2006-02-02T08:31:00.000-08:00

Visions From Far And Near

Since January 7, 2005, my daily travel has been chiefly up and down the information superhighway, a magical, hypnotic dream path, which has turned up for me--a childhood pal from Bombay, the Urbs Prima in Indis, and a couple of relatives from my parents' birthplace--Kerala, India's fabled God's Own Country, all of whom I'd lost contact with in the 1950s after they set out on their long, exciting, challenging migratory journeys; plus the wonderful people from two continents who have taken time from their exciting work remaking our small planet to share their visions through the medium of--

US-India Writing Station:

Valerie Street
Hong Hunt
Ian Moore
Peter Kline
Ralph Dranow
Joseph Kaval
Quentine Acharya

Amanda Gerrie

Brenda L. Coleman

Edathil Prabhakar Menon
Judith Anne Buchman.

Richa
Mona Lee
Prakash Joshi
Neil Marcus
Marisa Fernando.

Blair R. Williams

Rev. Carol Estes

On Career Visions'

Winter Compendium (2006-2007)

In this compendium, you'll meet several visionaries

working on three of my favorite topics:

Disability and Equality.

Ending Homelessness.

Digital Literacy.

I hope you find them inspiring.

Rev. Carol Estes works for justice,

equality, and spiritual wholeness

“Living with a visual challenge has definitely shaped my world differently,” says Rev. Carol Estes who is legally blind. “My response to the world stems from this place.”

Valerie Street, a long-time supporter of the Jobs for Homeless Consortium, nominated Rev. Estes.

http://indiawritingstation.com/carol-estes-spiritual-journey/

Judi's and Richa's actions

in 2006 give hope for 2007

Judi and Richa's peaceful actions during 2006 on homelessness, health care, helping children grow, healing the heart of conflict, and community journalism give me hope for our Small Planet in 2007.

http://indiawritingstation.com/judi-richa-ending-homelessness/

Grand Rapids residents help

Spanish-speaking immigrant families

In their homes these digital literacy volunteers rebuild, assemble, and setup computer systems for donation.

http://indiawritingstation.com/blickleys-reduce-digitaldivide/

Keep hope alive!

Those of you who'd love to do a Career Visions' interview but don't like to answer a whole lot of set questions, may want to consider a photo story like the one on digital literacy in Grand Rapids, or a story-letter-with-photos like the one on Judi and Richa. Let me know. In 2007, I'm open to a World of Possibilities!

You are doing great work out there, and I'd like the world to share your inspiration, so we keep hope alive.

On the November 2006 Issue of

Career Visions for a Small Planet #20

Blair R. Williams had an epiphany when he

returned to visit the land of his birth

after leaving it two decades earlier.

Out of it came a vision that is

transforming the lives of many,

including his own.

Read all about it @

http://indiawritingstation.squarespace.com/anglo-indians-give-back/

On the October 2006 Issue of

Career Visions for a Small Planet #19

Peacemaker Marisa Fernando, who works

for peace amidst Sri Lankan strife, recommends:

Cover stories of how people have

discussed their conflicts and

learnt to live together

Read all about it @

http://indiawritingstation.com/sri-lankan-peace/

The information superhighway suits a reluctant driver like me fine.

On the September 2006 Issue of

Career Visions for a Small Planet #18

Fly and Soar with

~Neil Marcus~

Banishing Fear & Dread of

People with Disabilities

Read all about it @

http://careervisionsneilmarcus.blogspot.com/

On the August 2006 Issue of

Career Visions for a Small Planet #17

Here's:

Prakash Joshi as He

Struggles for a New

Beginning For All of Us.

Read all about it @

http://careervisionsprakashjoshi.blogspot.com/

On the July 2006 Issue of

Career Visions for a Small Planet #16

Here's:

Mona Lee,

A "World Person" With Guts And Courage

Who Is Circumnavigating the Globe on a

Tandem Bicycle with Her Husband to Promote

World Peace, Justice, and Democracy.

Read all about it @

http://careervisionsmonalee.blogspot.com/

On the June 2006 Issue of

Career Visions for a Small Planet #15

Hope you are well.

In June's Career Vision, you'll meet Richa, a homeless person
whose witness at City Hall continues into its second decade,
five nights a week -- spring, summer, fall, or winter.

Is this City Hall Berkeley? Chicago? New York? San Francisco?

Read all about it @

http://indiawritingstation.squarespace.com/richas-witness/

Having covered City Hall meetings for less than four daytime hours
a week for about four years back in the 1970s, I am in awe of
Richa's enduring witness for peace, justice, and a better world for everyone.

Hope you get a chance to meet Richa on US-India Writing Station.

Ayubowan (Sinhalese) -- May you have a long life.

Peace Shalom Salaam Shanti Samadaanam.

On the May 2006 Issue of

Career Visions for a Small Planet

Today is May Day, a good day for immigrants to make themselves heard and seen, instead of being hidden in sweat shops, cellars, back rooms, and hidden rooms.

It is also a good day to honor our peacemakers. So, this immigrant would like to share with you the story of a remarkable peacemaker from America's heartland: Judith Anne Buchman.

“My spirituality is at the center of my life,” writes Judith Anne Buchman, the farm girl from northwest Ohio who went to Grand Rapids, Michigan, in her early twenties and who has for over three decades focused her life on peace and justice activities.

Ms Buchman’s spiritual attitude stood out for me when I first interviewed her, Richa (Richard Chandler), and Kathi Byrne in 1976 [see Lifeboat Ethics & The Making Of The Trash Pickers: The Issue Of Personal Responsibility] for New River Free Press of Grand Rapids — a community newspaper that I edited and published, as it does in the May 2006 Career Visions for a Small Planet e-mail interview .

She says she is a diffident writer.

Diffident, maybe — like most of us.

But her writing resonates with lines direct from her heart.

And the simplicity of her words speak to our hearts.

A clue to the harmony she works towards can be found in the following

Mahatma Gandhi quote that is a postscript to her e-mails:

"Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony."

- Mahatma Gandhi

You can read more about how "Judith Anne Buchman Lives Her Faith As A Peacemaker" @:

http://indiawritingstation.squarespace.com/peacemaker-judi-buchman/

When you visit my website, you'll find a host of changes. I hope you like them.

And if you haven't read my short story —— Life, the 27 Bryant Version ——

that Apollo's Lyre has published in its Spring 2006 issue, here's the link:

http://www.apollos-lyre.com/id227.html

Apollo's Lyre is a "Writer's Digest 101 Top Web Site 2006."

I hope you like the story.

Feel free to pass these stories forward and/or to link to them.

And feel free to make another nomination for a Career Visions interview.

On the April 2006 Issue of

Career Visions for a Small Planet

May the sun shine on you in April.

In March, I missed the sun when outdoors in San Francisco. (We have had more days of rain in March than in any other year in recorded history.)

In March, I didn't miss the sun as I gave the finishing touches to my interview article with Tricia Holloway.

You can read it @:

http://indiawritingstation.squarespace.com/holloway-raps-for-learners/

You can also read it @:

http://careervisionstriciaholloway.blogspot.com/

Was March a good month for me? I wondered.

The answer came to me out of the mist and rain on April 2, when I received an e-mail from D., which said:

In the African American Church we sing a song and the lyrics are:

If I can help somebody as I travel along,

If I can cheer somebody with a word or song,

If I can do my duty as a Christian ought then my living shall not be in vain.

Besides sparking my remembrance of D.'s love for the mist and rains of his native Kentucky, the song's lyrical words gave additional significance to the life and work of the people I've had the good fortune to interview over the years.

People like Tricia Holloway, whose interview article came to a conclusion in March with two heartfelt comments from Hong Hunt and Arlene Talbot.

Ms Holloway has helped many a homeless adult learner on their hard American journeys with her words of instruction and encouragement as they learned to read, do math, and use computers. She left a lasting impression on both Ms Hunt and Ms Talbot.

Here's what Talbot had to say about her experience of Holloway when they both worked at the Jobs for Homeless Consortium:

She never lost sight of the person as an individual, and her gentle nature allowed clients to feel at ease and be comfortable in discussing their issues and conveying their needs. Trish has high standards for quality work, which she maintained regardless of the background of those she assisted.

And this is what Hong had to say:

She is one of the best co-workers I ever had . . . She is friendly to strangers just as to friends. She treated everyone equally -- you won't feel alienated when you are around her.

I believe one of Holloway's lasting contributions to the homeless community and to the workforce development field is her Master App Rap, which she wrote to help homeless persons having difficulty filling out job applications at job sites because they hadn't assembled and organized the information ahead of time.

In our busy lives, spending a few moments reading Holloway's story will remind us our living shall not be in vain.

Dear Reader, I look forward to publishing your story in remaking our small planet.

In the meantime, would you like to nominate someone for a future Career Visions interview?

Best wishes on your endeavors in April.

Shalom/Salaam/Shanti/Samadaanam

Michael Chacko Daniels

PS: Please feel free to pass forward the Tricia Holloway story @:

http://indiawritingstation.squarespace.com/holloway-raps-for-learners/

On the March 2006 Issue of

Career Visions for a Small Planet

Featured this month are Social Worker-Facilitator Brenda L. Coleman and Peace Activist Edathil Prabhakar Menon.

Brenda L. Coleman's

Blend of Empathy And Understanding

In this month's Career Visions for a Small Planet, through an in-person interview in Oakland, I bring you the vision of Brenda L. Coleman, a social worker and facilitator who has been helping people for 14 years because she has been helped. I found that this former Jobs for Homeless Consortium team member is happiest when Good triumphs over Evil.

You'll find my interview with her at:

http://indiawritingstation.squarespace.com/coleman-whats-really-going-on/

The interview can also be viewed at:

http://careervisionsbrendalcoleman.blogspot.com/

Edathil Prabhakar Menon's Long March

For Peace Through World Education

From the other side of the world, from Bangalore, through the miracles of digital literacy, I am able to bring you Edathil Prabhakar Menon's long march to promote non-violent development for justice and equality.

As a young man in the early 1960s he undertook a monumental 10,000-mile walk around the world for peace and disarmament. His long march for peace through world education continues unabated. In the U. S. , Prof. Menon
was associated with the World Education project of the Friends World College and later became its South Asia director.

You'll find his interview at:

http://indiawritingstation.squarespace.com/menon-walks-for-world-peace/

The interview can also be viewed at:

http://careervisionsmenon.blogspot.com/

Persistence Brings A Fiction Success

Often, when I write fiction, I have no idea what the flow of words is going to bring. That's been my experience for the last 40 years. And that's what happened last July when I ended up writing a short piece of fiction (yes, a piece of fiction), called -- Three Dozen Mangoes for Mr. Defeinbaker, set in Bombay about five decades ago. After repeated submissions and no response, I finally hit paydirt.

The story is available for free reading at:

http://www.dfire.org/x2089.xml

Hope you find it amusing and interesting.

Please feel free to pass the above links forward to anyone you think may find them interesting. Do you want to nominate someone for a Career Visions interview? Let me know.

Best wishes.
Shalom/Salaam/Shanti/Samadaanam
Michael Chacko Daniels

On the February 2006 Issue of

Career Visions for a Small Planet

This month, from places far and near, across the world-expanding superhighway, I bring you visions of a career coach and trash pickers, and a remarkable story of the awakening among India's untouchables.

From the East Bay city of Oakland, we have Career Coach Amanda Gerrie's vision for Following Your Bliss. Ms Gerrie, who collaborated with Jobs for Homeless Consortium when she was an employment counselor at Peralta colleges, was nominated for the interview by Katie Hudson, former manager of Jobs Consortium's RelyAble Choices Staffing Services. The Amanda Gerrie interview is at:

http://indiawritingstation.squarespace.com/gerrie-following-your-bliss/

[It is also available at: http://careervisionsamandagerrie.blogspot.com/ ]

From Grand Rapids, MI, in the American heartland, President Gerald Ford's hometown, fabled environments that produced Amway, Steelcase furniture, and Hushpuppies, we have Trash Pickers' Non-Violent Action Creates Snowball Effect, Resulting In Thousands Receiving Food. This story, in two segments, the first one done three decades ago, the second in 2005, is at:

http://indiawritingstation.squarespace.com/trash-pickers-visions/

[It is also available at: http://trashpickersvisions.blogspot.com/ ]

Next, we we have a review article that explores the rising of 165 million Indians out of bondage, who are making footprints for the first time in history. You will find my review of Narendra Jadhav's Untouchables: My Family's Triumphant Journey Out of the Caste System in Modern India at:

http://indiawritingstation.squarespace.com/narendra-jadhavs-untouchables/

[It is also available at: http://careervisionsnarendrajadhav.blogspot.com/ ]

Peace/Smaadaanam
Michael Chacko Daniels

PS: Please feel free to pass forward Career Visions for a Small Planet to anyone anywhere who might find it interesting.

You are invited to visit

New River Free Press International's
Career Visions for a Small Planet

Check Out the Visions of
People Remaking Our Planet

Issue #1: Valerie Street

Issue #2: Hong Hunt

Issue #3: Ian C. Dawkins Moore

Issue #4: Peter Lee Kline

Issue #5: Ralph Dranow

Issue #6: Joseph Kaval

Issue #7: Quentine Acharya

Issue #8: Narendra Jadhav

Issue #9: Trash Pickers of Grand Rapids

Issue #10: Amanda Gerrie

Issue #11 Brenda L. Coleman

Issue #12 E. P. Menon

Issue #13 Tricia Holloway

Issue #14 Judith Anne Buchman

Issue # 15 Richa

Issue # 16 Mona Lee

Issue # 17 Prakash Joshi

Issue # 18 Neil Marcus

And the following

Popular History Pages

/housing-conspiracies-michigan/

/open-housing-grand-rapids-1976/

/saving-a-house-michigan/

/cities-survival-william-thrall/

/faith-society-father-ed-monroe/

/faith-society-praying-polish/

/zoo-cruelty-animals-michigan/

/food-coops-for-a-small-planet/

/organic-farmer-carmody-1976/

/saving-bridges-back-to-future/

____________ * ____________

A Grand Rapids Popular History

Pages from New River Free Press, 1973 to 1977

Your Friendly Guide to Urban Survival & Improvement:

grhistory.blogspot.com/

_____________________

Signed, Limited Editions

An avid reader's comment about

Michael Chacko Daniels'

handcrafted books:

"The books are beautiful,

they look like little treasures."

--Brenda Coleman

Each copy is

a work of art in itself.

Click here to read more about

Michael Chacko Daniels' books.

Click here to view a digital version of

Anything Out of Place Is Dirt

on Google Book Search

Click here to view a digital version of

Split in Two

on Google Book Search

Career Visions for a Small Planet

On Career Visions'

Winter Compendium (2006-2007)

Rev. Carol Estes works for justice,

equality, and spiritual wholeness

Judi's and Richa's actions

in 2006 give hope for 2007

Grand Rapids residents help

Spanish-speaking immigrant families

On the November 2006 Issue of

Career Visions for a Small Planet #20

On the October 2006 Issue of

Career Visions for a Small Planet #19

On the September 2006 Issue of

Career Visions for a Small Planet #18

On the August 2006 Issue of

Career Visions for a Small Planet #17

On the July 2006 Issue of

Career Visions for a Small Planet #16

On the June 2006 Issue of

Career Visions for a Small Planet #15

On the May 2006 Issue of

Career Visions for a Small Planet

On the April 2006 Issue of

Career Visions for a Small Planet

On the March 2006 Issue of

Career Visions for a Small Planet

Brenda L. Coleman's

Blend of Empathy And Understanding

Edathil Prabhakar Menon's Long March

For Peace Through World Education

Persistence Brings A Fiction Success

On the February 2006 Issue of

Career Visions for a Small Planet

You are invited to visit

New River Free Press International's

Check Out the Visions ofPeople Remaking Our Planet

And the following

Popular History Pages

A Grand Rapids Popular History

Pages from New River Free Press, 1973 to 1977

Your Friendly Guide to Urban Survival & Improvement:

grhistory.blogspot.com/

An avid reader's comment about

Michael Chacko Daniels'

handcrafted books:

--Brenda Coleman

Click here to view a digital version of

Click here to view a digital version of

Check Out the Visions of
People Remaking Our Planet