Jazz, Joy and Justice

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all American school children learned something about our great American art form of jazz? If they not only listened to and played their music, but also learned the stories of our American jazz geniuses? If by hearing these stories, they also came to understand something of how systemic racism has hurt and continues to hurt us all? If they were inspired to begin the long walk toward justice, accompanied by the joy of jazz?

Jazz, Joy and Justice is the trio that will help us as we stand at the crossroads between education and catastrophe. It sings out the songs of our triumph and shame, our joy and our pain, our happiness and our sorrow, our yesterday and tomorrow. If you love jazz, find out the hidden stories of some of your favorite musicians. If you love justice, discover how jazz musicians did so much more than entertain. If you need some joy in your day, listen to the musical examples suggested in these pages.

Come join Louis, Ella, Duke, Lady Day, Monk, Miles and many more to consider how to make the world our children deserve as beautiful and swingin’ as the music they created.

Just Be Kuz – A Life Most Fractious

This book blurb introduces the concept of being a ‘sunshine seeker’ and asks whether these individuals are never satisfied with what they have or simply driven to be their best selves. The author shares personal stories related to addiction, family, divorce, and other topics, offering a unique perspective on the world. The book contains some strong language and shocking content.

See the world through the lens of a sunshine seeker. See how he feels about everything from sex to addiction, to family and divorce.

Be entertained by the stories which drive Just Be Kuz in his world of sunshine seeking. See where you agree and disagree.

Caution, there’s some real shock value in this book – and some off-colored language! Apologies up-front.

Knysna Forest

Sparky, a 19-year old, quick-witted thrill-seeker, went hiking in the majestic Knysna forest in South Africa upon returning from the United Kingdom. After a series of bad decisions, driven by stubbornness, he tumbles off a cliff with no turning back.

Wounded, lost, low on supplies, and without any knowledge of survival, he is plagued by nature’s lethal attacks until he is too weak to carry on. As dusk and dehydration ominously takes its toll, he is faced with fears he never anticipated.

As death approaches mercilessly again and again, he must fight above willpower to stay alive. With every calculated risk, less calculated, hope, survival, and divine intervention, becomes a distant dream.

Knysna Forest is an epic, true miracle race-against-time survival-story that will leave adventurers astounded in anticipation.

“If you are reading this, it means that you are experiencing the result of a miracle, because how is it possible that I survived death, more than once?”

Leaving Patriarchy Behind

Can we fight, and win, against an ideology that has been established and practiced for decades? In Leaving Patriarchy Behind, Leticia recounts her father’s disappointment at the birth of each daughter: “After each birth, Papa would turn to Mama and ask, ‘Mama, es un niño?’ But, out of 18 babies, Mama only had four boys.” With some challenging years behind her, Leticia considers the culture that informed her parents’ principles, those she knew she could not accept as her own. She realized from childhood that she was not one to follow the disparate rules set for boys and girls.

In these short vignettes, Leticia Aguilar recalls her life as a child in Mexico in the 1960s and as an adult in America in the ‘70s and beyond. Looking back, she reflects on her struggles as a girl, then a young woman, and the men who told her what she could and could not do. Instead, Leticia turned away from Mexican patriarchy, even as she was criticized and warned of her shortcomings in being independent. In a small mountain community in California where Leticia raised her family, she joined a variety of local organizations where she provided young women with a career, education, and family resources. Leticia’s memoir inspires others to rise above misogyny and racism.

Life After Divorce

Relationships are never easy to navigate, especially when they are in the process of disintegrating right before your eyes.

Have you ever wondered what you’re truly capable of? How do you face challenges like divorce, hurdles such as weight gain caused by stress, obstacles such as dealing with loneliness and explaining to family that you are fine and of course, friends who insist on setting you up on numerous blind dates?

These challenges work together to drive us. So, what if you’re divorced? That didn’t stop me. So, what if there happen to be a few extra pounds? Love it or leave it, I’m still a better me. How far are you willing to push yourself?

Some tests that we face are brought on by others, while some, we choose ourselves. Know that no matter what type of test you face, the result is a new empowered you. This book is about conquering your own doubts and rediscovering who you truly are and about knowing that you ultimately are in control. You have the power. It’s your world, everyone else is just visiting!

Life of the Party Girl

Life of the Party Girl is a raw and inspiring debut memoir of a top wedding planner reflecting on the moments that define us as human beings, both the traumatic and fantastic.

The author and subject, Megan Estrada, isn’t your typical wedding planner. She is tattooed, assertive, stylish, and doesn’t take no for an answer. She is reflective and decisive, in bringing a fresh and unique perspective to the special events industry. Estrada is a trailblazer in the event industry and harnesses her past experiences to create momentous occasions.

Before Megan Estrada became a nationally recognized wedding and event planner, she spent forty-years navigating a life of unexpected circumstances, one that was dictated by a twisted series of trauma and celebration. From enduring a school shooting, an unsuccessful suicide attempt, and a difficult marriage, to landing a record deal, becoming a mother of two, and leading the special events industry through the Covid-19 pandemic, Life of the Party Girl follows Estrada’s journey to self-worth and self-discovery.

Life on Ice

Ever wonder what life is like on a touring ice-skating show? How many people travel with the show, how do you pack two fifty-pound suitcases with a year’s worth of clothes, shoes, and supplies? Do you pay your own hotel and transportation? Speaking of pay, what do they pay? How do you cook in a hotel room? And who is hooking up with whom? This semi autobiography is a humorous look into the world of a traveling show about how to live this type of life on the road. It is a coming-of-age story where quirky characters become family, fall into and out of bed—I mean love—go on adventures, and grow up.

Lillian: A True Story of Multiple Personality Disorder

For most of us, the varied parts of our personalities are woven together and unified by our memories. But what happens when we have no memories? What happens when the components of memory (facts, feelings, and body states) are split apart and no longer relate to each other?

When this story began more than 40 years ago, doctors and psychiatrists were mystified by patients with more than one personality. The diagnosis at the time was Multiple Personality Disorder. Lillian was afflicted with this condition owing to severe abuse during her childhood. Her mind held each trauma separately. Each personality took over her body, developing a life and personality of its own.

Lillian’s aunt, Jean, became friends with 22 personalities. She played hide and seek with four-year-old Mary, taught five-year-old Amy to write, shopped for undergarments with Robin Jean, and communicated endlessly with each of the others. In the process, each personality revealed its beginnings. Over time, each personality revealed its own memories of their trauma and eventually became integrated.

This is an exquisite and beautifully written story of poverty, transgenerational abuse, mental illness, and the healing power of love, science, and spirituality.

As one reader puts it: “You will laugh, cry, turn away and come back again to its compelling truth.”

March Forth in Love

Do you believe…you don’t know what you don’t know? What if I told you the last harvest predicted by thousands of scientists was to be 2080, would you believe me? Would you believe today it is a scientific observational truth that the last harvest is 2080? Do you know what that means? It means that we will no longer be able to grow any crops because our soil will be dead. It also means that every single one of our future grandchildren’s lives will end in starvation by the time they are forty years young. The smartest men I have ever met in business have told me: “Terri…never underestimate how much money in marketing it takes to change human behavior.” In 2020, Mother Nature managed to change human behavior worldwide by creating the coronavirus. Mother Nature aka GOD will continue to change our behavior because our lives depend on it. Our future depends on humanity changing its selfish behavior. In order to survive the morass we have found ourselves in, we must ‘march forth in love.’

Me 'n' Clint

Called “One of the best horse stories you’ll read in a long time,” Me ’n’ Clint is less a “how to” than about the trade one young fellow unexpectedly fell into, fell in love with and bounced around in over much of a lifetime. Written with an authentic voice and wonderful balance of humor and expertise, this unusual telling, straight from the horseshoer’s mouth, offers the reader a window into the everyday trials and tribulations of a farrier that you will find both interesting and hard to put down whether you’ve ever had a horse or not.

Mikey Speaks Out

On the day of my birth, my mother had already decided that she wanted to give me away. She had made this decision even though she had not yet known the extent of the problems that would confront me. As it turned out, there were many, including the fact that I was not born a beautiful baby.

Actually, I was considered to be quite ugly, disfigured by a cleft lip and palate that left a gaping hole in the middle of my face. In addition, I was born deaf, covered with bruises, and showed signs of haemophilia, an ancient life-threatening hereditary bleeding disorder.

I longed to be hugged, kissed, and cuddled in my mother’s arms, but that was not about to happen. Instead, I spent months in a hospital crib, as I recovered from complicated facial surgery. Following the surgery, I was placed in a dark room of a foster home, and left to languish in loneliness for several months.

On a dark snowy night, shortly before Christmas, a man and woman arrived at the home of my foster parents. They had driven five hundred miles through a blizzard, and requested to see me… see me! No one had ever before asked to see me! My only previous visits away from the foster home were trips to the hospital for painful medical procedures.

Mourning Bands On

Mourning Bands On is an accessible journey into the hypersensitive world of today’s American law enforcement. The reader is brought into the law enforcement world through an introduction to the history, function, and development of the American police model. With an understanding of policing’s role in American society, the reader is then immersed into the raucous and contentious cultural upheaval which American policing is currently experiencing.

Using well-known examples, the reader is challenged to consider how American culture is affected by critical incidents and the portrayal of those events in our media intensive world. The reader will review the cases in the deaths of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd, as well as others. The cases are presented as a narrative of events supported by the findings and legal conclusions of the U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation. Each incident is reviewed with a view of how the incident effected American society and brought change to American culture and thus policing.

The reader will experience how American policing has changed through legislative, societal, and cultural pressure resulting from the reviewed critical incidents. With an appetite for more, the reader is encouraged to further explore the relationship between societal norms and American policing.

The work concludes with a final challenge to the reader. How do we, as a society, reform American policing to move forward after this unprecedented period of cultural change? The author offers several possible reforms to enact, what can you add to the conversation?