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Infantile paralysis, also known as polio, is a disease that affects the spinal cord and the legs of human beings. The disease is an acute viral infectious disease that can be spread and is usually spread from person to person via the fecal-oral route. Polio usually leads to the atrophy of one or both legs and in some severe cases can lead to paralysis. If a leg becomes atrophied the patient will need to use a cane, crutches, a walker or a wheelchair to move around. Most cases do not cause paralysis and the most common cases are spinal polio.

Infantile paralysis was first documented by Jakob Heine in 1840. In 1908, Karl Landsteiner identified the cause of polio, the poliovirus. Polio became a feared epidemic in the early 20th century as it was striking, paralyzing and killing hundreds of children worldwide. The majority of polio epidemics happened in large cities during the summer months when the air was hot, humid and sticky. The polio vaccines were invented by Jonas Salk in 1952 and Albert Sabin in 1962. These two scientists are widely credited for saving hundreds of thousands of lives with their inventive vaccines. There is a slight possibility that the disease could be completely eradicated across the world because of the efforts of the World Health Organization, UNICEF and Rotary International. These three groups are pulling out all the stops when it comes to educating the public about polio and ways to get vaccinated against the crippling disease.

The majority of polio cases result in only a temporary paralysis. The temporary paralysis usually lasts for a month or longer though. The paralysis disappears when nerve impulses return to the formerly paralyzed area. Recovery from polio usually takes about a full six to eight months. If paralysis lasts for more than a month and any longer than one year it is more than likely a permanent paralysis.

As of the 21st century there is no known cure for polio. All doctors can do is administer preventative vaccines and treat the condition if it does strike a person. The treatment process is to provide relief, speed up the recovery process and most importantly, prevent any further complications of the disease. Antibiotics are administered to patients with polio to prevent infection within the weakened areas, analgesics are administered for pain and moderate exercise along with a nutritious diet are other forms of treatment.

The two known vaccines, from Salk and Sabin, are the two most prominent vaccines for polio around today. Salk’s vaccines, known as inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV), is given to the patient via injection. Sabin’s vaccine, known as oral polio vaccine (OPV), is administered orally to the patient.

As of a study conducted in 2006, there are only four countries left in the world where polio is still considered an endemic. Those four countries are Afghanistan, India, Pakistan and Nigeria. With the efforts of the WHO, UNICEF and Rotary International; the world could see complete eradication of the disease within the next 100 years.

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I have to admit that I was a little leery about this book, as a result it sat on the bottom of my pile. Problem was, eventually the pile dwindled, and only Stories Of A Recovering Fundamentalist remained. I was worried, having just moved into the very apex of the Bible Belt, I am sure that mere possession of a book with a title like this contravenes some arcane local by-law. It was with grim determination that I gritted my teeth, and launched into it!

Author James Alexander is a fascinating guy, an ordained minister, a PhD, and a thoroughly entertaining and educated writer. At under 200 pages this is not the weighty tome designed to replace sleeping pills, but a lively discussion that covers a huge spectrum concerning religion today, its roots, and maybe most interestingly the cause and effect on society, politics, education, and just about every other facet of life.

The problem with Fundamentalism James Alexander explains is the intransigence with which it is applied. To blindly obey and not to question makes no sense. Critical thinking is a hugely important part of human existence, yet Fundamentalism leaves no space for such ideas. What is written in the bible, or the Koran, is to be taken at face value, more importantly it is not to be questioned. When an interpretation is required it will be supplied by the ‘Adults’ of the church, the mere believer, only needs only to believe, not to think. Maybe this is the major reason that my trips to church only revolve around Births, Marriages, and (as I get older), an increasing number of deaths.

I suspect that James Alexander and I have quite a lot in common. I do not seek the truth, I seek the wisdom to make my own decision as to what that truth might be. I will not be bullied in this process.

James readily admits that when the going gets tough, even he has the urge to retreat into the safe cocoon that fundamental teachings offer. It is so much easier to take the well trodden path, than hack your way through the jungle. But it is that hacking process that offers the learning process, don’t be confused with this sentiment, this is not re-inventing the wheel. This is discovering the wheel that suits you best.

This is not your regular dry and insipid look at religion, this is new and fun. Early on in the book James talks a little about his life as a child. It was not the happiest of situations, but he found solace in the local children’s Bible club. It was the leader of this group that started to take James to church. As he describes it, the Bible Club Lady started taking him to church, but he could not understand why it was always the same church. Each time they traveled they passed by several other churches. In what has to one of the funniest dialogs I have read in a while, James asks her “What about THAT Church?” The answer apparently was always the same.

No. Not that one. They baptize babies.

No. That one doesn’t use the King James Bible.

That one? Not a chance! They speak in tongues.

That place!!! You must be kidding! Why, Jimmy, that’s a Catholic Church! They pray to statues, and the pope is the Antichrist. Don’t ever go in one of those churches!

You just have to love such dialog!

One of the concepts that the author establishes early on,is Logos and Mythos. Hardly new concepts, but ones that are often misunderstood, or not understood at all. In layman’s terms, logic and mythology. Both have a valid place in religion, and both have the same standing when it comes to belief. Both offer opportunities to be right, it is a question of how you use this information.

Alexander introduces a term that I had not heard before ‘The Flat Bible’. In a nutshell treating the Bible as flat, means giving the same level of importance to every section. This lends to many seeming contradictions in teaching. However if you treat the Bible as having hills and valleys a much more balanced text is revealed. In support of this notion the author includes an essay that he wrote some years ago, if you read nothing more than this essay out of the book you will gain much understanding.

Christian fundamentalism has been around as long as Christianity itself, however the modern version has its roots in the 1920’s and specifically the 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial, which pitted creationists against evolutionists. The light bulb flickered on again briefly in the 70’s, and now in the first decade of this century it is burning brightly. The movement has found a willing and able ally in segments of the government. As James Alexander points out, G. W. Bush’s approval ratings are at an all time low, and who are those that are sticking so doggedly to him? The Christian Right, during his time in office he has done much to further their agenda.

There are so many facets to Stories Of A Recovering Fundamentalist that I could indeed write a book about the book! Oops, looking at the length of this review, I just have!

Great book, and well worth the price of admission. You can get your copy from Amazon.

(Originally published by Blogger News Network and reprinted with permission from the author, Simon Barrett).

Simon Barrett is an adult educator in Calgary, Alberta. With the 11 months a year of winter, he reads a lot of books! He is also a contributing editor for Blogger News and maintains a personal blog at Simon B.

From Mark Grisham: I never was what you might call a model student in high school. My focus was not where it should have been, as is the case with most teenage boys. History was the only subject that came close to appealing to me. I have always had a passion for the Civil War especially. Not so much the politics or the causes, but the armies and soldiers that fought bravely for those four horrible years.

When I settled down, after thoroughly enjoying my college years, I began reading more and more about the war. Not just about the armies though, but about the civilians that endured the hardships back home coupled with the loss of so many loved ones. The horrors of a battle and its aftermath really hit home when I began to read the soldiers’ diaries and letters sent back home to their families. I tried to imagine what it would be like to live in that era. To have to leave a wife and children alone on a farm, while I marched off, not sure if I would ever see them again.

I tried to understand why so many southern boys, most of whom never owned a slave, would fight to protect the institution of slavery. Were they brainwashed by unscrupulous southern politicians who convinced them that the Federal government wanted to free the slaves so they could live as equals with the white folks? Were they really so racist that they thought the black race to be inferior to them? It seems hard to comprehend that so many young men would leave everything they had and risk their lives to protect slavery. What was it then? What made these men give the ultimate sacrifice for the Confederacy?

Not being alive in that time frame makes this question difficult to answer. I can only speculate from what I have read. My opinion is that many of these young men were convinced that they were fighting in the second American Revolutionary War. To them, the Federal government in Washington had assumed the role that King George of England did in the first Revolutionary War. That they were defending their homeland from the dreaded Yankee invaders, who were coming to take over the southland. When Abraham Lincoln called for seventy five thousand volunteers to put down the rebellion, after Fort Sumter was bombed, this belief became more prevalent. Maybe that is where the answer lies.

Many believed that the Constitution was worded with the phrase “sovereign states” for a reason. That each state had its own legislative, judicial and executive branches as a way to govern themselves. Whatever their reason to fight was, they fought and died with the belief that they were protecting their families and possessions. The odd reality was, that even if they were fighting for “state’s rights,” they were fighting to preserve slavery. Many southerners will tell you that the war was fought over “state’s rights,” but these rights meant slavery would have continued if the south had won the war. Who knows how long it would have lasted? One would hope that the Confederacy would have eventually freed the slaves, but no one will ever know what would have happened. Just my opinion, that’s all.

Mark Grisham, an aspiring author, and David Donaldson, CEO/President of Impact Missions, co-wrote Bedlam South. A portion of all book sales will be donated to Impact Missions, a faith-based ministry dedicated to providing care to abused children, hurting families and impoverished people. To learn more about the book and the charity, visit Bedlam South.

From Mark Grisham: The best advice I could ever give to anyone attempting to get a book published is to have faith in your abilities and never give up. I have yet to hear of an author who had an easy time getting published. (except for celebrities who do very little of their own writing) David and I were rejected by several publishers before we signed with Borders, and we almost gave up hope ourselves.

The process of hiring an agent and submitting manuscripts is a slow and painful procedure. Unfortunately, because of the sheer number of submissions made to publishers each year, some good books do fall through the cracks. Even my brother John, was rejected almost thirty times before he found a publisher for A Time To Kill, and things worked out pretty well for him.

If you are serious about being an author, you must continue forward no matter how difficult that may seem. You must also be able to handle criticism of your work. Another bit of advice I can share is to be patient when you are submitting queries to potential agents. I would guess that a lot of writers sign with the first agent that contacted them. Unfortunately, we did. This can be a mistake if you rush into it.

If it is at all possible, try to arrange to meet your agent and spend some time getting to know them, before you sign an agency agreement with them. There are many sources on the internet where you can look at an agents’ track record to see how many books they have had published in the recent past and how well these books sold. Search the internet for other authors that your potential agent may have represented, and contact them if you so desire. The agent that you hire will determine in a large part, how successful of an author you will be. I cannot emphasize how important a decision this is. Once you do hire an agent, be patient, because the slow process of finding a publisher can be hard to deal with.

John once told me, “Leave your agent alone and keep writing.” That was sage advice. It is very hard to do, but you must. The easiest way to handle your frustration with the slow process is to bury yourself into another book or project. Even after you sign with a publisher, you still need to be patient. Hopefully, your advance will make that easier to do.

Publishers do not get in a hurry though, and the average book takes around eighteen months to from the time you sign your contract with them until your book is published. That can seem like a very long time, so don’t quit your day job. Just keep busy writing your next book and maybe by the time your first book is published, you will already be finished with your second book. If you are lucky, then maybe your dream of becoming a published author can come true. I know mine has.

Mark Grisham, an aspiring author, and David Donaldson, CEO/President of Impact Missions, co-wrote Bedlam South. A portion of all book sales will be donated to Impact Missions, a faith-based ministry dedicated to providing care to abused children, hurting families and impoverished people. To learn more about the book and the charity, visit Bedlam South.

1. IT WAS NOT A MISTAKE: IT WAS A SCHEME

Many people thing the economy is in free fall because some businesses made mistakes or because “everyone’s to blame.” Irresponsible borrowers are being equated with irresponsible lenders. Republicans are blaming Democrats, and vice versa. What the blame game misses is that this was at the heart of the collapse of the housing market that started the financial avalanche was a scheme and scam called Predatory Lending, often racially discriminatory and unscrupulous practices.

How do we know? The FBI tells us so as they open 2400 cases, say that crime is pervasive, open 1400 cases, indicted 400 people in the mortgage industry and announce a criminal investigation of 26 top companies. This is just the beginning. Even Alan Greenspan, the former head of the Federal Reserve blames fraud and corruption. Remember Franklin D Roosevelt’s word for the folks behind the depression? He called them “banksters”

That’s why I say we need a “jailout,” not a bailout.

2. WALL STREET “SUCTION” COMPOUNDED THE CRIME

It was Wall Street firms that figured out how make real money on the peddling of subprime mortgages. The idea: get as many as people on the hook for cheap mortgages with no documentation so we can securitize them, by slicing them into investment pools and selling them worldwide as “asset backed securities.” They pushed the brokers at the bottom to cut corners and get them more paper so they could turn straw into gold/ The problem: often there were no assets backing up asset-backed securities. The result, investors in other countries were defrauded and banks were forced to write down BILLIONS. This led to a lack of confidence and the credit crisis. Business writer Dean Starkman summed it up with one word: CORRUPTON. The same institutions were hiring lobbyists and making political donations to make sure they got their way. Corrupt themselves, they corrupted the political system further.

3. THE REGULATORS WERE NOT REGULATING

The head of the Securities and Exchange Commission admits that his agency did not do its job and regulate. Why? Because this administration didn’t believe in regulation and supported all sorts of measures to let the “free market” do its thing. In addition, slick operators created a “shadow banking system” which was totally unregulated. The result, no one was watching the store or worrying about risk. Soon the law of karma went into effect — what went around came around. The Banks got what they wanted and now they don’t want it. Now they say, please bail us out.

4. THE MEDIA MISSED THE STORY

Where was the media exposing the this problem before it became a crisis, before three and half million families were forced into foreclosure, before the Congress passed a 700 BILLION dollar bailout that everyone in the know expects will go higher. The subprime lending book started after the http://dot.com boom went bust back in 2002. The market for these securities melted down in 2007. In that period, five years there were very few investigations perhaps because at this time, lenders and credit card companies spent $3 Billion advertising in the media. We need to investigate the Investigators.

5. WHERE WAS THE PUBLIC?

We can blame the kleptocrats on Wall Street and the compromised politicians, some of whom were sent to jail. We can even express our frustration with a media that barely covered the story when it might have done some good, and when they did cover tended to glorify high paying CEOs while not reporting on mounting economic inequality… But what about us, the people? Why were we in denial and not pressing our politicians to act in our interest?

One reason may be that we live in a charge-it society where we are constantly being told to shop until we drop. Many of us don’t really understand high interest, especially about how it compounds. So many of us are in debt and obsessed with personal economic problems that make it hard to have the time to relate to a larger economic debate. Yet, it seems clear that we all need to understand these issues more clearly, and base our opinions on real information.

I am not an economic “expert” but I pushed myself to investigate our economic calamity. My findings appear in the book PLUNDER (Cosimo) My hope is that readers will find it of value and get into the conversation. If I can learn about these problems and the need for change, so can you.

Danny Schechter edits Mediachannel. He was an Emmy Award winning producer for ABC News, director of the film In Debt We Trust and author of the new book: PLUNDER: Investigating Our Economic Calamity.

According to a Senate report, the starting point of this crisis was in 1997, during the reign of the Clinton Administration. It was then that a period of housing price appreciation began – increasing by nearly 85% until 2006. Home prices jumped by 124%. This was unusual, having occurred only once before in American history, right after World War II.

Soon the housing sector was driving the American economy. Within the next few years, seven million families bought homes with subprime loans.

Homeowners who may have been cash poor, became house rich, by dipping into inflating home equity either by refinancing or taking out low-cost equity loans. As this business boomed, underwriting standards began to “deteriorate.” The banks and other lenders had found a new way to make money – and fast. These loans helped homeowners stave off foreclosures.

They were made possible by deregulation lobbied for by financial institutions, credit card companies, and homebuilders, the industries most likely to benefit.

As John Atlas and Peter Dreier explain in the American Prospect, they won support from the Democrats and Republicans under the cover of the “Reagan Revolution” to undercut reforms made in the 1970s.

In the 1970s, when community groups discovered that lenders and the FHA were engaged in systematic racial discrimination against minority consumers and neighborhoods – a practice called “redlining” – they mobilized and got Congress, led by Wisconsin Senator William Proxmire, to adopt the Community Reinvestment Act and the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, which together have significantly reduced racial disparities in lending. But by the early 1980s, the lending industry used its political clout to push back against government regulation.

This was also the period of major bank consolidation through mergers and the S&L crisis, which saw the closures of scores of banks and major losses because of illegal practices including mortgage lending.

A few bankers were prosecuted but most were bailed out by the Congress. As a blog named the Last Hurrah explained: “Without understanding cause, or the reason for these plain Jane savings organizations in sustaining middle and working class home ownership – Congress just bailed out the lenders who had the wit to reorganize, and let it go at that. Essentially they financed the next bump in housing inflation, whether it be in inflated prices for existing homes, speculation in lots for tear-downs in good areas, or McMansion housing far from jobs and culture in the exurbs, that requires vast investment in infrastructure on the part of existing home owners and the states.”

Interest rate ceilings imposed by state usury laws dating from “reforms” in the 1980s were then rolled back. The lenders understood that these changes meant that now they could target a large potential market who wanted home ownership but could not qualify. And they could charge them high fees and interest.

The subprime loan was crafted for this community and promoted as a reform, a positive way for minorities to become part of the American Dream of homeownership for all. In this period, the Bush administration was hyping the promise of the “ownership society.”

(Now, given the foreclosure rate, ownership may actually decline under his “watch.”)

Most subprime borrowers were sold loans called “2/28” and “3/27” hybrid adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs). These loans typically had a low fixed interest rate – called a “teaser rate “by the industry – but

only applicable during the first two-year period. After two years, the rate is reset every six months based on an interest-rate benchmark. In many cases, payments rose 30%, which made them un-affordable to people whose wages and income were barely rising. By 2004, 90 percent of the subprime loans had these ARMs.

Bear in mind also that the most vulnerable and hence “higher risk” subprime borrowers – many with low FICO credit scores and poor credit histories – were charged substantially higher interest rates and fees than other borrowers. They were more likely to be subject to prepayment penalties, which make it costly to refinance loans. It was known in the industry that these are the borrowers who are most likely

to default or become delinquent in payments and face foreclosure.

No one can fully explain why housing prices went up so quickly either, leaving the door open to explanations based on deceptive and fraudulent practices such as inflated appraisals.

Quickly, so-called “intermediaries,” unregulated and often unscrupulous mortgage brokers, hustled their way into the housing market and quickly dominated, taking a vast market share by a variety of tactics ranging from deceptive advertising to block-by-block solicitations to get people to buy and sell, always promising more than they can deliver.

These efforts were buttressed by large-scale advertising campaigns for firms like DiTech – which used an actor/comedian known for his appearances on Saturday Night Live – to hype the mortgages being backed by the General Motors Acceptance Corporation. (For a while the car company was making more on loans than selling automobiles.) Online lenders then joined the carnival of competition with more ads. Media companies raked in several billion from this advertising, which provided little incentive to expose these practices.

Speculators fielded street teams known as “birddogs,” rewarded for hunting down and signing up prospects. Abusive, illegal, and predatory practices were common. They enticed. They seduced, and in some cases, they threatened. I was told by a mortgage professional in the know that muscle was used, and that people were murdered in property battles.

According to the Joint Economic Report, “For 2006, Inside Mortgage Finance estimates that 63.3 percent of all subprime originations came through brokers, with 19.4 percent coming through retail channels, and the remaining 17.4 percent through correspondent lenders. Their data show the broker share increasing from 2003 through 2006.”

These companies were not regulated and did not come under safety and soundness regulations. The percentage of subprime mortgage securitized rose rapidly after 2001, reaching a peak value of more than 81 percent in 2005.

Underscore that: 81%!

As housing sales boomed, lenders just dumped their traditional criteria for originating loans. The Senate later found: “The share of loans originated for borrowers unable to verify information about employment, income or other credit-related information (‘low-documentation’ or ‘no documentation’ loans) jumped from more than 28 percent to more than 50 percent. The share of ARM originations on which borrowers paid interest only, with nothing going to repay principal, increased from zero to more than 22 percent. Over this period the share of subprime ARMs multiplied dramatically that were originated.”

Danny Schechter edits Mediachannel. He was an Emmy Award winning producer for ABC News, director of the film In Debt We Trust and author of the new book: PLUNDER: Investigating Our Economic Calamity.

The comments I get when I tell friends, family, or even strangers that I have published Letters Between Us, my debut novel, usually skip and hop from “Whaddya mean . . . like a real book?” to “What’s the title?”; from “That’s great, and what’s it about?” to “Hmm, I have always wanted to write a novel”; from “Oh really, that’s nice, pass me the Perrier” to “I am writing one too.”

Make no mistake, people are generally happy for me, and I truly appreciate it, but often the facial expressions I see staring at me are the same ones I used to give other published authors I would travel to a book store to hear read, or while attending a writing workshop they were teaching, and usually those looks encompassed staring at them like they were aliens, or super beings. I knew I was certainly not a member of either group. But I wanted to be. My favorite question was: How did you do it? And the response given would range from a vague description of some daily writing work ethic to the often repeated “by sweating blood onto the page.” Afterwards, while I drove back home I’d think: Why can’t I do that? I mean sweat blood on the page, come on, it can’t be that hard. Right?!

The funny thing is that writer’s block got me into writing. I had been a closet writer for years. I kept journals without telling anyone, except my husband. He’d typically say, “Oh, you’re writing, that’s nice,” and change TV channels compulsively on the remote control while I lay next to him jotting down my life as it played itself out. But I never thought of myself as writing — as a writer. I was merely recording events as they occurred. Like a note taker, I filled journals with accounts of my life and that of my two children along with my husband. Others who played a role in my life were also included, family, friends, events, even strangers. This was not “writing” in the authorial sense, in the writerly sense. No. This was secretarial documentation. I thought.

When I tried to sit and write an actual short story, the words jammed up in my head refusing to come forth onto the page no matter how hard I summoned them. I blamed it on the fact that I didn’t have a typewriter. When I got a typewriter, I blamed it on the fact that I didn’t have a computer. Of course, with a computer, I told myself I would have more time for writing because I wouldn’t have to spend all that extra time correcting typos and re-typing pages as I had on the typewriter.

Well, with the purchase of a computer the words were still in a holding pattern in my brain. I tried hanging around friends who were also aspiring writers. Most of them were attempting the romance genre. Something I knew nothing about and never read. I followed them to a writer’s conference. The editors from the various publishing houses were half my age, better educated than I was and successful in this genre that I knew wasn’t right for me. The more my friends wrote category romance, the more I journaled about how unhappy I was. Prose floated around in my head. These floating “gems” however never came down to earth and were not in the romance genre. Soon I stopped trailing about with these women, so devoted to their formula style of writing. I wanted to write mainstream. When they started getting published, I became depressed. My journal entries had rivers of pages of consonants and vowels but not cohesive stories. Every time I tried to transcribe these bits of sentences, or phrases the river ran even drier. So I just kept on with my journaling.

But the truth is — I was writing. I was writing my life as it occurred in its daily moments. And I was more than just recording the day’s events; I was working them out in a way that did not always reflect the actual daily happenings of my life as lived. Something began to change the more I wrote on a regular basis. And I am not talking about sitting and writing uninterrupted for hours — that doesn’t happen with two little kids in the house. I mean just sticking to this act for 15-20 minutes a day, every day. The words and rhythms took on a different life…I was in fact creating stories. The act of record keeping took on the life of another…and then a short story was born inspired by an event I had experienced, I had heard about, I had recalled from my childhood, or even read about. This was not intentional it just flowed from my pen.

And on a good day, I did not let my inner self critic prevent this fictive reality from taking over my words. Gail Godwin calls it “The Watcher at the Gate” and about her watcher she writes: “I first realized I was not the only writer who had a restraining critic who lived inside me and sapped the juice from green inspirations.” And he is one who, Godwin claims, she allowed to “reject too soon and discriminate too severely.” It is only when we refuse to listen to that watcher, he who must not be obeyed, who wishes to silence our creative inner voice that presses for life to be heard. I didn’t and you shouldn’t either.

Linda Rader Overman is a Professor of English at California State University, Northridge. Her work encompasses fiction, and nonfiction consisting of multifaceted elements including photographs, narrative portraits, images, texts, personal and social history, poetry, letters, and diaries. Her epistolary novel Letters Between Us is published by Plain View Press. To learn more about her, and to receive her newsletter, visit Linda Overman.

I take out a sheet of paper and smooth its curled edges with my hands as I lay it on my writing desk. The paper is not white, rather more of a beige or splash-of-cream color, really. It contains no lines, just the minimal echo of the tree it once was part of. I take a whiff and it smells of ink and pencil and the perfume I’d dripped on the desk a bit earlier. There are no spots on the page fortunately, yet the scent is of lemon and salt and the sea. My favorite fountain pen, an old Waterman, the color of malachite, given to me years earlier still feels able-bodied and ready in my hand. I think a moment and then put pen to paper.

Truth is the sheer act of writing a letter in just this way to a person, placing it in an envelope, licking a stamp to it and mailing it, sadly, appears to be a dying art. And partly why I chose to write Letters Between Us as an epistolary novel, to recapture that art, just a little.

Now we have email, blogs, Skype, Webcams, instant messaging, and texting — so much faster, quicker, and more efficient. There is something to be said, however, about the act of holding a pen in your hand and writing to friend or family member, even if only to share a brief hello, a thoughtful remembrance, a declaration of love, or something more. It is embedded with the careful process of cogitative thought, let alone leaves a palpable imprint of the writer’s energy. One day it might even be a treasure to be discovered amongst the long forgotten possessions of another. In addition, writing a letter in such a way brings to light a voice distinctively different from other genres of writing. Imperfect, unedited it is a reflection of the times in the raw.

What would we have done without the letters exchanged between loved ones during war time: the Civil War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War, for example? From such letters we have the voices of a private history from long dead family members and/or friends in their own hand-writing importing a tone that we may never have actually heard them speak during their life time.

This happened after my mother-in-law died. We found love letters written to her on V-Mail (or Victory mail, which was the microfilming of specially designed letter sheets. So as not to waste cargo ship space with large bulks of shipped mail overseas, microfilmed copies were sent instead and then enlarge” at an overseas destination before being delivered to military personnel). My husband’s mother, Martha, was affectionately addressed as “Toni” by her husband away fighting in the Pacific theatre during World War II. No one in the family understood why Marvyn Overman called Martha Overman — Toni? But there it was in the salutation in a facsimile of a letter-sheet reproduced to about one-quarter the original size: Dear Toni, My beautiful Toni, Beloved Toni. Toni. Toni — she will always be Martha to me — was back home in Hollywood, California raising her toddler son: my husband.

This little bit of information called to mind a young couple, they were 25 at the time, deeply in love and suffering from separation. The loving voice of this couple is one I never heard either of them use in the decades that I spent in their presence. Basically, they communicated by fighting, yelling and forgiving and then doing it all over again. Family dinners at their home were usually: eat fast, hold our breaths, talk a little, and hope Marvyn and Martha didn’t do their Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf routine on that particular night. Once they began, all we could do was wait for a break in the action, and cut and run. And yet, they once talked of love and nicknames no doubt written and whispered to one another in days gone by. To this day neither my husband, nor his two brothers know the origin of this pet name for their mother.

Being separated by war is nothing new to this generation of 18-34 year olds. Computers and their full complement of audio/video software enable close circuit communication over many miles and multiple time zones. Families separated by the current wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere can talk to and see each other as if they were sitting in the same room. These conversations over thousands of miles have meaning and impact, don’t get me wrong. But as far as leaving a written record as the letter I am completing to my unborn great grandchild (who exists only in my imagination and that of her potential parents: my son or my daughter) I can’t help but wonder if she or he will prefer to benefit more from this piece of myself on paper, which wears my perfume and is embossed with traces of my own hand writing — or from popping in a portable drive that shows me moving and talking. There’s no perfume in that.

Linda Rader Overman is a Professor of English at California State University, Northridge. Her work encompasses fiction, and nonfiction consisting of multifaceted elements including photographs, narrative portraits, images, texts, personal and social history, poetry, letters, and diaries. Her epistolary novel Letters Between Us is published by Plain View Press. To learn more about her, and to receive her newsletter, visit Linda Overman.

Although my comments in this article are primarily directed toward senior citizens sixty-five and above, they could also apply to virtually anyone over fifty-five who is retired or semi-retired and has a lot of extra time on their hands.

The music business began to dry up for me when I was in my mid-fifties and over ten years away from full retirement age. Fortunately, my business included a couple of music publishing companies from which I continue to earn a good living to this day without having to put in long hours.

Once it became abundantly clear that my music career was behind me, I was faced with a new challenge: what am I going to do with all this free time? Well, I considered starting another business and actually looked into a few possibilities…but nothing seemed to interest me. So, in my spare time (and believe me, there was plenty of it), I became a pretty doggone good gardener and eventually dubbed myself “Chauncey” (you know, like in the movie “Being There”). However, my yard isn’t that big and gardening wasn’t something I could do every day of the week.

Having been a recreational poker player for several year, I soon discovered online poker. If you’ve ever played online poker, you know how addictive it can be. I must point out, however, that I wasn’t playing for real money. In no time at all, I racked up over 200K worthless credits. Even though I was having a moderate amount of fun, I was never tempted to plop down the entrance fee and play in the World Series of Poker, nor was I interested in going out on the Worldwide Poker Tour. What I realized was that I needed something more productive to do with my time.

And then last year, at the age of sixty, I discovered the joy of writing. It all started with an article I wrote and had published in the San Diego Union-Tribune. I then began writing my first novel, Pinch Hitter, which was just recently published. I’m now working on my second book, which I hope to publish in early 2009. Whether or not I’m any good at it is a matter of opinion. However, while maintaining the discipline of writing every day, I stay out of trouble and keep my mind sharp.

So, here’s what I want to say to the retirees who are constantly looking for something to do: even if you’re able to keep yourself fairly busy, why not at least consider sharing some of the knowledge you’ve accumulated throughout your lifetime with others? Whether it be of a personal or business nature or a combination of both, everybody’s life experiences are unique. Perhaps you have an idea for a work of fiction or just want to publish a book that features your all-time favorite recipes. Or, maybe you would simply like to write your memoirs. Several years ago, my sister and I encouraged our mother to do just that. Her life was filled with many interesting experiences, and we begged her to write it from her perspective. What better way to preserve your life story for your children, grandchildren, and all future generations. Unfortunately, she never got around to it. And when she left us three years ago, she took with her all of those unique experiences.

While I can think of many legitimate reasons for retirees to write, I cannot think of any reasons NOT to write. And it doesn’t necessarily have to involve money; in other words, don’t worry about selling it. The process alone will give you great satisfaction and a sense of accomplishment. Remember, like virtually everything else, the more you do it, the better you will become.

So, how does one get started, you ask. Well, if you don’t already have one, I would recommend getting a computer and becoming familiar with a good word processing program. I use Word 07 and love its features. And then you need to do a ton of research on two things: writing in general and the subject on which you have chosen to write. Here’s a good tip: the internet has all the resources you will ever need (just Google it, already). Of course, you’ll also find some terrific books about writing in your local bookstore.

My older brother — a retiree who was undoubtedly inspired by my book — recently mentioned that he had a great idea for a novel. Being that he has a tendency to get bored easily, I encouraged him to at least start the process by putting his idea down on paper. He hasn’t taken that first step yet, but I’ll continue to encourage him as I do everyone with the time and the willingness to try their hand at writing.

Dean Whitney, a semi-retired music producer & publisher and avid baseball fan, recently self-published his debut novel, Pinch Hitter, through BookLocker.com. Dean also writes a baseball blog, which can be found at Dean’s Baseball blog. To learn more about Dean and his baseball novel, visit Dean Whitney.

William grew up with a mother who was depressed much of her life. As the oldest of three children with a father who was not around much, William took on a lot of responsibility for his mother’s wellbeing. He grew up as a kind and caring man, believing that he was responsible for another’s feelings, especially a woman’s.

Lauren grew up in a family where she received constant criticism from her father. From the time she was little, she had learned to try to do everything right in order to have control over getting her father’s approval and avoiding his disapproval. Lauren learned early in life to make others responsible for her feelings.

As so often happens, William and Lauren got together at their common level of woundedness, with William feeling responsible for Lauren’s feelings and Lauren making William responsible for her feelings. But it didn’t take long for William to feel engulfed by Lauren’s demands and to shut down as a way to protect himself from being controlled by her. The more William shut down, the angrier and more demanding Lauren got, and the angrier Lauren got, the more William shut down. Both felt deeply lonely in the relationship, each reacting to the other’s wounded self.

As long as William believed he was responsible for Lauren’s feelings, he was unable to feel any of his natural caring and empathy for her. And as long as Lauren believed that William was responsible for her feelings, she was unable to feel any of her natural kindness toward him.

The fact is that we cannot feel both empathy toward another and responsibility for their feelings at the same time. We cannot feel empathy for another when we feel burdened by responsibility for their feelings, or when we believe that the other is responsible for our feelings. As long as William continued to believe that he was responsible for Lauren’s feelings, all he knew to do was shut down. As long as Lauren believed that William was responsible for her feelings, all she knew to do was get angry and blaming.

Fortunately, William and Lauren were willing to learn and practice Inner Bonding. William did deep work on understanding the sources of his wounded self’s belief that he was responsible for Lauren’s feelings, and was eventually able to let go of this false belief, as well as learn how to take responsibility for his own feelings when he felt attacked or pulled on by Lauren. As he developed his loving Adult, he was able to take loving care of himself while staying open and caring about Lauren.

Lauren did her own deep Inner Bonding work to finally let go of her long pattern of making others responsible for her feelings. She discovered that her current feelings of abandonment were not because of William at all, but rather because she so often abandoned herself by ignoring her own feelings. She discovered that the moment she made William responsible for her feelings, she felt abandoned because making him responsible for her feelings was an abandonment of herself. As she learned to take loving care of her own feelings, her anger toward William gradually disappeared.

This is the most important work any individual or couple can do to bring about their own happiness and improve all their relationships. Learning to take responsibility for your own feelings and not for another’s feelings is vital for your inner peace, joy and loving relationships.

Margaret Paul, Ph.D. is the best-selling author and co-author of eight books, including “Do I Have To Give Up Me To Be Loved By You?” and