by Chamaigne Montana on October 6, 2009
5/15/09 Linda Egenes – Visits with the Amish
Linda lives here locally as an adjunct faculty member at Maharishi University, and made some Amish friends while they were doing some new construction on campus. As a writing student, she found some Amish people who were willing to be interviewed for an article. That article turned into a series for an Amish publication, and after 13 years of visiting with her Amish friends, those articles became the seed of this book. It is a multi-faceted book with stories, background information, and practical details like recipes, song lyrics, and quilt patterns.
Later that weekend, Linda did a book talk and signing at the Fairfield Public Library, and it was very well attended. Every seat was full with perhaps 50 people or more. Linda wanted to share with us some insights about what we could learn from the Amish about sustainability and simplicity. The room was full of people I knew who are serious about sustainability, who live in some of the eco-villages and organic farms around here. There was also a formerly Amish lady in the audience that I knew, and many folks brimming with questions about spirituality and the less resource-consumptive lifestyle of the Amish. Linda was surrounded with eager questions long after the end of her talk. There seems to be a real sense for a lot of people that there is something to be learned from the Amish, or at least something that we’ve traded in for technology.
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by Chamaigne Montana on October 6, 2009
5/8/09 Rodney and Aman Charles – Miracles of the Saints and Camp Ghoulog
This was a delightful interview with a father and son. Rodney Charles started 1st World Publishing here in Fairfield, and he and his son have both written a number of books. Today we talked about Miracles of the Saints which gives stories of saints from every culture — one for each day of the year. The story of how Rodney got this book published is really worth listening to. He was living a monastic lifestyle for many years and then found himself needing to make money but having no idea how to do it. His only area of expertise came from his voracious study of the saints from all traditions. So, with complete self-described naivety, he charged forward and wrote a voluminous book of stories. After being turned down by a few publishers, he tried to get a bank loan to self-publish the book. When that didn’t work, he went to a copy shop, made mock-ups of the book, and took it to book stores. Through sheer tenacity and enthusiasm, he was able to pre-sell the book to the book stores. He brought the purchase orders back to the bank, ran the numbers to show the profit potential, and got the loan! Then, in an equally amazing show of the power of tenacity, he asked reviewers way out of his league to review the book. One little blurb by a prestigious reviewer was enough to catapult his book onto local best sellers lists, and eventually it became a national best seller. Wow.
Rodney’s son Aman has caught the book-writing bug, and has writing several children’s books. He encourages other kids to write books also, saying that it’s easy to find illustrations on the internet and it’s a lot of fun to do the research and learn things as you write. His book Camp Ghoulog is a fanciful tale of two young people who interact with some talking sea-animals. Interspersed with fascinating facts about sea-creatures is a plea from them to us to stop polluting the oceans. Another message in the book is that even young people can do something about issues they care about by writing books to get the word out! It was a very clever book and an enjoyable read.
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by Chamaigne Montana on October 6, 2009
5/1/09 Carol Bodensteiner – Growing Up Country; Memories of an Iowa Farmgirl, and Lance Okones – The Realoscope of Ringgold Valley.
This is the first show I sat in as a co-host, excepting last week where I interviewed Monica and Caroline. It was a great treat to interview Carol Bodensteiner, who drove in from out of town to do our show and then head over to the Fairfield Public Library to do a book talk and signing. Truth be told, I was a little nervous to do my first interview! Even though I’ve been a performer as a singer all my life, this is a different kind of “performing” and there are a lot of details to keep track of while you’re on the air! At KRUU, the show hosts also do all the engineering at the same time, which is something that James, the station manager, is really proud of as a noteworthy accomplishment by all the show hosts. Even though I was a wee bit nervous and I suspected that our guest Carol could tell, she exuded absolute graciousness and confidence, which was a delight. Her book, Growing Up Country; Memories of an Iowa Farmgirl, was also a delightful collection of stories that Carol was so wise to take the time to write down. While hers was a common lifestyle in her growing up years, it is a lifestyle that is both passing away and worth remembering. We talked about the trend of young people wanting to return to farming, often learning from scratch how to do it, and I thought that books like Carol’s would be a valuable resource. One day I hope to publish a memoire, so I really enjoyed hearing about Carol’s experience with writers’ groups and writing this book. What a lovely and gracious roll-model she was for me! I’ve been working with the show for several months now, and of course we interview published writers almost every week. As many books as get written and published, each one is really a great accomplishment, well worth highlighting. I felt honored to sit and talk with Carol about her writing process.
As she left to head over to the library to do a reading, we took a call-in guest, also from Iowa, Lance Okones. He is a father who became a writer of children’s books. This book was an educational and fanciful book called “The Realoscope of Ringgold Valley”. Ringgold is the name of a street in his town, and a Realoscope is like a telescope, but when you look into it, it takes you to the place you’re looking at! With the help of the Realoscope, a couple of 4th graders put together a dynamite science project, complete with moon dust. Lance intends for this to become a series, so hopefully we’ll hear back from him with an update in the future. I’d love to know what happens with this project.
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by Chamaigne Montana on October 6, 2009
4/24/09 Monica and Caroline on the making of Writers’ Voices
We had a last minute cancellation this week, so I interviewed Monica and Caroline about the making of Writers’ Voices, their own writing, and some of the highlights of doing the show since 2006. It was a wonderful story about the beginnings of KRUUFM and how the station manager encouraged Monica to do a show and how she chose to do one on writing. In a smaller town like this (10,000) you can really see that it is people who make things happen. Both the station manager, James Moore, and Monica Hadley are the kinds of people who make things happen. We brought Jimmy in at the end of the show to give his part of the story. It was also great to hear from Monica’s mother, Caroline, who was a radio personality in Fairfield from way back before the KRUU days. She currently does another show on a Christian radio station in Burlington, and she started a ladies memoire writing group at her church. This was a really fun peek behind the scenes of Writers’ Voices.
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by Chamaigne Montana on October 6, 2009
4/17/09 George Foster – Book Cover Designer
George Foster is a local guy with a national Book Cover Design career. He did the design for “Thank God I…book 2” which we talked about last week. He also did some of the early “Chicken Soup” covers. In this interview we talked about his business and his upcoming book about becoming a book cover designer. I was also acquainted with George as a fellow musician, so it was nice to say hello again to he and his wife Mary, who will be an upcoming guest as a contributor to “Thank God I…”
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by Chamaigne Montana on October 6, 2009
4/10/09 Thomas Gates – Thank God I…. Book 2
This was the first show where I was back in Fairfield after a few years away and acting as producer for Writers’ Voices from afar. I arrived late on a Thursday night and had my first tour of the KRUU station the next afternoon for this great interview with Tomas Gates. Tomas and his wife remembered me from when I lived here in Fairfield before and they gave me a warm welcome, as did the KRUU dog, Honey. Technically, she’s the station manager’s dog, but her role in life is clearly to be the KRUU greeter for the constant stream of people coming in to be on the air. She puts everyone in a good mood with her adorable pleas for affection. The funny thing about affection is that giving is receiving.
After setting up the video camera, exchanging hellos, and rubbing Honey’s tummy, we had a great interview about “Thank God I….Book 2”. Thank God I….Book 1 was a best-selling compilation of stories about silver linings. It has essays such as, “Thank God I got Divorced”, “Thank God I was raped”, “Thank God I had cancer” and the like. There is some buzz around town about this book getting on Oprah, so it may become the next household name like the “Chicken Soup” series, which came out of Fairfield. For those that want to get on the boat, www.thankgodI.com is accepting submissions for book 3!
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by Chamaigne Montana on October 6, 2009
2/20/09 Karol Truman – Feelings Buried Alive Never Die
This author is a friend of a friend of mine and her book was a very enjoyable read. It addresses a question I’ve always had about the “Law of Attraction”. If our thoughts and feelings attract like things, then where is the release valve for letting go of stresses that we don’t want to duplicate? In this book, Karol offers a tool for clearing out negative emotions so that we are free to focus on the positive things we want to manifest in our lives. This book has a very mild and unassuming Christian overtone. It is just enough to be a delight in helping Christians to understand and use the law of a attraction and see that it is compatible with Christianity. At the same time, the book offers language options that cover a range of comfort zones so that people of many backgrounds will be able to make use of the great releasing tool offered.
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by Chamaigne Montana on October 6, 2009
2/13/09 Elaine Aron – The Highly Sensitive Person
This is one of my favorite authors because her book helped me understand myself in such a life-changing way. Imagine my surprise when I contacted Elaine about doing the show and she told me that she used to teach at Maharishi University here in Fairfield! So many great things have come out of our little town. This book talks about how 20% of all mammals have a more sensitive physiological type, which is medically discernable in infants and all mammals. As with anything, there are pros and cons to being a highly sensitive person, but one key to a well-functioning life is to recognize your strengths and weaknesses, and your individual needs, so that you can function at your best and ultimately offer your unique gifts to the world. This is probably the book that I have recommended the most to my friends and family, and that has made the biggest difference in my life. Now, I bless my allergies as part of the package of being intuitive. I sleep better with an eye mask and ear plugs, and I no longer get myself into trouble by ignoring my own rhythms and imagining that I “should” be able to do things the way the other 80% does. This is an incredibly helpful book for sensitive people trying to find their niche.
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by Chamaigne Montana on October 6, 2009
2/6/09 Geof Boothby and Cullen Thomas – Wormtooth Nation
Wormtooth Nation is a film that can be viewed free on line. It’s a worthwhile film with a message that has stayed in my mind long term as I write this blog post retroactively months later. It was filmed in Fairfield in mysterious locations that locals had a fun but baffling time guessing. The film got high marks for its lighting and acting, especially for a low budget project. On the show, of course we talked about the writing aspect of creating the film. I was intrigued by how the two co-wrote the script with probing philosophical questions. They said it just kind of came together and unfolded step by step. The concept for the film was a synthesis of a handful of ideas. It became a “steam-punk Midsummer Night’s Dream”. Now there’s a new word to Google!
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by Chamaigne Montana on October 6, 2009
1/30/09 Janet Thompson – Dear God, They Say It’s Cancer
This is the first show in which we used the new theme music I selected from D.A.W.N music. It’s a great resource for royalty-free music for any of you producers and film-makers out there. Check it out!
Janet Thompson is a Christian writer who has written several books and a curriculum for building womens’ mentoring groups. Another example of a person following her calling, she developed a womens’ mentoring group in her home church that was so successful that she was solicited by other churches to teach them how to start the same kinds of groups.
Her book, “Dear God, They Say It’s Cancer”, is meant to be a companion for the cancer patient, with information, inspiration, room for notes, and pockets for papers from the doctors. It is the book that she wishes she had when she went through cancer. She actually had the opportunity to test it out when her cancer returned for a time. She used her own book as a companion, and found it was everything she had hoped it would be. My favorite part of this interview is her reading of a list of do’s and don’ts when talking with cancer patients. This book can be a great resource for friends and family when dealing with any serious illness.
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