Dear Friends and Colleagues from Around the World, 2020 has been a challenging year in so many ways. For the first time in 47 years, our family did not celebrate Thanksgiving together, nor did our children and grandchildren celebrate Christmas Eve and Christmas at my oldest daughter’s place. We had to settle on a series of Zoom calls emptying Christmas stockings on Christmas Eve and singing carols on another video call on Christmas. Here are some of the highlights of Million Mile Walker for the year. Culture Watch At over 335,000 deaths, the U.S. has the worst record, with 25% […]
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The Nuances of This Thanksgiving & a New Political Moment! November Newsletter
Dear Friends and Colleagues from Around the World, Like many families, our clan celebrated Thanksgiving in a very different way this year, which included a “Video Chat” where all my children and grandkids shared what they were thankful for and their hopes for the coming year. As a family of immigrants, our take on what’s coming next is revealing. Culture Watch will include a special announcement about an interview with Global Connections TV about my book “Different Latitudes,” several book reviews and a special movie about the complex relations that can exist between immigrants. I’ll report on my Webinar with the overseas staff of […]
Continue readingAnnouncing My New Book And More! October, 2020
Dear Friends and Colleagues from Around the World, This month’s Culture Watch will highlight books from the “counterculture” era to one from today’s “Black Lives Matter” movement. Two Special Projects will take center stage, starting with my search for a publisher for my second book and my latest article on a Maya activist in Guatemala whose unique experience will inform our documentary film. My new book will be about one of the great, but little-known, authors of the 20th century who wrote on the coast of Ecuador. Next, a quick update on the Rotary/Peace Corps partnership and the Calendar […]
Continue readingNewsletter, From Counter Culture to Black Lives Matter, September 2020
From Counterculture to Black Lives Matter! Friends and Colleagues from Around the World, The “counterculture” segment of this month’s newsletter relates to the three articles published in the The Crested Butte News, which contrasts what I observed in Crested Butte, a small ski town outside of Gunnison, Colorado where I went to school in the early 70s with more recent protests. Cultural Watch will focus on two important books to better understand the underlying causes of systemic racism in this country, as well as what white people can do to combat it. We have several Voices of the Day during this pivotal point in our country’s […]
Continue readingNewsletter, Rethinking What’s Important & What’s Next! August 2020
Friends and Colleagues from Around the World, “Let me get this straight– so what you’re telling me is that my chance of surviving all this (pandemic) is directly linked to the common sense of others? You’re kidding, right?” A daunting thought, but these circumstances do offer an opportunity to reassess the use of country’s resources as well as our personal goals. In our Cultural Watch, we’ll look at the scope and consequences of our growing “military, industrial, Congressional” complex. My latest Book Review will relate to that situation. Two of my reviews are in the Arizona Authors Association newsletter column “Million […]
Continue readingNewsletter July 2020 New Website Emerges from Global Pandemic
In this issue, we’re introducing the new Million Mile Walker website as well as reflecting on the devastating impact of Covid-19 on our collective health and economy, which was exacerbated by a declaration of our Commander in Chief that he’d send troops into our cities to deal with protestors if our Governors were too weak. The Culture Watch will include several articles on where we are today as a society and then we’ll have our Voice of the Day, a Special Surprise, the Calendar, and What Others are Saying? https://mailchi.mp/b1ff3a559ec1/a-gift-for-you-different-latitudes-1558934?e=b69257b7d8
Continue readingNewsletter: April 2020
In this issue, I’ll share a special review of an article from the June issue of the Atlantic Monthly on how the coronavirus didn’t break America, but revealed what was already broken. Also, my article, which describes how transformative travel can be, has been published by both Literary Yard and the Peace Corps Worldwide. And our Culture Watch includes a revealing article from an investigative reporter that describes how a “Shadow Network” of talk radio and TV talking heads are able to not only change the filter of news, but the entire story. And, of course, our Voice of the […]
Continue readingNewsletter: March 2020
The ensuing coronavirus pandemic has caught most of our attention over the last few weeks, and possibly for the foreseeable future. As is the case with many authors, I’m used to “hunkering down” in my home office writing away, so this is not that big a deal. On the positive side, the pandemic has breached several myths, which needed to be exposed. First off, the “America First” and we can go it alone has failed miserably when international communication and cooperation can save lives. The impact of global travel is most evident in New York City, which is now the […]
Continue readingNewsletter: February 2020
Starting the year off right with a three-page feature article on our Guatemala immigration documentary in the February issue of Revue Magazine! The focus is the making of the film production and provides an overview of what the documentary is about, and why it’s timely, with a link to our website and the trailer of the film. http://www.revuemag.com/2020/02/guatemala-trouble-in-the-highlands-mark-d-walker/. Read the newsletter . . .
Continue readingNewsletter: January 2020
2019 has brought on many nuances in cross-border, immigration issues and philanthropy, which I’ve tried to stay on top of. A year ago, I teamed up with director and cinematographer, Hal Rifken, to produce a documentary titled after the essay you can read by clicking once and then again on the article, which is on page 82. https://issuu.com/revue/docs/revue_magazine_september_2019?fr=sOTIwODE4NzMw. After adding team members Alana DeJoseph and Tracy Cring, “Guatemala: Trouble in the Highlands” has a trailer and new website. The “Resource” center includes all of my articles on immigration as well as recommended readings to better understand the situation in Guatemala. […]
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