About
To quote the late Jerry Garcia,“what a long, strange trip it’s been”. In my sixty-one years, I've worked on a missile launch crew, in the engine room of aMississippi riverboat and as the operator of a chemical plant. I've soldinsurance, advertising and other stuff, worked in numerous factories and as acounselor in a group home for troubled teens. There were the ten years as the webmaster/English editorfor a large Buddhist temple in southernCalifornia. Then there was the time spent in the Philippines as a Christianmissionary. All together, it makes for an interesting, if confusing, resume, aswell as a unique and eclectic writer’s perspective.
Now living in Calaveras County, California, I'm trying to decide if I'm retired, a writer or merely unemployed.
Learning to Breathe Fire: The Rise of CrossFit and the Primal Future of Fitness
Description
<p><b>The absorbing, definitive account of CrossFit's origins, its explosive grassroots growth, and its emergence as a global phenomenon.</b><br /> <br />One of the most illuminating books ever on a sports subculture, <i>Learning to Breathe Fire </i>combines vivid sports writing with a thoughtful meditation on what it means to be human. In the book, veteran journalist J.C. Herz explains the science of maximum effort, why the modern gym fails an obese society, and the psychic rewards of ending up on the floor feeling as though you're about to die. <br /> <br />The story traces CrossFit’s rise, from a single underground gym in Santa Cruz to its adoption as the workout of choice for elite special forces, firefighters and cops, to its popularity as the go-to fitness routine for regular Joes and Janes. Especially riveting is Herz’s description of The CrossFit Games, which begin as an informal throw-down on a California ranch and evolve into a televised global proving ground for the fittest men and women on Earth, as well as hundreds of thousands of lesser mortals. <br /> <br />In her portrayal of the sport's star athletes, its passionate coaches and its “chief armorer,” Rogue Fitness, Herz powerfully evokes the uniqueness of a fitness culture that cultivates primal fierceness in average people. And in the shared ordeal of an all-consuming workout, she unearths the ritual intensity that's been with us since humans invented sports, showing us how, on a deep level, we're all tribal hunters and first responders, waiting for the signal to go all-out. </p>
Story Behind The Book
A Wall of Eden began as a writing project. The challenge: Take an existing plot with which everyone is familiar. Without changing the story or its outcome, make it fresh and new. The story of the Garden of Eden was chosen because, in addition to being a familiar story, it is one which allows no references to the past. It also precludes the use of modern axioms and idioms. For example, neither Adam nor Eve could have been depicted as 'being so happy that they did cartwheels'. No cart, no wheels.
As the writing of the story progressed, another challenge presented itself. Portray the characters (Adam, Eve, the Serpent, the Lord) in such a way that the reader can start to see himself in the story. The story of Adam and Eve, like the rest of the Bible, has to be seen as each of our stories, else it is nothing but history at best, or even irrelevant myth or fable at worst.
I once saw, in a college curriculum, a course called The Bible As Literature. I never did sign up for the course, but the name stuck in mind over the years. A Wall in Eden is 'the Bible as literature', or at least an entertaining, made-up story with familiar characters and themes.
