Interviewer: Scott Douglas Jacobsen Numbering: Issue 26.A, Idea: Outliers & Outsiders (21) Place of Publication: Langley, British Columbia, Canada Title: In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal Web Domain: http://www.in-sightjournal.com Individual Publication Date: February 15, 2021 Issue Publication Date: May 1, 2021 Name of Publisher: In-Sight Publishing Frequency: Three Times Per Year Words: 1,152 ISSN 2369-6885 Abstract Masaaki Yamauchi […]

Conversation with Masaaki Yamauchi on Esoteric, ESOTERIQ Society, JAPANIQ Society, OlympIQ Society, and Standards of Admission: Administrator, ESOTERIQ Society (2) — In-Sight Publishing

If you want to be a writer, then read and read widely. Read enough to find your genre, to find your inspiration, your reason to also write. When you are reading enough that you feel motivated to add your voice to those around you, then step out and fill the world with your intelligence. Keep writing and work your way through the first million words of crap until your own voice shines through with clarity. Keep writing until you believe you are a writer and then keep on writing.

(First airdate: April 14, 2020) Sheila Bender talks to Seattle-area author William Kenower about his work inspiring writers to sit down and write despite their fears.

William Kenower — KPTZ 91.9 FM Radio Port Townsend

The “Flynn Effect” is the phenomenon identified by intelligence researcher James Flynn. He found that average intelligence quotients, or IQ’s, as measured by standardized tests were steadily increasing through the course of the 20th century. That sounds quite natural because, after all, each generation gets better nurturing. They get better health, improved medical care, more […]

People are getting stupider, it’s a scientific fact — the Aspen beat

A big Thank You to the 340 people that follow my blog!

I was told at a Genealogy conference that I was “authorized” to write the biography of anyone I descend from. Every generation needs to add their voice, he said. Well, that’s one hell of a lot of people I can write about!

Writing is My Drink: A writers story of Finding Her Voice (and a Guide to How You Can Too) by Theo Pauline Nestor

Old Friend from Far Away: The Practice of Writing Memoir by Natalie Goldberg



A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway

Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

This Boy’s Life by Tobias Wolff

Liars’ Club by Mary Karr

Confessions of a Latter-Day Virgin by Nicole Hardy

Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs

Searching for John Hughes by Jason Diamond

Falling into Place by Hattie Kauffman

I used to listen to Shortwave radio when I lived in West Germany. I didn’t know it was called Shortwave until much later. I got interested in Shortwave decades later, bought an analog receiver, didn’t like it, took it back and got a digital receiver and a book called Passport to World Band radio that was just like a giant TV guide, but for the entire world. I set up an aluminum foil antenna around the top of one of my rooms and began listening to 30 watt stations in Red China and some of those same programs I used to listen to like the BBC, German stations, and Russian stations. That was fun for a while, but I thought I would like to go deeper so I looked into Ham Radio. I bought some old test prep guides from Radio Shack, the question pool was still good, but the books were being surplused so I got a deal. I got into trouble at work so I had some time off. I picked up the Novice/Technician book and read it through. I then went back and marked all of the correct answers so that I would only ever read the questions and right answers again. I read the questions/right answers at least a dozen times and I asked my girlfriend to read me the answers and see if I could remember the questions. I found out where the Ham testing was done in North Everett, went there early one Saturday with a pocket full of cash and passed the Novice and Technician tests with no mistakes. I was a newly minted Ham Radio Operator! I rushed back to Radio Shack and purchased my first 2 meter handheld radio and eagerly waited for my license to be issued. Two months later I sat for a 5 word-per-minute Morse Code test and upgraded to Tech-Plus.

I really like watching Brat Pack movies. Movies like: The Outsiders, Class, Sixteen Candles, Oxford Blues, The Breakfast Club, St Elmo’s Fire, Pretty in Pink, Blue City, About Last Night, Wisdom, Fresh Horses, and Betsy’s Wedding. There are many other movies with similar coming-of-age themes that starred only one core Brat Pack actor with one or more close contributors.