Looking for that special birthday/Christmas present?

Looking for that rare-and-special Christmas or birthday gift to give to someone—and in an age range from 6 to 66 (or older)? Try one of my books available in paperback or kindle format from Amazon.com. 

Children’s stories that range from an autistic-telepathic little girl who makes friends with gemstone-munching dragons in the mountain next to her village; the original story of how the platypus from Australia ended up with so many unusual features; a charming tale of two plants who comfort each other at an overseas university during a scorching summer heat; and a goofy tuxedo cat who conquers his owner’s bed space by personal demand of comfort.

Were you into the music scene during the ‘70s and ahead? Meet with members of The Band, Derek and the Dominos, the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Peter Green’s Original Fleetwood Mac, the notorious train ride with the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, and Bonnie Bramlett’s vial of Owsley high-octane LSD, and some down-and-dirty blues legends like Buddy Guy. And a nod years ago to the late Monkee Mike Nesmith when he was doing the Texas yodel in his tunes.

For sure: if you were a graduate of the toughest education system in New York (aka the Elwood School District in Long Island), were you there when the VW Bug appeared on the auditorium roof in 1970? I KNOW some confessions came forward when I brought up the topic on the group site—and while you’re reading about ‘Horror Day High School’ (“Holiday High School”), find out what happened to #21’s football jersey from the ’72 championship team. (I’m not confessing who admitted the crime to me--but they ALSO wore football jerseys.)

Drop in for a front-row seat with Paul Newman and Robert Redford as they conspire to ‘sting’ $500,000 from a deadly Robert Shaw, or have a glimpse of some truth-is-stranger-than-fiction moments with my life, including the swans-as-aliens in my farm pasture in Alabama, driving a car with no wheels, or better yet: the woman who was grilled by Dr. Phil for her claims to be a reborn avatar just weeks before her death and her cult followers wrapped her body in Christmas lights. Lucky for me that my Guardian Angel pulled me out of yet ANOTHER fine mess! Penance: 'You must go and work in China.' Who--me?!

See? You can get an education about used cars, horse racing, and politics from a channeled Groucho Marx in “The Creative Classroom Experience”—and maybe, you’ll find that Wonder Bread is indeed “Manna from Heaven” if you know how to make a sales pitch for dough. I mean the financial kind. 

That and a guideline for raising that Calvin-and-Hobbes little boy if you learn about his birthday gifts and challenges in an astrological-psychology handbook. Thank YOU, Grandma and Grandpa, for helping Mom and Dad to safely handle the task!

Autobiography: "A Guardian Angel on My Shoulder" - faith-based life lessons

Paperback or Kindle

 

Guard duty with a guardian angel

We’ve all heard about guardian angels. Maybe they’re male or female, or maybe they have wings. Named by my mother for an archangel, I know that my guardian angel has been on assignment through some wild episodes—and I have to thank God Above for the love, persistence, and wisdom of the one assigned to me. This is my story—and Grainger’s. That’s the name I call my Guardian Angel.

These are the memoirs of a lifetime of challenges and struggles with a learning disorder, a love of reading, social and behavioral challenges, and a very toxic and unfriendly family environment. But belief in God has brought me an advanced degree in education, travel to a foreign country where Americans are not readily welcomed, and happiness, enthusiasm, and remarkable connections that extend over an ocean’s distance. Through it all, I have learned to say on a daily basis that I am blessed and thankful—and grateful—for the chances and choices I have made that uplift my spirit. I have found ways to encourage others of all ages through writing, a career in education, and sincere motivation. I credit my Guardian Angel for doing anything needed to keep me remembering that God has plans for me. And in doing so, I am a servant for God’s work—and part of God’s creation in ways that fulfill my life.

Behind every moment of doubt, there is always a reason to believe in the power that God will hear our prayers, our worries, and our thanks when it all becomes clear. This is my story of how my Guardian Angel, “Grainger,” has blessed me and made it clear in my life to give thanks for God’s goodness. And how much it took for me to learn to thank God, our Creator, for all that I am.

 

Rock 'n' Blues Stew II: Classic rock 'n' roll, blues, jazz, and more

On Amazon.com)

 How to make a rock & blues stew

 Mix together with extreme caution and a touch of frenzy: an insatiable passion for the wild and dangerous smokin’ steamy blues and gutsy rock ‘n’ roll; a healthy measure of renegade rebelliousness and rambunctious mischief; full-moon madness driven by the zodiac and other Cosmic capers; a razor-sharp mind that splashes words like a paintball fight; a call for the open road and skies—and you have the ingredients for the music, the people, the backstage presence and the sights and sounds of Rock ‘n’ Blues Stew II.  Follow what my friends call “Mitch-Tripping the Musical Universe” with the heroes, angels, and devils from the onstage and studio days of Derek and the Dominos, George Harrison, The Band, the J. Geils Band, Delaney and Bonnie & Friends with Eric Clapton, the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Leo Kottke, Richard Thompson, Rory Block, Buddy Guy, and many others of voice and instrument.

 Here are some of the essays, interviews, and articles that brought me friendship and fun through the world of the music circuit and the artists who make it their life calling.  From Nashville and Memphis to the Ozarks, down in the Mississippi Delta, Gadsden, AL, Macon, GA, Muscle Shoals, AL, or Red Bank and Asbury Park, NJ:  if you play it, shake it, or just let it give you the groove, then drop in these stories and let it flow. It’s a stew of rock and blues for your musical news.  Living and loving large as a freelance editor, travel with me to the homes and life stories, concert backstage rooms and sound studios, and the fame and glory of some famous and upcoming drummers, guitar players, vocalists and songwriters of our time—and the tales they have to tell.

Psychological Astrology for young people, parents, and holistic workers

Paperback  Kindle

The 21^st Century is the Time for Psychology and Astrology

The doors astrology can open are based in a psychological frame:  that we possess a natural system of looking within and seeing ourselves in an organized structure of behaviors, responses, growth, and sequential outcomes.  We have available a 12-way mirror of the soul with multiple levels of potential views and choices to make to take us further on the pathway that we call Life.  We can become the artist who creates the living painting of our decisions and their results.  These are ideas to help the working, thinking, considerate practical healer of body, mind, and soul, whether or not the person is a professional physician, holistic healer, or just someone interested in understanding the vast range of experiences that come with a lifetime (especially those who are blessed as parents).  

What is PA? In western world terms, it’s a language of human actions and choices that can be discerned with the symbols that represent those actions and choices. It’s a blend of the myths from Greece and Rome that describe the stories of humans and their views of the gods and goddesses—the alleged beings of powerful energies of nature. Those gods and goddesses mirrored the choices and decisions of humans that are so vital to our awareness of life: love, war, intellect, enjoyment, surprise, emotions, self-identity, spirituality, discipline in building character, and ultimately, how we face death—and rebirth.

The participants in PA are like actors and actresses who partake of their roles in those choices and decisions. They take on nine (9) major themes (the major planets), with secondary back-ups, and present themselves with twelve (12) styles of appearances (the signs). Each actor/actress, in their exchange “on stage in life,” either cooperates or challenges each other, or several others, according to the life lessons to be achieved or mastered (the aspects). Or not—there are no guarantees! Within those roles and challenges-cooperation, there may be one or more key areas of 12 Life Experiences—or “stages”—to facilitate this. Each “stage” (or ‘house’) has its own setting.

The diagram of the birth chart (or current event chart, or even relationship-compatibility chart, if desired), shows who is in which role, how they are “costumed” for it, and in which areas of Life Experience they are “on stage” for the challenges or cooperation dynamics. There are also factors for passive or aggressive responses and “acting out in character,” and introversion/extroversion options. The results are ultimately up to each individual to learn through the “script(s)” that have been crafted for each actor/actress in the Life Performance. There are surely failures and also achievements, which all are up to the person who knows their Life Blueprint by way of PA.

As a hint: yes, the symbols are easy to learn in astrology. If you know your alphabet in any language, it’s just like that. Each symbol has its own ‘sound’ or role of action or energy to deliver. If you know your language by symbols (e.g., Hebrew, Sanskrit, Arabic), you know this already. If you know your language by complex symbols (Chinese or Japanese), you know it already.

There can be a lifetime of study within PA because psychology is the study of human behavior and the decisions that impact those behaviors. You may also learn how to identify which Life Lessons are appearing in your current life cycles or age. These are options that I can also teach—but I emphasize that it is much easier and rewarding to know the basics. To know yourself is to know your strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities. It may also reward you to know these qualities within those who are your key associates, family, and social network. Again, welcome!! 

 

High School memoir (humor and fun)

(On Amazon.com)

(PS: After our 50th reunion last October, I gave a copy to the current principal. 

He had no idea of these stories...well, NOW he has homework!!)

The Creative Classroom Experience

Paperback   or   Kindle

Welcome to the Creative Classroom Experience

 “The current curriculum”…is a theme I have heard for years in all levels of schools: elementary right up to international university. So as I understand, “curriculum” consists of the ideas and concepts that a group of individuals thinks is relevant for learning. I agree. However, I have a different word that I like to use—which is the reason for this book. That word is “education,” which doesn’t mean a prescribed set of ideas that someone (or many people) think is the correct mandated set of lessons. Education has several meanings: “The wealth of knowledge acquired by an individual after studying particular subject matters or experiencing life lessons that provide an understanding of something.”

I agree again. So after 20 years of working in the field of teaching, I have met many teachers—and only a handful of educators. In MY view (and I’m biased on this), an educator EXPANDS the level of learning of students. It’s not just “absorb this and prepare for the next standardized test.” I like to extrapolate and juxtapose ideas as I teach. (Hint: to extrapolate means to think beyond boundaries. “Thinking out of the box” is one way to say it. I think on parallel tangents—and also dimensionally. Not just physically dimensional, but beyond that realm. I also like to juxtapose: to place ideas side-by-side and compare, contrast, analyze, and look for similarities and differences—and how they are one-and-the-same. I also like them because they have the letter ‘x’ in them, and that’s not too often found in vocabulary.)

 So I’ve been an educator who extrapolates—and juxtaposes. I’ve taken my students’ minds to higher levels on cross-curriculum and multiple subject matter. That’s what an educator should do—as I see it. I’ve had that satisfaction on both the East Coast and West Coast of the U.S. as well as a state in the Deep South—and also at a major university of finance and economics in China. Welcome to a creative educational way of “thinking outside of the box” for a different way of learning. And please leave standardized testing for the companies who milk the education system for data at the expense of students and teachers.

 

 

 

Children's book: "The Girl Who Made Friends with Dragons"

Paperback   or   Kindle

Suzy is a little girl who lives with her parents beside a big mountain. She never talks to anyone because she hears their thoughts in her head--and they can't hear her answer them. Inside the mountain live a group of amazing dragons: they are hiding from humans for hundreds of years. They create huge tunnels by eating rocks to visit their families in other countries. 

When a young boy dragon forgot to cover up the exit to the dragon’s home cave, Suzy and Goldie, a little girl dragon, meet one day by accident. They become friends and stay out late when they learn dragons hear human thoughts! But there's trouble when Suzy's father and Goldie's dragon father come looking for their missing children!

 A little human girl and a little dragon girl become heroes who help everyone make up a peaceful way to live and work together. Come join the adventure of their story--and learn about delicious-flavored gemstones (dragons think they are like candy!), a dragon-hosted heated swimming pool, and a dragon/human neighborhood cook-out barbeque!