developed mental health problems as well as suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome. I had bi-polar. I was told that this star was where it had begun for my family and that the insanity and come from the ancestral line as well as coming from the should line and that it needed healing so with my guides we brought in water as the antidote psychosis and we brought in belief work because the psychotic warrior when he was very young was very damaged and hadn’t connected to it’s mother, his mother and so he had megalomania. He was attached to all creation and he thought he was God and on this planet, this beautiful being came and he was older and said no, look you know, I am a spiritual being and I’m going to teach you spiritual meditations and about God and the psychotic warrior who killed him.

I was absolutely devastated when I saw this.

So this battle has gone down through the generations in my family and with my guides who were able to heal it with water, with white light with unconditional love and with affirmations as well.

Have we overwhelmed you yet? This was just one of many healing journeys that she took. Her guides not only healed her but they taught her how to heal others and this work transformed her life.

Helen P. Slater – The whole process is about being able to heal others both with reading the books because people might get their guides by reading the books and go on a healing journey similar to mine or they may wish to call me up and have a healing and either way is really fine.

Now just to be clear Helen is not a medical doctor or a holistic physician. She is an intuitive healer, a gifted psychic and channel. She’s also a writer and a singer who once looked to the sky for help and got more than she could possibly imagine; especially when she was told to write about sexual healing.

Helen P. Slater – Well I felt a bit awkward I thought, you know, but Jeremiah said to me please write it because there will be other women who’ve had trauma in their childhoods who want to know that a beautiful intercourse is possible and sexual healing and it was very healing for me to write about it.

Her book is about more than her healing journey. It’s about the possibility of soul healing for all of us, it’s about knowing divine love and laying down the burdens of this life and all other lives and knowing a new state of being. Helen says one of the best journeys she took was in writing the book.

Helen P. Slater – Yes, very much. I was up at three in the morning sometimes typing away. It was just the most thrilling exciting journey and I felt like a sort of sleuth a sort of detective as I reeled back the years and went back and back and back and I found a doppelgaenger who was very wounded and he was influencing my life the reason I was in bad situations in my life and never felt comfortable at home it wasn’t necessary my parents but was the doppelgaenger. I mean it was incredible to find that and to heal him. I feel in my life now so much lighter, so much more energy, my mental health is much much better, my energy is much better and it was a privilege to go on this journey, an absolute wonderment it really was.

Do I need to explain doppelgaenger to you? It’s someone who looks just like you but is biologically unrelated to you. Anyway, If you have been traumatized in your life or you’re looking for some answers to the things you can’t explain, maybe this book will help you find some answers or at least some comfort in knowing that this kind of healing is possible.

Helen P. Slater – I would lie anyone who has experienced trauma in this life, women especially but also men and I think that for women a lot of the information in the book is quite hard to read because I had a lot of male past lives so healing the masculine was part of the book which is why I think it’s very useful for men as well because of course it’s been men in control throughout history really until now so to heal evil in the male side or viciousness and we can do that with Octorous healing so the book is for everyone but especially for a woman that has been traumatized in her life.

And if you want to delve deeper into Octorous or another kind of healing I would suggest starting at The story of my soul.com. There you can read an excerpt from any of her books, there are three of them, and if you like you can send her an e-mail for more information. As you heard earlier she’s open to chat with you about any of this.

There are links to Amazon and Barnes and Noble in the show’s description and that will do it for this edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com.

Helen was recently a guest on the Talking books show with JT Crowley. To watch the video on Youtube click here. For the Talking books audio podcast visit the Talking Books homepage at Webtalkradio.com

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Welcome to this edition of Newsgram!

I hope you are in the mood for romance because today we are going to explore forbidden Love and how overcoming some of our cultural taboos surrounding it can inspire Hope and even lead to World Peace.

Love is very powerful. Are you familiar with William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” you probably are. Its one of the most famous tragic love story of all time but I’ll do a quick summary — The setting — Verona, Italy. Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet meet at a party and its love at first site. However, their families were sworn enemies. Despite all that they decide to get married in secret. Lots of things happen and Romeo ends up killing Juliet’s cousin in a fit of rage, rather than being tried and jailed for his offense he is simply banished from Verona. A different time I suppose. Juliet, desperate to be with her beloved Romeo, takes a potion that was supposed to simulate her death.

Romeo, unaware of the plan, hears news of her death and returns to Verona. Seeing her lying there he takes his own life right beside her. Of course she wasn’t dead and upon waking she finds Romeo dead and subsequently takes her own life.

The reason I’m telling all this is to emphasize the high cost of hatred and division. You see it in West Side Story and many other famously tragic plays and movies but the bottom line is, if the elements of hatred and shame were missing, there would be no story. For the sake of entertainment value that would be a bummer but for the sake of peace it’s another matter entirely.

So, if you are the kind of person who understands that love can happen across cultures, or within different religions and that the penalty for crossing these boundaries should not lead to death, but in fact they might even lead to peace on an epic scale…then you are in the right place.

Entering stage left is David Evans….

David Evans – It all happened suddenly in 1993. I read an article in the Guardian of an Indian man who hanged his son in public because he married, a forbidden marriage bringing shame to the village; bringing shame to the families.

That’s David Evans, author of the book Present Day Romance Tragedy: Romeo and Juliet Style and 1993 was a pivotal time, which we’ll get into in a second.

David Evans – And the keyword really is shame brought by the children on their parents and the society and it leads to an impossible situation for the parents.

As we’ll see, nothing is impossible but that article led him down the road of discovering all kinds of public deaths in the name of forbidden love. Right or wrong, in some cultures death was an acceptable form of punishment for anyone breaking this law. You murder someone in America and depending on the state, you could be put to death. Same thing for marrying the wrong person if you are a member of certain cultures.

David Evans – I have a friend in Delhi who is interested in the same topic and sent me newspaper clippings about similar circumstances and this formed the basis of material that I could start a PHD thesis along the line of Romance Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet Style. That brought me in contact with all the wonderful literature of different cultures about stories of Romeo and Juliet Style which are in every culture.

And, as you might expect he compiled all the stories he found into a book making it extremely convenient for us to read and learn. The book is about a romance tragedy, about lovers who would die for each other rather than be separated. The is particular focus on India but there are plenty of fascinating stories of social progress in relation to forbidden Love that have implications for us all. And not all the stories are tragic, well…most are but not this one.

David Evans – There’s only one actually non tragic story that I really love and that is of Tutanekai and Hinemoa from New Zealand and Hinemoa swam at night across to the island where her lover lived and they got together and the next morning they didn’t know if there would be intertribal warfare or not but the chief and father gave in and they celebrated and lived happily ever after.

It’s a beautiful story, Tutanekai and Hinemoa met and fell in love. Tutanekai, a young warrior had to return to his village but while separated the lovers agreed that every night, Tutanekai would play his music and Hinemoa would let his song be her guide as she swims the three-thousand mile trek to Mokoia (Moe-Ko-E-uh) Island. No big deal if your Diana Nyad…

David Evans – But their wonderful stories of different cultures and they are all exciting to read.

Absolutely but I want to close the loop on a couple of points that we Brought up earlier and one is the year 1993 regarding the situation in India.

David Evans – 1993 was pivotal because these stories came to all India attention and they came to global attention. And that led to a social response now before 1993 these happenings in villages would be reported locally and ignored generally and nothing would change the system but when it came to public opinion this led to the authorities having to do something. In fact the high court eventually favored the death penalty for perpetrators of the killing of lovers. So, it’s a very action packed story, ongoing.

The suffering in these tragic stories is felt by people on all sides of the conflict and it ultimately goes even deeper to the fight for the right to make our own choices.

He says the slow gradual change from violence to non-violence’ to acceptance, to eventually celebration is a generational change that is not only welcome but that can inspire hope and he also says it’s important to examine how these stories can help bring about peace.

David Evans – the second part of the book is about the implications for, globally for pathways of peace, with so much strife in the world at the moment it tells you about some of the key mediators, people who win Nobel prizes for their peace work. You can read about Nobel Prize laureates . You can read about leaders of Peace thinking, you can read about various religious stances on peace and it’s all about our pathway to peace and I think if there’s a key message it’s education for peace which would start with children.

His book is called Present Day Romance Tragedy: Romeo and Juliet Style, and despite the somber theme, it’s going to leave you with a message of hope for a new generation. It suggests that even through tragedy, there is potential for peace, for positive change and for a better future for all of us.

David Evans – These stories are worth reading. They can be read virtually by everybody, young and old. And the conclusions are, everybody has a job to do in working for Peace, working up ways to solve conflicts and to work for Peace on a day-to-day basis.

We all have a job to do indeed. David is doing his part by bringing these issues to our attention through books and by lecturing at Peace conferences.

David Evans – It’s a lovely chance to talk all about this and talk about the lessons from the local situation that can be learned globally and be pointers to how peace can be achieved.

And you can’t talk about Peace without bringing up Ghandi and his three Pillars, Truth, Non-violence and Harmony. He talks about all of these in the book but I found a great quote on the website NobelPrize.org from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr and I wanted to share it with you. He said, “Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon. Indeed, it is a weapon unique in history, which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it.”

Peace and Love to all of you and thank you for listening. Present Day Romance Tragedy: Romeo and Juliet Style by David Evans,is available now at all the places you like to shop for books. There are links in the show notes to make that job easier for you andthat will do it for this edition of Newsgram from webtalkraido.com.

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Welcome to this edition of Newsgram!

Today we journey together into a fascinating presentation of resilience, creativity, and artistic magic. At 80 years old, Gennie de Lange, is still a powerhouse of creativity. She is also a self-proclaimed dyslexic ceramic artist who likes to turn challenges into pure artistic gold.

Gennie grew up during World War II, in her grandparents’ house, the one with the magical forested garden. One of the things that really stuck with her from those early days was a trip to the ballet to catch “Peter and the Wolf” – it was a moment that reinforced the adorable childhood belief that toys and animals get the whole world.

I wanted to share that little bit of back story with you because it lays the foundation for her newest work.

Gennie de Lange – This is a new gentle way of looking at how human beings caught in the conflict of war cope; with resilience, laughter and camaraderie and amazing strength.

She’s written a new book called “We will Never Forget” and it features a lovable little velvet stuffed mouse — I think you know the one.

Gennie de Lange – A beautiful little toy which is made of velvet. It’s not like a modern Mickey Mouse. It’s very soft. It’s held together with wire and doesn’t have a very startled expression. He just has a knowing innocent expression that a child would be used to.

This particular toy belonged to her father, so it’s very old and quite a bit different than the version we are used to today but it’s definitely him observing the world in his own unique way.

Her father loved that toy. She says he brought it with him everywhere — which is kind of how this whole thing got started.

Have you ever seen social posts on Instagram or Facebook that have a small toy acting as the observer? My daughter uses a small Llama that she keeps in her purse. Instead of taking a selfie in front of something like say, the Eiffel Tower, she would place the llama there. Oh she would get her face into plenty of photos but these fun llama photos made it seem like he was quite the world traveler.

Gennie de Lange – For many years I’ve been sending out a lot of posts to friends and I’d always used this observer, which is actually MM and he belonged to my father-in-law who came out of medical school in 1924. A third of his class died from infection. No antibiotics. But MM has always been — he’s the observer he appears on every page beside every picture. He has observed war in reality because my father-in-law who was a doctor ran a prisoner of war hospital for Italians outside Cairo.

So she juxtaposes the observer with artwork that she’s created symbolizing some aspect of war. War is something none of us wants but all of us have been touched by it in some way or another. “We Will Never Forget” is a gentle reminder of those times.

As an artist Gennie sees the world with a unique artistic vision and she understands the power of contrast. She decided that because it was so unusual to use two very different art forms to illustrate a subject that it would make an interesting creation. She was right.

There have been lots of things written and created about the heroism and suffering caused by war. Whether it be movies, novels, paintings or poetry — You are probably thinking of something right now — but she says the effect on humanity is less often discussed.

Gennie de Lange – It doesn’t sink in or it’s too horrible so we look away and I think there are a lot of people who still want to be able to emphasize or feel these emotions so the poems and illustrations are like listening to tiny tunes or lyrics. They’re not Haiku but they are short like Haiku and they just give people a taste of what it is like to walk in the shoes of somebody who is in the predicament of war. And then they can go back into their own traumatic lives. Poets and painters and everybody likes to just feel the heart of those people just for a little while.

I should clarify something here. The photos are not at all gruesome in fact they are just the opposite. They are all reflective and original. She uses her ceramic paintings as the backdrop for most of them. For example one of them is the observer looking at a backdrop of blue and yellow colors separated by a jagged red line to symbolize the war in Ukraine and the bloodshed and loss of life felt by the people there.

Gennie de Lange – After a while that heals and you only remember the good times but it is very painful at the time so I think that life is extremely complex and it isn’t one thing all the time but I think if you are in the Ukraine and living there if you still dance and you still fall in love and you still, if you’re an old lady think what can I do and so you put a grenade or medical supplies in a basket, get on your bicycle and take it to the front line.

He may be placed near a flower to show loss or a kerosene lamp to light the way or just a watercolor style painting of a bicyclist with a cello on his back riding off to play where the birds sing and sounds of war are at a distance.

Gennie de Lange – I think that the thing that surprised me the most were the responses that I got from people who after a little while couldn’t wait for what I was going to send out next Saturday and were amazed at how there were more and more things that I thought of that they themselves would have thought of quite easily and they spoke such lovely things, “I just can’t wait to hear what MM has said and then they would be terribly sad and hurt by what they were reading but they could recover and go on through the day.

It makes us feel. Why are we drawn toward war, horror movies, or even true crime podcasts? Somewhere in there lies a complex interplay of psychological, emotional, and cultural factors — which may be a bit too deep for this edition of Newsgram but at the essence of Gennie’s work is our mind’s ability to navigate and make sense of these intense experiences in a controlled environment and then walk away unharmed with just our feelings to guide us.

Gennie de Lange – And how people even when there’s only rubble and their house is completely smashed they still know that the spring will come and flowers will grow again. It’s not about the horrors, it’s about how people have hope and how they know they will dance and laugh but it will be under a dark moon.

Our lives, the things we are exposed to, shape who and what we are. Our experiences motivate us. Gennie reflects on her life growing during World War II with her father, the doctor who was also a real-life war hero and the stories he shared of camaraderie, daredevil escapades, laughter, determination, and sacrifice.

Gennie de Lange – I was alive in the last world war and my father who was a squad leader in New Zealand only dive bomber squadron used to come home on leave and he would come home in high spirits and I thin really bored up with adrenaline from the fear and the excitement and the thrilling times that he had had with his friends. There was immense camaraderie and at the same time terrible fear that he wouldn’t return from the next flight and I think he always carried with him this feeling that he was here on borrowed time, that he was beyond lucky to have survived.

That sense of borrowed time was probably driven by the fact that half of his squadron didn’t make it back. All these things make up the work of Gennie de Lange. Including the idea that life is a gamble, If you know anything about ceramics you understand that. Every time she throws one of her creations into the kiln, it’s a risk.

Gennie de Lange – Gennie talks about painting with Grey and watching them emerge from the kiln in bright brilliant colors.

Can you feel her passion? It’s no wonder her exhibitions sell out and now she’s using her ceramic paintings and her life experience as a backdrop for “The Observer” – a vintage, worn velvet toy witnessing the devastation of war.

Gennie de Lange – I think it applies to anybody who just wants to have a little glance at the heart and how you can walk in the shoes of people in difficulties. It also appeals to teenagers because I think teenagers are fascinated to hear what life is like in wartime and I think we just have a slightly different slant on how life is compared with how life is today and teenagers like to hear that.

It’s not just teenagers I’m on the end of the baby Boomers era and for me — my experience is quite different. I grew up with a war that nobody wanted to talk about and it hasn’t changed. When it comes to war, the world can be a very dark and ugly place from Vietnam to September 11th modern wartime is very dark but no matter what age you are we can all agree with one thing, “We Will Never Forget” and Gennie has helped to solidify that testament in her book.

Gennie de Lange – We must never give up. We must hang on to the truth, our own truth and we must remember that Spring will come again and things will always get better.

So, are you ready for a journey through Gennie’s world, where each ceramic piece accompanied by a child’s toy fuels a poem that tells a story of resilience, risk, and the timeless power of art and war?

The book “We Will Never Forget” is available now at all the places where you like to shop for books. We’ve put a link to Amazon and Barnes and Noble in the show’s description for you. If you Google it be sure and spell Gennie with G and enjoy!

Thank you for your time and patience with this emotional episode of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com.

Gennie de Lange was recently profiled on the Books on Air podcast. Take a listen.

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Today we are going to focus on finding inspiration in a person, situation, or an event that can influence your life for the better. MaryEllen Perlini is our guest and she has written a fun little book to inspire all of us to find healthy options to feel confident, enthusiastic, and put a spring in your step to be the best version of yourself.

Welcome to this edition of Newsgram!

What do you say we inject some fun and positivity into your life today? Issues like addiction and sickness are pretty heavy and they do need to be dealt with so we’re going to do that but not in the way you might be thinking. I found a ray of sunshine and she is going to turn that frown of yours upside down. Are you ready? Because once I introduce her to you your life will be changed forever. Here we go…

MaryEllen Perlini was stuck and she needed something to help her get unstuck. Now stuck is a nice word for addiction, or let’s call it a bad habit because addiction is a bit harsh for compulsive shopping — more on that in a minute but the key to breaking any habit is to first realize that it’s got you. You are stuck and then, just like that, a way out usually presents itself.

MaryEllen: – So what gets us out of the rut? What will be that snap, that thing you know that inspiration so to speak that can break us out of it? Well for me it was this non assuming, really loud guy. This parking lot attendant.

Yep, it was seeing a guy doing a job he loved with confidence. Taking pride in it and being the best damn parking lot attendant he could be.

MaryEllen: – I said “Look at that guy….Look at that guy” and that was the snap that was the thing that snapped me out of it. I looked at him. He was busy. He was focused. He was confident. I said, those are all things I was lacking.

And it wasn’t like she’d never seen him before. It was just that she knew she was stuck in a rut and her mind was open to ideas. The way this guy did his job was the catalyst for change she needed to break out of her dilemma. It was also the inspiration for her children’s book “Maryellen is Stuck”.

MaryEllen: – And this parking lot attendant let me tell you. This is a true story. He does exist. He lives in my community. He has been the bane of my existence for the past thirty years. He walks around that parking lot. He’;s win charge. He wears that bright special vest that you see me reaching for on the cover. He carries that brown thick clipboard with the big metal clip. He’s up and down that parking lot. He’s got literally a spring in his step. He’s like a rock star! He’s happy, he’s confident he knows his job and I said look at that guy, look at that guy! That is the thing that snapped me out of it.

And I have to tell you the illustrations are fantastic. You see Maryellen on the cover with her pink top and jeans hanging from a clipboard and reaching for that bright, shiny vest. So what’s it about? Mary

MaryEllen was a compulsive shopper and the more she shops the less money she has. This downward spiral causes her to lose confidence in her life. This habit has taken away her enthusiasm and the interest in having things is just not exciting anymore. She was stuck.

Maryellen is Stuck – Being an extroverted person and being totally shut down emotionally, socially, physically win every way, spiritually, morally, financially in every way, I mean like we all were. It was brutal, brutal, brutal so often as a social worker I tell my little clients I say write what you’re upset about or draw me a picture or something. O.k. that’s done now we rip it up and it’s over all that negativity put in the trash. Well I would write and rip, write and rip and during the pandemic I was writing my frustrations and I just decided I’m going to share this with a friend and she started to laugh and I shared it with someone else she was laughing, she was laughing, what a cute little book!

And so that’s how the combination of a global pandemic, a compulsive shopping habit and shiny happy parking lot attendant gave birth to “MaryEllen is Stuck” a kids book based on a true story.

Was it Dumbo’s magic feather that gave him the ability to fly? Of course not but it gave him confidence. Was it a clipboard and shiny vest that gave that parking lot attendant the confidence he needed to do his job? Who knows but it worked for Maryellen.

Maryellen is Stuck – I said I have a vest like that, because my mother was a crossing guard so I kept the vest and I have a brown clipboard, we all do in some dark box cabinet, somewhere…drawer.

She put on that vest, grabbed that clipboard and strutted her stuff.

Maryellen is Stuck – That’s what happened. I said listen, look at me, look at my vest. I told anybody that was going to listen about my bright special vest and my clipboard. Look at this thing. I went to work…when we could go back after the pandemic. So it was the whole thing of spreading confidence and enthusiasm because of this one, non assuming regular guy going about his life.

We all want to be the best versions of ourselves but sometimes that’s easier said than done. Hopefully MaryEllen’s story will help you find a way to set aside the difficulties in your life and look on the bright side — and if you’re stuck in an unhealthy habit to find the inspiration to get unstuck.

MaryEllen: – We need to look up. We need to look in life and just see that there’s these things and people and things always happening all around us and maybe we can learn from them, learn how to be, learn how not to be but definitely take inspiration and find healthy options that allow us to feel that confidence that enthusiasm that we can spread that positivity to other people, to be the best version of ourselves, put that little spring back in our step. To be us. The best us we can be. That’s what I’m hoping.

I told you she was a ray of sunshine.

MaryEllen– This one here, it just sums it up twenty six. Page 26. She’s goes to work the next day with such a spring in her step and shows everyone who’s interested her bright special vest and thick brown clipboard; and then it continues how I go on and you’ll see in the next page I’ll tell my priest, I’ll tell anybody you know I’ll tell somebody selling pajamas. I’ll tell somebody on the beach. It just spreads and spreads and spreads and that’s what happened. You know what we were saying about how negativity spreads but positivity can spread too and that’s what we need more of. That’s exactly what we need.

There is enough negativity in the world and it’s clear that we can’t eradicate the covid virus so we just have to live with it but in the meantime we can try and spread a little positivity because like she says… it’s also contagious.

Maryellen – If you’re listening and you want to get this book I really hope it does for you what that parking lot attendant did for me.

The book, MaryEllen is Stuck is available online right now at all the places where you like to shop for books. She mentioned Xlibris but there it’s at Amazon and Barnes and Noble and all the other places.

In conclusion I want to leave you whistling a happy tune so I’ll leave you with a quote from the great Eric Idle – from the Python film Life of Brian “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life”. And that will do it for this edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com

MaryEllen Perlini was recently profiled on the Books on Air with Suzanne Harris. Take a listen at Webtalkradio.com

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Inspired by a true character born in 1892 to the son of former slaves, Norvell Jamison grows up in the violent and racially impoverished south under the harsh Jim Crow laws after witnessing a young boy get brutally beaten to death by the Klan. Norvell is traumatized for life. Norvell grows up to be a quick tempered 6-foot 7 inch, 350lbs ultra-violent world wind of destruction whose blood thirsty path leads him to fighting in WWI.

Welcome to this edition of Newsgram!

Today you’re going to meet a man named David Goodman. David is a natural born storyteller. He is fascinated by history, he studies martial arts, and he is also a construction worker. He is a certified Crane Operator who also writes fiction novels.

Crane operation is a demanding job. It requires constant awareness under all kinds of different working conditions and as you can probably imagine falling asleep on the job can be very dangerous.

David Goodman – I had a buddy of mine, he fell asleep. He was on his crane and I guess they caught themself playing a joke on him and what they did was they got some string and a cardboard and put it across him. He was leaning against his crane asleep and so when he woke up he saw on that cardboard around his neck, ‘You Fired!”

You don’t want to fall asleep. But what do you do when you have a large block of downtime and your sleep deprived. David put his talents to work during the downtime telling stories.

David Goodman – A Buddy of mine named Colton Carl said, what are you are writing and I said here, read this. So he read it and gave it to Joseph Miles and he read it and said you need to go on and finish writing it. So those two guys inspired me to finish writing this book.

The book is called The Adventures of Norvell Jamison and I’m telling right now, Norvell is not a good guy. He’s an anti-hero because despite his deeds I think you’re gonna like him. He’s a real life example of what can happen when you push a person too far.

David Goodman – Norvell—he was born the son and daughter of sharecroppers. Norvell always stood out from the other kids because he was always getting into trouble and he had a really bad temper. But the thing that really put him over the edge was when he saw his best friend get killed. That traumatized him. At the time Norvell was eight years old so when he saw his best friend get killed that pushed him over the edge and he became a whole totally different person from that day forth. Over time his temper grew as much as his size.

Yep Norvell saw his best friend beaten to death by Klansmen. That left a mark on a boy that grew up to be a very big, bad dude. Something else I found interesting about him was, he was based on a real guy.

David Goodman (Big Guy) The guy that I based my book on , he was a big old guy. He was 6’7” ‘bout 300 pounds. This guy was a hell on wheels man. He was hell on wheels.

So Norvell is a fictional character based on a real guy and he was a bit of a bad seed from the very beginning but seeing his best friend get killed — that flipped a switch that unleashed a monster.

David Goodman (Bad Guy) He was a bad guy. He terrorized the whole community. The only thing that saved the community was he went off to war. When he went off to war everybody started celebrating.

A reading (Norvell Goes to War)

“The year was 1917, and the world was at war. Every country around the world was involved in the global conflict. The United States was a latecomer to the fray, but it would have a major impact on the outcome of the war. The American doughboys, as they were called, came from all over the country to make the world safe for democracy. One particular person-Norvell Jamison-

had his own reason for going to war. Norvell had an appetite for violence and a lust for blood.

Abraham, Norvell’s father, asked him, “Skippy, you sure this is what you wanna do? I need you here, helping me tend the farm. Plus, you’re my only son.”

“Daddy, I got to do this for our country. I’m a man now. I’ll be back. I can handle myself. Besides, Mama said that if I don’t leave, I’m going to end up dead or in prison ’cause of my temper. Maybe the army will give me some discipline.”

“Good luck, son. I know you’ re not a big religious person, but try to keep the Lord close to your heart.”

Norvell’s mother, Anna, and two of his sisters came out. Anna said, “Mama loves you, baby. Come back to us, and don’t get in any trouble-“

Abraham cut her off mid-sentence. “Anna, leave the boy be. He’s a full- grown man. He can handle himself.”

David Goodman – World war One. World war One. changed everything. I’ve always been fascinated with history and this is right after the civil war and you know, all the slaves have been freed. You had the Jim Crow laws and everything that’s gong on that the African American people had to endure and so Norvell gets traumatized with all this and stuff and the war is really what saved Norvell’s life cause, just like, he had done so much dirt and terrorized everybody and his mom and everybody was afraid that if he don’t leave something’s going to end up happening to him. So that’s why I picked WW1 and that date.

After the war, Norvell travels the world seeking adventure. He winds up in the Belgian Congo.

David Goodman …but now it’s called Zaire.

Right, back then it was the Belgian Congo and it’s there that he encounters the natives who take Norvell on a bloody path of destruction that sadly I can’t tell you all about because that would ruin everything…

David Goodman – Well one of the main messages that I’m trying get a lot of people to understand is you can see what can happen to a child when they get traumatized. When you traumatize a child you mess with their mind and there’s no telling what kind of effect it will have on them and us as parents supposed to protect our kids from those things.

There is plenty of compelling evidence to indicate that childhood trauma can reshape a developing brain. It can have a profound impact on the neurological development of children. One of many reasons why it’s important to look out for kids, especially those in difficult communities or dealing with trying circumstances. But, since Norvell is a work of fiction, I would like to see him released in a band of Nazi’s. Who knows, maybe he will be. David has plans to write six different Norvell adventures.

David Goodman – The book that I have now that’s under construction is Norvell Jameson Volume two the Ordinance of the Monster. It’s basically going to say what happened to him from the time he was born right before he went off to war. it’s going to chronicle his life in between there and if you thought this first book was exciting wait till you pour this one. It’s up under construction right now even as we speak.

So in the first two books we get to know Norvell and understand him and then we’ll see where life takes him. The good news is Norvell is out there and you can decide, is he just a bad guy or a bad guy with some redeeming qualities? Check out the first installment, The Adventures of NorvellJamison it’s available right now at Amazon, Barnes and Noble and all the places you like to go for books. We put links in the show’s description for you. And that will do it for this edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com.

David Goodman was recently interviewed on the books on air podcast with Suzanne Harris. Take a Listen.

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Today we examine the book “My Father, the Captain”. Author Jean Ferdinand Tannis takes a look back at the life of her father Alfred and his brother Isaac with pride. Known as “the captain” throughout the Caribbean and South and Central America, the way Alfred and his brother lived remains a source of inspiration for the entire Tannis family.

Welcome to this edition of Newsgram!

Today we’re going to open the book “My Father, the Captain” by Jean Ferdinand Tannis. The story takes place on the tiny island of Bequia (Beck-way) – it’s about seven square miles and it’s located in the Caribbean just north of Venezuela near the Island of Saint Vincent in the Eastern Caribbean. The nation is made up of several small islands that are known as the Grenadines. Bequia (Back-Way) is the second largest of the islands and it is from Bequia Island that the Tannis family originated.

Jean originally wrote this book to help trace the roots of the Tannis family, to leave an accurate and true history but it became quite a bit more. She takes a look back at the fascinating life of her father Alfred, and as his younger brother, Isaac. Two men you probably haven’t heard of before this, even though they made significant contributions to history.

Jean Ferdinand Tannis – I’ve been quite dissatisfied that they have not been honored and I think they should have posthumous awards because what they have done has been overlooked and should not have been and this is the reason I wrote this book with such passion.

And there is plenty of passion in the telling of this story. Her dissatisfaction with the lack of family history was a strong motivator but this is a tale of universal appeal and I need to say, telling the story of important people overlooked in history is not only a matter of justice but it’s a way of enriching our understanding of the past; of fostering inclusivity, and it should serve as an inspiration to present and future generations.

So Jean in her book Jean tells the story of the visionary Shipbuilder, Alfred George Tannis who not only built a fortune from some very humble beginnings but he contributed greatly to the success of the Eastern Caribbean during and after World War II.

Jean Ferdinand Tannis – You know looking back, it’s very exciting because he was a determined man. He built the ship himself. As a child I would go dowe to the shipyard and see everything, how they built the ship, carving the hull of the ship, everything. As a little girl I went down there, played with the ship, played with the tools and saw how the ship was built and how it wet right up to the top. He was a very, very, brave man and courageous man but in spite of all that he made he remained a humble man.

That is Jean Ferdinand Tannis and she’s talking about his first ship, the “Amanda T” Don’t you just love those visuals. I was imagining playing pirates on the beach, fighting over buried treasure and sailing to other exotic lands. I suspect my friends and I would also get into a bit more trouble than our father would have liked. Well…pardon me for digressing a bit there. This was a time in history when there weren’t a lot of choices when it came to transportation.

Jean Ferdinand Tannis – To get from one island to the other they had to have a deep vision to see that’s the only means of transport and between both brothers they develop an accomplishment.

Yes, and it was a huge accomplishment. They eventually had several ships and we’re not talking about row boats. These were tall multi-masted Schooners doing important work during WWII….more on that in a minute.

Speaking of visuals, let me share one of my favorites from the book as the Amanda-T was finally ready to set sail.

“On this amazing day, all the males of the Tannis clan came out, along with many of the males from the island, and gathered at the ship site. At the same time, the women were cooking, baking, and singing about the upcoming launch. It was a festive period. Then a man or two climbed onto the ship with a bottle of wine, strapped it to the bow of the ship, and prayed, asking God’s blessing for a safe launch and continued safety for the voyages of the ship and its crew. Then they broke the bottle of wine and pronounced, “I name this ship the Amanda T. God bless all who sail in you.”

Then men and women went on opposite sides of the ship, approximately twelve on each side, with axes. They cut down the wooden pillars that had held up the ship as it was being built. Some took hold of long pieces of lumber and others held pieces of rope that were professionally strapped to the ship for the purpose of launching.

As a Shanti woman began to sing in a loud melodious voice, “Today we Are going to launch this ship,” the men and women on the ropes strapped to the ship responded by pulling and singing, “Go are we go.”

The keel of the ship, which was sitting on wooden rollers made from the trunks of large trees, began to slide towards the sea. They did this for hours or sometimes days. There was so much excitement experienced during these festive moments in time, and my father supervised each launching process, making sure the keels of the ships did not slip off the rollers and land in the sand.”

Jean Ferdinand Tannis – These ships did all the trade in the islands, around the islands. The story goes into my father who was an ordinary man with a very big vision and later on in life this turned out that he was able to help during the World War to do a great job.

Yes, the Carpe-Diem moment in our tale was when Queen Elizabeth wanted all British ships used in the war to have steel hulls which created an opportunity for her father, not being in the war, he could use his ship to transport oil.

Jean Ferdinand Tannis – While the other steel hull ships had gone to be at war it left a void and the oil from the island of Trinidad where they extracted the crude oil. There was nowhere and no ship to transport it to Guyana, British Guyana where they did the distilling of the oil and my father saw the opportunity and he used his ship and introduced it to the people who accepted it and so did many others of the other ship builders but since my father more or less started it he was the one that more or less got the recognition mainly.

Hopefully you were able to get all that. Our connection wasn’t that good. As human beings we set our own limits and when travel by sea is the only means of transportation you either rise to the occasion or live content in your surroundings. Alfred and Isaac were not only driven to travel by sea, they were driven to make a difference in the world; to live for something; to have a purpose. To seize the moment when opportunity comes knocking. A very brave thing to do at the time.

Jean Ferdinand Tannis – The sea is a dangerous place. It is a friendly place. If you ever get the opportunity to go to the islands, the Grenadines, do go there because it’s a place where everybody goes yachting; but the sea is a friendly place and it’s a dangerous place. Depends on how you treat it. If you respect it or you just take it for granted we will earn to respect the land and the sea.

Perhaps one day I will sail my yacht in the Grenadines, you never know.

If you enjoy ordinary people doing extraordinary things then you will definitely enjoy this one. It has elements of man vs man and man vs. nature and it is not just historical but it’s also suspenseful. Imagine you’re at sea during a storm. You need to take shelter and you also realize that there are 600 barrels of crude oil in the hull of your ship, and a raging fire in the galley.

Jean Ferdinand Tannis – Read the rest of the story and you would know why I finish my book by saying, disappointment is inevitable but discouragement is a choice. No matter how disappointed you get, never get discouraged because we have a God. In disappointment, in any situation you are, you must hold on to the hand of God like my father held on to the wheel of that ship that day.

If there was ever a time to look to the heavens it had to be that one. The book is called My Father, the Captain by Jean Ferdinand Tannis. The story of two brothers from poor and humble backgrounds who, with vision and determination, became wealthy men – but never forgot their roots. It is available now wherever you like to shop for books online. We’ve put a link to Amazon and Barnes and Noble in the show’s description for you. And that will do it for this edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com.

Jean was recently featured on the Book on Air podcast with Suzanne Harris. Take a listen to her interview to learn more about her family and her book.

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Libby Mcgugan is a former healer who experienced things she couldn’t
explain. People were healing from terminal illnesses against the odds.
Healing from things that medicine can’t cure. So she took an inspiring
and what she calls an unexpected journey to help people find out why
and it led to the discovery of a deeper connection to our true nature.
Her wisdom is shared in “The Power of the Lemon” and it’s designed to
reconnect you with your true self.

Welcome to this edition of Newsgram!

Our body is an amazing thing. It is constantly in a state of repair,
trying to fix what we’ve done to it or ward off bacteria and other
things that are trying to make us sick. Every now and then it stumbles
for various reasons, so we go to the doctor for help and there’s
nothing wrong with that. It’s what we’ve been conditioned to do but
today I’m going to introduce you to Libby McGugan who says hold on a
minute. There’s more to think about here.

Libby McGugan – Thoughts are bundles of mental energy and when you
get down to the root of everything in our world it’s all energy
exchanging information with itself so the body and the mind are no
different. The cells of the body and the system of the body is
immeasurably intelligent. It has its own natural intelligence. It just
knows what to do. It knows how to beat our hearts, glue our hair, heal
our cuts and we don’t have to think about that. The you consider the
magnificence of our human system, its got like what thirty-seven
trillion cells in each of us You can’t imagine trying to coordinate
that number of interactions for not just one deadline but for
trillions of deadlines every day, for a lifetime it’s just mind
blowing to consider what’s going on and recognizing that there is an
intelligence that coordinates things that is bigger than our mind so
there’s something else in there that we often overlook.

And if you said “Duh, it’s God” I would not argue with you but that is
not where we are going today. Those kinds of interpretations are
unique and individual and on today’s program we are just asking you
to…

Libby McGugan – Look beyond the walls of intellect of what you think
you know to the infinite space of wisdom to what you don’t know yet.
Through her gentle guidance your best life unfolds and you realize the
whole universe is on your side.

That is Libby McGugan with some pretty profound wisdom from her book
“The Power of the Lemon” and I’d like to read you the forward from her
book because it does a great job of expelling what we’re talking about
here, which is the power of our thoughts.

Quote from the Power of the Lemon — Imagine you’re in your kitchen. On
a wooden chopping board in front of you is a large, plump yellow
lemon. Take a knife and cut it carefully into quarters, see the juice
spill out onto the wood, breathe in its sharp citrusy scent. Lift one
of the lemon segments to your mouth, feel the fleshy capsules bursting
with liquid as it touches your lips. Now, take a bite. What happens?

If you’re like most people, your cheeks pucker, your saliva glands
cave in and your mouth waters like a running tap. You might shiver or
wince. Your body has an immediate, visceral and very real response to
… what? A lemon?

No. To a thought about a lemon.

The power of the lemon is that it shows us the power of thought. This
is the doorway to our inner power.

The lemon is one of our greatest teachers. Not only does it illustrate
in real, physical terms that we are experiencing our thoughts, it also
points us to the power of our creativity in shaping our reality. There
is no lemon. Simply the act of focusing on a thought about a lemon,
shapes our experience in that moment and our body responds
immediately, as if the lemon was real.

Do you see the power of thought?

Libby McGugan – Think of a sad memory and your body produces tears,
think of someone you are in love with and your heart rate goes up and
think of the placebo effect. If we are working from a mechanistic
standpoint giving someone a placebo should not affect them but it
does. Taking a placebo alters brain activity that we can see on
functional MRI scanning.

That was a clip from her Ted Talk on youtube and it was truly
inspiring. I you want to see it just google Libby McGugan Ted Talk or
look at this shows description, I put in there for you. In that clip
she’s talking about the Placebo effect . It’s not supposed to work but
somehow it does because there is real power in believing and knowing
that anything is possible.

Libby McGugan – Throughout my career with twenty years as a Doctor and
ten years as an emergency room attendant I kept meeting people who
were improving against the odds with conditions that medicine can’t
cure so it got me really curious about, what are we missing? There’s
something that these people are doing that we haven’t worked out yet.

In her Tedx Talk she gives some very specific examples, like Colin…

Libby McGugan – Colin from Liverpool, who had an inoperable brain
tumor and was given just a few weeks left to live when he saw his
brain scans he began imagining his tumor shrinking. That was fifteen
years ago and he’s been clear since.

So rather than dismissing these occurrences as anomalies or one-offs,
she decided to leave her job in 2013 and spend all of her time
learning from these amazing people who were recovering from inoperable
brain tumors, end-stage cancer, brainstem strokes, locked-in syndrome
and those kinds of things, where the typical recovery rate is very low
and very slow if there is one at all.

Libby McGugan – It kick-started a journey for me that took me through,
from what I thought I understood about the body and who we are as
human beings and how it all works. It kind of broke that all open and
took me on a journey through philosophy, psychology, physics and
running around full circle into the power of the human spirit.

I should clarify something here before you have any misunderstandings.
Her book and this show is just designed to offer information of a
general nature to help you in your quest for emotional and spirit­ual
well-being. It may sound like it a bit but it’s not a medical show and
we don’t claim to have a cure for chronic conditions were’ just
presenting Libby’s experiences and the things she witnessed that could
not be explained and led her to document the findings you’ll see in
her book.

We’re not trying to dispense medical advice here or prescribe the use
of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or
medical problems. For those things we still recommend seeking the
advice of a physician but Newsgram is all about fascinating people
living their lives in interesting ways and sometimes we find someone
or something that goes way beyond interesting to mesmerizing and
that’s how I find the power of our thoughts.

Libby McGugan – Really around empowering people to connect with that
space within them where they will find their own wisdom and their own
empowerment. It’s helping people connect with their true nature which
is where that lies.

Her book is a gentle and powerful guide into learning who you really
are, and this is going to get a bit deep but what the heck, you’ve
stuck with me so far so listen to this.

Libby McGugan – I think the most important realization that I had and
that I think people have when they look in this direction is that our
experience is created from thought, you know the whole thing, so our
experience of life, how we feel about life and the meaning we get from
it is all thought so the power in that; really stepping back and
seeing the power in this and importantly recognizing that we are not
our thoughts we can kind of assume that the thoughts I have are just
who I am but actually that’s not the case. Who we are is the one
observing the thoughts. So it brings us back to this place of
stillness and peace within us which is really a place of observation
and a place from which we can decide and discern where we’re going to
place our focus and that’s a game changer.

Linger on that for a moment. How often do we obsess about a problem or
an illness and by doing so we give it more power than it deserves. For
me that illness is stress and when you give it power it doesn’t go
away instead your nervous system continues to react to it causing even
more physical problems. It’s an unending spiral and Libby’s
observations are a way out of that spiral.

Libby McGugan – There’s so much more to discover beyond our old
assumptions. Imagine the freedom of living your best life unencumbered
by doubt. How it happens is the adventure you are here to live.

There is so much more to life than that which we are aware of and we
can tap into all of it by just being positive, by focusing on love
instead of hate by allowing our thoughts to settle and feel the
experience of that inevitable shift in our state of being. That’s
where the power is. That is where peace lies and who doesn’t need some
peace. “The Power of the Lemon” by Libby McGugan is a collection of
musings and bite-sized bits of wisdom that I think you’ll enjoy.
Here’s one that I actually knew but it made me smile to read it.

Quote from the Power of the Lemon — Have you noticed that your best
ideas occur to you when you’re doing something else, like having a
shower or driving? Left to themselves, thoughts settle down and our
mind clears on its own, making space for new thoughts.

~ Keep a light touch. There’s no need to interfere.

Libby McGugan – There’s one line I think is probably one of the most
powerful things I’ve ever learned and here we go it says, attention is
your super power what you give your attention to comes to life. We
think we’re observing the world, we’re not, we’re creating it. Whether
we create the same things day in day out is up to us. When you realize
we are creating every moment we can use our super power for good.
Begin to shift your focus to what you would prefer to experience for
yourself and others and watch what happens.

This edition of Newsgram was written and produced on the Eve of
Christmas 2023 so I guess I’m just in the spirit to wish you peace and
a long and happy life. “The Power of the Lemon” is a perfect reminder
that our experience is created by our thoughts. So enjoy a good
comedy, listen to your favorite kind of music, think healthy thoughts
and be well.

It’s a guide to help point you to a deeper awareness of who you really
are, toward your own wisdom and the light which is eternal and within
you. It’s a reminder of just how supported and loved we all are. And
that will do it for this edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com.

Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/Power-Lemon-Libby-Mcgugan/dp/1982286725

Libby McGugan was recently featured on the Book on Air podcast with
Suzanne Harris.

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Relying on his experience as a therapist, podcaster, and creator of sex parties, Ali Bushell, author of “The Sex Party Handbook” is here to answer common questions about sex parties, groups, and orgies. Are you ready to reclaim your primal erotic desires? Are you just a little bit curious? Well, get ready for an informative, professional and spicy edition of Newsgram.

Welcome!

If you’ve ever planned an event and were the one in charge of all the things then you know how much work it can be. I’ve put off doing events for that very reason. On the other hand, how many events have you attended and thought wow, that could have been done some much better. Event planning is hard. There are lots of things to consider. Lots of moving parts and the best way to get good at it is, like anything else, trial and error or do your research. Today we are going to focus on a very specific kind of event and we’ve got an expert to guide us through it.

Now, if you read the synopsis for this program then you know where I’m going. Yes, dear listener, today we are going to host a sex party. This edition of Newsgram is for the mildly curious as well as the community that openly celebrates sexuality and those that want to move in that direction.

We are going to educate the curious and if you so desire, help you to create opportunities to…let’s say, meet some new friends. Ali Bushell is author of The Sex Party Handbook

Ali Bushell – Put it this way, when I was writing my book and indeed published it, Whenever I mentioned it to somebody, it doesn’t matter who they are, they are always curious. They always want to know more. I’ve never had a situation where someone has been totally offended and shut the conversation down. So I think there’s always interest even if it’s not necessarily…people might even say like…that’s not something that I would be into but that’s quite interesting to hear about so I think you have a kind of tacit acceptance of you know, whether or not you want to do it, well live and let live and let people do their own thing and people who do have sex parties are very careful to insure that they do not draw attention to them.

Curiosity is part of our nature and he’s right no-one is walking around handing out flyers so knowing how to navigate these waters is helpful. You may have seen the upside down pineapple on your neighbors door, the garden gnomes or the flamingoes in the lawn and many other rumoured signs that someone is looking to spice up their relationship but I digress. Ali Bushell is not an author; he is also a therapist, a podcaster, and the guest and creator of many sex parties.

Ali Bushell – I lived in Sweden for eighteen months and there was a party that was happening quite regularly and I went to that. The guy who ran it was really, really nice and his rules were really good. Some of my rules for my parties I borrowed from that like this are really good but then I’ve been to other parties in London where I walked around and it was like (sigh) that’s not how I would have done it. I wouldn’t have organized it like that or I would have made sure there were rules around that. Fortunately I was never in a situation where I had to say to somebody “this sucked and I hated it”, but I did come away from situations thinking, “I wouldn’t go back to that”.

That experience is what led him to create The Sex Party Handbook: Your Ultimate Guide to the World of Orgies, Sex Clubs and More (and How to Host Your Own).

Ali Bushell – I’d gone to lots of parties before, different kinds, doing different things and there’s always something that could have been better and then there is of course that wonderful phrase, “if you want something done properly, do it yourself”.

The book is a pretty comprehensive glimpse into these “passionate soirees” but it’s a lot more. There is also history and some psychology in addition to the how to element.

Ali Bushell – I’ve had a lot of people say to me, you know I’ve been to its of sex parties and this is the best.

That’s as good as a five start Google review for me so I think it’s time to get real. Let’s Imagine yourself at a party. It’s filled with like minded individuals in various stages of undress. That alone takes a bit of doing and no matter how experienced you are at these types of social interactions, navigating one in your birthday suit is going to leave you vulnerable. That’s why there are rules.

Ali Bushell – Ali shares story about being rejected in a harsh manner.

Mortifying. So…you finally get the courage to live this fantasy of yours and this is your first experience. Check please….So having the rules and knowing them is important for many reasons; one of them is your safety.

Ali Bushell – The party I run currently is a party for queer men and they don’t use condoms. So you might say well that’s not safe. It’s like well, I make it very clear to people you need for example to be taking prep, that helps prevent the transmission of HIV. Don’t know what that is? Well, here’s a link to what that is so you can find out about that and get ‘em on it before you consider it. Know that you protect yourself. Other people are not going to protect you. I can’t control what other people’s statuses are so that’s one thing I have to frame. People need to take control of their own safety.

Something I want to make clear here is that my goal with this podcast is not to sway you one way or another to host or attend a sex party. It’s a very individual thing. This is strictly to present with this resource if you are at all curious because all the things you are thinking have already been thought and experienced by Ali whose perspective goes way back to a time when there was no shame about these things mostly because they didn’t understand what sex was to the times we live in now.

Ali Bushell – I think definitely you’re seeing more openness to this. Younger people are much more interested in things like no-monogamy, trying things that they’ve not experienced, fluidity around sexuality in general. The rigidity that was there that could stop people wanting to try things or be open to things is slowly dissolving away.

One of the important things he talks about in his book is having some criteria about who is coming to the party. You can’t just invite anyone. That’s not being elitist, it’s about making sure that everyone feels safe and is there to have a positive and fulfilling experience.

I really wanted to share the story of the Sex party gone wrong but we do need to save some fun stuff for you to enjoy when you get his book. According to Ali the presence of group sex as a normal part of our sexual experience is becoming more and more common so perhaps the time is right to put pen to paper and lay out exactly how it’s done so it gets done right.

Ali Bushell – Ali lays out the basic rules on how to create a good space to have good fun.

So I won’t be checking my mailbox for an invitation since I’m over 60 and married to a woman but no hard feelings there, it’s all good. If this sounds like something you’d like to know more about check out The Sex Party Handbook: Your Ultimate Guide to the World of Orgies, Sex Clubs and More (and How to Host Your Own) by Ali Bushell an easy-to-follow reference manual filled with tips and helpful advice for anyone interested in either attending or hosting a sex party. The book is available now at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble and all the places you would think to shop for books online.

Enjoy, be safe and have the time of your life! That will do it for this edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com

Ali Bushell was recently interviewed on the Aluring Reads podcast. The hear the full interview click here.

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In The Secret Life of Bears, Joann Slead has written a unique story that portrays Jesus with a sense of humor and as the most lovey-dovey Papa Bear ever. By reading it, young children will see what a relationship with Jesus looks like. It’s an engaging and colorful book.

Welcome to this edition of Newsgram.

Growing up can be very difficult. Learning at a very early age how to shine, how to have hope and how to be able to look beyond their circumstances whatever they may be, is not an easy thing to explain or to understand.

Meet Joan Slead, a children’s book author who found a fun way to teach children that no matter what you may be going through there is someone who loves and understands them and is there for them when it feels like no-one else is.

Joann Slead – I’ve seen the ugly and the hard and the painful and I wanted to lighten it up plus there are children in the world that don’t have good relationships at home. They live in a difficult home for them to be in and if there’s a kind person who can read them this book they’ll know that somebody loves them and that’s something that I really, really want kids to be able to take away from, kids that have difficult homes and for other kids it just be fun and cute and they’ll learn about God and that’s wonderful for both.

In her book, The Secret Life of Bears, she did a clever thing. She turned Jesus into a bear with a sense of humor and he’s the most lovey-dovey Papa Bear ever.

Joann Slead – There’s baby bear and papa bear and those are the only two characters in the book except for a few insects and animals and papa bear just does everything baby bear needs. They go on adventures together in the jungle. Papa bear puts snow on the earth and baby bear is making snow angels below and its a linear approach to that relationship between baby bear and papa bear.

And she says the entire concept came to her like a dream.

Joann Slead – One day I jut sat down and wrote this book. It was like God just gave it to me. It didn’t need editing. It didn’t need rewriting. It was perfect the way it was and that never happens. I wrote it in 2019 and I put it in a drawer and I thought, well that’s never gonna be published.

Surprise! It was published and the one thing it was missing were illustrations.

Joann Slead – I’ve been working with this lovely guy from Moroccoa Mohamed Daamouche. He and I just had this great working relationship and the pictures show the words. They really do because that is how I saw it in my head.

The illustrations are fun loving and so relatable and they really reinforce the message that Papa Bear is more than some abstract concept he’s approachable, He loves you and he’s real. He makes cookies and can sing silly songs…

Joann Slead – Most kids don’t know that. God’s kind of boring in church. I would like them to know that they can have fun with God and that he’s not judging, he’s joyful and he loves them.

Oh, something else you should know. One of these reasons it was so easy for her to write was that it’s a sort of autobiography.

Joann Slead – This is actually my life written for children. Bears have always been my favorite stuffed animal since I was a little kid so when I got to know Jesus I became his bear.

Who doesn’t love a stuffed bear? She says thinking about Jesus in these terms helps children to know that He is approachable for them on their level and that He loves them and isn’t something the world needs right now? Joan thought so. So she dug that manuscript out of the drawer and got it published.

Joann Slead – It was nothing I would have done on my own. It was just one of those things that God just nudged me in the spirit and said, “Yea, I just want you to do this” and so I did.

The Secret Life of Bears will tickle your child’s heart as they learn about the love of Jesus. The fastest way to find it is by going to Secret Life of Bears.com but if you prefer the usual way you can find it on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

And that will do it for this edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com

Joann Slead was recently interviewed by Suzanne Harris on the Books on Air podcast. Tune it to hear more from her or by checking out her video interview with JT Crowley on Youtube or you can also listen to the Talking Books podcast.

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This episode focuses on Julianne McLean and Mark Lynch, authors of the book Barbies 4 Blokes; a charity cookbook for people who love to laugh and eat delicious barbeque in the great outdoors.

Welcome to this edition of Newsgram.

The thing about men is we like to cook outdoors. Maybe it’s primal. An instinct that can be traced back to Homo Erectus thousands of years ago. 


The cookout is a safe place. It’s a social gathering, a meeting place, a romantic place, a fun place to tell stories, cook s’mores or plan an ambush. It might be a necessary way to eat if you’re out on an extended hike or just a fun adventure with the kids but the fact remains we’ve been doing it for a very long time. No matter who you are and where you came from, somewhere in your past you’ll find men cooking over an open flame.

Maybe it was that caveman that stumbled on an animal burned in a fire and decided to eat it, only to find that it tasted pretty good. Did that even happen? I don’t know. What’s important is our love affair with outdoor cooking pre-dates us and that love affair with backwoods cooking has evolved into some highly sophisticated Barbeque. You should see my new Traeger grill…but we don’t have time for that right now.


So where am I going with all this? According to Julianne McLean and Mark Lynch, authors of the book Barbies 4 Blokes, men like to barbecue because we are attracted to cooking where danger is involved.

I hadn’t thought about it that way but what a great point! Our rugged, primal style of outdoor cooking is also a tad dangerous and that adds another element to experience. 


So now that we’ve established why we do it, let’s get into how we do it, with an eclectic assortment of BBQ recipes from around the world.

If you look up this cookbook on the Internet you’re going to be immediately drawn to its cover. It’s a cartoon that takes place in heaven. Angelic men with wings and halos are, drinking beer and cooking hot dogs over a Weber style grill. A cloud floating just above them is full of lady angels with the caption, ”Somehow I thought it would be different up here”.

You can tell right away that this is not your ordinary cookbook. When you open it up you find more cartoons, really funny ones, and great fish and seafood recipes like, Whole Barbecue Snapper, Barbecued Trout with Almonds, Spicy Tuna Steaks on Sewers, Marinated Chili Prawns and the classic Lobster in Garlic Butter Sauce.

The recipes have all been provided by Australian celebrities and there’s something in here for everyone. (Read with an Aussie accent) It’s a bloke’s ultimate Barbecue and Beer guide. Yeah, you’re right, I should probably not do the accent but you get the idea.

And…the really great thing about this cookbook is all of the profits from the sales of Barbies 4 Blokes go to the Black Dog Institute. 


Black Dog is an independent, not-for-profit medical research institute for the treatment of mental health. According to their website, 1 in 5 of us will experience symptoms of mental illness in any given year. In Australia that’s around 5 million people. And roughly 60% of these people won’t seek help.

Let’s give the team at Black Dog with their mission to understand, prevent and treat the significant mental health challenges that we face nationally and globally.

Barbies 4 Blokes is spelled with the number 4.It’s a fun coffee table book, a great resource for outdoor cooking and it’s for a great cause. You can download this book for only a few bucks but I would suggest buying a hard copy. It’s available wherever you like to shop for books. 


And that will do it for this edition of Newsgram.

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This episode is based on the book All Angels Have Wings by Mai Kristiane Thomsen. Bodies are found buried in the woods, all of them with wings carved onto the skin on their backs. Young women murdered, all looking the same and around the same age, all but one…

Welcome to this edition of Newsgram.

Before we begin you should know that today’s program touches on Mental Health issues that are sensitive for some listeners. Depression, ADHD, anxiety, self-harm and suicide. It’s also about perseverance, strength…and the birth of a serial killer.

Here’s Mai Thomsen, author of All Angels Have Wingsto set the scene.

Mai Thomsen – The first scene in the book is the first chapter you’re going to read. It’s the Prologue. It’s about a woman getting buried alive in the first and that’s where we meet the killer for the first time…

The sound of the shovel was deafening, and he was in no hurry. Took one slow but determined dig, one after the other. The soil slowly built in a pile next to him while the hole in the ground now reached his knees. At no point in time did he puff or complain, almost like he did not tire. He just kept digging and whistling the same short melody over and over. “Fffff fff fff fff, ff-fff fff fffff fff ff-fff.” Trish didn’t recognize the tune, but she knew that his whistling, along with sounds of the soil brushing against the shovel, would be the last things she heard. She was going to die. She could already feel it. The stab wound was bad, and she had been bleeding for hours now, going in and out of consciousness. She just hoped it would all end before she was put in the ground. Before the soil suffocated her and the ground took claim over her body.

Mai Thomsen…this forest and the white stones you see on the front page, this is very significant to the rest of the story.

You probably have some questions. Who is burying who? How? What? Why? I know how you feel and you’re going to have to trust me that it’s not the most important part of this story. The fastest way to resolve those feelings is to stop listening to this podcast and download a copy of Mai’s book. Now, don’t actually do that because I have a lot more to tell you and it begins with the Why…because this story is a tale born out of therapy. It wasn’t even intended to be a story. Let me take you back to December of 2019.

Mai Thomsen – I started to struggle a lot with my mental health. It got worse and I got into a very dark place and I started going to therapy because I needed it and I was very open to my therapist saying I have a hard time opening up to other people; to talk about my feelings and the tough things. I usually hide behind a smile or a terrible dad joke or something. So, I was very open in the beginning saying I need you to call me out on my Bullshit to be quite frank and my therapist was like that’s fine we can do that and as we talked he pointed out that i seem to be a very creative person and he said, “well, would it help for you to maybe write all this down?k Because you do writing in your everyday life anyway so maybe all these feelings that you cannot articulate to me then write them down”. and I found that if I wrote the feelings down and then blew them out of proportion, making them much bigger than the feelings I was sitting with, they became visible to me in a way that I could see them. I could see what could have caused them and then slowly I started to put them onto this person, Linda the main character.

As she transferred her feelings to Linda, in a very dramatic way it became a self help journey for Mai and a page turning adventure for you and me. Linda is Mai at her roughest.

Mai Thomsen – Heavily depressed. Doesn’t really take care of herself. Doesn’t really think about herself and wants to take care of everyone else. That’s not good for myself.

There are other characters as well that owe their personalities to Mai like Andrea.

Mai Thomsen – She is the me I need to be for myself. So you will see throughout the book how Andrea is this rock and this safe place for Linda through the story and I see that as the person I would have wanted myself to be if I was going through that myself I would have needed a person like that.

Then there’s Arnold, a character made up of a whole group of people.

Mai Thomsen – That’s the support system. That’s all the friends and the family asking if you need help but you don’t want to quite accept it because you want to go through it yourself. Without him Linda would not be alive. I was pretty sure about Arnold how he was supposed to look and act. He smokes pipes and there’s a bit of banter between him and his wife and that’s kind of how I saw my parents’ relationships and kind of based a little bit of my dads appearance.

Together they make for a very interesting cast of characters along with others that you get to meet early in the book when they all gather together at a funeral. Oh, this is not a happy tale but it’s a good one and don’t worry, as dark as it seems there are plenty of laughs. However, this is not a crime novel.

Mai Thomsen – It’s not a crime story. It is a horror, thriller and suspense. It’s nothing to do with the crimes themselves, it’s more about the minds of the killer. How can a person do these things but also about Linda. What happens when we push a person to the limit. Arnold, her rock in the book, talks about at one point that she has this kind of switch that she can flick off and when she does all of her emotions disappear and that makes it so she can deal with all the stress. All these traumas and horrors from her past and also present and future and he worries for her what will happen that day, if it happens when she switches off completely.

There are all kinds of shows that attempt to take you into the mind of a serial killer and no matter how many of them I watch it’s still very hard to see things from that perspective. That is probably one of the things that we find so fascinating about them. It’s a dark confusing world and gazing into that abyss can be a mind bending journey.

Mai Thomsen – When you really reach rock bottom it’s not about being evil to other people but you’re being really evil and mean to yourself. So you have those similar feelings. I have had suicidal thoughts and been in a really rough state. I was not able to take care of myself and I was really rough to myself and those feelings, those thoughts, I don’t know how but I managed to turn that around I hope in the sense of maybe this is how a serial killer would think.

Identifying with a serial killer is one thing but something else that makes a story one to remember is how you identify with the main character.

Mai Thomsen – I have never really been able to just pick a genre and then find a character in there that I can relate to. I am a lesbian and I’m also realizing that I might be non-binary or transgender but that’s not something I’ve been able to work on because of my mental state but now I’m in a good place but I’ve never been able to identify that in a book. You know you can read a bunch of books that are LGBTQ related but that’s the main topic then. I would like to read a story or watch a movie where it’s not the main story, it’s just an aspect of it. It’s what the whole story is about. So that was one of the really important things to me, that I would be able to create something that I would want to read growing up.

Mission accomplished. The book is called “All Angels Have Wings” and in it…

Bodies are found buried in the woods, all of them with wings carved onto the skin on their backs. Young women murdered, all looking the same and around the same age, all but one. The latest victim appears a lot older than the rest, and she seems to be the only one who was stabbed and buried alive. When Arnold sees her, it is like his whole world stops. He knows her, and he knows that this means the angel maker is back. He is out there looking for his angel, the one that Arnold took from him years ago.

Mai Thomsen – If you’re struggling with mental health and you are in a dark place maybe this is not the book for you. It is a bit dark and it is a bit twisted. There is humor in there and I have tried to lighten the mood and I cannot promise if book number two is going to be happy but I will just say be mindful of yourself take care of yourself and maybe before you read this book because I don’t want to be triggering in any way.

Good advice and for those of you who have listened this far into the podcast and are curious, yes…there is a sequel on the way.

All Angels Have Wings by Mai Thomsen is available now online at Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com and many other places where you like to shop for books. And that will do it for this edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com.

Mai Thomsen was recently profiled on the Books on Air podcast with Suzanne Harris.

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The global business landscape is ever changing. Seasoned executives and business coaches, Kanthi Ford and Patrick Ricketts, share their professional experiences as well as simple, common-sense concepts that are fundamental to leading effectively in today’s workplace.

Welcome to this edition of Newsgram.

Congratulations! You have just been promoted. You’ve been doing such a good job so we are going to promote you to the head of Human Resources. Your first job is to recruit some new employees because we have a lot of work to do and as you know we encourage diversity in all forms here at Newsgram Inc. so before you get started we need to have a conversation about bias.

Patrick Ricketts – My experience has been that people tend to recruit in their own image, people that have the same values as them and look like them as well and it’s how you influence people to look outside of that and bring people in with different perspectives.

That’s Patrick Rickets who along with Kanthi Ford wrote a book called Bias Impacts with the goal of helping current and future leaders discover new routes to future success.

Being biased is something we were born with. You and I were born in different places, we live in different communities and grow up having different experiences and our brains use that information to help us make decisions and form opinions and Kanthi says it’s perfectly normal.

Kanthi Ford – It’s a filtering mechanism. It’s something that protects us in a way. It’s just our brain is receiving hundreds and thousands of bits of information by the second so the only way we can survive as humans is to keep filtering things constantly.

As seasoned executives and business coaches, Kanthi Ford and Patrick Ricketts put this resource together to help professionals understand what’s going on inside their head so they can be more inclusive and less biased.

Kanthi Ford – It’s a brain function. So if you are human you have biases so understanding that and understanding that in the context of diversity, equity and inclusion is essential as a leader of any organization or indeed as a parent or somebod y in the community.

Did you get that last part? Their book is not just for employers but also for regular people in a community. Knowing how and why we choose to do the things we do is important.

Kanthi Ford – It’s about self-awareness. It’s very much about getting insights into how we show up and as part of the book isn chapter four we talk a lot about understanding the sort of biases we may have and to support this book we also run a workshop to get people, to get them insight into their personal behavior as a leader so that it holds a mirror up to their biases.

Reading a book alone at home is a safe place to think about these things so they offer some reflective questions that give you a chance to consider situations in a different light, and they also suggest actions that may help shift behaviors or better understand the perspectives of others.

Patrick Ricketts – And what we’ve found from people that have read the book and given us some feedback is their astoundadness of what they’ve actually found in terms of our real life experiences and that’s affected them in a quite profound way and they want to learn more.

As a society we have come a long way but Kanthi says our modern workplace environment is far from ideal.

Kanthi Ford – Many times I heard people say, “oh we’ve dealt with all that. We are a diverse organization but when you start to split companies up people are being more isolated. They’re working remotely. They’re not engaging with the wider group. You know, we’re social beings as humans. We want to be part of something and when all the remote and non-remote activity happens it makes people work in silos more so the bias becomes even more entrenched.

In the course of writing the book Kanthi and Patrick learned a few things about themselves in the process.

Kanthi Ford – Well we went on our own journey as well we discovered our own strengths and weaknesses as we traveled along and one of the things I’ve discovered since we’ve written the book, I’ve been quite nervous about sharing it. Simply because it’s personal, it’s my living experiences and I’ve spent a lifetime and a successful career pretending that it didn’t matter….it was all ok because I didn’t want to stick my head above the parapet.

Patrick Ricketts – Actually what I wrote is how much I’ve been bottling up. How much I haven’t shared with family members you know, just didn’t talk about it and how that has impacted on me in writing our book so it’s some really big serious heavy reflections. I’v discovered things about myself. My wife has discovered things about me and my experiences I never shared and to some extent it’s been quite liberating.

So there you have it, a great tool for self discovery and some simple, common-sense concepts that are fundamental to leading effectively in today’s workplace.

Kanthi Ford – Businesses are Missing a Trick because you need diversity. You need equity. You need people to feel part of something in order to generate motivation or make high performing businesses.

Bias Impacts is not just a guide to help leaders learn how to be more inclusive and less biased, it’s designed to help them lead through change and to get positive results. It’s about taking intentional action to manage differently and one way to do that is to embrace our differences.

Patrick Ricketts – Embrace our difference and see the benefits it can bring to them for themselves socially but also the benefit it brings to their business in terms of growth and integration to the communities in which they work.

So how do you feel now about your role as the Hiring Manager for Newsgram Inc? Are you ready to examine issues created by unconscious bias? Are you ready to explore the role of an empathic leader or to discuss internal cultures and ways to manage uncertainty? It’s a big job but you’re up to the task all you need to get started is a copy of the book Bias Impacts: How Culture and Diversity Affects the Leadership Journey by Kanthi Ford and Patrick Ricketts available now online at all the usual places. We put a link to Amazon in the show’s description.

Sloan Fremont recently spoke with Patrick and Kanthi on the Books on Air podcast. Check out this and other author interviews on your favorite streaming service. Here is a link to several.

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Anyone reading this book will soon realize that I didn’t pay much attention in my English lessons at school, but it is written in my way and as I recall things. Everyone, everything and every occurrence are true and the overall timeline is correct, albeit some of the finer intricacies of chronological order may be a little distorted in places. With many thanks to Rose for taking the time to decipher my original handwritten script and typing it all up for me . . . Thanks Rose.

Welcome to this edition of Newsgram.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live your life like a “Rolling Stone”? Not Bob Dylan or Mick Jagger and Keith Richards for that matter, I’m talking about a true Rolling Stone. Refusing to settle down. Living your life with no ties to anyone or anything. One of my favorite examples is Jack Reacher, the character created by Lee Child. He likes small towns so he drops in and out of them but one thing you can count on is that by the end of his adventure there he would be back on the road. Of course jack Reacher is a fictional character but Nick Homfray is a real person.

Nick Homfray – My favorite place where I lived in the UK was anywhere I liked at the time I was living there. If I didn’t like it or we didn’t like it we moved.

Our connection wasn’t the greatest so I apologize for that and you should know that NIck’s health is not what it used to be but as he now looks back on his life I think you’ll be able to see that he has led a very colorful one. Nick Homfray is the living embodiment of the Bohemian Lifestyle and he makes no apologies for it. No regrets. In fact he says it does have an impact on your relationships but not in the way you might think.

Nick Homfray – Yea I’ve got friends now and we’ve been mates for over sixty years. and I’ve got people I’ve met for only a couple of minutes that have meant something to me that I’ve never forgotten.

By living his life this way Nick has managed to find friends, relationships and memories to last a lifetime and while it was hard at first, his declining health was the nudge he needed to write down his experiences and he’s now sharing those stories with us in his new book Explosion in a Paint factory.

Nick Homfray – People used to say, “I wonder what goes on inside your head, and I said “It’s an explosion in a paint Factory” (laughs).

He is quite a character isn’t he. Even the title was not what you were expecting. The world is full of eccentric and interesting people like Nick and I hope they all write books to give us a chance to glimpse their fascinating lives. If you saw Nick on the street you would remember him, especially if he was wearing his fancy top hat. There’s a picture on the cover of his book.

Nick Homfray – I’ve led a life that has been very bohemian. People said I spend my life looking for something that I don’t know what is and if I found it I wouldn’t recognize it.

Did you get that? People describe Nick as the kind of man that spent his life searching for something that he wouldn’t recognize even if he found it. A Seeker. It’s a very poetic existence and I’ll bet you will see some stuff…

Nick Homfray – Many bizarre things, many interesting things.

And they’re all in his book Explosion in a Paint factory, which teaches the lesson that it’s okay to live your life the best way you know how as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone else.

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Today Nathalie White delivers the framework needed for personal and business success. After 30 years as a public servant she is now sharing her learnings and experiences. Her book “Workplace Actions Matter” shows how our actions speak louder than words and how the smallest action can reinforce trust or hinder it.

Welcome to this edition of Newsgram.

Are you familiar with Isaac Newton’s Third Law…Action & Reaction? For every action or force in nature there is an equal and opposite reaction. Scientists will debate my use of the word “equal” because there are times when that may not be the case but since this is not a physics course and for the sake of this podcast let’s say that when object A exerts a force on object B, object B also exerts a force on object A.

Forces are an interaction between two objects or people and when it comes to human interaction it’s safe to say that actions by the force it takes to create them, can and often do, deliver more force than words. — Holy smoke that’s up for debate as well! Are you having fun yet? I know I am…

Here’s Natalie White author of the book “Workplace Actions Matter” to sort this out for us.

Nathalie White offers a call center Example.

There are thirteen national standards that have been created to ensure a healthy workplace environment and I’m not going to get into all of them. I just wanted you to know that they exist. They are there for our personal growth as well as our physical and mental health. The workplace is an important environment. What we do and how we do it says a lot about who we are and cantankerous clients can easily lose sight of all that. Now, they are a client and businesses need them so what do you do when they become unbearable? You can’t fight with a client right?

Nathalie White – As an employee we should never get abused by any clients but you can be respectful and say “sir, at this point in time the language you are using is offensive. I really want to support you and help you in resolving your issues but if it’s continuing in that direction I won’t be able to. You give them…I used to work in that environment and being firm and being polite protects you as well as an employee and some clients need to be reminded of that.

That’s a great example and getting back to Newton for a minute, this is where good leadership comes in. Workplace culture is set and reinforced by its leaders.

Nathalie White – It’s kind of like a dual relationship. The employees also need to trust that you as a leader will be able to support them if the client say…cause what’s the number of things that clients that are dissatisfied with you will say? I want to talk to your supervisor. The supervisor needs to trust that the employees did their job and if the client continues to be belligerent they are going to set their own boundaries because leaders are employees too at the end of the day.

Everybody has a boss. Even if you work for yourself. When it comes to leadership I’ll bet you can think of some great leaders and some miserable ones. Good companies, trusted companies have good leaders and good leadership styles. It’s one of the things that makes those companies what they are. She says to be a great leader you need to be authentic in your relationship to the company, to your colleagues and to yourself.

Nathalie White – Obviously there are key leadership competencies that help you to do that you know like, some people think that leadership is a charismatic leader that you see out there that is all that but no, leadership can be learned. You can have those key leadership competencies. You look at yourself, who you are, what you do and the impact it has on other people, on yourself and the organization. I’m a true believer that anybody can be a leader. You just need to make the choice to be a leader and it’s a conscious decision and you need to set that path forward.

She knows about this first hand. Nathalie did not set out to be a leader. She was an employment counselor but one day she made a conscious decision to be a leader. Influenced mostly by Simon Sinek. According to his website Simon’s Ted talk on the concept of Why has been viewed over sixty million times.

Nathalie White – Start with the why. Why is it that you want to be a leader? Once you understand that you can build around that, that gives you your energy and your force to move forward.

Here we go with Newton again but when it comes to force a little goes a long way. Think about the power of an Atom. It’s a big thing in a little package and she says to make the biggest and most positive impact you and your company need to be in sync.

Nathalie White – Then you spend forty hours a week at work, you have your colleagues there, you have your supervisor there, you need to gain energy from somewhere. You need to have that purpose. Your purpose needs to be aligned with the purpose of the organization.

And it doesn’t matter if you are working in the public or private sector, her book invites you to reflect on your own experiences, your objectives and then build on your existing practices. A key takeaway for me was the importance of being mindful of others. Our actions impact others and we need to be conscious of the consequences of our behavior.

Nathalie White – As leaders your relationship with your employees, your action with employees does have an impact on service delivery because if you don’t treat your employee well they won’t service the client well which affects your bottom line. That has been supported by over twenty years of research by the institute of citizen services and that is what I like about the book. I was able to bring all of those years of practice together.

Yes it is quite a resource. We’ve only scratched the surface today. Here’s another example of trust from the restaurant business. It seems so simple but it’s interesting to think about both sides of a transaction.

Nathalie White – If I go to a restaurant I trust I’m going to have the same quality. I’m trusting that I’m gonna have a good meal and good ambience. I can buy into the brand so I trust in the brand. It’s the actions of the waiters that’s going to create that memorable experience or it’s gonna set me back where I’ll never want to go there again.

You rarely say, oh wow, she must have had a terrible argument with her boss because that was the worst service I’ve ever had. You just make a note to go somewhere else. Speaking of notes, all of this can be found on her website.

Nathalie White – It’s Note to Self Learning Solutions.ca

There you can not only get a copy of her book “Workplace Actions Matter” but you can take advantage of some of the learning opportunities she offers that are based on the key concepts in her book. Why is it called “Note to Self”?

Nathalie White – The Note to Self is that we all have the experience we all know what we are achieving we all have the potential in our hearts in ourselves and our competencies. We just need to focus on what is it we want to achieve. The direction we want to go.

One thing I’ve been taking for granted is that you enjoy what you do for a living because that is an important factor but even if you don’t love it you can still live aspects of it. Nathalie says. Each of us as employees have 100% control over our destiny at work. There is no magic solution to all this and you don’t have to wait until everything is perfect to start to begin the journey of self-improvement. Read for some more math? Actions = Energy in motion = trust

Nathalie White – And I’d like to continue the conversations with the readers. because I do have a blog there and I would love to talk about wellness and service excellence and leadership and so forth.

If any of this sparks your interest you can find her book Workplace Actions Matter at all the usual places online or on her website and if you’ve already forgotten Note to Self Learning Solutions.ca there is a link in the shows description for you and that will do it for this edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com.

Listen to the full length interview with Nathalie White on the Books on Air podcast with Suzanne Harris at Webtalkradio.com

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Wayne is a good kid but has always had a hard time making friends. His dad is an air force master sergeant. He travels a lot, even overseas. Now, Wayne is in a new school and feels unsure of himself. Join Wayne on his adventure from Luke Air Force Base in Phoenix, Arizona, to Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany.

Welcome to this edition of Newsgram.

Today’s program is dedicated to all the military families out there and anyone who has ever raised a family with a job that requires a lot of travel and frequent relocation. It can be hard on the kids, especially the ones that have trouble making new friends.

Wayne Rankin – I had bad skin. I had pimples, buck teeth. I needed braces but you can’t do anything about that. It’s just the way it is. You might see that as a flaw but people look past those flaws and real friends, true friends will look past that and continue to communicate with you.

That’s Wayne Rankin, retired Master Sergeant from the US Airforce and the real life inspiration for his new children’s book Wayne, the Nerd from Arizona.

Here’s the premise. Wayne was living on Luke Air Force Base on the west side of Phoenix, Arizona. A real place. He was born and raised there, and despite his family’s many moves, it was the only place he could truly call home. When his father was transferred to Spangdahlem Air Base in Germany he found himself once again not only alone in a new city but in a new country and for Wayne making friends was not that easy. In fact, Wayne’s first day of school was a disaster. All he could think about was how little he had in common with the other kids.

Wayne Rankin – It was tough. you’re in a foreign country, not to mention not having any friends but making new friends. You don’t know anybody. You’re making new friends and trying to sort out with those friends for the next four or five years is pretty tough.

One of things that worked for Wayne was not focusing on the negative but finding the positives which is great advice for any situation.

Wayne Rankin – You’re parents or your dad is in the military and that’s life in the military, a nomad, a gypsy as they say. It’s a good experience. You got to go to a country you never dreamed about and you gotta make some friends because you’re on your own, an island and that’s that.

And the book is great for five to eight year olds who find themselves in this situation because it demonstrates how that’s done…or at least what worked for Wayne.

Wayne Rankin – It goes to that period where kids are trying to check you out and see what you’re made of and if you’re gonna make it or not. You feel very alone but that’s only a temporary situation. Eventually somebody is gonna gravitate towards you and you gotta make a friend.

We’ve all been there. Can you remember your first day of school, moving to a new neighborhood or even starting a new job. Human nature takes over and some people thrive in that environment but if you’re an introvert it may be more challenging so Wayne’s book is a tool for helping kids to understand that. Meet Anita…

Wayne Rankin – She tells him that, you can be anybody. Be yourself. Be true to yourself. You don’t have to change to be this or that, appealing to different groups. She looks past his flaws or what he perceives as flaws, his crooked teeth and his bad skin and says Look, I’m just here to be your friend because of who you are. You gotta realize that everything is temporary and you might have crooked teeth but they’re got braces. You might have bad skin but now they’ve got soap that clears up that stuff. It’s just temporary. You change. Your body changes. You’re just going through those awkward moments in your life where kids try to pick on you but that doesn’t last long.

We tell our kids this stuff all the time but what do we know, right? They may listen but do they hear us? This way they get good advice from someone like Anita that they can relate to.

Wayne Rankin – You know what? There’s another kid just like you feeling the same way and another kid and another kid and these kids all gather together and group together and they form their own group. The Nerd Herd.

Not to give too much away here but the story does have a happy ending. Wayne and his friends evolve from caterpillars to beautiful butterflies…in a manner of speaking. They become well adjusted young people with promising futures just like Wayne — we’ll get to that in a minute — it all starts by knowing you are not flawed no matter what you think and you are not alone.

Wayne Rankin – You know I enjoyed writing this book. I think it’s a book you can read to your kids again, again, again, again, again. You can’t say enough that whatever you’re going through, whatever flaw you think you may have, that flaw doesn’t mean anything to some folks and you are going to transform into somebody wonderful.

He knows what he’s talking about. Wayne Rankin is a retired Master Sergeant from the US Airforce where he served for twenty years. When he left the Air Force he went on to earn a Master’s degree in Human Resources and Procurement as well as a Bachelor of Science degree in Organizational Management from Colorado Christian University. In 2005 he started his own business and today LOGMET LLC has 400 employees and a gross annual turnover of $20 million. Oh there’s more but that’s enough for now.

Wayne, the Nerd from Arizona taking time out from a busy life to send a message to kids like him. It’s gonna be o.k. It may not feel like it right now but your future is bright. You just gotta have faith.

Wayne Rankin – No matter what you are or who you are if you perceive yourself as having a flaw and that nobody likes you that’s not true. There is always somebody out there you can talk to or lean on and you’ll carry that with you for the rest of your life.

Wayne, the Nerd from Arizona available now wherever you like to shop for books but since this program is all about fascinating people living their lives in fascinating ways, I would suggest checking out his website. There you can learn all about Wayne Rankin and grab a copy of his book at www.waynethenerdfromarizona.com. That will do it for another edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com

Wayne rankin was recently interviews by JT Crowley on the Talking Books podcast. Listen to show on Apple Podcasts, iHeart or Spotify or watch it on YouTube.

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A gripping account of a young Scottish lass caught up in the German Occupation of France. The Forbidden Zone 1940 by Anne Angelo is a heartwarming tale of Survival under terrible conditions.

Welcome to this edition of Newsgram.

Today you’re going to meet Anne Angelo. A very brave woman who escaped from France in 1941. France was a very different country back then. In 1941 the Nazi’s occupied northern France and France’s Atlantic coastline all the way down to the border with Spain. It was a significant portion of the country and she lived in an area called “The Forbidden Zone” an area that Hitler had cordoned off and used as his springboard to invade Britain.

Anne is no longer with us but thankfully she took the time to write down her experiences back in 1949.

Hugh Hyland – She died in 1999 and then Covid came along three years ago and I was just rummaging through stuff and I came across a briefcase full of her manuscript.

That’s Hugh Hyland, Anne’s son who recently published her manuscript with the help of Xlibris. It contains a very detailed account of her life. Here is Hugh with a quick overview of his findings.

Hugh Hyland – It was divided into two sections. The first one was her being brought up in Scotland and having to escape from the clutches of her wicked father to France as a Governess in the 1930’s. The second chandre was her actually being in the Northwest of France. In 1940-1941 the Germans came through and she joined the French resistance and eventually she had to escape to get back to Scotland. That’s the basis behind everything

The two sections of her manuscript have now been compiled into two different books. The first one is called A Sprig of White Heather and a Scottish Lass where she talks about her childhood in Invergordon, Ross-shire, in the Highlands of Scotland where she lived until she was twenty. It was not a happy childhood. In fact, she says it was one of hatred, heart-break, fear, disillusionment and despair which is why she left and went to France.

Hugh Hyland – Getting out of her clutches of her father and going to Lille in the Northwest of France in the 1930’s.

And for a moment all seemed right with the world. She enjoyed France. It was there that she fell in love in a rather unusual way.

Hugh Hyland – One evening she was in a motor accident. She got run into by a British Army vehicle and that’s where she met Gerald. She fell in love with him there while the Germans were still on the other side of the border but then he had to get back to England once the Germans crossed over and the British withdrew. She was left stranded there but she was unsuccessful.

So she stayed, taking care of the house which turned into a hotel but it was still home. She also joined the French resistance. In chapter one she writes about how “Gerald came and went and life dragged on…” She saw the skies black with planes all day long and she knew she was going to lose her home one day.

Hugh Hyland – The stories got a bit of everything. Part of the story is her upbringing. finding a new life in France and also throughout Europe and the second part of the story is actually in the war and the escape and all the horrendous things that happened during the war and also the love story that intermingled with all of that.

Another thing I found interesting about this story was the various themes she explores. One of them is Nature vs. Nurture. How our lives are shaped by circumstances beyond our control. Is all this a preordained fate that we are destined to live out? Are we consciously or unconsciously in control of our lives? Are we being shaped by our environment and the choices of our parents? Here’s an excerpt from The Forbidden Zone 1940. Chapter One. “Reflections”

(Exerpt) “…What a contrast to the stark life in Scotland where I’d been brought up. Some people think we ourselves are responsible for what we become, but it’s not so. What we are is almost complete­ly due to things beyond our control. We make some decisions­ yes, of course, but they’re really only relatively small ones. Even they are made in the light of what’s happened to us in the past. Shakespeare makes Cassius in Julius Caesar say, ‘The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars but in ourselves that we are underlings.’ But he is wrong. What we are is basically in our stars and not in ourselves. ‘Stars’ has nothing to do with it. It plans the circumstances and environment into which we are born. Primarily, we are the result of the genes we inherit from our par­ents. After we’re born, the lives our parents have lived have their effect on us. We are further shaped by the place we live, the cli­mate, and what happens to us in our formative years. Everybody we meet has an influence on us, either for good or bad. I’d tolerat­ed my father’s harsh treatment while growing up, not because I wanted to, but because I had no choice. I hoped I had not inherit­ed his heartlessness and selfishness…”

Hugh Hyland – She had pluck. She had courage. She was a survivor. She could sort of manage to survive and not give up so that was one theme. Another theme was the love in the first part. the first few months where she and Gerald were getting very, very close together before he had to disappear. Then there’s the cruelty of war you know you have the stories of the refugees all being machine gunned and all the rest of it and a lot of that you sort of see happening right now in Ukraine so history tends to um, just repeat itself.

History does repeat itself. One of the nice takeaways here is that while it may sound familiar it’s still different in a number of ways mainly because this one is true and there are other recollections and visuals that you’ll enjoy like this one.

Hugh Hyland – She used to tell me about some of the horrendous things. Escaping from the Northwest of France down to Paris initially with the refugees and being machine-gunned and dead horses and bomb craters and you name it. It was so horrendous in winter up there. They had no food. It was freezing cold so occasionally she would go up to a German soldier and kick him in the shin just to get thrown into jail where she could get a couple of days of food.

Plus the story takes place in a specific region of France.

Hugh Hyland – This is specific to the Forbidden Zone. Most of the people I’ve talked to said what’s the forbidden zone? Why did it get its name? What was so special about it? So, that was a very special niche area for when the Germans were preparing to invade England and they had everything locked down even more so up there so this story is basically how civilians were living in the Forbidden Zone in the middle of winter. No food, no heating. That was a very sort of austere survival. The Germans would come along and shoot people for the sake of shooting them.

You can’t say enough bad things about Nazis. They are the absolute embodiment of evil and I’ll leave you with this. There are lots of things to like about Anne Angelo’s manuscript, the parenting issues, the romance, the various themes that we talked about but also the reminder that history does repeat itself and if reading about how things were can do anything to help keep us from repeating the sins of our past and the days of Naziism then in my opinion, it’s time well spent.

Hugh Hyland published his mothers original manuscript written in 1949 and its now available in two books. A Sprig of White Heather and a Scottish Lass and the most recent, The Forbidden Zone 1940 for anyone interested in the history of German Occupation in WW2, and how a young lady was able to survive the hardships and cruelty of war.

And that will do it for this edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com.

Listen to an interview with Hugh Hyland on the Books on Air podcast.

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Paul Brodrick found himself reassessing his life after having a bowel tumor removed five years ago. In this book, Cancer Mentality, he shares what it was like to be diagnosed with cancer, how he dealt with the fear of defective genes, and how he learned to choose his own prognosis for a cancer-free future. Welcome […]

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A teenager fights for his life in the jungles of Vietnam after getting shot in the mouth. Tom Wilson was saved. He became a minister and never lost his sense of humor about the tragedy he suffered. This is his story….  Welcome to this edition of Newsgram.  Being a human is hard. We are faced with […]

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Today we spotlight a novel lovingly published by the author’s children as a tribute to their mother. “A Curlew Cried” was written by Winifred Millicent Hardie {deceased} over forty years ago and recently published by her daughters Helen Elizabeth Payne and Janet Anne Goldman. It is 1911 when Bill and Isobel Elgin scramble down from […]

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John Wheelerwrote a book that he calls a prayer journey from sinner to saint for anyone who is on the journey. Isn’t that all of us?  Welcome to this edition of Newsgram! What happens when a man with an analytical mind takes a spiritual journey? It can lead to some interesting results. Today we’re going to […]

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Dr. James Whorley has written a guide to follow in becoming a strong disciple for Christ. By reading this book one will clearly see their purpose, step-by-step guide to follow showing the power of love, the importance of faith, the essentialness of keeping unwanted doors closed and assuring that they remain shut. This book will also give […]

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”Looking Beyond the Clouds” demonstrates the ups and downs of Christian life. It is a book of poems that summarize the life of a person looking for greater purpose, finding that purpose in God, and fighting for the blessings promised in Heaven. It is interwoven with Christ’s compassion and the companionship of a fellow Christian. […]

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Today you get to meet “Bright” the main character in Dian Cooper’s new book “The Christmas Light”. After being tucked away in the attic for years Bright has a dream that changes his heart.  Welcome to this edition of Newsgram!  When it comes to children’s stories I have to admit that I’m a sucker for the […]

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Steve Wachtel is a New Yorker and he has been writing poetry since 1976. His new book of poetry, Sandlot Poet is derived from the pain and triumph of his experiences. It features gentle observations and his view of the human experience.

Welcome to this edition of Newsgram!

We begin to day with a quote from the Greek Mathematician Archimedes, “Give me a place to stand, and a lever long enough, and I will move the world”

Steve Wachtel (Archimedes) He was a brilliant man. Thinking about it though I realized that the idea of moving the world, truly moving the world, we need to have something that strikes a number of people and that really relates to. I think poems and songs have that. So I think that’s a better way of moving the world.

That is Steve Wachtel, author of the book Sandlot Poet. We all have our own ways of moving the world. For Steve it began back in 1976, the year another famous New Yorker released the now classic album Turnstiles featuring the hit song “New York State of Mind”. Of course I’m talking about William Martin Joel.

Billy Joel chose to use song to move the world and he has been doing that since the early 70’s. Steve has chosen to move the world through poetry and I found some interesting parallels between these two New Yorkers. Billy Joel was born in the Bronx and grew up on Long Island. Steve Wachtel was born in Brooklyn and also grew up on Long Island.

Steve Wachtel (School District) I was very fortunate to be in the Farmingdale school district in Long Island and had very fine teachers there who emphasized writing and expression. That was very helpful to me.

It was there and then when Steve decided he wanted to be a writer but it wasn’t from the seat of a piano bench. It was on a diamond in a New York City park. The moment was captured here in his poem, A Different Glory

Steve Wachtel (A Different Glory) I was a terrible Little leaguer one hit in three years but I stayed eager to stay with my peers some of who went on to Sandlot glory days looked upon as Gods to be praised for this ability to strike a round ball with a round bat truly a feat denied to those like me non-athlete all stars in fact but today I made some hits to cheers at least in my mind in a different sport that fits me better where I’m included to weave words in my peculiar way into rhyme and schemes that have their say pleasing myself and others it seems. So I’ll never be in the hall of fame and not a Frostian Allstar. At least now in the game, truly and finally a Sandlot Poet.

Sandlot Poet is the title of his new book and it says a lot about him.

Steve Wachtel (Sandlot Poet) So a Sandlot poet is someone who has some ability but is not like Robert Frost for example or those who are in the hall of fame as far as Im concerned. It someone who can put words together to please himself and others and um, will maybe not become famous perhaps but will have their say.

I love that. We don’t have to be famous we just need to be heard and speaking of famous poets, Walt Whitman was also born on Long Island until his family moved to Brooklyn. Was it New York that inspired his introspection and subsequently the quote, “Let your soul stand cool and composed before a million universes.” I don’t know but it was definitely the inspiration for Steve’s poem Morning Becomes Electric.

Steve Wachtel (Morning Becomes Electric) I wake each early morning to the sound of a Cardinal. The song of a Blue Jay. The twittering of their performing giving sweetness to the start of all my many hopes for the day. The rising sun pauses too to listen. All its harmony. That short space. and I stretch feeling old bones become new again. Grey hairs glisten and all things…by time…briefly returned and my life is graced.

I can relate to that one because it’s how most of my days begin. A cup of coffee in the great outdoors. What is your inspiration and how do you move the world? It doesn’t have to be with a classic album, a world famous volume of poetry or the ability to hit a major league home run. Whatever you do on a daily basis, as long it’s done with the right intentions is probably having a positive impact. Steve Wachtel said it best in his poem Archimedes.

Steve Wachtel (Archimedes) Archimedes master mathematician transported by his theory proclaimed, “Give me a lever and a place to stand and I’ll move the world”. Move the world? What a notion. High enough to move yourself let alone this spinning top of billions. Archimedes had a wonderful madness, it was his method that was wrong. Move the world? Forget a lever. You gotta use a poem or a song.

Words to live by. Sandlot poet is a book of sixty-four free verse poems. Gentle observations and the human experience written from a “New York State of Mind”. And that will do it for this edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com.

Steve Wachtel was recently profiled on the Talking Books podcast. Listen to the audio interview with Suzanne Harris. He was also featured on the Talking Books podcast with JT Crowley. Listen in or watch the conversation on Video.

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Your health is important so today we are going to Grip Life to its fullest by addressing the seven health elements outlined by Dr. Elizabeth W. Grubbs in her book Grip Life.

Welcome to this edition of Newsgram!

So…how you doin’? How’s your health?

Last week I was having one of those days, you know the kind. Nothing was going right and someone said to me “well, at least you have your health” and you know…as much of a cliche as that is there is a lot of truth in it.

Good health is something to be grateful for. At the very least it’s a lot cheaper to be healthy. Trust me on that. My son is a Diabetic. So today we are going to examine the different aspects of health because according to Dr. Grubbs author of the book Grip Life, there are seven of them and the first one is the most obvious, Physical Health.

Dr. Grubbs – Physical health can be movement for just about any age because you can do low level exercises if you’re over sixty-five or seventy or what have you. Physical health can certainly relieve stress and it has to do with body wellness. Some people use physical health to maintain their weight.

One of the areas we tend to take for granted in this country is Mental Health. Poor mental health is a medical condition and we should treat is just like our physical health. It’s too often ignored. There are lots of reasons for that, I’m guessing it’s because we aren’t always in tune with the symptoms and it can be hard to detect.

Dr. Grubbs – Mental Health I think is one of the most important ones. Because it’s mind wellness. If you don’t have your mind you don’t know what your doing physically, mentally and you may not be able to succeed vocationally because it will influence your employment rating beside that you have financial health and certainly mental health could influence your financial health especially if your getting that money from a salary or through a job or if you need to master your budget.

She says the best way to maintain or acquire a normal, productive life is to avoid neglecting any element of your health which includes all seven areas. Physical, Mental, Financial and Vocational health are four of them and based on what you’ve heard so far these are easy enough to understand but what about Social Health? How active are you in your community or with others at work? This is a huge issue. How is your network of family and friends? It’s important to look at.

Dr. Grubbs – People seem to shun people who have been in mental institutions or have had some mental illnesses in their family now they may not invite you to the sorority or to various different organizations or different types of socials whereas if the group thought you had something to offer to the group might invite you to be a member.

You might have more to offer than you know.

Speaking of your community, another aspect of health is Spiritual Health, it’s a factor no matter what you believe.

Dr. Grubbs – Different people believe in different things. I really don’t try to push my belief on anybody. I wrote that because I grew up in a Southern family that valued family, valued God and certainly valued education and personally i said well let me check a few bible verses and see if they relate to each of these elements of health and i found out that did and I use those because I certainly believe in Christian living I thought well if everybody lived by the ten commandments this might be a better world.

Amen to that…

Dr. Grubbs – Sometimes if you give that stress, talking to somebody who is not gonna tell anybody. you close up in a room all by yourself and talk to God. That has helped me. I don’t know if it’s helped anybody else but i do believe in doing that. That’s how these different elements can influence each other.

And that’s a key point right there. Understanding the different elements is one thing but understating how they intertwine to affect each other is something else entirely. A good example is the family dynamic. What kind of home did you grow up in? Different families have different dynamics, different values, different structures, rules and beliefs.

Dr. Grubbs – The head of the family would influence the other people in the family and then those people would live that way from their influence in teaching and influence the community and communities can impact states and states impact nations and nations impact the world so it has a rolling impact on

Pretty interesting right? Your health, your choices, your life has a far reaching impact. One of my favorite movies is “It’s a Wonderful Life”. Clarence, George Bailey’s Angel in Training, once said to him “Strange, isn’t it? Each man’s life touches so many other lives. When he isn’t around he leaves an awful hole, doesn’t he?”

When you think about it that way, all of a sudden it’s not about you anymore. It’s your life but it’s also about everyone you come in contact with. Let’s outline a plan for a healthier you.

Dr. Grubbs – The biggest room in the world is room for improvement.

Another great quote to remember. The book is called Grip Life and in it there is some space provided for you to write down your improvement plan or areas that you want to work on. It’s all about healthy living for you and for all of us for generations to come.

Dr. Grubbs – I love sweets when i was growing up and I do now but I now but I know not to pack ice cream in my freezer or bake cakes or whatever because my grandmother would preach that and I notice that said you have too many sweets that’s not good for you, you know I mean one a week but now I have tot have some kind of self control. You have to practice self control and I think the elderly lady was very wise and she knew what she was talking about and she would walk every day and all that. She lived to be one hundred years old and her sister lived to be one hundred and seven. I’m thinking well I ain’t gonna get there but I do want to live as long as I can.

I hope she does get there and I hope you do too. Dr. Elizabeth W. Grubbs has plenty of wisdom to share. She has lived in and out of the United States. She has seen extreme poverty and extreme wealth in the same cities. She has obtained degrees and other experiences in education, counseling, and supervision from Tuskegee University, Livingston University, University of Mexico, and Wayne State University and her book Grip Life is available now at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Xlibiris.com and many other places and that will do it for this edition of Newsgram.

Dr. Grubbs was featured on the Books on Air podcast. Listen to the full length interview.

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Your health is important so today we are going to Grip Life to its fullest by addressing the seven health elements outlined by Dr. Elizabeth W. Grubbs in her book Grip Life.

Welcome to this edition of Newsgram!

So…how you doin’? How’s your health?

Last week I was having one of those days, you know the kind. Nothing was going right and someone said to me “well, at least you have your health” and you know…as much of a cliche as that is there is a lot of truth in it.

Good health is something to be grateful for. At the very least it’s a lot cheaper to be healthy. Trust me on that. My son is a Diabetic. So today we are going to examine the different aspects of health because according to Dr. Grubbs author of the book Grip Life, there are seven of them and the first one is the most obvious, Physical Health.

Dr. Grubbs – Physical health can be movement for just about any age because you can do low level exercises if you’re over sixty-five or seventy or what have you. Physical health can certainly relieve stress and it has to do with body wellness. Some people use physical health to maintain their weight.

One of the areas we tend to take for granted in this country is Mental Health. Poor mental health is a medical condition and we should treat is just like our physical health. It’s too often ignored. There are lots of reasons for that, I’m guessing it’s because we aren’t always in tune with the symptoms and it can be hard to detect.

Dr. Grubbs – Mental Health I think is one of the most important ones. Because it’s mind wellness. If you don’t have your mind you don’t know what your doing physically, mentally and you may not be able to succeed vocationally because it will influence your employment rating beside that you have financial health and certainly mental health could influence your financial health especially if your getting that money from a salary or through a job or if you need to master your budget.

She says the best way to maintain or acquire a normal, productive life is to avoid neglecting any element of your health which includes all seven areas. Physical, Mental, Financial and Vocational health are four of them and based on what you’ve heard so far these are easy enough to understand but what about Social Health? How active are you in your community or with others at work? This is a huge issue. How is your network of family and friends? It’s important to look at.

Dr. Grubbs – People seem to shun people who have been in mental institutions or have had some mental illnesses in their family now they may not invite you to the sorority or to various different organizations or different types of socials whereas if the group thought you had something to offer to the group might invite you to be a member.

You might have more to offer than you know.

Speaking of your community, another aspect of health is Spiritual Health, it’s a factor no matter what you believe.

Dr. Grubbs – Different people believe in different things. I really don’t try to push my belief on anybody. I wrote that because I grew up in a Southern family that valued family, valued God and certainly valued education and personally i said well let me check a few bible verses and see if they relate to each of these elements of health and i found out that did and I use those because I certainly believe in Christian living I thought well if everybody lived by the ten commandments this might be a better world.

Amen to that…

Dr. Grubbs – Sometimes if you give that stress, talking to somebody who is not gonna tell anybody. you close up in a room all by yourself and talk to God. That has helped me. I don’t know if it’s helped anybody else but i do believe in doing that. That’s how these different elements can influence each other.

And that’s a key point right there. Understanding the different elements is one thing but understating how they intertwine to affect each other is something else entirely. A good example is the family dynamic. What kind of home did you grow up in? Different families have different dynamics, different values, different structures, rules and beliefs.

Dr. Grubbs – The head of the family would influence the other people in the family and then those people would live that way from their influence in teaching and influence the community and communities can impact states and states impact nations and nations impact the world so it has a rolling impact on

Pretty interesting right? Your health, your choices, your life has a far reaching impact. One of my favorite movies is “It’s a Wonderful Life”. Clarence, George Bailey’s Angel in Training, once said to him “Strange, isn’t it? Each man’s life touches so many other lives. When he isn’t around he leaves an awful hole, doesn’t he?”

When you think about it that way, all of a sudden it’s not about you anymore. It’s your life but it’s also about everyone you come in contact with. Let’s outline a plan for a healthier you.

Dr. Grubbs – The biggest room in the world is room for improvement.

Another great quote to remember. The book is called Grip Life and in it there is some space provided for you to write down your improvement plan or areas that you want to work on. It’s all about healthy living for you and for all of us for generations to come.

Dr. Grubbs – I love sweets when i was growing up and I do now but I now but I know not to pack ice cream in my freezer or bake cakes or whatever because my grandmother would preach that and I notice that said you have too many sweets that’s not good for you, you know I mean one a week but now I have tot have some kind of self control. You have to practice self control and I think the elderly lady was very wise and she knew what she was talking about and she would walk every day and all that. She lived to be one hundred years old and her sister lived to be one hundred and seven. I’m thinking well I ain’t gonna get there but I do want to live as long as I can.

I hope she does get there and I hope you do too. Dr. Elizabeth W. Grubbs has plenty of wisdom to share. She has lived in and out of the United States. She has seen extreme poverty and extreme wealth in the same cities. She has obtained degrees and other experiences in education, counseling, and supervision from Tuskegee University, Livingston University, University of Mexico, and Wayne State University and her book Grip Life is available now at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Xlibiris.com and many other places and that will do it for this edition of Newsgram.

Dr. Grubbs was featured on the Books on Air podcast. Listen to the full length interview.

The post Grip Life by Dr. Elizabeth W. Grubbs appeared first on WebTalkRadio.net.

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Today we travel to a land of kingdoms and magic through the pages of Incantation by Mason Humphries. It is a place where the king of Magique once fell in love with a powerful witch who would not reciprocate his feelings. This is the tale of her daughter.

Welcome to this edition of Newsgram!

I confess. I am a fan of magic. Magic of all kinds. Card tricks, Illusions even movie magic. I don’t care how it’s done, I just can’t get enough of it. Aren’t you captivated by a magicians ability to perform seemingly impossible feats? They tap into our primal desire to experience something otherworldly, something beyond our ordinary, mundane lives and leave us with a sense of wonder and Awe.

Directors and producers who make movie magic often get their inspiration from books. Bringing pages of fantasy to life on the big screen is no easy feat but today we are going to open one of those inspirational novels and travel to a far off land where there lives a king.

Mason Humphries – Who doesn’t take no for an answer.

Very much like other Kings. This particular king has fallen in love with a fair maiden. However, she does not reciprocate his feelings. No matter. He is the King and he is used to getting his way. You just heard it from Mason Humphries, author of the book Incantation, he does not take no for an answer.

Mason Humphries – He orders his men to take her by force and doing so led to her death.

I would not want to be the guy who gives that news to the King…but what is this unexpected turn of events? A child?

Mason Humphries – If he couldn’t have the love of his life he would rather take in her daughter who would have the potential of being of use. Sixteen years later she’s all grown up and none the wiser as to who she really is or who her father is.

So the girl grows up in the kingdom of Magique as princess Lynn, daughter of a powerful sorcerous. Everyone knows she has power, at least they suspect it. She isn’t sure why everyone says that because there has been no reason to think it. It’s just a feeling they have based on her DNA but they all learn the truth one day in a very dramatic way. Lynn throws off a very unexpected and very violent explosion of power rocks the kingdom.

It causes everyone to say who is this girl? According to Mason, she’s just a strong willed teen aged girl who just so happens to have enormous powers.

Mason Humphries – The kind of person who would stand up for others when she sees a bad situation. Someone who wants to help but isn’t capable yet. Someone who tries to lighten things up with a snark, or a joke. Sarcasm.

Seeing the world through the eyes of Lynn allows us to envision a place where we too could be different, special, or extraordinary. Who wouldn’t want to have super powers? If you don’t identify with Lynn perhaps you see more of yourself in her best friend and hand-maiden Jesse who is willing, a bit foolish and strong.

Mason Humphries – Sisters at arms. They’ve been together ever since they were young shed be making these more often, are you seriously looking at her face? She would try and keep a leash on Lynn but it’s difficult. At the same time she would act like her at times and also have a little sarcasm and snakiness.

There are other characters as well like the King, a power driven narcissist and Madam B…

Mason Humphries – Bee plays as the stern mentor, like a mother Lynn never had. She can do magic, she knows how to do it but she wasn’t born with the abilities Lynn has.

And there is Lucy, the dark purple colored crow.

Mason Humphries – She becomes human once when Lynn casts into another part of her magick.

So what mysteries and adventures await our powerful, cheeky Princess and her lady in waiting as their adventure unfolds? I can tell you this, power has a tendency to make people crazy. The rest will have to remain a mystery waiting to be revealed. To learn its secrets you must first do a bit of magic yourself by typing on your electronic device. Enter some numbers and conjure up a downloadable copy of Incantation by Mason Humphries. You’ll find it in the kingdom or Amazon or in the land of Barnes and Noble, a fitting place indeed.

And that young squire, M’lady, will do it for this enchanted edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com

The author Mason Humphries was recently profiled on the Books on Air Podcast. Time in to the full length interview to learn more about him and his writing process.

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Dream big. Today we profile Adrian Kooistra, an Australian author living with Cerebral Palsy who has written the “Fletcher Babysits” series of children’s books.

Welcome to this edition of Newsgram!

Adrian Kooistra is an Australian author living with Cerebral Palsy. Cerebral Palsy is a disorder that affects the part of the brain that controls a person’s mobility. It also affects speech…but it cannot take away your imagination and it cannot stop you from dreaming. Adrian can testify to that.

His dream was to become a writer and he is doing that. He has written a number of poems and a series of children’s books. It’s the children’s books that we are focusing on today. The Fletcher babysits series to be specific.

Adrian’s Interpreter – Fletcher Babysits a Crocodile, Fletcher Babysits a Goat and Fletcher Babysits a Camel.

That is one of Adrians helpers. Being non-Verbal he speaks through the use of an interpreter.

Fletcher is a young boy who lives in Sydney Australia, just like Adrian and babysits unusual animals.

Adrian’s Interpreter…that gets up to all sorts of mischief.

Yes they do. In the first book a baby crocodile was causing some mischief and Fletcher was able to sort out the fact that he was just hungry.

Adrian’s Interpreter – It’s not often a boy babysits a crocodile.

You got that right. It’s one of the things that makes this series of books so much fun.

In the second book we find a demanding goat wreaking havoc until Fletcher realizes he’s just bored.

In the most recent book “Fletcher Babysits a Camel” Adrian introduces us to a baby camel owned by some circus owners who spared no expense to fly Fletcher off to a far off city to investigate the problem involving an old shoe. It’s very clever.

Adrian’s Interpreter – Quirky, funny, big, colorful, enjoyable and fun.

Yes they are. That’s another thing Cerebral Palsy does not do — take away your sense of humor.

Adrian’s Interpreter – I think my favorite part was working with the Illustrator to get the pictures bright and colorful.

They are very colorful. The illustrations were done by Sam Thomas.

All the books in the Fletcher series are a little bit cheeky and educational too. They’re geared toward kids between the ages of four and eight.

Adrian’s Interpreter – Not just children, adults love it too.

Guilty. I mean if you’re going to get the most out of story time it helps if you can enjoy the story too.

I found Adrian to be a real inspiration. He’s a shining example of how everyone is capable of achieving their dream. All they have to do is try.

Adrian’s Interpreter – My challenges as an author are much different to most. It’s so hard to write if I can’t just pick up a pen and go. I need help at all times to write and live my life so it’s amazing to me that I’m an author now.

If you’re looking for something fun to read consider The Fletcher Babysits series by Adrian Kooistra. Choose your favorite or better yet, just get them all. Fletcher Babysits a Crocodile, Fletcher Babysits a Goat and Fletcher Babysits a Camel.

I can’t wait to see what he babysits next. Maybe a Wallaby or a Koala — how about a Dingo? I know, stay in your lane Sam.

All of the books are available now online at Barnes and Noble, Amazon, Xlibris or you can reach out to Adrian directly on Instagram at adriankooistra_author. I’m sure he’d love to hear from you. There are links to all those places in the show’s description. And that will do it for this edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com

Adrian was recently featured on the Books on Air podcast at webtalkradio.com and on the Talking Books show with JT Crowley.

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This episode explores the untapped power of the mind. It focuses on the third book, Know Your Mind in the Learning Experience Trilogy by Peter Massam. Here we move on from growing pains in teenage years and confronting fears to exploring the extraordinary relationship between the mind and the body.

Welcome to this edition of Newsgram!

Your mind is a lot more powerful than you might imagine. It’s something I’m only beginning to understand and I don’t mind saying I’m not alone. Human potential is something that has been explored for years with smarter minds than my own and the answers only present with more questions.

This episode is a continuation of the last one. Part two of our look at Peter Massam’s Learning Experience Trilogy. Here’s Peter with a quick summary for you.

Peter Massam – Know your mind is the culmination of the trilogy. The previous two books have looked at both the joy and the sadness and the emotional situations you can find yourself in and how your mind is processing the real world because you have to eat with things in the real world. What Know your mInd does is take more experiences later on in life that persuade George that the mind is actually a much more powerful thing than we think it is or that we give it credit for. It’s not necessarily in fashion in vogue to bring out the more metaphysical side of our lives because we’ve all in society we’ve become more scientific. To get to the facts. I wanted this book to be more of a philosophical outlook to work with that scientific community to approve or disprove the experiences that George went on to tell and I made the third book, I made him tell it in his own words because I think it’s easier to understand what he experiences later on when written in the first person so you get inside his head literally.

I’m sure you’ve already surmised that this George he speaks of is the main character. You would be right. It’s been fun watching George do kid stuff, grow up and make adult decisions and now we find him using his mind to try and make sense of the world.

Peter Massam – We tend to believe that this mind is, yes we know it’s there. We make decisions every day but from the experiences that George encounters it adds up to a lot more in terms of capabilities.

Not to give too much away but the book begins with George at a team building event where he’s learning to put mind over matter by breaking a board martial arts style and he is learning a thing or two about reflexology.

Peter Massam – The wider picture really is how we as humans have evolved and where this possibly could have come from and what evidence there is that there have been evidence through the years which have culminated in this experience in a single individual but which is demonstrably shared by other capabilities shared by other people in the third book.

In his Trilogy of books, Nipper, Moose Conquering Fear and the final book Know your mind Peter Massam shows us a lifetime journey of learning experiences through the character of George. he takes us from childhood encounters through coming of age to conquering fears and they culminate in the third book which is our focus today with a new appreciation of the power of the mind in the realms of communication, pain relief and self-help healing and preservation. And yes one of the references to pain relief does involve a trip to the dentist. The concept of Telepathy comes from a trip to China.

Peter Massam – Certainly when he went out to China the first hint if you like of the possibilities of communicating with each other just through thinking or by using the mind was first revealed to him and sceptic as he is he would always try and prove it again to make sure this wasn’t some kind of coincidence or just her luck.

One of the most fascinating things about this book is that the things he’s talking about, the things George experiences are not science fiction. The story is fictional but the concepts are very real.

Peter Massam – It doesn’t matter what career path you’ve chosen or what kind of life you lead the capabilities are and have always been there it’s just they are extremely underused and undiscovered for a large part but in certain individuals when you start encountering those individuals and talking with them you realize that there are some fairly…they have a different perspective on life but they also have certain other sensory capabilities or ability to see things in a different way.

A great example of this comes in the book when George is retiring his leased car. He encounters a woman that could have diagnosed and possibly healed his dog — just another example of some of the strange and wonderful things we are capable of if we delve deeper into the power of our mind and heron lies today’s lesson. Keep an open mind. You don’ have to believe everything you hear. I thin a healthy dose of skepticism is a great thing but at the same time be open to learning new things because you never know…

Peter Massam – One of the problems we’re talking about some of the use things to do with the metaphysical and the mind is that people are reluctant to talk because they want to know that you are open to those kind of suggestions and as long as you have that openness then people will talk to you about their sensory perception.

Of course. No-one wants you to think they’re crazy just because they have abilities different from yours. The truth is we all have special abilities. We are capable of so much more than we are aware. It’s just that some people make use of those abilities — that’s another takeaway from this series. It’s all about helping you learn in the best way possible with interesting, relatable characters interacting in fun ordinary ways.

Peter Massam – I was put off reading early on by being given A Tale of Two Cities by my well meaning Grandma. And unfortunately I never got past page two. I think I was eight or so. It was completely the wrong book to give a child of that age so I made the beginning of the book Nipper accessible to younger teenagers so the 12, 13, 14’s they should feel they can pick it up and relate with what’s going on there and then as they progress through their teenage years they’ll see that the maturity of the language that’s used an how you can feel dissociated from both your parents and other people around you who suddenly become, for some reason they become very much older. You know, when your nineteen or so you see people of seventeen or eighteen coming out of school or university and they just seem so young because if they hadn’t had any working life at all you think their perspective, you left that behind so you have to wait for them to catch up kind of thing.

Find a way to be alone with your thoughts. Shut out the noise and see what you come up with. Meditating is hard for some people but it’s a start to finding out what you’re capable of. Like I said in the beginning. Your mind is a lot more powerful than you might imagine and if this trilogy of books will help spark your interest or enthusiasm then give it a go. Who knows, it might bring balance to yourlife and help you get in sync with this crazy world.

Peter Massam – I had the good fortune to travel to Melbourne in Australia a couple of times. If asked to name three things that made an impression on me there they would have to be the following. Firstly the Yada-Yada river that dominates the downtown central business district and provides the backdrop for nightly celebrations with jets of fire scorching the sky at sunset. The second would be the overriding feeling of contentment walking to work up the hill from the river. I wondered at first why this was such a pleasant experience but quickly discovered the sauce in the faces of those around me and in their relaxed gait. On sparsely populated pavements their smiles shown out reflected on the sparking office windows on another fine day their calm unhurried pace conveyed a state of being at one with their world; and then thirdly, further up that hill…a curiosity meets the eye. Cars

pulling off to the left at a crossroads in order to make a right turn known to me as a J turn, but by others perhaps as a hook turn. It was not so much the practicality of avoiding tan lines going down the center of the road that made an impact on me but the complementary nature of their approach to the junction that seemed to be in perfect harmony with the pedestrians walking alongside them. Just as pulling over out of the flow of bi-directional traffic lanes to make a J turn is deliberate. So stepping out of the mainstream is a conscious move. When considering the workings of the mind I feel we have to make a similar J turn. The physical world continues to hasten at variable and sometimes blistering speeds but stepping out of that zone and parking the stresses of our complex lives can allow our mind to fill the void, bring balance to our well being and connect better with each other.

A great way to wrap up the series. It definitely gives you something to think about. The third and final volume in the Learning Experience Trilogy is a tool, if you will, for coping with and making sense of our physical world.

He has put a lot of thought into these books making them very easy to understand depending on your age. All three of the books in the Learning Experience trilogy have now been published and if you want to learn more just google Peter Massam they are available now wherever you like to buy books and we’ve added links to this shows description and that will do it for this edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com.

Check out an interview with Peter on the Talking Books Podcast with JT Crowley on Youtube or get the audio version of Talking Books wherever you link to download podcasts. Visit the Talking Books homepage at Webtalkradio.com

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The Praying Mantis is a woman who likes to dominate and control men. Most women would stop at that, but some want to see how far their domination could take them. Could that include murder? This episode is based on the book, “The Lure of the Praying Mantis”by David Gaston.

Welcome to this edition of Newsgram!

Oh boy do we have a treat for you today and we begin with two words: Sexual Cannibalism. Some of the most famous sexual cannibalistic animals in nature are the South American green anaconda and of course the infamous Black Widow Spider — technically I guess that’s an insect — but my all time favorite is the Praying Mantis. She uses her wily ways of seduction to lure in a mate. She lets him do his little dance and hop onto her back but once he begins to mate, she bites off his head. What’s even more fascinating is that they never learn. Well, they have the brain of an insect….

David Gaston – I’ve met some women in the past that have been praying mantises. They’ve not always been straightforward with me but it made me wonder how far they would go.

Some women thrive on being dominated and controlled by men as long as it’s on their terms. So what happens when things go too far. When a simple safe-word perhaps is not enough. Would they resort to murder? Or better yet would they use their powers of manipulation to get others to do their killing for them.

David Gaston – Well there’ve been court cases involving women. They’ve not killed anyone but someone acting for them has and it makes me wonder why were these men doing what these women wanted?

That’s David Gaston, author of the book The Lure of the Praying Mantis. The story is based on some very real court cases but the book is a work of fiction. It’s about Anne-Marie De Wynter, our Femme Fatale and what she did to her victim Benny Gordon. The cases he just referred to suggest that murder is definitely an option for the real-life Praying Mantis as long as she can get someone else to do the killing for her.

David Gaston – In these court cases what they wanted was someone killed. it was the men who got done for it. Not the women.

Armed with the legal knowledge and personality traits of these manipulative women David set out to weave a tale of deceit and murder.

Enter Anne-Marie De Wynter and so begins the evolution of a Praying Mantis.

David Gaston – She starts out as a school girl playing with boys and making them do things they don’t want to do and gradually goes into the workplace. She starts playing with another man and he just happens to be married to the boss’s daughter. She wants a man killed simply because he’s been acting like her uncle and she was playing up to him but he sort of rejected her and she didn’t like that so she found a bit of a slow thinking Bennie and she was able to manipulate him to actually kill the Uncle.

And whenever you have a murder there is usually someone assigned to try and solve it. The case of the Praying Mantis falls on the desk of Detectives Buchan and Durham. Bad news for Anne-Marie.

David Gaston – I created two detectives that work well together and they were able to crack the case.

A bit of an oversimplification but yes, they do eventually catch up with the praying mantis when she stepped outside her normal behavior and chose to do her own killing.

(Excerpt. Chapter One)

Men were her target, and her sexuality was her weapon. Anne­Marie was attractive, although she could never be considered an entrant for a beauty contest. Her blond hair was shoulder length and curly, her face was round with blue eyes and an engaging smile. Anne-Marie ate frugally so that her ample charms re­mained deliciously ample rather than overpoweringly ample. She knew what men liked and so she dressed and behaved as though she would offer it all, but without giving anything. Life is all about give and take; well men would give, and Anne-Marie would take.

Men found her sexually attractive, and Anne-Marie knew it. This was the source of her power, and she used it mercilessly. She was in command, always in command. She would psychological­ly castrate them by degrading their names into an effeminate, al­most childlike, form. So, Michael became Mickey, Timothy be­came Timmy, and William became Willy. She dominated them like a mother figure, making them do things that they otherwise would not want to do.

You know the type…

David Gaston – The praying mantis could turn up anywhere.

Which might not be such a bad thing after all. According to a study published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, females who eat their male partners after sex produce more eggs than those who don’t. By eating the male it ensures that he is still able to provide for his offspring, even though he’s dead….just sayin.…but guys, if you don’t want this to be your fate David offers these words of warning as you head into your next relationship.

David Gaston – Be on the watch. Try and find out what you can about them if they actually are who they say they are because they might want you to do something for them and you might not want to do it.

So guys…don’t lose your head over her. Sorry I couldn’t resist. The lesson today is while you might not be asked to do murder make sure you are aware of whether or not she’s a genuine friend or just trying to lure you in to manipulate you for her own advantage. It might be a seductive temptress, a praying mantis at work trying to lure you into a fate you did not bargain for.

The Lure of the Praying Mantisby David Gaston is available now pretty much everywhere online. Target, Barnes and Noble, Amazon and Walmart, and that will do it for this edition of Newsgram from webtalkradio.com

Be sure and catch the Books on Air podcast featuring David Gaston at Webtalkradio.com

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This episode is based on the book The Dogs are Curling up Again by Margaret H Townley where political exile Isabel returns to her native Chile where things are very different.

Welcome to this edition of Newsgram!

Chrissie Hynde said it in her song, My City was Gone. “…I went back to Ohio. But my pretty countryside. Had been paved down the middle. By a government that had no pride…” Do you know the song? Sometimes nostalgia can be a dangerous thing because things often change in ways that we don’t always agree with. It also gives us a sharpened perspective on the reality of the situation.

Imagine for a moment that you left the town of your birth. You moved to another country all together. However, after fourteen years, the place where you live just doesn’t feel like home. So you go back, but things there have changed as well. It is now very different. It’s a divided country; one you feel equally estranged from. It doesn’t feel like the home it once was. You feel displaced, disorganized and unsettled…and many other things. Are you gonna do something about it?

Margaret H Townley – Well she embarks on the activism feeling its the only way really to search for the country she remembers

That’s Margaret H Townley, author of the book “The Dogs are Curling up Again”. When we talk about a divided country that doesn’t feel like the one you grew up in sounds very much like our own beloved United States of America but it is not. Her story takes place in Chile and the UK more on that in a moment but I just wanted to point out that while the countries are different the overarching themes in this book are relatable to many other places. Kind of like the title….

Margaret H Townley – When I first arrived in Chile it was winter and they do have dogs living in the street. Many local people are very fond of their dogs. I never saw a dog in a bad condition but they live outside. To them its the normal place that dogs should be and in the winter, when it’s cold at night, they curl themselves into perfect circles which is fun to see.

Imagine dogs of all kinds curled up in perfect circles dotting the winter landscape. It’s a great visual and it made such an impression on her that she used it as an analogy for her story and the title of the book. The dogs are symbolic of Chilean dictators that are indifferent to the feelings of the people they are supposed to be serving.

So the protagonist of the story is Isabel. She loses her father and boyfriend in the military so she decides to exile in the UK.

Margaret H Townley – And then when she goes into exile she loses her mother she loses her friends. she loses her culture and her country, a continent even and you know it’s a big step and she always felt an outsider I think as many Chileans do and refugees in general do in this country.

So fourteen years later Isabel goes home, but as you and I both know, you can never really go home; Especially after that long a time.

Margaret H Townley – She was as estranged there as in England

The country she once knew is not that same so Isabel decides to do something about it by becoming a political activist

Margaret H Townley – Well she embarks like you said on the activism and feeling it was the only way really to search for the country underneath the white washed crimes of the dictatorship that are beings or to washed over and the stranglehold that the military still has on the society and the constitution that the dictator imposed which was so unjust to many sections of the community.

It’s a great premise and it’s like what I was talking about in the beginning. What are our duties as citizens and what are our responsibilities in the face of injustice? Do we stand up and make our voices heard or accept the status quo? It’s a very relatable concept but this story is about much more than just politics. It’s also a love story.

Margaret H Townley – She becomes the lover of this Chilean man and he’s very supportive of the work she wants to achieve but then her English partner that she’d been with for seven years or so before she returned to Chili gets a message to her somehow that he’s searching for her. He’s in Chili. He’s doing voluntary work and um, he’s really there to look for her.

I n t e r e s t i n g. Now we’ve got ourselves in a real situation. A love triangle set in a historic period in a country with amazing geographic diversity during politically tumultuous times. It’s also a story about self-identity. As Isabels searches for hers you can’t help but think about your own. And, if that’s not enough, It also inspires the reader to take a harder look at their personal and political values.

Margaret H Townley – It maybe was a bit presumptuous of me to try and thinking i can step into the shoes of a chilean and really express her experience and yet i felt i had something to say not only for all i’d learned about the society and what I believe a person like that has been through but something to say about my own society as well. I could see when I was in Chili in the late nineties the harshness of life without a welfare state. An adequate welfare state, there was a little or adequate health services and at the same time i knew that in my own society the welfare state was in the process of being destroyed or removed step-by-step and there been this deterioration i think in community and sense of solidarity that’s come about ever since Reagan and Thatcher were bringing in NeoLiberalism which is not very different from what the military imposed in Chili. In Chili it was a sudden military coup, an awful shock and thousands died but in North American and other Western societies and particularly in Britain I feel that there has been this creeping effect that ends up very similar to what’s happened in Chili. Greater poverty, greater inequality. Inequality really bothers me and it is so extreme now. The lack of adequate affordable housing and the lack of adequate funds going into health and education and these erode a sense of community and in fact I think cause a great deal of resentment or bad societal effects that come out of that huge divide between those who have and those who have not.

I know….it’s a lot but that’s what makes it so interesting. There is plenty here to think about. Plenty of layers to peel back and explore. If you are fascinated by other cultures, world news, geography, history and even current affairs then you’ll probably enjoy this story. It will definitely play on your sense of Empathy. To quote Leo Tolstoy, “If you feel pain, you’re alive, if you feel other people’s pain, you’re a human being”.

Margaret H Townley – I think that gives us that responsibility to want to create a better world for all of us.

We all do the best we can right? I don’t think I’m giving too much away by saying Isabel does develop clarity with her issues and the things keeping her from being the person she once was but how she gets there; her journey is what makes The Dogs are Curling up Again by Margaret H. Townley such an interesting read. Look for it online at Amazon.com, Balboa Press, or whoever you like to shop for books. There are links in the show’s description. And that will do it for this edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com.

Be sure and listen to the interview with Margaret H. Townley on the Books on Air Podcast at Webtalkradio.com.

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This episode looks at money-laundering. It’s based on the book “The Shepherds Of Inequality: And The Futility Of Our Efforts To Stop Them” by Dawn Pretorius.

Welcome to this edition of Newsgram.

What do you know about money laundering? I just read some startling statistics from an article at Zippia.com that said worldwide, there are between $800 billion and $2 trillion laundered annually. The United States makes up at least $300 billion of that figure and most of the cases go undetected.

Have you seen Ozark with Jason Bateman? It’s a great example of the evils of Money Laundering but Marty Byrd and his family are a work of fiction. Dawn Pretorius has seen it all first hand. She’s been working in the financial services industry for a long time and she’s seen a lot of legislation over the years and other efforts worldwide to stop it but nothing seems to work.

How bad is this problem? Here’s a stat for you. Money laundering schemes cost 2%-5% of the world’s total GDP — Gross domestic product just to be clear. It’s A LOT and she says if we really want to stop it we need to think differently because right now we are on the wrong path.

Dawn Pretorius – There are things that are legal. Things like company structures, shell companies which can be used legally, offshore tax havens, company structures which are very convoluted and you don’t know who the ultimate beneficial earners are; that kind of thing. We have legal structures that facilitate money-laundering and we have very good accountants and auditors and lawyers and advocates and all of these people who obviously apply their expertise to this. These are also complex subjects and of course only the wealthy people can afford to hide their money to do that kind of thing.

Very complicated indeed because like she said most of the tools used to launder money are legal and the people doing it are very smart and very good at what they do. So what can be done?

Dawn Pretorius – We Should Know this is what’s happening and we should be able to change laws and change things in order to be able to do that.

It starts by getting the word out. In an effort to let people know the seriousness of the problem and that it exists she has written a book called The Shepherds Of Inequality: And The Futility Of Our Efforts To Stop Them. In it she writes, “Money laundering is the world’s biggest industry because it en­capsulates trade, commerce, finance, business, manufacturing, production, and politics and pervades the world’s economic ef­forts in all these areas. To fight it, a costly counter-industry has grown exponentially, but its efforts, relative to the value of mon­ey being laundered, are estimated to be less than 1 percent effec­tive in terms of successful convictions and/or money retrieved.

Dawn Pretorius – If you look at the governments they all have a lot of powerful people in government and many governments around the world are very corrupt and it only exacerbates the problem unfortunately. South Africa would be a wonderful example of that.

Her job was to try and prevent money laundering from happening. That’s what Compliance Officers and Risk Managers do. She says anti-Money-Laundering is an industry unto itself.

Dawn Pretorius – The other industry is the one that’s trying to control it and we are actually losing the battle. I mean we do have some incredible wins where some drug dealers are finally captured etcetera but generally there’s huge amounts of fraud leading to money being sort of lost if you like.

Her book makes for some interesting reading because this is not an easy thing to write about. It’s a complicated web of corruption. Plus, once you discover a way money is being laundered it changes.

Dawn Pretorius – Some of the examples are very difficult to even summarize. It’s a lot of collusion, collaborations, it’s not just one person doing it. It’s a whole group that is busy on one aspect of it. One aspect of corruption.

She chose about sixty months of news from 2017-2022 from around fifty randomly chosen countries to highlight the way money has been laundered there and I’ll tell ya’ some of the things she found are pretty mind blowing. Money laundering goes hand in hand with drugs and trafficking but when you hear the word trafficking what do you think?

Dawn Pretorius – The interesting thing about trafficking, um you know trafficking is also money laundering eventually because they get the money through corruption but everything gets trafficked in including sand on beaches. Would you have known that? And human beings. Cyber crime criminals are becoming a big thing now where people are being trafficked so they have to work and cause cyber crime on the computers and if they don’t two what they’re told they get beaten up. It’s an extremely sad world when you look at that and of course I’m sure you experienced it to like scamming. People get scammed into all sorts of things. Silly things like, the post office has a parcel for you. Just pay so much and go and collect your parcel. I feel sorry for people in the future because it’s hard to see what’s real and what isn’t.

Sand is a more valuable resource than you might think and sand theft is a real threat to the environment. Dawn has seen a lot of things and her book is full of stories and information worth knowing. I applaud her and all the other people out there working to keep us safe. Especially when the whole thing can seem utterly hopeless sometimes.

Dawn Pretorius – Sadly big banks themselves are guilty not just of breaching maybe some of the rules for anti-money laundering but they actually have been guilty of money laundering itself. You’re not easily winning the game.

I’ve never been a big fan of banks and so when she said that I looked it up. According to an article from the Department of Justice dated December 13, 2022. “Danske Bank, a global financial institution headquartered in Denmark, pleaded guilty…and agreed to forfeit $2 billion to resolve the United States’ investigation into Danske Bank’s fraud on U.S. banks” and there are a lot more. Just Google Big Banks guilty of money laundering and you’ll get all kinds of cases.

Investigations into money laundering can take years but there are convictions happening. They are few and far between. Sadly, many cases don’t result in satisfactory convictions, some just fall off the radar, or politics get in the way so what can we do? You’ve heard me say this before. Question everything. Why was Amazon’s federal tax bill ZERO two years in a row? There are things in her book that will enrage you and entertain you and in the end there are things we can do but it starts by keeping our eyes open and asking questions.

Dawn Pretorius – When we are partners or corresponding banks we do what we call “Know your Client” on each other so I need to know who I’m dealing with that person they need to know who they’re dealing with on this side so we have to fill out a questionnaire and the questionnaire is long and it asked you all kinds of things….and it’s tied up with the law but why do they want to kn from Pakistan to South Africa for example why we are doing this. It’s just too tick a box. What will it do? So I was saying why do we have to fill in these when we simply just need to give them who we are regulated by, cause they are all regulated , whether they’re regulated by another reserve bank or a federal bank etcetera but when I did the research I found out guess who made up this questionnaire? It was made up by five of the biggest banks in the world that have been guilty of money laundering. So these are things, tick-a-box stuff that takes all our resources away from proper investigations and its a waste of time. that’s what I want to get rid of and looking at income tax and how to simply it etcetera

When you find a questionnaire that seems overly convoluted and pointless, ask, why is this so? You might get an enlightening answer. The book is called The Shepherds Of Inequality: And The Futility Of Our Efforts To Stop Them by Dawn Pretorius. It’s available now all your favorite places to shop for books and I think you’ll enjoy it. And that will do it for this edition of news gram from Webtalkradio.com.

Dawn Pretorius was recently featured on the Books on Air podcast hosted by Sloan Fremont at Webtalkradio.com

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Everyone can use a hug and who better to learn this from than a child. The world can use as many hugs and love as we all can offer. When we are tired, upset, hurt, excited, overjoyed, etc. a hug is readily available. Who wouldn’t want a good hug!

Welcome to this edition of Newsgram!

Do you need a hug? Of course you do. We all need a hug, a smile or maybe some kind words. I like to put on some music when I need a pick-me-up. Do you have a song that makes your heart sing? Maybe it’s just a sunny day, a Hummingbird or a bee on the flower.

Yes, today is going to be another positive, uplifting, feel good episode of Newsgram. Let’s begin with a story. One that is guaranteed to put a smile on your face, by Johanna A Ferket

Johanna A Ferket – I was in the grocery store and there was an older gentleman and he couldn’t figure out what he wanted to take or what he was gonna eat for lunch and I said , “you look like you are really struggling here. These grocery stores are so big it’s just a nightmare to know what to buy” and he looks at me and the he goes, “well, My wife passed away and now I have to figure out my own food without her”, and I said well what was your favorite, or what was your wife favorite, and he said she liked Tuna and I said maybe today is Tuna day and then he went on to explain that he and his wife would go dancing all over North America. Can you Imagine? They were married sixty-three years. They’d been to every state and every province in North America. We gave one another a hug and he was crying but he was smiling when he left. He changed my life and I know I changed his.

I never used to stop and talk to strangers. Too busy, too self absorbed, too worried about getting caught up in their lives…all kinds of reasons but I do it all the time now. It’s fascinating. Most people are happy to talk for a few minutes — we’re not moving in together or anything — and being completely honest here I don’t hug strangers but a simple exchange of words, a smile, a little common courtesy is all it takes to change someone’s day and set it on the right path.

I know how that sounds but we are so isolated these days. Our habits can be so confining. I was angry when video games went to single player experiences because I saw this coming — that’s a tangent for another day but wasn’t it the Irish poet William Butler Yeats who said “A stranger is a friend you haven’t met yet”? Sometimes when you’re feeling down it might just be other people you are looking for. Johanna Ferket knows all about this and she wrote a children’s book called “Do You Need a Hug”.

Johanna A Ferket – This little girl sets out to make the world a better place. She wanders off and she meets and older man, and she meets a dog in a park and she gives the dog a hug and makes him feel good and she comes to a garden with a lady. When she gets to the garden she hugs a sunflower and there’s a bee on it and the bee looked at her kind of funny and the flower vibrated like it knew it was getting a hug, the bee looked surprised but seemed content and went on collecting pollen.

A lot of people are afraid of bees. Now, I don’t recommend actually hugging a flower with a bee on it but the truth is the bee is not going to bother you. They have a job to do and stinging you isn’t it.

Johanna A Ferket – When we give off good energy and when we are positive and live right that energy spreads all around where you are.

That’s really the bottom line here. You get what you give. The world is a challenging place right now. We need to do whatever we can to try and make it better. Give it a try I guarantee it’s going to make you feel good inside.

Johanna A Ferket – Just be kind. Reach out and be a good person.

Do You Need a Hug? by Johanna A Ferket, is all about spreading positive energy. To set aside whatever you’re feeling for the moment and see the good in the world.

It looks like a children’s book but I’ll bet your grandma would love it too.

Johanna A Ferket – It’s good for anyone you know and I imagine myself or a mother or a father reading the story to a child and then at the end they’re gonna give one another a hug and it will benefit both.

Do you need a hug? This podcast is the best I can do from here so consider yourself hugged. Now log get a copy of her book from Xlibris.com, Amazon or Barnes and Noble.com and give it to someone to brighten their day. And that will do it for this edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com.

Johanna was recently featured on the Books on Air podcast with host Suzanne Harris.

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Like Crime Novels? Today we talk about Hyman Kazan, the protagonist in “A Scandal of the Particular” by Steve Hamilton.

Kazan has a struggling legal career and an unfulfilled, passionate girlfriend. But the situation is about to get worse, much worse, when the body of a young man from Scotland is found outside of a safe injection site in downtown Vancouver. The dark, rainy streets of the Lower Mainland are about to explode when it is discovered that this corpse and Kazan’s girlfriend shared the same lover, Judge Craig Donald Smith. As his world begins to crumble, Kazan finds himself with one last chance to find truth and happiness. Then he finds himself alone with his demons and a loaded handgun, in a struggle to find justice, ethics, and integrity. But does he have the courage?

Welcome to this edition of Newsgram!

The Crime genre has become extremely popular. It’s been said that half of Americans consume some sort of true crime content regularly — perhaps you are one of them. If so, today’s show will be of particular interest to you because you’re going to meet Steve Hamilton, a former prosecutor and criminologist.

Steve has been in the trenches so he brings an insiders perspective on the goings on in the criminal justice system.

Steve Hamilton – I was a prosecutor for over thirty years. I did everything from murder to mayhem and I wanted to write a book to sort of talk about, from a prosecutor’s point of view, what’s involved in a criminal case and also what’s behind a criminal case.

The book he mentioned is called A Scandal of the Particular and in it Steve likes to get into more than just the case at hand because every case involves people with lives of their own.

Steve Hamilton – The victims, the lawyers, their spouses, their relationships.

He says it’s like a trial within a trial and I think all of these added layers make this story a lot more interesting. Steve is not just a writer or a former prosecutor he is also very mindful of our social responsibility and that is reflected in the story as well.

Steve Hamilton – There’s never a victim that’s just one victim. Even the accused family is affected by the outcome of their actions. The accused is affected. The community is affected and it has a ripple effect. All of us have a role to play in the welfare of others. I honestly believe that.

I think that is so important. Our actions and the actions of others have a ripple effect. The Criminal and the victim are not the only lives affected by a crime. There is sooo much more going on. There’s also something else to keep in mind. In the real world of criminal justice when a case is solved there’s always another one to take its place.

Steve Hamilton – The criminal Justice System is best compared to a slaughterhouse. It’s like I love Lucy with the chocolates that keep coming. keep coming and keep coming and so often maybe Hollywood or maybe another book will portray a defense lawyer where they do one particular case but in a prosecutor’s case and in the criminal justice system it’s one case of many. They keep coming. They keep piling up.

You probably knew that, to be fair to your favorite crime show, many times they just focus on the case at hand and next week there’s a new one, but the fact that Steve gives that slaughterhouse mentality to his main character is one of the things that make this book different and there’s a lot more. Here’s the deal…our protagonist is Hyman Kazan.

Steve Hamilton – Kazan is a fellow who is a senior lawyer in Vancouver. He’s on the cutting floor, the slaughterhouse day after day, cases are coming in and he gets assigned a case of a young gay man who is killed. The police believe the person who was responsible for the murder was a judge. This gets him interested because now the criminal justice system is on trial. The judge is on trial but what makes matters worse is that his long time love partner or partner says to him oh by the way I’m in a relationship with the same judge.

So Kazan’s girlfriend admits to him that she is or was involved with the judge. Judge Craig Donald Smith really gets around. A scandal indeed….

Steve Hamilton – So now how to deal with that? You’re seeking justice in the criminal justice system and you’re also seeking justice for yourself. You’re dealing with jealousy. You’re dealing with revenge, you’re dealing with retribution on all of those issues on both levels. How do you navigate that; and that’s the question the protagonist says, how do I navigate this.

It’s an emotionally complicated scenario. Ultimately you have to rely on the words of the great American Playwright Arthur Miller who said “Maybe all one can do is to hope to end up with the right regrets.” Focus on the things that are within your control instead of the things you can’t…or the things that are trying to control you.

Steve Hamilton – When you think about the criminal justice system just think right now, if you were to pick up the phone and to phone your local police force right away the criminal justice wheels are starting to grind and your control over that is gone. Whether it’s a family court case or a criminal case you turn over your autonomy to a third party like a judge, like a police force, you lose control and you may have the same morality or the same way of looking at things or you may want the same, what you see as a just outcome, whether its the custody of your children or the resolution of a criminal matter but once you let that go that person that third party may not share your view, may not share your morally; then what? It started with a phone call.

Steve Hamilton’s new book A Scandal of the Particular is one more reminder to question everything because we are only human after all and while our system of justice is a good one it is flawed because we as humans are flawed.

Steve Hamilton – I hope it starts a dialogue. I hope it reveals the players and people question the players at the front of the room. If you ever go into a courtroom you just see the back of heads. Ever think of you just see the back of lawyers. You see the judge’s face but you don’t see them. What’s going on in their lives that will affect the outcome of the case that’s before you? Think of them differently. We think of them as perhaps robotic in terms of going through the facts of the law or whatever but it’s far from that. Think of the players, think of the effect of the case on them and think of what’s the next case. How does this all work together? I hope it gives a revealing look at the justice system other than what just sees from A to B it goes to C,D and the rest. I Hope anyway.

Thank you Steve Hamilton because we have to start somewhere. Supreme Court Judges, Court of appeals judges, and District court judges are all nominated by the President and confirmed by congress. Other Judges are elected in this country. How much do you know about the judicial system, the legal system and the judges on your ballot? It’s all information that is readily available.

So…

It’s another rainy day on the west coast of Canada. Attorney Hyman Kazan is already at his lowest point in life and the booze is flowing when the body of a young man is found in downtown Vancouver with a link to Kazan’s girlfriend’s new lover, Judge Smith. As Kazan starts looking into the Judge’s possible role in the murder some sinister secrets come to surface. Secrets that threaten to destroy whatever is left of Kazan’s life.

A Scandal of the Particular by Steve Hamilton. It’s about love, companionship, relationship upheaval, pain, regret, justice, mortality, and morality. It’s about how we drown ourselves in misery to avoid the pain of a heartbreak — his words not mine .

Check it out online at Amazon, Barnes and Noble or Steve’s website, HamiltonSteveBooks.com log in and read an excerpt, see what you think.

And that will do it for this True Crime edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com.

Steve Hamilton was recently interviewed by Sloan Fremont on the very popular Books on Air podcast. Have a listen on your favorite streaming platform.

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When Graeme joined Scouts aged twelve, who knew it would lead to a commitment beyond forty years? Today we delve into his book THE FLEUR-DE-LIS, Khaki Shorts, and me by Graeme C Legge

Welcome to this edition of Newsgram.

There’s no place like Home. Home is where the heart is. Wherever I lay my hat is home. You’ve heard these expressions before. Home means different things to different people but at its core home is where your childhood memories come from. Just the word can evoke feelings of safety and security. It might be why you are still there…or on the other hand, it might be why you couldn’t wait to get out of there.

Graeme Legge is a fan of local history and a big believer in preserving it whenever possible.

Graeme C Legge – Local information, local history is worth recording it is important so I did start collecting newspaper clippings about Emerald

Graeme’s home is in Australia. Emerald to be more precise. It’s in Queensland located in the Northeast section of the continent and if you want to know more about the goings on in Emerald Graeme is a great resource.

Graeme C Legge – I think people can appreciate where they live and the work of others and perhaps be inspired to say well I’ve benefited from the work of others I should make my contribution and keep the process going.

To that end, he has written a book based on his many years of community service. It’s called The Fleur-De-Lis, Khaki Shorts and Me, A Logbook of My Scouting Adventures.

Graeme C Legge – I’m actually quite pleased with the outcome. I think it is an interesting read and experiences shared.

To coincide with the 75th Anniversary of Scouting the current scout Group leader in Emerald invited past Emerald Scouts to write about their experiences. Graeme had so many experiences that he turned them into a book. One story was the inspiration for the book’s cover. It features a photo of Lord Robert Baden-Powell’s wife Lady Baden Powell. Lord Robert Baden-Powell was the founder of the World Scouting movement.

Graeme C Legge – His wife, Lady Baden Powell came through Emerald one Friday night after school. Now we knew that she was coming through so we assembled Cubs and Scouts and Guides and Brownies on the side of the road and hoping that the good Lady when she was passing might see this assembled group of young people and might perhaps have her car slow down and she’d wave and we’d wav vigorously and enthusiastically to her. She did better than that. She got the guide to stop the car. She stepped out of the car and came over to the assembled young people and leaders. She spoke for about fifteen minutes about what she had been doing and she was the world chief girl guide leader. and I thought it was lovely. How gracious to do that. It was very uplifting experience so hey there’s a connection between Emerald and the founder of scouting himself by way of his wife.

Graeme has certainly made a valuable contribution to his community through all of his service over the years. His book is excellently written and Illustrated but does it live up to core values of scouting — Duty to God, Duty to Others, and Duty to Self? Most definitely.

Graeme C Legge – On Sunday’s I went to church and Sunday school and I learned about God and I learned about the good Samaritan who helped other people. I went to school on Monday and we saluted the flag in those days and we stood at attention and said I love God and my country. I will honor the flag and serve the King or Queen and cheerfully obey my parents, teachers and the law. On Friday nights I went to Scouts and said, “I promise in my honor I will do my best to do my duty to God and the Queen to help other people at all times and to obey the scout law. Those lessons, those outlooks that reinforcement I think was very positive and led me to conclude that we are helped by other people. We take advantage of what has gone on before us by way of buildings and constructions and works of art and outlooks on life and that we do well to contribute our part and not be selfish if we don’t but contribute our part and keep the momentum and so this idea of looking outwards to the community, helping others, serving other and perhaps enriching the locality and looking outwards and upwards to God to Spiritual outlook that is very wholesome and very health and very practical and very enjoyable as well.

Graeme Legge is a quality guy and a great community leader. I think you’ll enjoy reading about one of the early scouting trips they took to the UK.

Graeme C Legge – Part of that occasion involved having afternoon tea in a place called Sir James’s Palace in London, the home of the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester. That was very lovely and special. On the way through Sir Jame’s palace the Rule paused in one room and he said, “Now you Victorian school boys will be especially interested in their painting”, it was an original painting of the opening of federal parliament in Australia it was done in 1901.

There’s more to that story so if we’ve piqued your interest feel free to download a copy of the book The Fleur-De-Lis, Khaki Shorts and Me. A Logbook of My Scouting Adventures by Graeme C Legge. His eminent achievements and exceptional service to Scouts Australia and elsewhere make this an outstanding read.

It’s available now from Apple Books, Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble. There are also link in the shows description…and that will do it for another edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com

Graeme Legge was recently a guest on the Books on Air podcast with Suzanne Harris.

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The best teachers are also the best learners. Today we look at the book “How to Hold a Glue Stick and Other Clues to Parenting” by Froukje Matthews who combined her Montessori teaching experience with the knowledge gained as a parent.

Welcome to this edition of Newsgram!

How many homeschoolers are out there? The fall of 2020 saw a huge rise in parents choosing to homeschool and that shouldn’t come as a surprise. There was a global pandemic. Many school districts were closed but then something happened; Lots of parents chose to keep their kids at home.

Whether it was mask mandates, faith and family issues, lifestyle choices or just the fear for their child’s safety the reality is, homeschooling is on the rise and with my own kids choosing the parent in this way it has forced me to think about their point of view and weigh the options.

I keep stumbling over one fact. Being a parent does not make you a teacher just as I will never be a carpenter but does that mean we can’t be taught.

Froukje M. Matthews – Well the thing is when you become a parent, in hospital they show you how to breastfeed, how you need to sit up and who you have to hold your arms so you don’t get a sore back and a sore shoulder and by the time you are sent home it is usually within a matter of days if not the same day. You then are on our own. You might have read all sorts of books about how to look after a baby but doing it is another matter altogether.

That is Froukje M. Matthews author of the book How to Hold a Glue Stick and Other Clues to Parenting.

Parents who choose to homeschool have all kinds of resources at their disposal now and they don’t even have to do it full time, there is a hybrid approach available in some states. I found Froukje’s book to be a great resource because it is not only written by an experienced educator but one who embraces the principles of Maria Montessori.

In case you don’t know who that is, Maria Montessori was a highly acclaimed Italian physician and educator who developed an approach to education that was more like that of an engineer. It was about building on the way children learn naturally and the thing I like most about her approach is that it made kids want to learn, along with these other principles…

Froukje M. Matthews – Treat the child as if he is already the well worth human being that you want him to be. Number one. And the other one is that there isn’t the matter there is just the child so observing first and loving a child is not a prerequisite. I mean, it will come when you pay attention and observe and the more you know about your subject the more you come to appreciate it and suddenly you find you are loving it so much that it hurts.

I know that may sound strange to not be sure if you love your child or not, of course you do but parenting can be hard and it makes us doubt ourselves. This approach takes the emotion out of it and lets you focus on the task at hand. Tasks that sometimes seem extremely simple, like holding a glue stick — but in reality might be about a bigger problem, Communication. This is the story that was also the inspiration for her book’s title.

Froukje M. Matthews – That is the story of a mom who was sitting at the table with her barely two year old child and this child was holding a glue stick just like the little child on the cover, in a stabbing grip and she was pressing it very hard the glue was all curled around the edges and mom kept saying don’t press too hard, don’t press too hard and the child was trying very hard to understand what she was talking about and looking up every time she said that she was looking up at her mom and to me, that was the moment that I could step in because the mom looked to me and said “ah, she is just so pig headed, you know” and I said no, she is just trying to understand you that is why she stops and she looks but she doesn’t know what you mean. Those words have no meaning. What means press, what means hard and what means pressing too hard? Then I said to the mother just watch me and I held my hand out and I touched the child’s hand and I said, “this is a glue stick” and then I touched my hand and I said put the glue stick in my hand and the child did just that she put the glue stick in my hand and i held the glue stick, not in a stabbing grip but between my thumb and my other three fingers and I pressed it first really hard on the paper, the same as she did and I said, this is pressing hard and then i helps it very gently and I talked very softly to her and said “this is pressing gently” and then I gave it back to her and I said I’d like you to press it gently and she did exactly that and then i said to the mom if you offer something to your child in opposites and you show what you want the child to copy last, that is what she’ll remember and that is what she will copy and that is why it works.

Sometimes there is more going on than meets the eye. Froukje is a natural story-teller as you can probably tell so we’re going to get to more of her stories in a minute but first I wanted to share this tip with you. It’s so simple and so perfect..

Froukje M. Matthews – If you are right-handed and you want to show a little child or anyone for that matter what your hands are doing, have that person sit on your left-hand side so they have a clear view of your hand and what your fingers are doing and whatever you have in your hand.

If they are sitting across from you they are looking at the back of your hands. This approach takes all the guesswork out of the lesson. Let’s be honest, parenting is like a hands-on Personal Development Course. We need all the help we can get.

Froukje M. Matthews – When you are the husband you feel so responsible for your wife and your child that you can’t think of anything else and when you are the mother you feel so responsible for that little baby that you can’t think of anything else but you both have to work at making a living as well and so how do you do that. You have bills to pay and there is a house to clean and dishes to be done and laundry to be hung up and you know all those things and it is a lot, it is just a lot. Just because it’s been done for millions of years doesn’t mean that every new parent has been born with the book of directions already stamped into their head. No, you have to start from scratch every time.

Her book is laid out in chapters but they are not sequentially arranged so you pick and choose the stories at will. This particular story happens to be in the beginning.

Froukje M. Matthews – Chapter one. Paying attention. (Paying Attention story)

The examples and vignettes are true to life and based on nearly 30 years of observations and interactions with the very young.

Frokje says, parenting requires your conscious behavior. Stick to the here-and-now of the situation at hand when interacting with your child, rather than thinking “Why is this happening? What is this child doing to me?” It is easier said than done and it takes practice but it i s more than worth the effort.

Her book is called How to Hold a Glue Stick and Other Clues to Parenting by Froukje M. Matthews and it’s available from BalboaPress. You can find it online in all the usual places like Barnes and Noble and Amazon.com and that will do it for this edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com

Be sure and listen to Froukje’s interview with Suzanne Harris on the Books on Air podcast at webtalkradio.com

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This episode explores the untapped power of the mind. It focuses on the third book, Know Your Mind in the Learning Experience Trilogy by Peter Massam. Here we move on from growing pains in teenage years and confronting fears to exploring the extraordinary relationship between the mind and the body.

Welcome to this edition of Newsgram!

Your mind is a lot more powerful than you might imagine. It’s something I’m only beginning to understand and I don’t mind saying I’m not alone. Human potential is something that has been explored for years with smarter minds than my own and the answers only present with more questions.

This episode is a continuation of the last one. Part two of our look at Peter Massam’s Learning Experience Trilogy. Here’s Peter with a quick summary for you.

Peter Massam – Know your mind is the culmination of the trilogy. The previous two books have looked at both the joy and the sadness and the emotional situations you can find yourself in and how your mind is processing the real world because you have to eat with things in the real world. What Know your mInd does is take more experiences later on in life that persuade George that the mind is actually a much more powerful thing than we think it is or that we give it credit for. It’s not necessarily in fashion in vogue to bring out the more metaphysical side of our lives because we’ve all in society we’ve become more scientific. To get to the facts. I wanted this book to be more of a philosophical outlook to work with that scientific community to approve or disprove the experiences that George went on to tell and I made the third book, I made him tell it in his own words because I think it’s easier to understand what he experiences later on when written in the first person so you get inside his head literally.

I’m sure you’ve already surmised that this George he speaks of is the main character. You would be right. It’s been fun watching George do kid stuff, grow up and make adult decisions and now we find him using his mind to try and make sense of the world.

Peter Massam – We tend to believe that this mind is, yes we know it’s there. We make decisions every day but from the experiences that George encounters it adds up to a lot more in terms of capabilities.

Not to give too much away but the book begins with George at a team building event where he’s learning to put mind over matter by breaking a board martial arts style and he is learning a thing or two about reflexology.

Peter Massam – The wider picture really is how we as humans have evolved and where this possibly could have come from and what evidence there is that there have been evidence through the years which have culminated in this experience in a single individual but which is demonstrably shared by other capabilities shared by other people in the third book.

In his Trilogy of books, Nipper, Moose Conquering Fear and the final book Know your mind Peter Massam shows us a lifetime journey of learning experiences through the character of George. he takes us from childhood encounters through coming of age to conquering fears and they culminate in the third book which is our focus today with a new appreciation of the power of the mind in the realms of communication, pain relief and self-help healing and preservation. And yes one of the references to pain relief does involve a trip to the dentist. The concept of Telepathy comes from a trip to China.

Peter Massam – Certainly when he went out to China the first hint if you like of the possibilities of communicating with each other just through thinking or by using the mind was first revealed to him and sceptic as he is he would always try and prove it again to make sure this wasn’t some kind of coincidence or just her luck.

One of the most fascinating things about this book is that the things he’s talking about, the things George experiences are not science fiction. The story is fictional but the concepts are very real.

Peter Massam – It doesn’t matter what career path you’ve chosen or what kind of life you lead the capabilities are and have always been there it’s just they are extremely underused and undiscovered for a large part but in certain individuals when you start encountering those individuals and talking with them you realize that there are some fairly…they have a different perspective on life but they also have certain other sensory capabilities or ability to see things in a different way.

A great example of this comes in the book when George is retiring his leased car. He encounters a woman that could have diagnosed and possibly healed his dog — just another example of some of the strange and wonderful things we are capable of if we delve deeper into the power of our mind and heron lies today’s lesson. Keep an open mind. You don’ have to believe everything you hear. I thin a healthy dose of skepticism is a great thing but at the same time be open to learning new things because you never know…

Peter Massam – One of the problems we’re talking about some of the use things to do with the metaphysical and the mind is that people are reluctant to talk because they want to know that you are open to those kind of suggestions and as long as you have that openness then people will talk to you about their sensory perception.

Of course. No-one wants you to think they’re crazy just because they have abilities different from yours. The truth is we all have special abilities. We are capable of so much more than we are aware. It’s just that some people make use of those abilities — that’s another takeaway from this series. It’s all about helping you learn in the best way possible with interesting, relatable characters interacting in fun ordinary ways.

Peter Massam – I was put off reading early on by being given A Tale of Two Cities by my well meaning Grandma. And unfortunately I never got past page two. I think I was eight or so. It was completely the wrong book to give a child of that age so I made the beginning of the book Nipper accessible to younger teenagers so the 12, 13, 14’s they should feel they can pick it up and relate with what’s going on there and then as they progress through their teenage years they’ll see that the maturity of the language that’s used an how you can feel dissociated from both your parents and other people around you who suddenly become, for some reason they become very much older. You know, when your nineteen or so you see people of seventeen or eighteen coming out of school or university and they just seem so young because if they hadn’t had any working life at all you think their perspective, you left that behind so you have to wait for them to catch up kind of thing.

Find a way to be alone with your thoughts. Shut out the noise and see what you come up with. Meditating is hard for some people but it’s a start to finding out what you’re capable of. Like I said in the beginning. Your mind is a lot more powerful than you might imagine and if this trilogy of books will help spark your interest or enthusiasm then give it a go. Who knows, it might bring balance to your life and help you get in sync with this crazy world.

Peter Massam – I had the good fortune to travel to Melbourne in Australia a couple of times. If asked to name three things that made an impression on me there they would have to be the following. Firstly the Yada-Yada river that dominates the downtown central business district and provides the backdrop for nightly celebrations with jets of fire scorching the sky at sunset. The second would be the overriding feeling of contentment walking to work up the hill from the river. I wondered at first why this was such a pleasant experience but quickly discovered the sauce in the faces of those around me and in their relaxed gait. On sparsely populated pavements their smiles shown out reflected on the sparking office windows on another fine day their calm unhurried pace conveyed a state of being at one with their world; and then thirdly, further up that hill…a curiosity meets the eye. Cars

pulling off to the left at a crossroads in order to make a right turn known to me as a J turn, but by others perhaps as a hook turn. It was not so much the practicality of avoiding tan lines going down the center of the road that made an impact on me but the complementary nature of their approach to the junction that seemed to be in perfect harmony with the pedestrians walking alongside them. Just as pulling over out of the flow of bi-directional traffic lanes to make a J turn is deliberate. So stepping out of the mainstream is a conscious move. When considering the workings of the mind I feel we have to make a similar J turn. The physical world continues to hasten at variable and sometimes blistering speeds but stepping out of that zone and parking the stresses of our complex lives can allow our mind to fill the void, bring balance to our well being and connect better with each other.

A great way to wrap up the series. It definitely gives you something to think about. The third and final volume in the Learning Experience Trilogy is a tool, if you will, for coping with and making sense of our physical world.

He has put a lot of thought into these books making them very easy to understand depending on your age. All three of the books in the Learning Experience trilogy have now been published and if you want to learn more just google Peter Massam they are available now wherever you like to buy books and we’ve added links to this shows description and that will do it for this edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com.

Check out an interview with Peter on the Talking Books Podcast with JT Crowley on Youtube or get the audio version of Talking Books wherever you link to download podcasts. Visit the Talking Books homepage at Webtalkradio.com

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Nipper and Moose Conquering Fear track a lifetime journey of learning experiences from childhood encounters through coming of age to conquering fear. This first volume, Nipper is for ages 9 and up. It teaches that understanding girls is difficult at the best of times. Navigating that sea without a map, as George found out, can be a teenage squall or a fulfilling voyage of discovery. In book two, Moose Conquering Fear we learn that transitioning life stages is never easy. Fear of failure in first job and first marriage lead to decisions, better and worse. George took them all.

Welcome to this edition of Newsgram!

“It is curious how experience moulds our actions, reactions and expectations of what is to come.” Those are not only the first words in the description of what has become a trilogy of books for Peter Massam but they are the perfect beginning to this podcast because they explain perfectly why it exists in the first place. Not the podcast, the books. No, I’m not trying to confuse you. I just think that as you learn more about Peter Massam and how he thinks you’ll be better able to appreciate the wonderful books he’s written.

Peter Massam – One of my soapbox topics has been customer experience.

Haha, yes it is also one of mine. How many times have you been frustrated by a product and said to yourself, did no-one test this out.

Peter Massam – Ever since I picked up one of the first mobile phones and tried to use it and said to my colleagues how in earth do people put up with this because it was terrible performance you know, probably two calls survived out of ten and made it my life’s work to try and capture that experience and make it better for people.

It’s also one of my soapboxes and I’ll spare you the diatribe here but suffice it say we need more people who think like Peter. I’m old enough to have been there when the first mobile phones were rolled out. We still call them cell-phones. They were very cool to have but they didn’t work very well. A lot of dropped calls.

Peter Massam – That was the general theme of my career. Towards the end of it, as we got more into customer perception and the softer side of things I realized that the industry wasn’t ready for getting their arms around that.

The amount of dropped calls have come down significantly so thank you Peter. So what drives a former teacher turned businessman, frustrated with dropped calls, to pursue a trilogy about a young man growing up?

Peter Massam – That’s where these Trilogy came out of from one side was, how do you get inside the mind of your customer and then the second motivation for that was very much a personal one because we all…during my teaching career I came across a boy who committed suicide, with everything in front of him and my immediate reaction to that was whoa, that is such a waste of talent and that I’ve got to try and do something to help those people, especially young men who I think are a larger percentage who choose that route, to try and play their fears because life is full of fears, full of unknowns and if you have no tools to cope with them or your living in a deprived circumstance then you probably feel that there’s no resort except the last one.

Peter Massam is the author of three books, Nipper, Moose Conquering Fear and Know your Mind and as you can hear he is a very caring individual. It’s his empathy that I found most intriguing. His ability to see inside the mind of his customer.

Peter Massam – I would certainly like young adults, young boys, teenagers to read Nipper because that will prepare them for what may come down the line.

When it comes to growing up there is quite a bit that comes down the line and his book takes you into all of that but in a fun way. It starts out with a couple of kids squirting water bottles off a bridge at moving cars. It’s typical, slice of life boy stuff like riding bikes and fishing as well as the pain that comes when a friend moves away but it’s told in such an interesting way that you find yourself smiling throughout the chapters.

Nipper is the first book in the Trilogy and this is where you first get to meet George. growing up in a loving family but not a wealthy one and all the growing pains that go along with that including the love between a boy and his dog.

Peter Massam – Having been a teacher and seen boys develop, we all develop at different speeds. I was a late developer. You know the message there is it shouldn’t matter because your time will come. It doesn’t matter whether it comes at the end of the school days and for me, as I explained in the book, it came a bit too late but then you just push on from that into the rest of your career and for me it was sport and it can take off at any time and you should be ready for it when it does because you’ll enjoy it so much more.

Yes, most of us were not prepared for the arrival of puberty and all those strong emotions that you’ve never experienced before.

Peter Massam – When you are noticed for the first time by the opposite sex that is quite disconcerting because you know how to react to a friend, who is a male friend if they are joking around with you but when it comes to more serious feelings than you are unprepared.

Another part of life is the evolution that takes place in the workforce. Getting a first job and navigating the intricacies of the workplace.

Peter Massam – As your evolving your looking for common ground with other people and in your life there are definitely people who are too far removed from where you are, your situation because either in age orin experience or something else so you are always looking for that person to talk with some would call it a kindred spirit but i think that’s probably going too far it’s just somebody that empathizes with you enough to understand what your going through and you can talk openly with them and that’s what happens with George and Joan.

Nipper is a work of fiction so no spoilers here. You’ll learn all about Joan when you read the book but as you can see we’ve taken you through George’s life from a young boy to a young adult and to use one of Peter’s analogies — Navigating that sea without a map, as George found out, can be a teenage squall or a fulfilling voyage of discovery.

This brings us, in a very natural way to book number two, Moose Conquering Fear. Growing pains, now a thing of the past and we are moving on to being a grown up.

Peter Massam – Going from one situation to another and coping.

That is a great way to summarize adult life. It seems we are always doing just that. It’s one thing after another and if we have the right coping skills to take and deal with whatever life throws at us we usually manage to do just fine.

Peter Massam – It doesn’t pause or ponder over things for too long. That was deliberate. If I just tangentially mention the books, I was very conscious of making them briefer than a novel because I wanted young people to feel, and others to feel that they can pick the books up and read them maybe on a couple of train journeys. So they had to be engaging and not um, it was not meant to be an analysis it was meant to be, this can happen to you too and if it does then this is how one person dealt with it.

It’s all about learning that transitioning through different stages in life can be hard. You have to deal with being human, moving out of your boyhood home, getting a job and dealing with the fear of failure and getting married — which comes with its share of challenges.

Peter Massam – You can find that sometimes life throws everything at you and sometimes in the same day.

Every had one of those days? Yea we all have. In the second book in the series George is confronted with some adult decisions. He has to confront his fears, make some hard decisions and if you fail to learn from your mistakes as a grown up, you need to make the tough call.

Peter Massam – New parents in particular and new couples full of hope after their marriage probably and are looking for their first house. If you find yourself in an area as George did with very expensive properties all around and being a teacher, only being paid a teachers salary that was just not on the cards. So money was tight as it had been for George’s parents, as was recorded in Nipper and therefore you have to find your way around things and you look at all avenues to try and ease that burden.

So George took on the side-job of selling insurance. I tried this once and let me tell you, it’s not a side job.

Peter Massam – Well as it turns out it didn’t actually work out for him and sometimes things don’t. It’s really again how you try and cope with these challenges and in a practical way. I like to think that this book will be useful to people to give them the tools to be able to work through that situation and not be afraid to reach out to those that they might not see very often.

There are a lot of contacts on your phone and business cards on your desk. Just because you don’t talk to them all the time doesn’t mean they don’t want to hear from you. It’s just a call, don’t overthink it.

Life can be a real roller-coaster but in his series of books Peter tries to smooth out some of those bumps and remove some of the unknown to help alleviate fear.

They are written from a male perspective as the main character is George and while there is no right or wrong way, he points out that some calls are immensely hard to make…so having the right support can help you set aside doubt and take that leap of faith.

Ordinarily this is where I would remind you that these books are now available to purchase but that’s not going to happen today.

Peter Massam – I’m not here so that people buy the book. I’m not really, I would rather have all the libraries and they are, it’s on Gardeners List now and the wholesalers who the libraries rely on there are two other entities as well who have access to it so I’m working the libraries quite hard at the moment to, to get them into their hands so that people who cannot afford to buy a book, it’s a luxury, can still have access to it.

Amazing. Well, if you have the means to purchase the book there are links in the show’s description or…when was the last time you visited the library? Why not stop in and see if it’s on the shelf if not talk to the head librarian. Tell them Peter Massam sent you, author of the Learning Experience Trilogy including Nipper, Moose Conquering Fear and Know Your Mind which we will explore in the next edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com.

Watch JT Crowley’s interview with Peter Massam on YouTube or listen on the Talking Books Podcast.

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Author Timothy Green’s home is with his poems and today we will share his passion. He has a new book out called My Sweet Aroma with about two hundred poems in it. The poems were gathered from his previous books, The Sail, The Face and there are about seventy newly written verses.

Welcome to this edition of Newsgram!

Timothy Green is a poet. He has written a number of books and has a real knack for titling them. His first book was called The Sail, The Face.

Timothy Green – My second book was called Open. My third book is My Sweet Aroma. The first two, um I had very little money to publish it so it wasn’t edited. So I decided to bring the first two books into this third book which is “My Sweet Aroma” and I did seventy on top as well so that one’s professionally edited and I’m really, really proud and pleased with the work.

Yea the second one, OPEN had an old fashioned typewriter on the cover with a piece of paper rolled into it and the words Open typed on a piece of paper. It was clearly the start of something and I wanted to know more.

Timothy Green – Yes you can look at that in many different ways. I mean one word can just mean so much doesn’t it.

For Timothy Open and really all of his poetry is a spiritual journey one laced with the artistry of prose.

Timothy Green – Absolutely yea, it’s not just a case of picking up this book I’ve told you to open it so pick it up. No, it’s a case of being open with people and being open with your beliefs and being open to God as well.

I’ve said this many times on Newsgram but it is important to stay open to new ideas and experiences. Life is a journey and there are so many different ways to travel. Timothy says his poems flow easily out of him. It’s an effortless process from pen to paper, very much like channeling.

Timothy Green – Sentence to sentence, line by line I don’t know what’s coming out next where it’s like I can write a line and then I’m thinking what next and you write another line and it just goes into it really. I write for the pleasure of it and I write because it’s what God wants. He wants to show the world that Christians aren’t stuffy and you know they don’t just go to church and sing happy Christian songs there’s a lot more to it.

In keeping with our journey references, when the creative process is in full force and writing becomes effortless it can be like a flowing river or traveling on the open sea, a place that can be highly unpredictable but also quite beautiful as long as you have faith.

Timothy Green – Yea, while you’re on your journey towards the sea towards freedom of eternity there’s suddenly felt an arm of protection pushing towards the shore so you’ve sailed out to the sea you’ve gone into the distance. You’ve gone to the horizon. You’ve pushed every boundary you want to push and then you think now I want peace. So we go onto the shore and we’re back in the direction of what our lives were meant to be and the difference we’re meant to make. It’s not just for us.

Poetry is such a unique style of writing. It’s musical but the words are the melody. Sometimes it’s very visual like “The rise of the dawn’ a poem he wrote about the beauty of nature and creation and the peace of knowing you are in it. He writes about finding our purpose, traveling the open sea, strengthening our faith and enjoying nature. Here’s a poem he wrote called The Calling Birds.

Timothy Green – The Calling Birds call to me… (Timothy reads the full poem).

You don’t have to be an ornithologist to enjoy that one. He writes about all kinds of easy-to-understand poems that are thought provoking and based on faith with our being overly Christian. Writing is a labor of love for Timothy and you can really feel that in his work. That being said, there is also a great deal of work that went into his latest book. The writing and editing are now finely crafted into a beautiful presentation that anyone can enjoy without being bogged down by a heavy message or agenda.

Timothy Green – It is a Christian book but I believe everyone can read it. These poems are beautiful and they’re pure poems and they are written with love. There’s too much in the media these days of negativity. I believe a Christian should represent God in the way this book is written cause it will give you truth but it’s a joy to read as well. You don’t always have to get meaning from a book. When I read I enjoy the process. l love reading.

Me too. If you enjoy reading and this sounds like something you’d like to have a better look at check out his website (timothygreentimsir.com). It’s really the best place to begin because all his works are there. You’ll find that Timothy Green is a seasoned poet with a lot of work to choose from. Let’s end this podcast with a strong poem. This one is called A Prayer for our Brothers and Sisters in the Faith.

Timothy Green – A Prayer for our Brothers and Sisters in the Faith. This is how it goes. However close or far away we pray for your safe return to discern and turn to our lord free from the sword and boat precious lives to defend families to stay bonded to each other the murderers change or fall by their anger and hate. weapons forged against us shall not prosper. lord we ask for your provision for our bodies whether broken or dismembered, fortune to follow us always. Christians truly portrayed in films and letters records and dates to remember what was done at no loss.

Gather together and have a chat about that one all of his books including Open and My Sweet Aroma are available on his website as well as the usual places like Amazon or Barnes and Noble and there are links to those in the show’s description. And that will do it for this edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com.

To hear several more poetry readings and learn more about Timothy Green and his fiancé Lena have a listen to the Books on Air podcast with Suzanne Harris or the Talking Books interview with JT Crowley featuring a video on YouTube.com. All of these interviews are available now at https://www.webtalkradio.com

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In his book, The Human Mind: A Psychological View of Theological concepts, Dr. Kolb compares and contrasts the scientific understanding of the human mind with those in the Bible.

Welcome to this edition of Newsgram!

In the previous episode we talked about Dementia but today we are going to explore a different aspect of the mind and we will be keeping with our tradition on Newsgram of introducing you to interesting people leading their lives in interesting ways.

Dr. Eric Joseph Kolb has lived a difficult life paved with physical disability. His childhood dream was to become a professional athlete just like his father and brothers but a form Muscular Dystrophy — I’m just going to use the abbreviation FSH changed all that.

Dr. Eric Joseph Kolb – I had to find a new way to keep myself active, occupied and still maintain my interest in psychology and also theology.

And that is the thing we are going to focus on today. If it’s two things that normally go together like oil and water it’s science and theology but Eric found some common ground.

Dr. Eric Joseph Kolb – One day I was reading the verse where they asked Jesus what’s the most important rule and he says love the lord your God with all your heart, body, mind and soul and it just hit me in that moment cause i had just been reading something in Psychology that the human being is made up of these four components and each of these four components work together but there are many questions on how they work together and to which degree and lots of theories so I just dove into that from the scientific or psychological perspective but also being aware of the theology behind it realize, wow, this is one thing where the bible and science really seem to fit.

So he set out to compare and contrast the scientific understanding of the human mind with the teachings of the Bible and his findings are documented in his new book The Human Mind: A Psychological View of Theological concepts. According to Eric, In some cases, the two perspectives are very similar, and I think personally that the more we investigate this the more we discover that science tends to confirm scripture rather than contradict it.

Dr. Eric Joseph Kolb – In the bible it says guard your heart for everything you do flows through it. Guard your mind for everything you think comes to be and that’s exactly what we find in science. Here I have a glass and I’m going to pick up this glass. My hand does that but how do I pick up a glass? I just think. I don’t activate the motor cortex. I don’t judge how many electrons need to fire or how many muscle cells need to be activated; the mind just does that. So we know that it’s our mind that controls our body but we don’t know how. They say that comes from the consciousness but the consciousness is not material. The brain is material. but science tells us that something immaterial cannot activate something material, except for the brain. It happens there and we don’t know why or how. What is consciousness? Are we just atoms? A lot of people would like to think so but even the people that are strictly materialists, there is only the body. The mind, the consciousness, the soul none of that exists there is only the body and that’s all we are…but no-one lives that way. Even if they don’t believe in God or spirits or anything above that. If they’re strictly atheist they still don’t behave as if they were because there is something more we just can’t put a finger on.

I’ve said it before. There is a lot going on out there and every time we think we have the answers we are faced with more questions. The best advice I can give is to keep your mind open and question everything. The answers will present themselves and more times than not we find that we are arguing about different versions of the same result.

Dr. Eric Joseph Kolb – Both science and the bible are agreeing on the same thing. We are born to believe. I always say faith is blind but it doesn’t have to be ignorant. I mean some people can just read the bible and that’s it. That’s the truth. That’s all I want to know and all I believe to know and stop there. o.k. good. I like to read the bible. I’ve also read the Koran. I’ve read agnostic books and the more I know the more I understand the more it strengthens my beliefs.

He say’s both Christian Theology and scientific psychology agree that our beliefs are how we perceive reality and that we choose what we want to believe. That being said, our core beliefs serve as the foundation on which our mind develops and in his book he outlines the various developmental processes of the human mind. Beginning with what he calls the blank slate.

Dr. Eric Joseph Kolb – When we are born we’re kind of like a new iPhone out of the box. It’s got everything in there that needs to work but I haven’t programmed anything into it yet. It used to be that we would think any child can be anything at any time and as a behaviorist I work with children to mold their behavior and teach them and make them reach their potential, whatever that is. Without knowing what that is and there other people who say don’t even bother because it’s all in the DNA. I’m actually a perfect example that my father was a professional football player, American football player and I did sports like crazy. I have been training for the the olympics since I was six years old and well on my way to becoming a professional athlete but the DNA said nope, not gonna happen. You have Muscular Dystrophy. So all that training wasn’t going to make me an athlete but that’s where I learned how to work hard. That’s where I learned how to just set a goal and do it and that’s what made me be able to continue living with Muscular Dystrophy and say o.k. If I can’t work out my body I’m going to work out my brain and achieve all I can with that and make that as strong as possible.

So is our destiny preordained or is it influenced by our surroundings. I guess it depends on whether or not you believe the soul lives on outside the body or not. What is consciousness? It’s a lot to think about and in his book Eric doesn’t claim to have all the answers but he does his best to give you as many facts as he can to support the argument that we are all saying the same thing so it’s not all one thing or another it’s actually a combination of both.

Dr. Eric Joseph Kolb – I’m not writing this to bring people to God. It’s more about opening a discussion to say this is what we have in science. This is what we have in the bible. Look, people, it’s not that much different. Look at it, weigh out the facts and make your decision because belief is a choice. We choose to believe what we want to and then find the evidence to support that belief. That goes for me as well but I’m aware of that. I point it out the whole time and say, here are the studies where I get this information. look at them. Go to the data yourself and see what you think.

We’ve given you quite a lot of information in this show today but I want to leave you with this quote from his book. He says “…people have opinions about everything; some are strong and important, others are less important, but everything anyone believes about anything and in any way will influence how they perceive the world” It’s hard to argue with that.

Was it your destiny to click on this episode or just your curiosity of what was beyond the title. I don’t know but if we’ve fanned those flames of curiosity then have a look at the book The Human Mind: A Psychological View of Theological Concepts by Dr. Eric Joseph Kolb. You can download a free sample of the book from Academia.edu or just go to his website to learn all about him and his work. It’s EricJKolb.com There are links to those sites as well as many others in the show’s description. And that will do it for this edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com.

I would also encourage you to check out the video with JT Crowley on the Talking Books show which you can find at Webtalkradio.com or the Books on air podcast with Suzanne Harris.

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Welcome to this edition of Newsgram.

Recently I’ve been worried about Dementia. Why? Well, I’m not as young as I used to be and sometimes I forget where I left my phone or what I was about to say so I did a bit of research and found out that those things are pretty normal and they are nothing at all to worry about. As you may have guessed I’m also a hypochondriac and people have referred to as demented but that is also something completely different.

I found a great example of the difference between normal aging and someone with dementia on the website dementia.org. They said normal forgetfulness is walking into the kitchen and forgetting what you went in there for, or misplacing the car keys. A person with dementia however, may lose the car keys and then forget what they are used for. So far that has not happened to me. Wait, what was I saying….just kidding. Gotta have a sense of humor today because the topic can be pretty heavy.

The truth is forgetting things from time to time is normal. If we didn’t have that ability we’d probably go insane.

One more fact for you. Dementia is not a disease, it’s a general term for people with the kind of impaired ability to think, or make decisions that actually interferes with their everyday activities. The most common type of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease. There are others but that’s about all I’m qualified to give you and when you are diagnosed with that kind of disease you’re going to need some help and hopefully it will be from a person as caring as Pieta Valentine, Physiotherapist

Pieta Valentine – I had a Physiotherapy practice for twenty-five years so mental stress was always a very interesting aspect but after forty years as a Physiotherapist I thought, you know it’s good to do something new and I just sort of fell upon this dementia work which I really enjoyed and from a Physiotherapist perspective there’s always the interest of rehabilitating the patient but if not that at least enabling them to manage to the best of their abilities.

and so began her work with Dementia patients

Pieta Valentine – When I saw all these people shut down and shut off I thought surely, surely something can be done and so from there just, you know I quietly I worked away on this work and all of which is explained in the book.

The book is called The Residents’ Voice From a Dementia Unit and in it she not only introduces us to several of the patients but she gives us a look at the day-to-day life in a dementia unit something that is really interesting to learn about if you find yourself in need of these kinds of services.

Pieta Valentine – That’s why I’ve written the book actually. I’ve explained everything about the rotating of a dementia unit; all the staff and what they do, how you recognize them, the security codes, who to set up the room, how to fill out the forms. There’s an enormous amount to do if someone goes into a dementia unit and if you can know a lot of that information in advance it won’t be such a shock to the system for the relative and if the relative is set up they’ll be able to help the person going in more likely.

Forewarned is forearmed. Knowing what to expect in this type of situation can be a huge help since most of us have no idea what to expect. We hope we never have to learn about it, at least not first hand. There is also another extremely useful bit of information in the book and it’s the essence of the whole thing.

Pieta Valentine – These people still have a working intellect even though their memory is faded or gone, finished.

That is the thing I found most interesting. Aside from meeting some of the patients knowing that while they have lost their memories or whatever they are still people and her findings are documented in a report which is also in the book.

Pieta Valentine – So that was built from the fact when I started to realize that these people could still actually think and you could encourage that from a physiotherapy perspective I was encouraging them and motivating them to concentrate just as I would in my physiotherapy practice I would encourage patients to concentrate on the exercises and do their exercises. I was encouraging these people to think, contribute and communicate and expecting them to and saying that they actually had too. If they were in the group there was that expectation that they had to start communicating this took a long time the concentrating took a lot of time to build up that’s the hardest thing but once people with dementia had learned the technique to be able to concentrate, reading being a very big part of this by the way then you can actually build up the skills of confidence and communication from that.

Readers are leaders. Isn’t that what they always say? I don’t think Harry Truman was talking about dementia patients when he said “Not all readers become leaders, but all leaders must be readers” but it’s important at all stages of life to do things that keep your mind active. Reading is an excellent option for doing that. It’s one of these reasons for doing this podcast….anyway the bottom line is.

Pieta Valentine – So much can be done in a positive practical way to help.

How’s that for a one liner? The challenges of memory and direction orientation loss affect everyone from the patient to their families and the caregivers. They all need help. Knowing that Dementia patients have a working intellect that can be engaged and activated is huge. With the right kind of care they can learn to activate that intellect and live a better life.

The existence of the intellect is not new but how it can be activated with people with dementia is the revelation in her book.

Pieta Valentine – I’ve actually written two books one right after the other but the first half of The Residents Voice is a novel about the characters in the dementia unit based on my observations and experiences over many years but it goes through the story of them being able to build up their thinking capacity. Build up their concentration, their communication skills and finally developing their own community. The central four or five pages is the report on the academic work and then the last half is all the physiotherapy techniques that family and friends can do to help their loved ones with dementia in a very practical positive way.

Her books are The Residents Voice From a Dementia Unit and The Residents Rise From a Dementia Unit and if you or someone you know is affected by dementia they offer a nice perspective on not only what life is like in the unit but it gives you a strategy and some good advice on what to do.

They are available in tons of places online just google The Residents Voice and you’ll see them. We’ve added links to some of the big sites like Amazon.com, Barnesandnoble.com and xlibris.com to the show’s description. And that will do it for this edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com

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Welcome to this edition of Newsgram!

I’ve always been a big fan of The Doors and I really wish we had a budget to play the song Break On Through for you but we do not. Do you know it? It came out in 1967 and it’s still in regular rotation if you listen to Classic rock radio stations. The song is about breaking through barriers. The Doors were big on opening your mind to new ways of thinking and perceiving the universe we live in. Today we are going to join them and Aldous Huxley by opening the Doors of Perception but we won’t be using any Psychedelics. We’re going to use Yoga.

Alan Oliver – Yoga is all about having the mind stop and having those sensory things come to a halt so that what you’re left with is the fundamental consciousness.

Did you get that? Alan Oliver is the author of Thinking on the other side of Zero Part 1, An Intuitive Philosophy of Mind, Memory and Reality. He is also healer and he says mind or consciousness exists beyond our body. In fact he says it exists beyond our lifetime and the best way to get in touch with fundamental consciousness is quieting the mind.

Alan Oliver – In yoga they said there are two ways to get into that state and one is with meditation and teaching with a teacher and the other way is to have been born that way.

Alan is one of those people who were born that way but for the rest of us we most likely need an instructor to help us understand how to turn off that inner chatter in our mind and understand what is Zero and what is on the other side of zero?

Alan Oliver – The physical body is on this side of Zero. The other side of Zero is fundamental consciousness and you can access that after a lot of meditation and quietness and hopefully with an accredited teacher.

Alan was motivated to understand why he was different from his family who thought his abilities were strange.

Alan Oliver – Tells the story of healing a woman’s fractured leg.

His journey is detailed in his book where he tells a number of stories and makes a very interesting point. There will always be answers to your questions if you let the questions provide the answers. Did you need me to say that again? There will always be answers to your questions if you let the questions provide the answers.

Alan Oliver – Because our consciousness that we experience is outside of the body it’s all the same consciousness and that level of consciousness is part of who we are. It’s just that we don’t access it very much because we’ve been brought up to be individual people and that starts from even before you’re born.

Yep you hear him right. Consciousness begins before you are born. I know that is some pretty deep stuff but one thing I’ve learned is that there is a lot going on out there and just when you think you know how it all works you find out that maybe you don’t know so much after all. So if I have this right, you are an individual. The individual is local, earthbound living in the moment, listening to this podcast, but that is separate from your fundamental consciousness which exists beyond the physical.

Alan Oliver – At conception the embryo is part of the mothers body because it is connected to her blood supply and that takes the excrement from the embryo as well and just manages it in the mothers body and you don’t start to become an individual until the umbilical cord is cut and from that point you’re given a name, your part of a family and you gradually learn to become the individual and because of that, that separates us, as I explain with the yoga diagram, it separates us to that individual and our senses reinforce that individuality. And so yoga is about having the mind stop and having those sensory things come to a halt so what you’re left with is the fundamental consciousness.

Until now I have never taken a Yoga class, mostly because my body is too stiff to sit on the floor but I also just learned that you can perform Yoga poses standing or sitting. You can also do them with or without shoes. Whatever makes you comfortable so you can get in touch with your fundamental consciousness.

I mentioned earlier that Alan has a number of stories to share and while he is quick to point out that he doesn’t know exactly what is happening the reality is something is definitely happening. Listen as he talks about his first healing experience.

Alan Oliver (Cat) Alan tells the story of healing a cat.

He had a bit of coffee to shake off the event and he left but that started a series of healing events and a journey of discovery that he outlines in his book Thinking on the other side of Zero Part 1, An Intuitive Philosophy of Mind, Memory and Reality. If you like it there is also a part 2 available online wherever you like to buy books. There are links in the shows description or just head over to Amazon, walmart, Xlibirs and many others and that will do it for this existential edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com

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Welcome to this edition of Newsgram!

There are very few things in life that can melt your heart like a new puppy and there’s a reason for that. We were put on this earth to love one another; to show compassion and to help each other. Puppies were put here to show us how to do that. All we have to do is pay attention. They are love personified. They live to serve and they thrive on your attention. You might not even be a dog owner, but you can’t deny the cute cuddly affection and the happiness that radiates from these miraculous creatures. Any breed, any color, any size. Just watching them shred paper in the pet store window, feeling their soft fur against your skin, it is pure unadulterated joy.

Do I have you in a happy place? Hang onto that feeling because it gets better. Today you get to meet Becky Hohnstein who has written a fun loving picture book of rhymes that traces the life of her best friend, Tuesday. Here’s a sample that needs very little set-up because the picture will paint itself easily on our minds eye.

Becky Hohnstein – She’s, well it tells you what she’s doing she is digging in the mud so it goes; With black nose and eyes and often black paws she became a frisky cocker with a mighty cause. She dug in the mud her curly spattered locks once clean and white now a grubby mask and socks.

And then, as you might expect, it was bath time.

Becky Hohnstein – A batch time grupple and some time we found our Tuesday with much less grime.

The book is called Tuesday’s Story, A book of rhyme for children and pet lovers, a title that sums up the book pretty perfectly. It traces the full life of Tuesday’ from puppy to adulthood and her eventual passing.

Becky Hohnstein – Tuesday was a wonderful little Cocker Bichon that we had for fourteen and half years. And, I had to put her down and it was very traumatic for me.

To be sure. Getting a puppy has to be the best day of your life and for many of us it begins a life filled with firsts. The first cute little bark, the first time he does what you tell him, the first trip to the park, the first bath, the first item destroyed and eventually the first time you have to say goodbye. One of the takeaways today is to make sure you photograph all those firsts. It’s the fastest and easiest way to find comfort when they are gone.

Becky Hohnstein – I started discovering all these pictures on my computer and it made me feel better to look at them and then I started putting words to them and I found myself putting a story to the pictures. It was very relaxing but it helped me to deal with the death of Tuesday also. Then I decided to rhyme the words and then I decided maybe it would be a nice children’s book .

She was right. The Introduction reads, “Tuesday was born on a Wednesday, after a few weeks, she came to us on a Saturday. She was named on a Friday. This is Tuesday’s story.”

It’s a story with a new adventure on every page so it flows from one thing to another and because of the photo’s it’s as fun to look at as it is to read. You see Becky is also an amateur photographer so the pictures are terrific — side note, she has a great eye for good lighting and unique landmarks like Carhenge in Alliance Nebraska — Carhenge is a replica of Stonehenge using cars, it’s the eighth wonder of the world for sure and a site not to be missed on your next trip through Alliance. I put a link to the website in the show’s description.

Becky Hohnstein – It’s a bunch of cars that have been put in the ground for years and years and people take pictures of them. Well I had to get up early one morning. It’s fifty miles away and I had to be there at sunrise because the cars are all kind of grey and colorless. I had to be there at sunrise so i could get the sun reflecting on them and as I recall my fingers were frozen for about half an hour but I got the pictures I wanted.

It’s that kind of attention to detail combined with her clever rhymes and obvious loving relationship with Tuesday that makes this such a special project.

Becky Hohnstein – It is a fun book to read and then you want to read it again you know, cause it has that flow.

Oh yes, I think the first word my daughter learned was “Again”. It’s nice when it’s a book you are happy to read over and over.

Tuesday’s Story, A book of rhyme for children and pet lovers by Becky Hohnstein is one of those stories. It’s available now at lots of independent book stores so if you like to support local businesses there are links in the show’s description. It is also available at the big bookstores like xlibris.com, barnesandnoble.com, and amazon.com.

And that will do it for this edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com.

Listen to the Books on Air podcast for an interview with the author.

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Today’s show is based on the book, “The One Pill Fix, A simple cure for an ailing planet by Andy Kirkwood. It is a journey of discovery, exploring the pressing issues impacting our planet and our lives while suggesting simple solutions for each.

Welcome to this edition of Newsgram!

Are you ready to change the world? I say that all the time but today we are going to do it. Stick around because before this show is over you are not only going to learn how to reverse climate change but you’re going to be presented with an infinite source of energy.

One of my personal goals is to leave the world a better place than I found it. It’s really not possible but we all do what we can right? It’s the same way I feel about every job I’ve ever held. Whether or not I’ve been successful is not for me to decide, after all I’m biased but making a positive contribution to the workforce, to the internet, to the hearts and minds of anyone brave enough to listen to this program is about all I can do. I hold no public office and at my age I simply do not have the ability to lead corporations into making planet friendly decisions but I can read. I can listen and I can vote. I can also share what I’ve learned and maybe that’s the best way to begin by sharing.

Where am I going with all this? Sometimes we do what we do out of habit or out of old ways of thinking that we simply haven’t taken the time to examine properly. I found a book with a very provocative title. The One Pill Fix, A simple cure for an Ailing Planet by Andy Kirkwood. Well, if it’s that simple then I want it.

See how easy that was? Open your mind. See a book and read it. This particular book takes on all kinds of issues like the secondary housing market, homelessness, the penal system or the real problem of climate change. For Andy it all started with a bit of traveling and not just a trip to the Grand Canyon, it was during his first circumnavigation of the globe.

Andy Kirkwood – Everywhere I went was having the Hottest, the coldest, the wettest, the latest, the earliest, temperatures, rainfall, everything, was off the scale everywhere. This was 1987 and I came back and said something is going on. I don’t know what it is but something is going on with the planet and that was way before anybody started talking about climate change or global warming and nobody listened to me at the time so I started to get that message out.

Wow 1987. I remember listening to Al Gore talk about Climate change in 1993. Our former Vice President has now spent decades calling for action so as you can see it’s not easy to get people to listen.

In his book Andy Kirkwood, asks some very interesting questions and I think this is a great place to pause and say them out loud. Are you someone that is concerned about the state of the world and wondering why the issues and problems plaguing mankind never get fixed?

Have you found yourself concerned about the widening wealth to poverty gap? The rich get richer…

When you see your planet in peril but can also see a simple solution, what do you do to awaken people?

Andy Kirkwood – How do you get people to act, and more to the point how do you get governments to act in an appropriate manner? It’s a very difficult thing to do.

That is the question isn’t it. I can not change your mind or make you do anything you don’t want to do – nor would I want to – but I would like to encourage you to open your mind to new possibilities. If you’re a staunch Republican or life-long Democrat I would encourage you to listen to the other side and seriously consider their opinion. Agree or disagree, that is your right. Open your mind, listen, know where they stand and why they feel that way. Then, question where you stand and why you feel the way you do. It might trigger some real thinking. Andy has chosen to write a book and to do a lot of other things to help spread the word about important issues.

Andy Kirkwood – How do you get that message across? People do some extreme things don’t they to get them across.

The other day I read about an activist in Arizona who scaled a tall building without ropes or a safety net to bring awareness to the pro-life movement. People do all kinds of crazy things to draw attention to their causes. Andy has taken a more traditional path toward getting his message out.

Andy Kirkwood – The first thing you do is you talk about it and you tell as may people as you can…and they go an tell their friends and you start some kind of avalanche that way and then I thought about maybe just creating a website, Sanity, and having you know, what would you choose? Would you choose the way it is because the world is not all that great, or would you rather have it a different way and the difference between having it the way it is and having it the way it really works it turns out is not that great you don’t have to make much of a sacrifice for that; and then I started doing satirical standup comedy because then you have an audience and your making people laugh. There are plenty of comedians who have done that who can get a message across in just a couple of lines. Makes people laugh but then you go away with that piece of information. I started working for radio stations so I could have a wider audience and then it struck me that standing for the MP seat is a good way because you promote yourself from the audience when you are gritting your test listening to this garbage people up on stage are telling you because they don’t have free will. I you are a member of the conservative party you have to say what the conservatives say you can’t exercise free will and you get up on the stage and you can say what you think because you’re an independent and you say what you think…(Talks about his political party)….but what your trying to do is unravel a lifetime of programming they’ve put into you.

A bit of clarification is needed here. Andy is from the UK. Most of the issues he talks about in his book are global. His methods are universal but when he mentions the MAD party he’s talking about The Movement for Active Democracy (M.A.D.) An alternative British political party created by Andy that endorses the Swiss model of government where anyone can propose a policy and force the issue to a referendum if they can gather enough support.

Andy Kirkwood – Because of that a local paper said look we’ll give you a page so I started writing articles and then I started getting quite a following one of the teachers, local teachers at the school was using them for their general studies because everyone can see an issue my articles were seeing an issue and then suggesting a very simple solution and that basically was the journey there.

That’s a lot. Andy Kirkwood has put forth a herculean effort to inform people about all kinds of issues and get people to think and question the things we’ve been told all our lives. Why do we work five days a week and get only two days off. Why such limited recreation time? There’s a quote in his book that goes, “…ask a Frenchman to do a bit of free overtime and see what he has to say….Tell the Germans that they are only getting 4 weeks of holiday a year and check the reaction….maybe the Spaniards wouldn’t mind missing their famous siestas to help the economy along a bet?…”

I thought it was pretty funny because like I said Andy is from the UK and they work harder than most of their European neighbors but compare that with our lives here in the U.S. I was just talking about this the other day with my wife. The work-life balance here in America is insane. Four weeks vacation? Are you kidding I could go on all day about this but it’s the thing I loved most about his book. You simply can’t put it down. It will fire you up and make you think. So he must be making a difference.

Andy Kirkwood – Of all the issues that I’ve addressed and suggested very simple solutions for, not one single one was addressed by the government, not one.

He has a theory about that so get ready and I need to warn you Andy and I are kindred spirits about much of this so it’s up to you to decide how you feel. Listen and give it some thought.

I do feel we would rather have a treatment for disease rather than a cure because it keeps people paying for drugs. He has similar thoughts about debt and government control.

Andy Kirkwood – The reason is because the government doesn’t make decisions. They follow orders and the people who’ve given them the orders don’t want them to solve the problems. They want us to be in need They want us to have things in short supply. They want us to be not quite able to make ends meet because that’s what keeps us on our toes. Once you give people the luxury of time they start thinking. So it’s all about control. Which is also why they prefer people to get married and get big mortgages and all that sort of thing because you’re so busy chasing your tail trying to pay everything you don’t have time think and who would you rather control, twelve guys who are single land have got loads of money and are going down to the pub to chat about the state of the county or rather control twelve guys who’ve got hug mortgages, four kids and don’t step out of line.

See what I mean. It’s a lot to think about. So let’s take a step back and look at our first issue of climate change. There has been a lot of talk and a lot of arguing about whether or not it’s even real. Much of it comes down to control – there’s that word again and I need to give you one more example from my own life. Recently my AC went out and needed to be replaced so as part of all that I got a cool new thermostat that comes with an interesting new feature — if enabled it would allow the utility company to turn it on and off at will.

Andy Kirkwood – Smart meters. Evil steps to control because they can turn your heating on and off as they choose remotely. Don’t get a smart meter whatever you do.

Is it an honest attempt to manage resources, maybe. Are you really trying to solve the problems at hand? It doesn’t feel like it and I don’t want to sound like a conspiracy theorist but you can’t deny some of the things he’s talking about. Are we seeing an increase in the domination of the uber-wealthy? Special interests? Maybe you feel like they’ve had their fifteen minutes. Maybe not.

Is it finally time to think seriously about global peace and shared prosperity. Can we really solve climate change and supply the world’s population with infinite energy?

Andy Kirkwood – Talks about Solving Climate Change using deep sea currents.

Write that down or better yet start talking about it and see if his ideas have merit. Put it to the test. If you are currently accepting the way things are without question, but in your heart you know that things are very wrong, then this book might be for you.

If you’ve come to the realization that governments’ inability to address problems might be deliberately disguised as incompetence or you want to live in a world where people decide on issues, not vote for strangers who are supposed to represent them, then have a look at The One Pill Fix, A simple cure for an ailing planet by Andy Kirkwood should probably be sitting on your coffee table.

And that will do it for this edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com.

Be sure and listen to the full interview on the Talking Books podcast with JT Crowley at Webtalkradio.com

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Be prepared to be amused by the outrageous characters, their mishaps and goings-on and the gentle humour extracted from the book Naughty Nonsense, Lascivious Limericks and Much More by David Ellis.

Who are these characters? They include the forger, the glutton, the cheat, the drunkard, the proud, the greedy, the slothful, the unfaithful, the exhibitionist, the sex-mad, the dominatrix, the cougar, the transsexual, the transvestite, the masochist, the homosexual and many more.

Welcome to this edition of Newsgram!

Are you ready for a good laugh? I know i am but I do need to warn you that today’s show is a little racy. Here’s a sample….

David (Sexy Shorts) A sex hungry farm girl named Kay, would take a new lover each day. When they said, “you’re a sinner”. She replied “No a Winner, every time I leap in the hay”.

That’s David Ellis reading a snippet of one of his new limericks called “Sexy Shorts”, one of the saucier segments of this new book.

David – First section, the longest is on sex).

Can you tell this is going to be a spicy episode of Newsgram….Hold on, spicy isn’t the best word to use, the best description for this episode is the title of his, Naughty Nonsense, Lascivious Limericks and Much More.

David – There’s alcohol, various vices, food , music and other arts, sports, oddities, politics, so it covers quite a watch.

Like many authors who found themselves isolated and shut in during the pandemic David put his creative juices to work writing and passing the time with an ear to ear grin at the crazy things going through his mind. Hey, this is fun. Can you see how infectious it is? David’s book is one of those items that you’ll probably want to keep out of the reach of small children — at least the first section about sex but topics range from light and frivolous to geography, politics and some more serious topics.

So it’s an enjoyable book for adults loaded with lot’s of Naughty Nonsense, Lascivious Limericks. Here’s one I think we can all relate to as it combines the elements of Labido with Curiosity and the Covid-19 Vaccine. It’s called the Old Man and the Vaccine.

David – David reads his poem, The Old Man and the Vaccine.

Hahaha yea it’s not viagra. His book has limericks about all kinds of different areas, like he said earlier, but since we’re on the subject of passion I’m going to take you back briefly to section one because you need to meet Desmond.

David – Young Desmond said I must confess I love to be seen in a dress. Add panties and bra and I think I’m a star so please can you call me princess? hahahah alright.

Because why not!? Let’s move on to the boozy section where we get to meet Jenny.

David – Ok. I’ll go on. A social young lady named Jenny was forever spending a penny. The reason is clear, she loves to drink beer and it’s just a few, no it’s many, haha.

Yes, Jenny does like to imbibe and she’s just one of the many characters he’s created. There is the forger, the glutton, the cheat, the drunkard, the proud, the greedy, the slothful, the unfaithful, the exhibitionist, the sex-mad, the dominatrix, the cougar, the transsexual, the transvestite, the masochist and many more, so if you’re up a bit of naughty fun I think you’ll enjoy the humor in this book some of it is a bit local. David was born in the UK and moved to Australia where he found the inspiration to write this one..

David – This is On Hot Weekends. On hot weekends on this sun-kissed land we flock in droves to our fine white sand and it’s into the water for a dip BUT be careful you avoid the rip, and that’s not all we have to fear white pointers might be lurking near. The Jellyfish and sandflies sting and seagulls steal the food we bring. Now if you want to take a nap don’t forget the slip, slop, slap, or you’ll be burned from head to toe and feel exhausted from the heat. A cafe then with an ocean view, you’ll wait for hours in the queue, And you’ll wish you had thought twice when you sit down and see the price. So when it’s hot I do not roam but stay in air conditioned room with beer and tele that’s the ticket watching flannel fools play cricket

Hmmm, a grumpy old man staying inside to avoid the sun’s rays and high restaurant prices, sounds like something I would do. So as you can see they aren’t all naughty and they aren’t all Limericks but they will all make you smile. David writes essays and some long form versus — those are mostly about Chess so here’s a quick peek at the chapter called Chess & Other Sports

Said that lowly ranked player John Cook, ”I’m particularly fond of the rook.

But it’s always the same,

At the start of each game,

I move them up and they quickly get took.”

David is now over eighty years old and he is showing no signs of slowing down. You have to love his zest for life and fun perspective. He is a former English teacher, a chess champion and a writer but not an artist the illustrations are particularly striking and I just loved them. They are pencil drawings of a cartoon nature and they will definitely get you to smile…Especially the ones in section one. They were done by an American woman named Rosie Di Wu based in Austin, TX and I put a link to a video that features many of them in the show notes. (Link to Illustrations).

Let me leave you with this one. It’s not in the book.

David – Said a Limerick writer named Dave, it’s fortune and fame that I crave. I’m much better than Lear but I’ll end up I fear, poor and alone in my grave.

Oh no, let’s hope not. Go get a copy of his book Naughty Nonsense, Lascivious Limericks and Much More by David Ellis. It’s not for kids but it is for pretty much everyone else.

David – Anybody who likes humor and anybody who is not prudish.

Haha, perfect. It’s like I said earlier, the Limericks are so addicting it might just inspire you to write your own and who knows maybe we’ll be talking about your book on the next edition of Newsgram, from Webtalkradio.com

Listen to David talk about his book on the Books on Air podcast or the Talking Books podcast with JT Crowley featuring a video conversation on Youtube.

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The original Bill of Rights is now about 210 years old. Is it time to re-evaluate our fundamental constitutional rights? Are we ready to trust ourselves as individuals with the personal responsibilities that go with rights? This show is presented from the personal perspective of John Boushkaa gay man who grew up in a period of enormous change and migration toward cultural individualism. He is author of the book Do Ask, Do Tell: A Gay Conservative Lashes Back

Welcome to this edition of Newsgram.

Starting in February of 1994 and running all the way through September of 2011 “Don’t ask, don’t tell” was the official US policy regarding non-heterosexual people in military service. It was instituted during the Clinton administration and by 2008, more than 12,000 officers had been discharged from the military for publicizing their homosexuality.

It was overturned by the senate during the Obama administration on December 18, 2010. The repeal allowed gay and lesbian military members to serve openly in the armed forces.

This is not a history lesson on gay rights and the US government — we don’t have that kind of time but a little background is necessary. Today we are going to focus on John Boushka’s new book about several important issues including what “discrimination” is really all about, and what the debate regarding “family values” is really all about. Why equal rights for gays is important for everybody and how the “Don’t Tell” mentality interferes with political and social debate in many areas but since all that is clearly laid out in th ebook let’s take a step back an examine what life was like before writing it, because for anyone who has ever come out publicly, it is a moment you will never forget.

John Boushka – It was Friday November 24th 1961. The day after Thanksgiving 1961.

The Day after Thanksgiving, John Boushka walked into the Dean’s office while he was away at college and admitted that he was having feelings for men. There had been no sexual experience before that but the feelings were there.

John Boushka – The call from what my father said came in around eight o’clock in the evening. The dean identified himself and said they needed to come back to Williamsburg to talk to me. Him and my mother and so it would have been a very stressful thing for a couple to wonder why a dean wanted to talk to their child. Can you imagine what that would have been like?

I’m already wondering about a lot of things. Like why that call needed to be made in the first place. I guess because it was 1961, which also explains what happened next.

John Boushka – The end result was I was taken out of school. I would only be allowed to go back if a psychiatrist certified it was ok for me to go back to school.

The assumption being there is something psychologically wrong with being gay and further evaluation was necessary. Couldn’t just let him run free on campus with those crazy feelings of his.

John Boushka – This is one of the reasons why you had McCarthyism and you had witch hunts in the government and state department because the psychiatrist profession was making money off it. Today, Gender theory, who is making money off of it.

A lot to think about but poor John had to spend six months at the national Institute of Health in Bethesda Washington

John Boushka – There was actually a program to examine this problem in the fall of 1962 and some of the book deals with that.

When you look at the way things were then and you hear the stories about what life was like it’s absolutely fascinating and if you feel like we haven’t made progress I can tell you that when you hear John’s story you will understand that we have definitely made progress.

He talks about joining the military in the late 60’s and while Don’t ask Don’t tell may not have been the official policy it was definitely a thing. He also spent time in Dallas in the 80’s. Not the best place to ride out the Aids scare.

John Boushka – In Dallas they threatened to reinforce the Sodomy law with what was a much more draconian law in Texas in the mid nineteen eighties before they had a test for HIV that was politically a very difficult time. I talk about that in the book

Yea, Dallas definitely had its share of controversies in the 1960’s in effort to come full circle here let’s fast forward to the Clinton Administration. When you look at the living conditions of servicemen, which is what they had to do to come up with this policy, there are a lot of parallels with the living conditions in a college dorm. John was able to draw on his experiences throughout the years to tell this story and here is an important takeaway.

John Boushka – Your personal rights can be taken away when external circumstances justify a more authoritarian control of people. You are seeing this happen in other countries.

I like the way he said that, “Your personal rights can be taken away when external circumstances justify a more authoritarian control of people”. If that strikes a cord you might enjoy his book — Do Ask, Do Tell: A Gay Conservative Lashes Back: Individualism, Identity, Personal Rights, Responsibility and Community in a Libertaria by John Boushka

And that will wrap up another edition of Newsgram from https://www.Webtalkradio.com

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This episode is based on the book A Flowing Through by David Esling. It is about one teacher’s artistic approach to teaching and learning in a primary school within a socially disadvantaged suburb of Hobart in England.

Welcome to this weeks edition of Newsgram

A common theme here on Newsgram is our ongoing mission to change the world. I would like to leave this world a better place than I found it or at least a better place than it is now and while that may not be possible I have found that introducing you to forward thinkers and change makers can be quite satisfying. Change makers like David Esling. David is a dreamer and we need more of them. He grew up in the UK and attended a boarding school for his education. It was not an easy life and it was probably not the most ideal place for a dreamer but some good came out of all of it — but I’m getting ahead of myself. About the boarding school…

David Esling – The Lessons were very uninspiring. We sat at desks in rows and we had tests every fortnight. The tests we had determined what row and what desk you were sitting in. I frequently could not accept this form of teaching so I tended to dream of imaginary classrooms where we could use our hands to paint and make things.

How many of us can relate to that? An uninspiring eduction that was also accepting of corporal punishment.

David Esling – I was caned for inattention. I was caned for being untidy.

My, how things have changed since 1952. I grew up in the 60’s. A time when we thought hiding under our desks would protect us from a Nuclear bomb and we practiced this exercise regularly. It’s still a threat more now than ever before but we no longer have to worry about being caned or slapped with a ruler. We do have to keep an eye out for mass shooters. My point is, the upside of adversity is it does make us want to change things for the better. Hopefully we can.

David Esling – I had to find another way. All the time as I went through the rest of my schooling I dreamt of being a teacher where I could do things in a different way.

Not only did his dream become a reality but he’s also written a book about it called A Flowing Through: A Series of Artistic Explorations That Flow from Simple Starting Points, Pass by Milestones and Finish with Polished Achievements by David Esling where he documents his process working with primary school aged children.

David Esling – When I started teaching in 1967 I had a class of forty two children. All at desks facing the blackboard and all I had was a stick of chalk and I was dumbfounded. I thought God I’m going to have to teach the way I was taught myself! But I had to find another way so I tried and I began with creative writing and then as my career progressed and the classes got smaller I was able to find other ways through art and mathematics to do practical explorations and by the time I went to Hobart in 1993 I had built up quite a repertoire of creative explorations across the curriculum.

David developed quite a reputation for himself being invited to speak at conferences, contributing to the publications of others and like I said writing his own book. But it wasn’t easy. Change is hard for some. The traditionalists considered him too avant-garde. He had to stay committed to his goal to “find another way” and that meant earning the trust of the school administrators, parents and the kids.

David Esling – I said, I think I can make you want to come to school but I need your help. So I told them about my school days and they couldn’t believe it! I said your school seems to be an awful lot better than mine. Let’s do something about our then to make it even better. They were really excited about the prospect because then they were like, what are we going to do? What’s different? What are we gonna do? And I said, we’re going to do a lot of things together. We’re going to start with Art. We’re going to start with painting abstracts. These are paintings you can do where no one makes mistakes. There’s no fear of failure. So we did it together. I showed them how. A small group at a time and then one group started influencing another group and it spread right through the classroom environment.

A Flowing through — if you will. His idea turned out to be a huge success. It raised their self-esteem and gave the kids a better attitude towards learning, it also improved their relationships with each other. School became an exciting place because now the teacher and the students worked together playing an active role in the learning process. They were learning how to learn by working together.

David Esling – Mr. E often likes to paint alongside the children. It helped him to feel part of the learning group as we were all learning together. Brent saw his teacher practicing his trees on the middle ground of his landscape painting. I think you will be better off testing out a few fir trees, suggested Brent. You’re quite right Brent. I haven’t quite worked out how to paint fir trees, replied his teacher. Come with me Mr. E I’ll show you how beckoned Brent. The teacher pulled over and sat beside him at his workplace. You see Mr. E they are sort of triangle shaped and some of the branches go sideways. They even bend down toward the ground in some places. You only need to paint a few trucks and branches as you can’t see the rest. The leaves, well I just dab them on with a small bristle brush just like what you told us before. He was enthusiastic with his instructions and advice. He had worked it out for himself and was justly proud of his discoveries. His confidence and self satisfaction glowed within his smiles as he continued with his painting . His teacher shared his pleasure. The teacher had become the pupil. The pupil had become the teacher. Pupils and teachers learning together. That was the heartbeat of your learning environment. It was beating, beating, beating, beating….

Anyone who has ever advocated for the removal of art or funding for the arts in school should read this book. And by the way, shame on you. And, I should point out that it wasn’t just about painting landscapes you need to think more broadly.

David Esling – If you look at the book you will see that I spent some time talking about imagery. We started looking at idioms and illustrating the interesting associations of ideas and then we went into the other aspects of imagery and then I got them to consider painting their feelings and then it moved from feelings to concern.

Can you see how painting your feelings and concerns lets you express them in a way that might be hard for some children that are not vocal? Can you see how it allows for the open exchange of ideas, thoughts and can lead to important conversations? Art is also mathematics because imagery can be 3-D and lead to design. What a great way to get kids interested in engineering without even using that word. David is an interesting guy and his book is fascinating. Let me…or better yet him, leave you with a quote from the Chinese philosopher, Confucius.

David Esling – I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.

Pretty much the story of my life. If you learn by doing, you’re gonna love this book. If you’re a teacher or you work alongside children you will love these stories. Plus, there’s pictures! You not only get to see some of the kids painting but you get to see their finished work. The abstracts are very good!

Each “explorative journey” is accompanied by David’s photographs to help bring life to the explorations. The children’s art was often outstanding, but the journey, rather than the destination, carried the greater significance.

A Flowing Through: A Series of Artistic Explorations That Flow from Simple Starting Points, Pass by Milestones and Finish with Polished Achievements by David Esling.

There are four books in “The Flowing” series. Hop online and grab a copy of your favorite or send one to someone you know that might enjoy it. It’s available now at all the usual places, Barnes and Noble, Amazon. It’s one sale at Better World Books. There are links to all those places in this shows description and that will do it for this edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com.

Listen to the Books On Air podcast with Suzanne Harris for an interview with the author.

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This episode is based on the book Twelve Years in Alaska; A Spiritual Journey by Melissa L. Farrell. It is a series of articles that grew out of her quest to find a way to live with being an open empath. A person with the ability to apprehend the mental or emotional state of another individual.

Welcome to this edition of Newsgram.

How are you feeling? It’s an appropriate question given today’s subject matter. What do you know about empathy? I want to start out today with a quick lesson because there is a difference between empathy and being an Empath. Empathy is simply the ability to understand the feelings of others. Hopefully we all have this ability. It makes you human. However being an empath would give you the ability to tap into and take on the emotions of the people around you. Think about that for a minute. Actually being able to know physically how someone feels because you can feel it too. That’s some next level stuff.

Empaths are highly sensitive people and while they probably make pretty good listeners they do need to choose their friends wisely because…well, feeling your feelings is great if you’re a happy person but what about anger, negativity and pessimism. These can be awfully draining.

Have you ever met an Empath? Today her name is Melissa.

Melissa L. Farrell – I was born an empath and I lived in San Diego county with better than 100,000 people there, and I would absorb everything of all of the people that were around me and couldn’t differentiate what was me and what was them.

That can be a real challenge. It would probably force me to seek some professional advice.

Melissa L. Farrell – It took a lot of years, counseling and one of the reasons I got into Psychology was to try to figure this stuff out.

And as you might expect, it would also force you to seek out some solitude which is all explained in her book Twelve Years in Alaska A Spiritual Journey

Melissa L. Farrell – The twelve years in Alaska were important because I am an Empath. My younger sister married a man that was stationed at Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska . We went up, my mother and my son and I went up one year to visit with her and see the place. I had decided that Alaska would be a good place for me and I absolutely did. We were driving along the number two highway in Alaska, got to this one place and my heart space opened up absolutely wide and I said to my sister Terri, “Where are we?” and she said “This is Salcha Alaska” and that’s where I ended up living. There were only nine hundred people living in Salcha so I could hear me, I could feel me, I could deal with my own issues in those twelve years.

I looked it up. Salcha is about forty miles south of Fairbanks and it’s a very beautiful place. It is next to the Salcha River, a popular fishing destination but enough about that. I just wanted to give you a feeling of the serenity you could expect to see and feel and if you’re an Empath how calming this area must be. It’s no wonder she chose to stay there.

There’s something else that you need to know about Melissa. In 1964, when she was in her twenties she was driving her mothers Corvair with her brother John when she suffered a Near Death Experience.

Melissa L. Farrell – The near death experience changes everything so much. It isn’t a matter of growing through it and learning it little by little. I mean you have the experience and everything is changed and I mean physically, emotionally, spiritually, your outlook on life everything changes. Coping with that is another issue.

I was going to read you a section of the book where she talks about her experience but to be honest it is so well written that you will get the most out of it by reading it yourself. Melissa is a great storyteller. I will leave you with just the last five words in the story. “John was my first Ghost” — how’s that for an incentive?

Melissa L. Farrell – My hope for the reader

is that they will find something in one or more of the articles that help them to find their own private, personal path in life. That’s whet this whole experience in my life has been for me was to find the path that is right for me in life and I just wanted to give the opportunity to maybe find their own.

Oh yes, the articles. Before I wrap up I should let you know that there are thirty different articles on various subjects where she shares her life experiences in the hope that it will give you some perspective and help you on your own spiritual journey.

It’s probably the thing that is most fascinating about this book. Not just the near death experience, the ghosts or the things that happened to her but the way she shares it with the reader. Her unique brand of wisdom. There is no agenda. It’s just the telling of a story in hopes that you will find strength in the stories the guidance to find your path and begin to live your own story.

Check out her blog or download your copy from her website or at your favorite online bookseller — Walmart, Barnes and Noble, Amazon or wherever you like to buy books. There are links to all of these places in the shows description. And that will do it for this Empath edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com.

Listen to the full interview with the author on the Books on Air podcast with Suzanne Harris.

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Do you struggle with heartache from the death of a loved one or a major life adversity? Do you blame God for allowing such a painful thing to happen? Delores J. Porter has answers for you in her hope-filled new book, God Doesn’t Do Evil That Good May Come.

Welcome to this edition of Newsgram.

When bad things happen do you blame God? It’s easy to do. It’s part of our nature to point the finger when things happen. Depending on your religion we are brought up being afraid of the wrath of God. However, getting to the bottom of what is really going on is much harder.

Delores J. Porter – On the Christian radios that I listen to every single day sometime in every sermon they would blame God. God’s in total control, every death, every situation bad or good that happens God either did it or allowed the devil to do it. I knew in my heart all my life that cannot be right. That would mean demons work for God.

That is Delores J. Porter and yes, there is a lot going on in the statement. Delores is the author of the book God Doesn’t Do Evil That Good May Come and in it sheexamines what God Himself says about His character-in His Word-and shows why He isn’t behind the sorrows and tragedies of our lives. She corrects some of the misunderstandings in traditional theology.

Delores J. Porter – God is not guilty for any of the adversities in our lives. God is love. It’s kind of like a missing link in our theology that made God seem like he’s the big bad wolf and that all judgment and wrath comes from him which it doesn’t it comes from the law of sin and death and the old testament authors they didn’t have the Holy Spirit joined at them yet, see and so God had to use illustrations and all kinds of things to talk to them but they thought that God and the law of sin and death were one and the same so that’s one reason that makes the old testament sound like God is the god or wrath and judgement and the more that I heard that revelation and the more that I studied the more it burned inside of me. God is the god of health and love and people don’t have to be afraid of him.

Delores says she was moved to write this book in defense of God. We are so quick to blame God for the terrible things that happen in our lives. When the truth is when bad things happen, God weeps, God suffers, with us.

Delores talks about how she came to these conclusions and she gives you some background on who she is so you can better understand her motivation for writing this book and her other books, The Truth About God, God Out of the Shadows: ~Book Two and of course the one we are talking about today, God Doesn’t Do Evil That Good May Come: ~Book One which was recently rereleased.

Delores J. Porter – I’ve been a Christian all my life. I got saved so young I don’t even remember getting the experience but I do remember some experiences at about eight and nine years old. I saw a vision of Jesus when I was about eight. I was raised in church and I love Jesus so much I played church all the time and I just studied the picture of the babies face in the manger and I said, in my mind, a child’s thought “I wonder what Jesus looks like now”, all at once the room turned neon white and I just laid there and here Jesus appeared right in the middle. It was his face, chest up. He just smiled at me, it was just like peripheral vision.

Delores is not just an author, she is also a teacher, a speaker, and a songwriter. After the events of 9/11 she became driven to show everyone that God didn’t cause the tragic events of that day.

Delores J. Porter – The next morning I was praying on my treadmill and grieving with God because I knew he would get blamed.

And this became the impetus for her books.

Delores J. Porter – So I was praying and I saw a vision of the twin towers that is stuck in our minds that we first saw, the smoke and two towers and I saw that and then I saw Jesus’s face in the clouds crying tears like rain all over it. It was not him. He had nothing to do with it. Words came to me when I was praying and it was coming in first person like God speaking straight to me and to America and so I thought I’d better write this down so I jumped off the treadmill with a Kleenex in one hand and pencil in the other.

She wrote down what she heard and it’s in her book in the form of a letter. She hopes that all of her books will inspire you to seek God for the comfort He wants to give you. To gain new hope that instead of heartache, He has healing for you in body, soul, and spirit.

God Doesn’t Do Evil That Good May Come

by Delores J. Porter

Delores J. Porter (God is love) When I was writing this book I felt like I was a lawyer for God and I felt like I was standing on top of the North Pole speaking to whole world. It is written on a sixth grade level. one oof the most challenging things would be that I tried to make it simple enough but yet complete enough to not to leave anything out. to make it make sense and actually this revelation of God makes more sense to me than anything that id heard all my life. God is love and God is not guilty of orchestrating the adversities in anyone’s life.

To learn more about Deloris and her books go online to Barnes and Noble, Amazon or just click on the description to this episode of newsgram to find links to her materials. And this will do it for this edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com

Deloris was recently featured on the new Seasons of Spirituality podcast where she reads her entire letter to America from God.

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This episode is based on the book, Little Women Invest which is in turn based on the novel by Louisa May Alcott. It is a guide for young women to approach the world of investments. The themes of financial education are intertwined with those of women’s emancipation.

Welcome to this edition of Newsgram

If you’ve read Little Women from Louisa May Alcott then you know the basic premise here. The four March sisters grow up, find love and find their place in the world. They are all different and interesting in their own way. The story has been retold over the years with a different realized vision each time. Today we’ve going to take a look at a fresh new perspective weaving in a world that is foreign to many fans of the characters — and it’s the one I can relate to most. The world of finance — since I know about as little as the characters in Laura Tardino’s new book Little Women Invest.

Laura Tardino – A financial guide to help women to get more use in you know financial subjects. Of course it was quite easy in the sense that of course when you work twenty-four years in the sector then you can manage very easily and you know what to explain and what are the main issues when you invent money and that was the way it took me to write this book.

Yes, twenty-four years in the financial industry will definitely give you a leg up on the subject matter.

Laura Tardino – In Italy, you know I’m Italian so you may probably understand from my not so good English yea? So, forgive me for that.

Laura says In Italy there is a huge need for financial education among women. It’s why her book is available in both English and Italian but the need is not restricted to Italy and Europe. There are plenty of American women who could use her experience as well….for example learning about money and getting started investing when you are young is a great idea no matter where you live. It just gives you more time. She also goes over the basics of the various investment products to begin building a portfolio.

Laura Tardino – Let me say what are inequities, what is a bond, what kind of bond you can buy which are the main characteristics of these instruments because they are not exactly the same and they are not thought to give you the yield, the return in the same space of time.

Since each product is different there is of course a different approach to investing in each of them as well.Which is why she chose to focus on the March Sisters.

Laura Tardino – Yes exactly, I thought that if I used a book that is a famous romance with famous characters like the four March sisters. Using very simple characters because the life of these women is a very simple life even if very modern for the times probably it would be easier to get the modern women to finance. In the book I tried to use the characters of Little Women just to explain the finance. You have a job so you work and you have money and then invest your money you have more of a chance to become more independent and empowered. It’s very important for women because nowadays it’s really very important for women to be independent, to be empowered ok? And this romance, Little Women was indeed, probably one of the first positive I would say manifesto of women empowerment so that’s the reason I used this romance, using the characters to explain finance just to get women closer to finance etcetera. just to get women closer to finance. If you don’t know anything you are skeptical and will not be an investor. So it’s important to have basic knowledge of finance.

She says many women have a hard time balancing their home and work life and it can be hard to balance investing with the demands of the workforce and raising a family but the key is to have a basic knowledge of finance and just start small. It adds up faster than you might expect. And..give yourself plenty of time. the more time you have the richer you will eventually become.

Work – earn – save. When it comes time to invest this is a great resource to learn about the different products and the various risks involved with investing and when you’re done reading this book…

Laura Tardino – Use a financial Consultant. This is really very important.

Little Women Invest by Laura Tardino, a guide for women who have not studied and probably don’t plan on studying economics.

Laura Tardino – So they will be ready to have a good conversation with this financial consultant about good investments and bad investments.

look for it at your favorite online bookstore — Barnes and Noble, Target, Amazon and many others. And that will do it for this edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com

Be sure and check out the interview with Laura Tardino on the Books on Air podcast with Sloan Fremont.

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Over two millennia ago, in troubled times not unlike our own, a mysterious figure, distinguished by a pheasant feather in his cap, emerged with poetic visions of a future world of peace and justice. Like Laozi, Pheasant Cap (Héguanzî) understood the underlying unity in things and the power of Dao to make things happen.

Welcome to this edition of Newsgram.

If you’ve ever been curious about ancient China and its cultural history then this is your show. Here for the first time, we are going to get an insider’s view of early Daoism as it influenced philosophy.

Let’s start with a simple question, “How did a young boy named Chin (Qin) growing up in exile become China’s First Augustan Emperor (Qin Shihuangdi)?

Marnix Wells – Well this is all the best of a mystery because most of the records were destroyed after the fall of Qin which ended in a bit of a holocaust or an inferno when the future Han dynasty took over. This is now being remedied somewhat by the discovery of tombs with silk manuscripts miraculously preserved from that period and they show a lot of connections with the Héguanzî and his writings which I estimate in the period from about 250BC to 221BC which was the date in which Qin conquered the last of the six kingdoms and started the unified Chinese Empire and they still see this as the foundation of the unified China.

So not as simple a question as I thought but the discovery of new material is painting a clearer picture of the past. It’s all available now in Dr. Marnix Wells’ book Héguanzî, the Dao of Unity, Linking Politics, Philosophy and Religion in Ancient China.

Marnix Wells – This boy who actually grew up, was born in the state of Chow which is where this book is centered. Later he managed to get back to Qin and claim the crown and from there he became the emperor and the conqueror of the whole Chinese world and founded the Empire.

Dr. Wells knows a great deal about Chinese history. He has a first degree in Chinese from Oxford and a PhD from London School of Oriental and African Studies. He also spends time working as a shipping manager in the Far East where he acquired first-hand knowledge of the people and their heritage. As you know — one way to better understand a country is not only to visit there but to have a look at its history and Chinese History paints a unique picture of Unity.

Marnix Wells – The Qin that founded the Chinese empire was basically in some sense tapping into Héguanzî, because he has this vision of old nations and racism coming together and while it wasn’t done peacefully as sit turned out, none the less they did adopt this idea of sort of centralized unity which China has enjoyed for the last 2000 years so it’s a good lesson of the world at the same time it’s also something we need to be careful about because it’s also a potential threat for the rest of us unless we can somehow work things out.

Yes, we do have an issue with Unity in this country right now but I am optimistic that the tide is turning on all that. We have had our differences over the years and we usually find a way to unite.

So if you find Ancient Chinese culture fascinating or you just want to broaden your worldview. Maybe you’re curious about early dismissed writings, now vindicated by some new archaeological discoveries — then this is probably a great resource for you.

Marnix Wells – I’m attempting to kind of bridge the gap between academia and the man on the street. Of course this is very dangerous because on the one hand you get the reaction from many ordinary people saying that, oh well this is something outside their understating and on the other hand you get the academics saying we haven’t peer reviewed it and so forth I would welcome any academic challenge because I’ve put in a lot of footnotes to back up what i say so if someone has a different interpretation that would be great.

We live in a global world. We do a great bit of business with China. We hear something about China in the news almost everyday but I wonder how much we really know about the country, its people and its origins.

Marnix Wells – Indeed, we need to learn more about the rest of the world. We need to know more about China and its culture. not from the propaganda so much as from the actual history and also into Asia, Africa, South America you know we mustn’t shut ourselves away in our Western paradise, or not so paradise. We must engage with the world.

So jump into your time machine and head back to the China of warring kingdoms in 250 B.C. on the eve of imperial conquest. The key to your travels is the internet where you’ll find a book about how the Chinese empire and Chinese mindset was formed. It’s called (Heguansa) Héguanzî, the Dao of Unity, Linking Politics, Philosophy and Religion in Ancient China by Dr. Marnix Wells available at Barnes and Noble or Amazon and we’ve put links in the show notes for you. And that will do it for this edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com.

Listen to the Books On Air podcast for a more in depth interview with Marnix Wells or check out the Talking Books podcast where you can see a video interview conducted by JT Crowley.

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The book, A Dandelion was inspired by Andrew Everstine’s daughter Ashli, who was three years-old at the time.

She said, “Tell me a story, Daddy.”

“Okay…but you have to give me the title.”

“A Dandelion,” she replied and a new creative universe commenced.

Welcome to this edition of Newsgram.

Here we go again! If you’ve been listening lately you might be noticing a theme. We’re trying to make the world a better place to live and we’re doing it one book at a time. Today we’re going to use the power of the Dandelion.

Is it a weed or a flower? It has a beautiful yellow color and to be honest aren’t weeds just rapidly spreading plants that choose to take root in places where they’re not wanted? So couldn’t they be called wildflowers? According to GardenBetty.comit’s an herb with holistic medicinal value. And…yes, you can eat it or maybe sip it at tea time.

Why all this talk of Dandelions? Because according to Andrew Everstine it’s also a great tool for teaching kids about racism – or should I say Flowerism?

Andrew Everstine – Kindness, bravery and inclusion through flowers. Flowerism is a made up term. It’s a nicer term than racism and I figured if Dr. Seuss can make up a word than so can I for the common good.

Of course you can. Andrew wrote a children’s book for his daughter Ashley called A Dandelion — the subtitle is A Dandelion touches on the sensitive issue of Flowerism.

Andrew Everstine – The main character is Sallie Budfield. She’s a dandelion full of hope and determination and there’s a party that’s going to take place and there’s a list that’s going to be posted in town hall within a couple of weeks. All the flowers are excited that hopefully their name is on the list so there’s a crowd outside town hall waiting to see the list and the doors open and everyone rushes down the hall and into the courtyard because they know exactly where the town lost is posted and some of them are so excited that their name is on the list that they nearly lose a bud or two jumping up and down but Sally bless her heart just gracefully walks in after everyone and she walks out to the list and scans the list twice but to her dismay the name Sallie Budfield is not on the list and then something catches her eye at the bottom and it says specifically “No Dandelions allowed” and she is just crushed.

Oh No! I know it’s just a story but that is gut wrenching. You can just see the flowers jumping up and down with excitement which builds anticipation for poor Sallie and makes it soooo much sadder that she can’t go. Especially when you see her face. The cover of the book features a big beautiful picture of Sallie all bright and sunny with big eyes and a wide smile. You just get the feeling that this is not someone who you want to exclude — this is someone you need at your party.

Andrew Everstine – Oh, just the way she looks. I wish I could paint a picture for you. It’s just so colorful and vibrant. I love it.

And the timing could not be more perfect for this kind of story. Kindness is powerful.

Andrew Everstine – I’m telling you it has a good message. We need more kindness in the world, more than ever.

You’ll love reading about the lengths that Sallie goes to try and be included without an invitation. Sneaking in by the catering truck. She even does her best to change her look, calling herself a Yankee Carnation instead of a Dandelion.

Andrew Everstine – There weren’t only dandelions that weren’t allowed but there are also some other flowers that we’re allowed too because the flowers you see on page ten, they’re sad because they’re not invited but then the dandelions as well you know it kind of gets both of them.

Yes, it’s a great lesson in kindness and inclusion and without giving too much away something happens inside the party – there’s an explosion and Sallie get’s to show her true nature being the hero that she is. It’s a great reminder to be careful because the person that you put down today could be the one that saves your life tomorrow.

Get your copy of A Dandelion by Andrew Everstine today. It’s available online at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Target and wherever you like to buy books.

And that will do it for this edition of Newsgram from webtalkradio.com.

Watch the interview with Andrew Everstine on the Talking Books Podcast with JT Crowley on Youtube or listen to the interview with Suzanne Harris on the Book on Air podcast.

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This episode is based on the book, The Golden Book of Life & The Plasma Soul Codes, an extraordinary self-help bible overflowing with life-changing spiritual information, healing guidance, cosmic wisdom, and unconditional love specifically designed to empower you to live your best life.

Welcome to the this edition of Newsgram

Today we are going to continue our theme of honoring the endless spirit within us as we open up another chapter in healing. Let’s find the authentic, happy and limitless self within you! It’s already there. Everything you need is within you, we just need to tap into it.

If you heard the show about Healing with Dr. Emmett then you know how powerful love can be. Today we’re going to guide humankind home toward real love and to do that we need to start with you. Because after all you are love. You are also Plasma.

Simone Renee Quinton – Plasma is something that is everywhere. It’s more than 99.999% of the entire universe and science has proven now that as human beings we are made of this substance as stars and space. So, our soul is something that is so extraordinary and it’s the life force within us that has no beginning and no end and yet when we’re here in a human body and in life everything is quite challenging for us all to be in that space. Plasma is the communication of life; it’s all that is life around us. If you’re very spiritual you might liken it to the Holy Spirit energy or God or if you’re more science based you can just think about it as the space around us, the space within space, the air we breathe it in, we breathe it out so it’s a massive concept.

That is Simone Renee Quinton and she just wrote a book called The Golden Book of Life & The Plasma Soul Codes. A book she always knew she was going to write and it’s a very powerful tool. If you think back to grammar school science you were probably told that there were three types of matter, solids’ liquids and gas. Well there is a fourth and it’s the mysterious substance called plasma.

Now I promised that we were going to open a new chapter of healing and to do that we first need to get to know ourselves and that starts by realizing that you are not just plasma but that you have a unique set of codes that identifies you.

Simone Renee Quinton – The soul codes are your individual makeup. It’s like your little pod within you, your individual self. It’s like a pod of information within your soul that you can access anytime wherever you are to help you through your day. Because no one else has a day within the life of you, you are in your body. You know what’s going on, what you’re thinking, what you’re feeling so it’s your own little point of access and the soul codes are a reference to help people access that information that they need anytime any day within them.

We live in the computer age so the concept of a code that is unique to us, one that defines who we are, shouldn’t feel that crazy. And if you want to find your purpose or determine your destiny it helps to know more about who you are.

So when you’re feeling angry, let it go. Choose to be happy and you will find it. When you really want to hurt someone, don’t do it. Find love instead. It’s not always easy but it is possible and the time to make those positive changes is now because something inside you doesn’t want to feel this way any longer.

Simone Renee Quinton – We’re sick of dragging our feet and that becomes the catalyst to change. We know we don’t want to feel that way anymore. We don’t want to think that way anymore. That is the aha moment. We’ve all had that experience where we go yea! I’m gonna change. That usually lasts for a day or two and then we tend to peter off so we do need to be vigilant. When we’re having that aha moment, when we’re in that feeling of self motivation and self love and yes! I’m gonna do this. We need to sit with ourselves. We need to stop everything for however long. Maybe just ten minutes and you know yourself better than anyone else so that ’s the time when you can even grab the book and then write little notes around your house or on your mirror or just do something that you know is going to pick you up in three days’ time. Maybe on the steering wheel in your car that’s a really good reminder.

So find a way to communicate with yourself and take time to go outside. No matter what the weather is like.

Simone Renee Quinton – If you allow yourself to go outside everyday. if you make that a religion like when you have a shower or brush your teeth and eat food. Make that part of your everyday religion where you go outside and you just breathe by yourself. There is, because of the nature of our soul and the chemistry within us even on a physical level nature inspires us. It inspires us to get that information that we need so we can better our life. We do that regularly and we are really set.

So what we are talking about here, Going outside for fresh air, reminding yourself to find love, think positive thoughts, know that we are spiritual beings that are all connected and we have a direct influence on one another. You might be thinking — none of this seems all that complicated.

Simone Renee Quinton – That’s right and the whole concept of The Golden Book of Life & The Plasma Soul Codes, the concepts of who we are and all that happiness that we want in life is so simple. It’s so easy that our crazy human program mind overlooks it and tries to complicate it but it’s not. It’s those moments where we take a breath and look up at the sky or we look into our childs’ eye, just that moment they’re the moments that really matter and they tell us to create a better life for ourselves in every way shape or form but it always starts within us. And that’s what the book teaches. it helps to remind people that it’s all within you, everything you need. All these little tiny negative thoughts that go on in the mind or feelings, I tell people just look at them and grab them and say “Hey mate, it’s ok, I love you come here we’re gonna have a good day”. So you then are the parent. They’re like children and you need to win. You wouldn’t let your little child run across the road when there’s a big bus coming so you grab them and you don’t give them a choice

Are you ready to put some of this information to practical use? Buy a copy of her book and get ready for a magical ride of awakening. Turn to the back, look up a keyword and you’ll be directed to the best soul code to assist you — but you have to use it. Don’t just leave it sitting there on the coffee table.

Simone Renee Quinton – Although the front cover has a really cool picture on it that will look good on a coffee table, laughter….

The Golden Book of Life & The Plasma Soul Codes by Simone Renee Quinton. Available now at Amazon.com Remember, you are a spiritual being. Live the amazing life you came here to live! You are the key to the multiverse and you deserve it.

And that will do it for this edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com

Listen to the interview with Simone on the Books on Air podcast or watch a live interview with her on the Talking Books podcast with JT Crowley.

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This episode is based on the series Little Cherubs Short Stories. A series of books addressing different situations from a child’s perspective, like death, fostering, disability, animal care and comradery, family situations. A learning curve and “food for thought”.

Welcome to this edition of Newsgram

Today we’re going to take a look at a series of children’s books that teaches children about a lot more than just colors, numbers and farm animals. These are socially conscious short stories that sprinkle together a bit of magic, some adventure and community involvement in a real world environment. Let me be more specific. Imagine teaching about things like blindness by taking a trip to ‘The Guide Dogs Association for the Blind’, What a great place to learn about guide dogs and blindness.

Kimberley Bachelot – Its really about teaching children to be kind, compassionate, to think of others and also to be conscious of their environment. I mean the modern day theme is the environment, climate change and endangered species so to raise them with that consciousness and teach them ordinary everyday lessons within the book as well. It touches upon issues like death, fostering friendships, teamwork, so it’s quite involved but it’s not boring and it’s not petty it’s short stories and their little things within the book.

No they’re definitely not boring and while some of those issues seem pretty heavy at first glance it’s amazing how simple it can be to teach about them if you just find the right way to do it.

Kimberley Bachelot – That’s why I say there’s three elements to it. It’s educational, inspirational and also entertaining.

Kimberly has found a terrific way to weave together these three elements.

Kimberley Bachelot – It’s not just a story to read and enjoy but it teaches you something about life and then maybe that will inspire you to delve more deeply into that area because children minds are like sponges and if you can exit that interest they might go on to look into it to do a project on it or maybe even later in life it might become a career for them, who knows.

The series is called “Little Cherub Short Stories” and they are all very different. Book 1: is about adopting a pet. It’s subtitled To be or not to be: Pet is the question.

Kimberley Bachelot – They learn about pets and that’s where Marylou comes up with the idea that she wants some cats and that’s how it all starts they go down to paws and tails and then later on discover that the cats are magical the kittens are magical and that’s where their adventures start.

Book two is where the kids visit the The Guide Dogs Association for the Blind’ but it’s also about a great deal more. In fact, she admits this one was a real challenge to write because it’s about fostering a child after an unfortunate accident.

Kimberley Bachelot – Laila lost her parents when she was four and so that was quite difficult to think about how a child would feel and how they would react and also death it can be a bit stigmatized. I can be a bit scary particularly to young children so I had to think all about that aspect and put it in a certain way but i hope I’ve shown that her feelings and the way she worked though it and the help she got eventually came across the Naylors who fostered her shows that out of real pain and hardship you can find solice and happiness again.

This one is about a lot more than death, fostering and adoption. There’s a bake sale, a set of magic pendants )A large diamond and tiger tooth) that have ancient powers — helping them on their mission to protect endangered species.

Kimberley Bachelot – I’m quite into environmental issues so endangered species and thinking about the planet those are the areas I like best. I also worked for a long time in the voluntary sector and so those areas where they go to the associate for the blind and learn about guide dogs and you know, they think about Bernardo’s that look after children they’re quite important aspects they’re my favorite bits because they do touch upon my former careers.

The third book in the Little Cherub Short Stories series is Meet Ambie and Joulsie. Book 3: Ambie and Joulsie’s East Easter Parade.

Kimberley Bachelot – Fundraising continues at the Easter Parade for the Donkey Sanctuary; Michael, Beth and Mary Lou find themselves transported to Peru, along with Glenie, Ambie and Joulsie. The Pendants, the Diamond and Tiger Tooth, help Alveros ‘appear’ and guide them to the ‘Temple of Inti’, the Inca Sun God, where the Neverending Treasures have been hidden during the 15th Century, for the protection of the Incas and environment. During a modern day excavation, the Naylors find the codeword and the Never Ending treasures appear. The magic continues.

So as you can see, very different stories addressing all kinds of issues in Educational and Motivational ways. They Encourage imagination, they are full of magic and adventure, love and endearment and they are anything but boring.

Little Cherubs Short Stories: Mary Lou’s ‘Helping Hand Project’ by Kimberley Bachelot available now online at Walmart, Amazon and many other places. There are links in this show’s description to make it easy for you and that will do it for this edition of News gram from Webtalkradio.com.

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There are many aspects to Healing – Healing the Body, Healing the Mind and Spirit, along with Healing the World. In studying Healing, we see who we are and what we are doing here in this life. It is the combination of medicine, science and philosophy unravelling the old spiritual mysteries held in trust by religions through time.

Welcome to this edition of Newsgram.

The title of this show is HEALING and I mean that in the broadest sense of the word. I want you to think about all the different possible ways of healing that exist. We’re going to be talking about Healing the Body, Healing the Mind, healing the Spirit — and Healing the World we live in.

Oh you think I’m crazy? Keep an open mind because you are going to hear some things today that are going to challenge your way of thinking. They will definitely cause you to pause and think. In short, with the help of Dr. Anthony J Emmett I am going to blow your mind.

Let’s start out with something you’ve most likely heard before. If you want to be happy and healthy you can be. You can be well and you can be happy. It’s not just a fact, it’s science.

Dr Anthony J Emmett – When you wish to be well you can be by the thoughts you hold in your mind.

Our mind is a very powerful tool. A lot more powerful than you might be aware of. We are healing all the time. Your body is full of cells which are alive and conscious, so your thoughts and desires do influence your health.

Dr Anthony J Emmett – Most people don’t realize that and that’s why I’ve written this book because I want people to know that they have within their own ability, they can transform themselves, they can be well and they can be happy. It’s all so simple really.

That’s Dr. Emmett, I mentioned him earlier and his book is called Healing A Philosophy for the 21st Century.

Dr Anthony J Emmett – You know, every cell in your body is multiplying. You replace your body every seven years and each of those cells has a way of knowing how you feel. If you are happy and well you will transmit that message to the cells of your body and they will be happy and well.

It really can be that simple. Imagine only watching comedies, and surrounding yourself with happy, agreeable people. No negativity at all. It’s going to lift your spirits and make you feel good. It’s one of the reasons I’m so turned off by politics and the news. You need to surround yourself with happiness so much that it permits your subconscious.

Dr Anthony J Emmett – The mind is like an iceberg. The 15% you use in your conscious mind is only part of it. The rest of it is in your subconscious, your deeper consciousness, the part you contact in sleep and we really are much stronger than we believe because a lot of it is kept in the unconscious part of your mind.

So the bottom line here is, what you carry in your mind, in your conscious and unconscious mind has much more power than you might believe. According to Dr. Emmettt you can create your own health and happiness by the thoughts that you carry and create.

There are different ways to bring out those healing thoughts. Art is one one way, meditation is another way. The key is to make sure you have that positivity in the bank — if you will.

Dr Anthony J Emmett – You know children learn love in the first two year of and they file that in their subconscious and it influences them everyday. And, it’s the same with movement. A baby is learning to move it’s learning time with its fingers and you know it files that movement in it subconscious. It’s the same with the tennis stroke, the golf stroke, or a gymnast doing back flips or a diver from a high platform doing two twists and then going into the water all of that has been learned and then filed into the subconscious and then you call on it and it comes through and it dilutes in a much faster way than your conscious mind could. Many people are aware of this and many are unaware of it but what you hold in your unconscious mind is the power of your life, it’s also the love, the beauty and the fascination.

That’s the power of love. Huey Lewis was smarter than you think. O.k. so I think we’ve made the point. Love and positivity have the ability to heal. There’s an element in this that we haven’t touched on yet and it’s the true key to everything. If you are as skeptical as I am you are probably wondering how it works. How does love heal? I’m going to tell you.

Healing is multidimensional. In the unconscious-mind we find our relationship to the Divine, the Power of the Universe, All That Is and it’s where we find God.

Dr Anthony J Emmett – We’re on this earth here for a relatively short time but that’s not the beginning of our life and its not the end of it because we’ve been here before and we will be again. You know there are other dimensions around us, like the frequency wavelengths on your radio. We exist in several dimensions. We are a multi dimensional creature and the other dimensions are invisible. We’re getting used to this civilization of invisible energies, what makes your mobile phone work, your cellphone, it’s the invisible energy. We; there are other invisible energies around you that have spirit guides. You may not know it. We all have them. Among my spirit guides are people I’ve had previous lives with and um, she is fascinating creatures and what they advise and sometimes it’s in sleep, sometimes if you let yourself daydream but you are always with others though you may not see them but don’t be afraid because it’s all good. Your friends are there to help you.

Yes, your spirit guides are there to help you. Can you see how it all fits tighter now, The mind, the body and the spirit. You are not alone. Everything is interconnected because we are multidimensional spirit beings. All we have to do it believe…

Dr Anthony J Emmett – Believe that you will heal the world as you heal yourself.

Believe in the power of love.

Dr Anthony J Emmett – Yes, Love is the most powerful medicine we have. We don’t understand it of course. It’s like consciousness, it’s like gravity, it’s one of the great forces in life. If you give yourself to it and happily embrace it it’s wonderful.

Love a powerful force with the ability to heal? Why not? There is more. You do need to stop putting bad things into your body. I’m saying that out loud so I’ll actually do it but a healthy diet can not be underestimated. It will help your immune system. Also try to eliminate stress whenever possible. Let go of anger, hatred and bitterness. These things are like poison to our subconsciousness — and just embrace love.

Start small. Smile more often, show yourself the love you deserve and watch how infectious it can be. Before you know it we will make this a better world to live in. Having a reminder of these things on your coffee table isn’t a bad idea either. Healing A Philosophy for the 21st Century by Dr Anthony J Emmett. Order it now and Amazon will probably have a copy of it at your house before I finish playing the closing theme — and that will do it for this edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com.

Listen to Dr. Emmett on the Books on Air show with Suzanne Harris on Apple podcasts.

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Dee Buchanan spent over 20 years journaling. Now, her journal is a book of messages to support and empower women to learn and grow and understand themselves. This episode is based on her book Messages from the Divine Mother: A Selection of Spiritual Conversations for Women. Welcome to this edition of Newsgram.  Let’s call this a Holiday […]

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Facing retirement, Ruth, Trudy and some other baby-boomers are drawn together by a love of music to form a traveling ukulele band. This “feel-good fiction” episode of Newsgram is based on the book Pensioned Off: Baby boomers out to pasture by Sue Dawson.  Welcome to this edition of Newsgram! Today’s show is dedicated to anyone born between the years 1946 […]

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Relax your inner light and connect to God. The power is in you. This episode is based on the book, The Cosmic Romance with Existence by Murali Dharan who teaches us how to connect the inner light within us to a higher light – the light of God.  Welcome to this edition of Newsgram. Are you ready to tap […]

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Who is Eleanor Riley? Today on Newsgram we find out by exploring her memoir. This episode is based on the book, “Rungs On My Ladder” by Eleanor Riley Welcome to this edition of Newsgram. Today we ask the question, who is Eleanor Riley?  Eleanor Riley – I was born on the Island Jamaica west indies. I migrated to the […]

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Let’s seed this idea in the consciousness of Planet Earth. This episode is based on the book aliengg7.co.uk The First Chapters: A Philosophers Dream 114 by David Keith Greenaway Welcome to this edition of Newsgram.  Human beings are flawed, it’s our nature. We screw up but we are evolving. At least I like to think so. However, there are […]

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Imagine your brothers, cousins or local boys in embarrassing situations. This edition of Newsgram is based on the book Not for the Boys: Preteen Edition by Pamela Lavan Welcome to the first ever, pre-teen ladies only edition of Newsgram.  That’s right, today we are going to boldly go where we’ve never gone before. We’re going to a […]

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What is your super-ability? Would you consider your primary skill to be your superpower? What if you had an actual superpower, what would you like it to be? This episode is based on the book Fog Vol. 1. Chaos in Quantum City by Athanasios Panayotou.  Welcome to this edition of Newsgram! We all have unique skills and […]

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Who creates a new you? Of course, you do! Your transformation begins by forging a new view. To see life anew ignites an explosion in you. When your view of everything changes, everything changes for you. This episode is based on the rhyme’s within the new book by Paul W. Naragon titled, “Gibberrishi’s Rhymes to […]

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Should a pastor keep the peace or stir the waters?! This was the moral dilemma that Rev. Galusha Anderson faced when he arrived from the North to serve a congregation of divided loyalties in a divided city during the Civil War. This episode is based on the book GALUSHA. Crisis and Courage in a Civil […]

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This is the story of those psychological forces that help define us. Who are you and where did you come from? Learning more about your past brings a sense of security and inner peace. Mario Cartaya went back to Cuba to reclaim his forgotten Cuban past and wrote a book about it called Journey Back Into […]

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If Tomorrow Never Comes What would you do with your last twenty-four hours? It’s not only a great question, it’s the subject of today’s show and the title of the book that inspired it all by Scott E. Kauffman. Welcome to this edition of Newsgram What would you do with all that money if you won […]

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Mamie and her brother Spanky harbor a deep illicit passion for each other but as you might expect, their longings hold grave consequences. This Scandalous version of Newsgram is based on the book LINKAGES By Elaine Chandler-Harris Welcome to this edition of Newsgram. This is gonna be a spicy one! Do we need a disclaimer? I don’t think […]

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Living with Bipolar is never easy but there are ways to have a good life and deal with the illness. This episode focuses on the book One In One Hundred, Living With Bipolar by Lorna Mabry and her husband Pete Smart. Welcome to this edition of Newsgram. According to the National Health Service in England 1 in every […]

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Join me as we peek into the psyche of a murderer! This psychological thriller edition of Newsgram is based on the book I Am Kellie Earl: Peace Carries A Cost by Maggie Charters.  Welcome to this edition of Newsgram.  Today we’re going to look inside the mind of a murderess. Her name is Kellie Earl. She lives inside the Fairlea […]

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God’s love is amazing and can work miracles. The power of faith can overcome all. In It’s Amazing! Dorothy Melton provides a guide for readers, based on passages from the bible, to spread the gospel, avoid sin and temptation and strengthen their faith and walk with God.  Welcome to this edition of Newsgram! I have been trying hard […]

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This show addresses the important issue of mental Health. It is based on the book The Words of the Lost Soul by Rudo Savage. A powerful, humbling account of what it feels like to struggle with identity, purpose, direction and meaning in life. It is for anyone who has ever felt completely lost in life […]

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In order to convey the best of emotions, I write for you. Today we peer into the mind of a poet named Ben, author of the book A Voyage of Mystery.  Welcome to this edition of Newsgram.  This show is all about interesting people leading their lives in interesting ways. Today I want to introduce […]

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This edition of Newsgram is going to shine a spotlight on your  life, your career and the key to it all “adaptation”. It is based on the book The 6Ixth Evolution: Managing Lives and Careers Through Convulsive Time by Dr. Larry G. Straub Welcome. Today we’re going to shine a spotlight on your life by taking a look at […]

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This episode is based on the book Saved from Dementia by John Omar Vieira a book that demonstrates the healing proofs and evidence by the grace of God, followed by the author’s attendance at the eleventh Church of Christ, Scientist, London, UK, since the author’s early admission into Sunday school as a teenager.  Welcome to this edition […]

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This edition of Newsgram is going to shine a spotlight on your  life, your career and the key to it all “adaptation”. It is based on the book The 6Ixth Evolution: Managing Lives and Careers Through Convulsive Time by Dr. Larry G. Straub Welcome. Today we’re going to shine a spotlight on your life by taking a look at […]

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Today we look at spiritual messages of hope for our despairing world from Denise Bachrodt author of the book Love Conquers All: Spiritual Messages of Hope for our Despairing World Welcome to this edition of Newsgram.  Recently someone told me to trust the process…the best is yet to come. I know that comes out of context for […]

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The theory goes that Leonardo DaVinci grew wary of Hermeticism and created his Vitruvian Man . His representation of a human male body. What does it have to do with the inner workings of the universe? Let’s see.  For this episode we need to paint a couple of mental pictures in our minds’ eyes. The […]

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This show addresses basic questions about DREAMS, SELF and CONSCIOUSNESS. It is based on the book “Image Transformations of the Brain-Mind: Experiencing the Emergent Supervening Self” by Glen Just. How does the mind work? Kind of a loaded question….Alright let’s narrow it down a bit. How do dreams work? They are influenced by the physical […]

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We are boats on the thrashing sea of life. We rise and fall with the waves. People react differently in their tragedies. This episode is based on the book From Dusk to Dawn: The Vicissitudes of Life By Henry Krauss  Welcome to this edition of News gram I’m so glad you clicked on this episode because Vicissitude […]

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Greed is a powerful motive for murder! Today we look at the Crime/Romance novel Persons of Interest by John Jenchura. The main character, Warren Wallace, is a lawyer whose golfing parter, Brenda Lamb is brutally murdered.  Do you like crime novels? Who doesn’t. It’s fascinating to peer into the mind of a killer and try and sort […]

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Summary This episode is based on the book ’Brothers’ by M.E.Taylor. Brothers is about life in Roman Britain. It’s also about betrayal, treachery, stolen gold, hidden treasure and forbidden love. Welcome to this edition of Newsgram! Traveling through the Island of Great Britain you’ll find it hard to miss the dotted remains of the Roman […]

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Summary Today on Newsgram we’re going to travel to the fictional town of Lavender Mews and meet the neighbors with Junio Carols, author of the book Bittersweet Neighbourhood. Welcome to this edition of Newsgram! They say no one knows what goes on behind closed doors. If we are harboring secrets then we certainly hope so. I mean we […]

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Summary Today we’re going on a journey of self-discovery with the help of Dr. Merlin Pickston, author of the book, Awaken & Journey to Your True Self. If you want to improve your life, this show is for you.  Welcome to this edition of Newsgram! So how’s it going? Everything good? The easy answer is […]

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Summary: Today we enter into a mysterious, fantasy world. It’s 2000 BC Scotland and the skies are filled with dragons because this episode of Newsgram is based on the book The Prophecy by J.B. Liquorish.  How many times has your life been turned upside down by the appearance of a key? What is this key for? Should I throw it away or put it back in the drawer? It usually goes back in the drawer because all […]

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Based on Kate Spencer’s book – Trapped by the Devil Kate Spencer committed a crime. It was a decision that took her a path of destruction for 15 years. This episode is based on the book “Trapped by the Devil” by Kate Spencer. Transcript How many decisions have you made today? We make hundreds of them all […]

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Summary: Guys, if you want to prepare an elegant meal all by yourself then this is how you do it. This episode is based on the book The Gentleman’s Guide to Cooking by Randy Motilall.  Something that never happened during my dating life was preparing a candlelit dinner at my place. “Let me do the cooking” was just not one of my […]

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Summary:  Life on this wonderful but badly abused planet is in chaos. What is really happening and what can we do about it. This episode is based on the book The Choice by Peter Childs who recognizes the peril of this moment in our history and shows what an extraordinary opportunity it affords us. With climate change and […]

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Summary: Inflation can’t be helped but where does it stop? Let’s look at government programs between 1900 and the present. This episode is based on the book The History of the Progressive Movement in the United States and How Liberalism Has Created a Mediocre Society by Ralph E. Saucier Sr.   Webster defines the word Mediocre as being of moderate […]

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Words most definitely can hurt so choose them wisely. Our kids are listening. This episode is based on the book Words Choose Wisely by Paolo Iglesias.  Transcript I grew up with the expression “Sticks and Stones can break my bones but words will never hurt me” and you know what. It’s not true. I think the saying was designed to give us a snarky comeback when you’re up […]

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Based on the book, We Are “The My People” in the Bible by Carl L. Jones Summary: Let’s talk about the people in the bible. This episode is based on the book by Carl Jones, We Are “The My People” in the Bible. It is an accumulation of years of study, experiences, teaching and learning.  Transcript Let’s talk […]

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Based on the book DRAGUM by K.c. LaSaga Kali craves to venture out into the world; to travel, but instead of going to Paris she falls into a risqué relationship with another woman. Driven by Dragum, the invisible force pulling her to do things she wouldn’t normally do, she enters into a journey of self discovery.  Transcript […]

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Summary: This episode is based on the book A Short Book of Poetry and thoughts to Share by Maryanne Wright. It’s about ordinary life, love, loss and Fantasy. Transcript There was a hummingbird in my backyard the other day and I couldn’t stop watching it. The way they move, the speed of their wings. Fascinating birds. I had to […]

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Summary: It’s 313 A.D. and Rome is under attack. Can Beat and his Dog Leon save Rome? This episode is based on the book Leon the Warrior Dog by CY Sansum. Transcript Today’s show is about a giant dog. Nope, not Marmaduke or Clifford. He’s not THAT big. No, this is a fictitious dog but not a cartoon […]

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Based on the book “Kings & Queens In Slavery” by Polina Mladenova I have an epiphany for you. Are you ready? There is nothing wrong with the way you look. Pretty much everything about you is perfect. That’s all there is to it. Just the way you are, created in the image of God you are perfect. […]

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Based on the book “Under the Fig Tree: Time to go. One Last Coffee” by Rita Wright When someone you know commits suicide it can affect you in so many ways. We are all very different but at the very least there are powerful feelings of grief. There is anger — How could you do […]

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This episode is based on the book The Bears of the Evergreen Forest: Basil and Brenda Go for a Stroll by Hazel Thompson Author Hazel Thompson talks about creating her book and her characters, Basil and Brenda. One day these two sibling Bears decide to go for a walk. They stroll through the forest, meet some friends […]

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Based on the book AFM by Joy Ballentine Welcome to Newsgram Love is in the air. Can you feel it? Today on Newsgram we are gonna talk about a love story…and it’s a good one. Bridget was supposed to marry Roland but then there’s Axel and I’m getting ahead of myself. These characters live on […]

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Based on the book “A Dagger for Catherine Douglas” by Euan Macpherson. Have you ever heard the expression “Katie bar the Door”? It’s one of those old sayings that means basically get ready, there is trouble on the way. I love old sayings and I like to trace their origins. Most of the time there […]

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Based on the book Dying to Live: The two Deaths and the One Worth Dying by Monica Hards. What happens when we die? I’ve thought about this a lot. Let’s get one thing straight. It’s no longer a debate. There is plenty of information out there that will fill you in on exactly what happens. […]

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Based on the book: Hearing What I Hear, Seeing What I See: A Poetic Journey Through PTSD” by Meghan Dilley P T S D you’ve heard this acronym before. It stands for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. What do you think of when you hear the term? Veterans returning home from war is the first thing I thought of. […]

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Based on the Book by Hilmar Lorenz, Based on the book Facing the Environmental Crisis: Consequences for Scientific and Religious Communities On December 12th of 2015 representatives of 196 countries met in Paris to discuss reducing greenhouse gas. According to the organizing committee of the summit in Paris, the objective of the 2015 conference was to […]

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I don’t know about you but lately my favorite place in the whole world…is my bed. Collapsing on that bed and letting all the stresses of the day melt away is my new favorite pastime! Check out this poem by Paul Jones. It’s called AS I  LAY. Poem from Standing Alone (As I Lay)  Paul takes it to another level […]

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Based on the book First Poem of Words by Jef Harris. Do what you love. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.  Celebrate life.  See the world.  Try to see the good in everything.  How many other good pieces of advice can you think of?  Today we are going to look at a man who […]

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I don’t know about you but lately my favorite place in the whole world…is my bed. Collapsing on that  bed and letting all the stresses of the day melt away is my new favorite pastime! Check out this poem by Paul Jones. It’s called AS I  LAY. Poem from Standing Alone (As I Lay)  Paul takes it to […]

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Welcome to Newsgram.  Today I want to talk about your largest organ. That’s right, it’s your skin. You knew that right? Skin problems are the worst! They are right there, staring us in the face, daring us to stand up to them, so let’s do it!  Do you want healthy skin? I’m going to tell […]

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Based on the book Joseph Akeroyd: Rediscovering a Prison Reformer by Ron Wilson Welcome to this edition of Newsgram! When a crime is committed we want justice. We want it swift and we want to make sure it doesn’t happen again. We have a system of laws that are there to make sure the proper punishment […]

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Based on the books, The Wildly Whimsical Tales of Gracie and Sniggles by Teressa Hill It’s story time kids! Are you ready to solve a mystery? Why not. Let’s have some fun. From time to time here on Newsgram we like to take a moment and wander down the magical path of childhood wonderments. Today the path leads from […]

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Based on the book “Orders from the General: Leadership Advice from a Two Star General”. Let’s travel down the path of Self-Improvement today. On our virtual stroll we’re also going to talk about leadership. Now, if you listen to Newsgram, then you know it’s not going to be a traditional path but I believe we […]

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Based on the book Nurturing the Nurturers; Healing the Planet, The Wati Kanyilpai Story by Leon Petchkovsky Childhood trauma is a global problem. How’s that for an opening statement?  Let me ask you a question. If you had a time machine where would you go? You could live in any century. After a long debate about […]

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It’s been said that opposites attract and I could not disagree more. We are attracted to people who are like us. Think about it. How excited are you when you meet someone and in the middle of the conversation you keep saying “…oh my gosh, me too!” or “…I know what you mean, I grew […]

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Today we’re going to talk about love and war involving ordinary human beings just trying to live peaceful lives. People doing their jobs, going to school and hanging out with their friends while a war rages in their backyard. When I first sat down to write this edition of Newsgram Russia had just invaded Ukraine […]

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What do you do when you complete all the necessary steps to become a Nephrologist? Do you know what a Nephrologist is? It’s a Kidney doctor, and if you’re Dr. Dennis Ross you write fiction novels.  Dennis Ross (Bucket List) It was just something that was on my bucket list.  …true and a bit of an oversimplification. […]

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Gather ‘round kids. It’s story time!  Today we have a selection of short stories for you written by a former teacher by the name of Kim Brack. Like many teachers Kim says it’s very important to emphasize reading and storytelling because they open the door to so many things. As a teacher she always encouraged her students to read and […]

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Based on the book No More Games: A Story About Life, Love, and Baseball by Mike Gallo What image is conjured up in your mind’s eye when I say the word BASEBALL.  So many, right? You can smell the hotdogs and fresh cut grass.  You might be a die hard fan with a head full of stats […]

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Have you heard about the healing power of dogs? How about the expression 22 a Day? I’m throwing a lot at you here but this show has multiple themes. It’s all gonna come together don’t you worry about that. If you’re a Veteran you know exactly what 22 a Day is all about. In 2013, the United States Department of Veteran Affairs […]

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based on the book, Memoir of Half a Banana by Fay Chou One of things I love most about this country is our many cultures. America is a melting pot. It always has been and if you’re open minded you can learn a lot from people who immigrate here from other places.  Full Disclosure, I […]

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Some would say the 1960’s were the best decade in American history. Those people would have to be talking about the great music, movies, fashion and the counterculture taking place. Sex, Drugs and Rock-N-Roll. I mean we met the Beatles in 1964. Elvis gave us his legendary comeback special and then we landed on the […]

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Shinete Christina Maunze was born in Zimbabwe and educated in London. She’s an interesting woman with a fascinating story to tell…so she did in her new book Slaves of the One They Chose to Obey: A Family Torn Apart. This is the true story of her family and how it was destroyed by unscrupulous, ungodly prophecies, false-prophets […]

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Welcome to this edition of Newsgram.  Putting together a group of words that tell a story, create a melody, or evoke an emotional response is a very powerful thing. I admire the people who do it well. In fact, when it comes to creative careers I think the writer is on the top of the […]

The post Love in Rhyme, based on the book, A Little Birdie Told Me by Lorraine Burkey appeared first on WebTalkRadio.net.

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Welcome to this edition of Newsgram.  The thing about men is we like to cook outdoors. Maybe it’s primal. An instinct that can be traced back to Homo Erectus thousands of years ago.  The cookout is a safe place. It’s a social gathering, a meeting place, a romantic place, a fun place to tell stories, […]

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Since the world began man has looked to the heavens in wonder about his place in the world. Who am I? How did I get here? What does it all mean? To that end, there are two primary schools of thought that have emerged. Science and Religion. There is a third party who believes in […]

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Every now and again on Newsgram we like to take a glimpse into history, after all this is a show about interesting people living their lives in interesting ways. So today we’re going to meet two women Abigail Adams wife of the second President of the United States, John Adams and Mary Mauch author of the new book Wild […]

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Based on the book Happy People Happy World by Vincent D’Souza Welcome to Newsgram What do you say we make this a happy day! Whatever time it is right now, let’s make the rest of the day a happy one. Why, because a positive attitude is like a beacon of light. It’s a literal magnet to attracting more happiness. Have you ever noticed how happy, […]

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Welcome to this edition of Newsgram Today I’m going to talk about Blue on Black crime. We’ve all heard the stories of unarmed men, most of them African American who were shot for reasons that seem inconceivable; Cases like George Floyd. Now, this show isn’t going to get into the specifics of all the different […]

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Based the book VALIENTE: Courage and Consequence by  A.G. Castillo I couldn’t think  of a better time than right now to talk about student-athletes and Basketball. At the time this podcast is being written we are staring straight down the alley-top of the NCAA playoffs. No? How about the Free-Throw Line?  Anyway, depending on when you are hearing […]

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Welcome to this edition of Newsgram Today I have a book that has so many cool things wrapped up in you are going to think I’ve made it up. I would not do that to you.  (Dramatic music) Are you ready for a Love Story involving a female Cyborg?! How about a War story? I’ve […]

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Welcome to this edition of Newsgram. Art is something I’ve always been fascinated with. Every person’s view of what constitutes art is different. And…there are so many different types of art. Personally, I like to play with pottery, wheel-throwing to be specific but on this show I want to focus on the two-dimensional arts. Paintings, drawings, […]

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Welcome to this edition of Newsgram.  It’s true confession time. Something you might not know about me is that in addition to hosting this podcast I also own and operate a small business. It has always been a passion of mine and you know what? It’s not easy. If you have any interest in starting […]

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Today’s show is all business.  It’s hard to find a business that doesn’t want to succeed and it seems crazy to say that but many times, despite our education and training as a business executive our best efforts wind up backfiring. Recognizing the need to increase work-flow or achieve consistent results can lead to the […]

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On this edition of Newsgram I bring you peace. If you are a human being, let’s hope that is the case, and you have children or work with children then this show is for you because we are bringing in the services of “the Peace Coach”.   Brenda Miller has been in private practice for twenty […]

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This show looks at Bullying and the new book Fantastic Florence, It’s Not Your Fault: A Story about Bullying by Lesley Millard Zafran.  This is a story about bullying. Actually, it’s a look at a series of children’s books that not only talk about bullying but address the traumatic experiences some children face.  When I […]

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Welcome to this edition of Newsgram.  The mission for equal rights for women and in fact the idea of advancing rights for women has been a long time in the making. Legal, sexual, civil and even voting rights have been on the docket – just in the last 100 years.  I have to be very […]

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On this edition of Newsgram we take a look at some Cowboy style wisdom from Robert A. Wilson author of MY WISDOM BREATHES: Wisdom Energizes Fun and we are going to judge a book by its cover because it was the cover of this book that first caught my eye. Imagine the silhouette of a […]

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Welcome to Newsgram. When a crime is committed we want justice. We want it swift and we want to make sure it doesn’t happen again. We have a system of laws that are there to make sure the proper punishment is rendered in accordance with the law. We’ve create penalties for criminal conduct and we […]

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Today on Newsgram we focus on the book WHILE THE U.S. SLEEPS: Squandered Opportunities and Looming Threats to Societies by Winston Langley It’s never been our practice to get political on Newsgram and we are not going to start today, even though it may seem like that’s where we’re going. It’s actually quite the opposite.  […]

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Today on Newsgram we look at The Kingfisher by Dr. Donna Clovis Everyone has a story to tell. I mean you have led a fascinating life. But being able to share that story, well that’s something else entirely because while we all have a story to tell we aren’t all natural born storytellers. Today on […]

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This show looks at Bullying and the new book Fantastic Florence, It’s Not Your Fault: A Story about Bullying by Lesley Millard Zafran.  This is a story about bullying. Actually, it’s a look at a series of children’s books that not only talk about bullying but address the traumatic experiences some children face.  When I […]

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This edition of Newsgram looks at killing our own in the name of Honor and it’s based on the book LOVE AND HONOUR? Marriage for Peace  by David D.E. Evans. I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking Sam, you’ve talked about a lot of different things on Newsgram, met with several different authors and some highly […]

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First a warning, the subject of this weeks show is highly controversial. Salty Yeom’s debut book God’s Plan contains some radical views, that are thought-provoking. I’m going to play a couple of sound-bites from Salty later in the show from a recent interview he with JT Crowley on the Talking Books podcast. On that show […]

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Today on Newsgram we’re serving up a teaspoon of medicine for your soul. I want to introduce you to an artist by the name of Erica Sarzin-Borrillo who has a great idea. She wants to encourage you to think about yourself; in particular, your emotional well-being.  She says, “Creative and access to the eternal child is […]

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Today we have an extended version of Newsgram for you. It’s a special treat because Karen Lee author of Blue Scorpion Last Flight of the Ancients was so generous with her time. Karen comes on the show to answer some questions about the book and its main character is Evanna. A very strong woman who settled in […]

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Today we spotlight and amazing women named Sujata, author of Against All Odds -No Retakes, No Manuals, Real life lessons.  Sujata wants to help you to be a survivor. By drawing on her experiences Sujata is here to lend a helping hand in clearing away the obstacles that are holding you back. No matter what the problem, Sujata is your partner to […]

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Today on Newsgram we have a fun new Kids book to tell you about. No, it’s not another book about learning colors or the sounds animals make. There are plenty of those out there already. This one is geared toward elementary school readers and it’s designed to help them transition into chapter books. What’s that […]

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Her story is a journey of strength and survival. Anne de Nada’s compelling new book chronicles that process. Childhood sexual abuse is the most traumatic of all wounds, for it is a betrayal at the very root of our being. It turns us against ourselves in such a way that, more often than not, victims […]

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Welcome to Newsgram.  Take a deep breath. Did that breath help you to free your mind, achieve your dreams or open up your inner Goddess? Well keep listening because that feeling is just around the corner… Today, we are featuring Nevsah; teacher, entrepreneur, author of 11 books and an authority in the Breathing Sciences field.  […]

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In the United States, the topmost reason for women to leave their jobs is mostly motherhood. Whether it is motherhood, an illness, or  some time off work, career gaps can be an obstacle in your way to acquiring a job. But whatever the reason, there is no excuse why you should not return to work. […]

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This week on Newsgram we take a look at Pet Obesity, Utility Bills and Jurassic Park Story 1: Pet Obesity Link to story : https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/pet-obesity-on-the-rise-for-seventh-straight-year-300573831.html Most Common Dog Obesity-Related Conditions Most Common Cat Obesity-Related Conditions Arthritis Bladder/Urinary Tract Disease Bladder/Urinary Tract Disease Chronic Kidney Disease Liver Disease Diabetes Low Thyroid Hormone Asthma Torn Knee Ligaments Liver […]

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Happy New Year everybody! I’ll bet at least one of your resolutions is to look amazing, feel happier and be more confident. One option for you may be Ocinator, The new Fitness Program Designed for Busy men and women of any age. Nico Chavando, is the creator of the Program and he says, “Ocinator is 20-minutes […]

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LADIES! It looks like girls ARE smarter than boys. Sorry guys, its science and you can’t argue with science can you? Well, maybe…Our first story comes from the OECD Pisa – and that’s a lot of acronyms to kick off a podcast so here’s a quick clarification. The OECD is the Organization for Economic Co-operation […]

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