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.

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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. 

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Welcome to this edition of Newsgram!

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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!

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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. 

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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. 

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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! 

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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! 

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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.

#WeWillNeverForget #WarObservations #PoeticJourney#GennieDeLange #ObserverChronicles #RememberingHeroes #LestWeForget #WarMemories #OrdinaryLives #CamaraderieInWar #HopeAmidstStruggle #GentleToyChronicles #MascotMemoirs #WarThroughEyes #NeverForgotten #PoetryOfRemembrance #WitnessingAnguish #MemoirsOfHope #EyesOfTheObserver #UnforgettableStories #Newsgram 

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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.

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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. 

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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.

The post The Adventures of Norvell Jamison appeared first on WebTalkRadio.net.

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.

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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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