An Eagle for Jason

Well, I made it through the roughest month! I can't believe I did. January was a month I've been dreading since probably November. This is the month with nothing but bittersweet reminders of my youngest brother's murder, and it's been really hard.

January 7th was the memorial held in Edmonton for all the people who had died in Edmonton over the past year, those who had lived in the inner city--and my brother Jason was one of them.

January 15th was Jay's birthday. He would have been 29 this year. Just a baby. Always a baby. Forever my baby.

January 23rd was the 1 year anniversary of his murder. A year ago, Jason Kaye was found beaten in a dark alley in downtown east. He was Edmonton's third homicide of 2006, a year that ended up being one of our deadliest.

Today, well, yesterday now since it's 1:30 in the AM, I spoke with my mother in Vancouver, my dad in Victoria and my other brother Derek in Trenton. We've all been feeling the burden and stress of this month. Of our memories.

But then my dad shared a story today that made me smile. If you go on Jason's website, you can read how he and my dad used to watch for bald eagles, and how my dad saw some soaring overhead just after Jason's death last year. This was unusual because he no longer lives in an area that sees them often.

Well, today when my dad got home from work, and just before I called him, he was standing outside, visiting the hummingbirds that usually would be gone but haven't left for about a year. He was thinking of Jason...remembering.

My dad looked up...and what did he see?

One lone bald eagle soaring high above the house. And then it disappeared.

There is no doubt...it was Jason, coming to say he remembers too.

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I have remembered Jason in a very special way. I have dedicated Whale Song to him...and 5% of my royalties will go each to three inner city organizations to help those less fortunate.

Order your copy of Whale Song now and become part of something greater.

http://www.jaysporchmonkeys.com

http://www.whalesongbook.com

~Cheryl Kaye Tardif, author of Whale Song, The River and Divine Intervention

Who Said That Books Are Dead?

I've just returned from a 2 week cruise. There had to be 2,000 passengers on this ship and almost every one of them had a book. In fact some told me that they had read 4 books during the trip. When I visited the library, the librarian told me she had books moving very fast.

I walked the decks looking at what was being read. Cussler, Ludlum, Paterson, Roberts, Clarke and deMille were the more common authors I saw. There were many I never heard of.

It seems to me that cruise ships were an ideal place to get your books located. It's a growing business.

Cheryl Kaye Tardif - Interviewed on Novel Journey Blog

Please check out the new interview on the Novel Journey blog. I was recently interviewed by Gina Holmes, "an author on a mission". Not only was it a fun interview, her questions were insightful and challenging. Thanks, Gina!

Here's a sneak peek:

Tell us about your journey to publication. How long had you been writing before you got the call you had a contract, how you heard and what went through your head.

People ask me all the time, “When did you start writing?” I honestly don’t remember NOT writing. As a teen, I wrote for a weekly BC newspaper. I made $5.00/week for my small column on the happenings of my town. When I was 16, I wrote my first...

Read the entire interview.

Also, be sure to check out my fellow Kunati author Ric Wasley and his "groovy sixties mystery" Shadow of Innocence.

Parental Rights in Children's Medical Care: Give Parents the Right to Say No Petition

Since today is the great Martin Luther King Jr.'s Day, I have created the Parental Rights in Children's Medical Care: Give Parents the Right to Say No Petition to return rights to the hands of loving parents. Mr. King opened the eyes and hearts of people to accept fellow mankind, now it is my turn to open the eyes and hearts of people to protect today's parents and the children of our future.

So please sign the petition to support a great cause, and pass it along to everyone you know!

Should the state send the parent to court just because the parent asked the hospital to stop giving their child aspirin when it is worsening their child's condition? Is it okay for the judge to call the parent a child abuser when the parent intercepted unwanted, harmful treatment for their child?

"When doctors ask yes or no, parents should have the right to say no!" --Shirley Cheng, www.ShirleyCheng.com

What's a more frightening nightmare for parents than their children's illness? It is the fear of losing custody of their children.

In America, parents risk losing custody of their children forever when they disagree with doctors' recommended treatments or even when they want a second opinion.

That's what happened to the Werneckes in Texas in 2005, Corissa Mueller in 2002, Pam Anderson in 2000, Tina Phifer in 1997, and a slew of other parents and children who have been victimized throughout American history.

My mother Juliet Cheng lost me twice, nearly three times, after saying no to doctors recommended treatments--treatments that would have ended my young life, or worse, paralyze me. The last custody case in 1990 made international headlines; she appeared on CBS This Morning show with Paula Zahn. Why did she lose custody of me? The doctor wanted to operate on 6 of my joints in one operation when he didn't even have any medicine to control my inflammation.

When I was 7, I did not have a voice. Now 16 years later, I'm here to speak for every parent and child because it's a crime against humanity when doctors force unwanted or harmful treatments on children.

Do you want to put an end to this crime against humanity and return rights to the hands of loving parents?

If you agree with the following statements, please sign this petition.

Parents should have the right to disagree and refuse treatments recommended by doctors for their children. State should not take away a parent's custody of their child over treatment disagreements and refusals. No parent of a child should be prosecuted or be held responsible for uncontrollable diseases, accidents, and deaths when the parent has done their utmost best in providing care for the child. The state should treat cases in accordance with the unique needs of each case. Parents should have the right to seek and exercise alternative treatments other than the ones recommended by the child's physician. Parents should have the right to protect, defend, and speak for their children.

Let us turn our country into a true nation run by the people for the people!

Thank you for your support. If we all work together, we can protect today's parents and the children of our future.

Shirley Cheng

Shirley Cheng (b. 1983), a blind and physically disabled author, poet, and parental and children's rights advocate, has the vision of a better America for both parents and children. She is a victim and miracle survivor of not only her painful disease--severe juvenile rheumatoid arthritis--but more so of serious faults in American medical system, including two custody cases her mother, Juliet Cheng, had battled and won after disagreeing with doctors' recommended treatments, one of which lasted for five months in 1990 in Connecticut that made international headlines on major media, like The New York Times and The Associated Press, and gained the support of Katharine Hepburn and Taiwan's former first lady. Juliet and her lawyer, George Athanson--a former mayor of Hartford, Connecticut, for eleven years--appeared on CBS This Morning show with Paula Zahn. Using her new voice as an adult, Shirley now fights to protect today's parents and children and the future of America. She hopes to bring awareness to the public with her new parental rights advocacy book, for which she is seeking contributions. Please visit http://www.shirleycheng.com for more information and to contact her.

IS THE GENERATION THAT USHERED IN THE INFORMATION AGE BECOMING BAFFLED BY IT?

OK, this question is for the Baby Boomers out there - and be honest !

Who knows more about computer hardware, software, gaming, blogging, chat rooms, 'My Space', ‘Your Space', 'Our Space', ‘Their Space’, - ‘Your Dog's Space’, Your cats, hamsters and gold fishes space… Aruggggh !!
Well you get the drift.
But truthfully - is it you or your kids?

Don't think so? Well let me see a show of hands. Can you download those 'golden oldies' rock' and disco tunes from your computer to your IPod or do you have to get one of your kids to help you?
I do!
Yeah, and unless you signed up for the 'Future Computer Geeks and Star Trek Aficionados of America', thirty or forty years ago it's no contest is it?

For instance, when you get the new cell phone with about a zillion features that you never knew existed let alone even suspected you needed, are you reduced to whining for help to one of your scornful children who look at you like you're the drooling, village idiot of cyberspace. And then as though to confirm your lowly status as a Luddite of the information age, they nonchalantly scroll through and program all of the functions that you know you'll never remember how to use let alone ever be able to access again.

But wait - wait; weren't we the generation who gave the world the first 'home' computer, the Apple, the Mac, the PC ????!

Why we 'Boomers' practically invented the freaking internet, thank you very much !
And while I'll admit that we might have had some help from those big mainframe computers that the military has got stashed under every hollow mountain in the Rockies, it was the Boomer generation that came up with all of the hardware like printers and modems and disk drives/storage devices and the software to make them all work. Yeah Boomers, when it came to technology we rocked!
Didn't we? Use to rock? I mean - ah, past tense. Yeah… Hummm.

So what happened? Exactly when did we become the 'Grandpa Fudd' and 'Grandma Moses' of on-line cyber life?

"We're not!" I hear someone screaming. "Why I use the computer to pay all my bills and even do that on-line travel thing!" (even if it is with about as much finesse as the 'roaming gnome').

OK… but how many 'chat rooms' do you belong to? How many 'buddy' groups are you a part of? How many blogs do you do a week... a day ... an hour ?!

Ah-ha, I thought so.

You see while we Boomers were experimenting with getting more of those cool little binary 1's and zero's onto smaller and smaller chips of silicone and transforming vacant lots outside of San Jose into the multi-billion dollar semiconductor industry of Silicon Valley, we never really gave all that much thought as to what people were actually going to do with the little gizmo's.

I remember attending a electronics trade show back in the early 80's where I saw a nifty little keyboard that was being touted as a computer gadget that was actually aimed at the… gasp - consumer. The techie demonstrating it said they were going to call it a "Home Computer". He showed me that by punching a long string of keys, you could actually make the lines on the screen change different colors! Why how cool is that? I went right out and bought one.
"It's for the kids honey," I told my wife when she asked in bewilderment, what the heck were we going to do with a ... keyboard in our house?
"Why you just hook it up to the TV in the kitchen and someday, you'll be able to store all of your recipes sweetheart."
"Yeah, when pigs fly," I heard her mutter as she walked away. "But I really bought it for the kids," I yelled after her.

I then spent the next three weekends trying to teach a four and a six- year-old how to enter long streams of code into the key board so that the screen would change color. It was not a happy experience. The only thing that kept me from wearing the official family dunce cap of 'classic bone head blunders', was the advent of Pong. Yes! I was saved.
Now the kids could spend mindless hours in front of the TV, electronically swatting a cyber ball back and forth.
"It will help develop their computer skills," one of my engineer friends loftily told me. (I think I answered back something involved with pigs flying.)

But you know what? He was right. Not only did the ensuing generations of video games, internet chat rooms and 'Their space' turn the adorable little 'rug rats' into computer experts and programming genius's, but it change the world in which we live, work and play unalterably and forever.

So the bottom line is, don't feel too bad the next time that you have to hang your old gray head and beg one of your kids or some young computer guru to help you turn off that blasted ring tone that plays 'Old MacDonald Had a Farm" every time the darned thing rings. After all, we were the ones that started the information age stumbling towards the future.
And who knows, maybe someday with a lot of help and a little luck, we may even be able to use all the stuff we invented.

As my wife says... "When pigs fly."


Ric Wasley
Author
Shadow of Innocence
Kunati - April 2007

You can pre-order a copy of Shadow of Innocence from: Amazon.com

http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ric_Wasley
http://www.kunati.com/shadow-of-innocence-hip-myster/


Ric Wasley has spent almost forty years wandering through corporate board rooms and honky-tonk bars. He now divides his time between writing mystery novels – Shadow or Innocence – A McCarthy Family Mystery – Published by Kunati, http://www.kunati.com , and observing the really ‘juicy parts’ of the human condition

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New from Kunati Publishing: SHADOW OF INNOCENCE - The Newport Folk Festival provides a groovy backdrop for this fun and exciting mystery set in the music and drug soaked sixties. The Baby Boomers and everyone else are sure to enjoy this appealing mystery featuring a pair of musician partners in love and danger. Don't miss Shadow of Innocence! From Kunati Publishing. Available now for pre-order at; http://www.amazon.com/gp/product

And don't forget to check out my fellow Kunati author Cheryl Kaye Tardif and her tragic yet uplifting novel Whale Song, the story of a young woman haunted by the assisted suicide of her mother and the mystery that surrounds her death. Read more about Whale Song at http://www.kunati.com/catalog_whale_song and check out Cheryl's site at http://www.cherylktardif.com

Modern Day Helen Keller Receives Honorable Mention in National Writing Contest for Empowering Essay

Shirley Cheng, a blind and physically disabled 23-year-old author, has received Honorable Mention in the 3rd Annual Be the Star You Are!™ Writing Contest for her essay, I Hold the Power, her inspirational story of overcoming blindness at the age of seventeen. She was tied for 1st place in the same contest last year.

"I am absolutely honored and thrilled," says Shirley. "I hadn't expected to literally be a winner twice in a row. It is so important to get my story out to empower others to live their life to the very fullest. Receiving Honorable Mention has definitely helped me fulfill my goal of inspiring people to go for their gold medals in life, whether they are disabled or non-disabled."

Shirley Cheng (b. 1983), a blind and physically disabled motivational speaker, poet, self-empowerment expert, and author and contributing author of ten books, has had severe juvenile rheumatoid arthritis since only eleven months old. Owing to years of hospitalization, she received no schooling until age eleven. Having mastered grade level in all areas after only about 180 days of special education in elementary school, she entered a regular sixth grade class in middle school. Unfortunately, Shirley lost her eyesight at the age of seventeen. After a successful eye surgery, she hopes to earn multiple science doctorates from Harvard University.

Shirley is the author of "Waking Spirit: Prose & Poems the Spirit Sings" (ISBN: 978-0-6151-3680-6), exploring a world of dancing hearts, singing spirits, with infinite love from life (with foreword by New York Times bestselling author Cynthia Brian); "Daring Quests of Mystics" (ISBN: 978-1-4116-5664-2), a soothing read to relax the mind, body, and spirit; an empowering 700-page autobiography, "The Revelation of a Star's Endless Shine: A Young Woman's Autobiography of a 20-Year Tale of Trials and Tribulations" (ISBN: 978-1-4116-1860-2); and "Dance with Your Heart: Tales and Poems That the Heart Tells" (ISBN: 978-1-4116-1858-9), an anthology of inspirational and fantasy short stories (fairy tales, fables, and myths) and poems for the heart from the heart.

With highly acclaimed experts like Dr. Wayne Dyer, Tony Robbins, and Brian Tracy, Shirley co-authored Wake Up...Live the Life You Love: Finding Your Life's Passion, Second Edition, the latest installment in the bestselling Wake Up...Live the Life You Love series; she is also the co-author of 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2, along with leading experts Jack Canfield, John Gray, Richard Carlson, Alan Cohen, Bob Proctor, et al.

Shirley is also an advocate of parental rights in children's medical care, students with special needs, and people with disabilities, and has the vision of a better America for both parents and children. She is a victim and miracle survivor of not only her painful disease but more so of serious faults in American medical system, including two custody cases her mother, Juliet Cheng, had battled and won after disagreeing with doctors' recommended treatments, one of which lasted for five months in 1990 in Connecticut that made international headlines on major media, like The New York Times and The Associated Press, and gained the support of Katharine Hepburn and Taiwan's former first lady. Juliet and her lawyer, George Athanson-a former mayor of Hartford, Connecticut, for eleven years-appeared on CBS This Morning with Paula Zahn. Shirley is also the victim of abusive behavior and mistreatment from one-to-one aides for years while attending public schools. Using her new voice as an adult, Shirley now fights to protect today's parents and children and the future of America. She hopes to bring awareness to the public with her 700-page autobiography, The Revelation of a Star's Endless Shine: A Young Woman's Autobiography of a 20-Year Tale of Trials & Tribulations.

She had been published twice before her writing career. One of her short stories, Mary Miller, the Elusive Lady, received Honorable Mention and was published by the Poughkeepsie Journal in 1997, and a poem, The Colors of the Rainbow, earned merit status and was published in Celebrate! New York Young Poets Speak Out in 1999.

Shirley is available for interviews, speaking engagements, book signings, and inspirational events. She has been on over twenty radio shows, including Be the Star You Are! for three times, The Donna Seebo Show, and Stu Taylor on Business. She was featured in World Journal, the largest Chinese national newspaper in North America, in July of 2004. Visit Shirley at http://www.shirleycheng.com