Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
Nina L. Diamond is a journalist and essayist who has written hundreds of
articles for dozens of magazines and newspapers including Omni, The Los 
Angeles Times Magazine, The Miami Herald, and The Chicago Tribune.  She 
covers the arts, sciences, media, and current affairs, and also publishes 
humor and social commentary.  She is also a contemporary pianist and 
composer.  She lives in Miami.

In her book, Voices of Truth:  Conversations with Scientists, Thinkers and 
Healers, Nina Diamond brings a rare insight and wit to the longest, most 
in-depth conversations ever published with 14 prominent and innovative 
scientists, thinkers, and healers, including best-selling authors James 
Redfield, Deepak Chopra, Brian Weiss, Carolyn Myss, and physicist
Michio Kaku, as well as award-winning former CNN war correspondent and 
novelist Charles Jaco, NASA's JoAnn Morgan,leading neuroscientist Deborah 
Mash,and Arun Gandhi, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi and director of the
Gandhi Institute.  Each chapter-long symphony of ideas is an intellectual 
(and often irreverent) adventure that draws out their knowledge, passion 
and humor with ease, showing once again that there's nothing like a good
conversation.

Leading the discussion is recent inkwell.vue guest Francesca De
Grandis, who has been a grass-roots spiritual activist for nearly two
decades, giving folks tools to both stay whole and make a difference in
the world.  Religious oral tradition and the oral literature of
disenfranchised groups are strong influences on her writing. The author of
"Be a Goddess!" and of "Goddess Initiation : A Practical Celtic Program
for Soul-Healing, Self-Fulfillment and Wild Wisdom" (HarperSanFrancisco),
she views common language as both sacred and poetry, saying "I want my
prose to be poems, poems providing spiritual practices that make a
practical difference. I want my poems to be like women's handmade baskets
that carry food, passion and personal victories that mirror universal
experiences. Gorgeous baskets/poems/prose that can actually carry water or
be used to rock a child to sleep."

Please join me in welcoming Nina and Francesca to inkwell.vue!
  

    
Nina, “Voices of Truth” contains interviews with folks who try hard to
make the world a better place. One of the many things that amazes me
about the book is that it offered solid inspiration to me; it inspired
me to keep fighting the good fight, to keep on with my idealistic
actions that are based in the premise that we all can, in fact, stand
up and make a difference. 

I received this inspiration not only from what the folks you
interviewed said, but from what you said to them. That sort of
inspiration is badly needed nowadays. 

Was your motivation in writing the book to inspire readers?  And what
do you think is needed to help folks believe they are big enough to
make a difference?
  

    
My initial reason for writing this book was frustration.  I had
interviewed so many fascinating people over the years, and because
magazines only have room for articles that run anywhere from one to
four pages, so much material from my interviews with these people was
never published due to lack of space.  The only way to share these
interviews in all their full-length, uncut glory was to put them in a
book.  Each one of the interviews is, on average, about 5 to ten times
longer than what you could ever fit into a magazine article.  My goal
wasn't simply to inspire readers with these conversational interviews. 
Even more importantly, I wanted to make readers think, open their
eyes, and come face-to-face with a lot of the truths as well as
absurdities in the world.  That's why I get on my soapbox in these
conversations just as much as my interviewees do. The answer to your
second question is very simple. A woman named Betty Reese once said,
"If you think you are too small to be effective, you have never been in
bed with a mosquito." 
  

    
Well, whatever your motivation, the net result is an inspiring
collection of fresh ideas! 

Another thing I loved is the wide range of people represented in  your
book. The folks interviewed range from bestselling New Age author
Deepak Chopra to the grandson of Gandhi to Charles Jaco, the CNN
reporter who reports oppression wherever he finds it -- which means
governments literally shoot at him or throw him out of their countries!
 

Folks who visit the Well tend to understand that we have to approach
global change from all the angles possible, but publishers often need
their books to fit into neat little categories so that they can be
marketed. Yet your book’s strength is that it is far ranging and hence
hard to limit with a simple definition. Was it hard to get a publisher
to buy such a book? And how has such a wide ranging book been received
by the publishing industry and readers?
  

    

I think that particular group of folks is very interesting, indeed.  How 
did you come to select those particular ones?  When you interviewed them, 
was it in person, or by phone, or a combination?
  

    
You're right about publishing and marketing-- they tend to like
pigeonholing their books by tightly focusing on only one subject or
person.  So it can be challenging to market a book that steps beyond
artificial boundaries.  In general, response from the media,
booksellers, and readers has been very exciting, and fortunately most
of them really applaud the wide scope of the book and the people
represented in it.  So far, the biggest problem has been with book
stores that can't figure out where to shelve the book.  Even though the
publisher's sales and marketing people have officially categorized the
book as Current Affairs as well as Inspiration, and have printed these
categories on all of their material they send to the book stores,
booksellers have shelved the book in a variety of other categories,
including some that make very little sense considering the people and
content of the book.  Even when publishers and authors try to make
things simple,marketing can still end up being a challenge.
The people I chose to include in the book, were among the many I had
interviewed in recent years for magazines and newspapers.  When I
decided to create the book, I chose eight of the most interesting
people whom I felt had very important ideas to share.  But the book
kept growing, and ultimately I included fourteen people.  Many of the
interviews were done in person, a few had to be conducted by phone
because of geographical or other constraints at the time. The shortest
chapter in the book is ten pages long, and the longest chapter is more
than fifty pages long.  Most of the chapters fall in the range of about
twenty five to forty pages long.  That's a lot of conversation with
each person.  Each chapter begins with a narrative introduction,
followed by the Q & A conversation-style interview.  Almost every
chapter represents more than one conversation with the person.  In most
cases, I spoke with them numerous times, and in all cases I updated
their biographical and professional information just before the book
went to the printer. 
  

    
I was impressed by the depth of your interviews: these are *real*
conversations, not promotional sound bytes or platitudes. For example,
I am not a Deepak Chopra fan -- his books help a lot of people, but
they are not my style -- but your conversation with him held my
attention fast, I didn't skim even a single paragraph. The high energy
rapid pace to all the conversations made me feel I was your personal
guest on an exciting adventure. I  was reminded of my basic truths, and
gained fresh ideas. What’s your secret, how do you extract such
authentic heartfelt thoughts from the folks you interview?  How can we,
who see this inkwell.vue interview, nurture such authentic dialogue in
our lives? I want to know because such conversations give us the
inspiration and ideas to improve our lives and make the world a better
place.
  

    
My secret is very simple: I started talking when I was only 9 months
old and I haven't shut up since.  The more serious answer to your
question is also pretty simple: When I'm interviewing someone I treat
it exactly the same as a conversation I would have with someone I
already know and with whom I'm very comfortable talking.  Since I had a
genuine interest in all of the ideas, opinions, and experiences of the
people I was interviewing, all I had to do was jump in with both feet,
be myself, not hold back, and make them equally comfortable talking
with me.  At first, you might think this would be tricky, especially
when interviewing someone who is either very well known, or whose work
you really admire.  People believe that you should put these kinds of
folks on a pedestal.  But if you do that, you're not going to have
genuine communication.  It's very important to treat them as you would
anybody else, treat them as regular people, because famous or not,
underneath they are still just regular people.  That's why people I
interview are so comfortable talking to me.  When I am not putting
distance between us, out of awe or nervousness, or the silly notion
that they should be treated like they are not really human, then they
don't put any distance between us either, and we can enjoy a great
conversation as if we've known each other for years.  It also helps
enormously that I have been blessed with a great sense of humor, and
that it comes naturally to me to use it as often as possible.  Humor is
one of the best ways not only to make a serious point, but also to
instantly break down any barriers that may exist between two people. 
Empathy is also extremely important. People need to know that you
understand them and can feel what they feel.  Fortunately, I have been
blessed with lots of empathy, sometimes I think I've got more than I
really need, and that can also be a problem when I feel things too
deeply.
  

    

Hi, Nina!  I'm curious about what were some of the surprising things you
learned in general or in specific interviews??
  

    
Wow, you said a lot of profound things there, Nina. I mean, it seems
that you are really listening without judgment, just listening the way
you would with a buddy! It also implies you are not trying to knock
someone off their pedestal -- knocking someone off their pedestal is a
terribly mean way to treat anyone, and means you put them on the
pedestal in the first PLACE! If more people would talk to each other 
as if there is nothing to prove, and without being defensive, we could
change the world overnight!

In “Voices of Truth”, you wrote a testimony to New Ager James
Redfield; it is an unwitting testimony to yourself; hidden between the
lines shine your own enthusiasm and dedication to changing the world
for the better. Everyone involved in your book, including yourself,
cares about taking meaningful action.  How do you bring such heart to
your work? How can others do the same?
  

    
Hi Lena,
When I interviewed Arun Gandhi, I asked him a lot of very serious
questions, he told me a lot of wonderful stories about the time he
spent living with his grandfather, Mahatma Gandhi, and since, during
the course of our conversations, I discovered that Arun had a wonderful
sense of humor, I asked him a very unusual question.  Prior to one of
my conversations with Arun, a friend of mine, who is also a journalist,
spoke to me about this upcoming interview.  When I asked my friend if
there was anything he wanted me to ask Arun Gandhi, he replied, "Yeah,
I wanna know what Mahatma Gandhi wore under his robe!"  The next day
during my interview with Arun, I asked him.  And not only did he
answer, but in between all the laughter, both his and mine, this
seemingly insane question actually led to a very important part of the
interview in which Arun discussed how his grandfather's choice of
clothing reflected his commitment to the poor and oppressed in India. 
If you want to know what Mahatma Gandhi wore under his robe, you'll
find the answer in my book.  I don't want to spoil the surprise by
revealing that here. In general what surprised me the most about the
other conversations in the book was how very spiritual the scientists
turned out to be.  Perhaps their spirituality has its roots in their
innate sense of adventure and curiosity.  I found that spirituality
exhibited by the scientists was different than the spirituality
experienced and discussed by the people in the book who have made
careers out of being spiritual in one form or another.  The scientists
seemed to me to be spiritual from a point of view that was based on awe
and wonder, while the others viewed spirituality from a therapeutic
frame of mind and were very enthralled by it as the ultimate self-help
tool.
  

    
Believe it or not, I have a pretty short answer to that.  It's really
pretty simple: If you follow your heart in whatever you do, then you
can't help but bring it along for the ride.  So many people end up
spending a great deal of their personal and professional lives doing
things they really, really, really don't want to do.  Everyone has more
choices than they believe they have.  We all need to spend more time
doing work that fulfills us.
  

    
Hi Nina. Love your little tidbit about Gandhi's grandson!

Who would you say has been your favorite person to interview and why?
And, if you're willing to dish in public, who was your most difficult
interview and what made it difficult?
  

    
I first read “Voices of Truth” to review it (the review is on the
reading list at http://www.well.com/user/zthirdrd/WiccanMiscellany.html
) It is difficult to describe something unique and innovative; writing
the review I had to really work to spell out the nature of your book.
But all that effort has proved useful in this interview: I pillaged the
review for its hard won descriptions, using them in my questions here
thus far, so that web site visitors here could get a sense of what your
book is like.

Also, hee hee hee, this interview has given me the unique opportunity
to ask you questions about the very things  in “Voices of Truth” that I
had described as a reviewer: I had described them because they were so
important to me. I’ve had a great time receiving your answers, Nina.
Thank you!

But now we’ve done that. So everyone hopefully knows what the book is
about, (and can ask more if they don’t.) Of course you can talk about
the book more if you want, too, but right now I want to talk about
*you*! 

Who are you, why do you write books, what floats your boat, what do
you hate when you are being interviewed, what do you hate when you are
interviewing someone, what is your pet peeve, what is your favorite
soapbox right now? Um, answer all or any of those! :-)
  

    

   Nina, I love what you said above about scientists.  I think that some
of the deepest spirituality in the world comes from the questions and
answers being explored by these men and women among us who are brave
enough to say "I don't know, and I want to learn".   (Heck, come to
think about it, that attitude characterizes the most spiritually deep
non-scientists I'm aware of as well!)

  Did you see any pattern like this?  That the greatest, or at least
the most interesting, people are the ones who are able to cope with
questions that don't [currently] have answers?  I haven't read your
book, though it's starting to sound like one I'm going to want to get.
But I wonder if the people you spoke with had that ability (to refrain
from demanding an immediate answer to a question, while still working
very hard to find the answer) in common as I think was implied a couple
of times above?

  Also, how much of what your conversations touched on might be seen by
some as being connected to politics, or at least to public policy?  And
how much might be seen as connected to religion (by which I do not mean
spirituality)?
  

    

Let me add that we have a few copies of Nina's book available to 
registered WELL members who agree to participate in this discussion in 
exchange for receiving the book.

Please e-mail inkwell-hosts with your snailmail address if you are 
interested.
  

    <scribbled by rab Thu 31 Jan 02 19:02>
  

    <hidden>
  

    
I can't remember a time when I didn't love words, when I didn't love
books and magazines, when I wasn't a writer with an insatiable
curiosity.  I clearly remember my excitement at learning how to read
when I was only 4 yrs. old.  I seemed to have learned all at once.  I
suspect I was just born with this.  In my mother's scrapbook, she has a
photo of me that I've often joked  should be used as my author's photo
on one of my books.  I couldn't have been more than 2 1/2, maybe 3,
and there I was lying on the couch reading what appears to be the
Sunday magazine of a newspaper.  I look very grown up with my head
propped up by the arm of the sofa, with my knees up, and the magazine
propped up on them.  All that's missing from the photo is a cup of
coffee and a cigarette.  I made the official decision to become a
writer "when I grow up" when I was only seven years old and in second
grade.  My teacher, Naomi Otterbein (whose last name is now Bryant),
was so encouraging and supportive that through the years we've always
stayed in touch.  She's now 81 years old and I have a photo of the two
of us taken shortly before Voices of Truth was published.  She's
holding the book, with the cover facing the camera and she's just
beaming.  I guess every second grade teacher would love to know that
their efforts have paid off.  I'm having lunch with her next week when
she'll be in South Florida to take a cruise.  She jokes that I look the
same as I did in second grade, back in 1963.  I'm older than she was
when she was my teacher.
Since I am so used to directing the course when I'm conducting an
interview, it's hard to resist that impulse when I'm being interviewed.
 When I'm interviewing someone, I really enjoy the entire process,
especially when we really click, and the conversation flows easily,
like a tennis ball going back and forth over the net.  I guess what
every interviewer dislikes is when the person your're talking to is
unresponsive.
As for soapboxes, I always have 10 or 20 of them at any one time. 
Whether I'm doing an interview, writing a feature article or writing a
humor essay, I've always been triggered to do so by either curiosity or
something I find absurd,annoying, or in great need of commentary.  I
recently interviewed Christopher Reeve about stem cell research, and it
would be devastating to the future if the various factions can't come
together and find a way to clear a path for the further development of
stem cells for use in treating disease and injuries.  On a lighter
side, I published a humor essay not too long ago about the Paste
Eaters- those kids we all knew back in elementary school who used to
eat paste.  I wanted to know what kind of adults they turned out to be.
  

    
Omigoddess, Nina, I wrote a skit that is in a tiny way about paste
eaters.It must be an American gradeschool archetype! In my skit paste
eaters have an insanity of organic nature -- it is inherent in their
bodies -- and for some reason this insanity prompts them to eat paste.
Therefore they grow up loony tune unless they get on meds! What sort of
adults do they become in your essay?

Re stem cell research and the various factions: do you want to give
background on that for those here who don't know the whole story?
  

    
Hi Cynthia:
My favorite interview is a subject that can be divided into two
categories: my favorites among those in the book, and my favorites
among the hundreds (if not thousands) of people I've interviewed who
are not in the book.  I think the politically correct way to discuss
favoritism regarding the book would be to pick a favorite aspect of
each of the interviews.  So, here goes:
James Redfield-- how he brought together such diverse topics and
showed their relation to one another under the spiritual umbrella.
Deepok Chopra-- one of the most articulate people I have ever
interviewed.
Caroline Myss-- she is able to explain the unexplainable; how a
medical intuitive "operates".
Brian Weiss-- a gentle soul who made reincarnation research and past
life therapy not only respectable but particularly mainstream.
Arun Gandhi-- a man of amazing patience, grace, and commitment who
brings the past into the present as a guide for the future.
Charles Jaco-- perhaps my favorite smart-ass,and that's one of the
highest complements I can pay a person.  He is the last of a dying
breed: the intrepid reporter.
Brooke Medicine Eagle-- a Native American teacher of the highest
order.
Marilyn Sunderman-- a brilliant painter and writer with the most
incredible zest for life.  She was a dear friend who sadly passed away
from leukemia only 8 months after Voices of Truth was published, and
only one month after she was diagnosed.  Her first book was published
less than two years before she died.  It's a memoir called Past Lives,
Present Joy, and I can't say enough good things about it.  Read it.
Pam Johnson-- she stumbled upon something initially as a joke, and
found herself in the middle of a national, social debate.  
Gladys Seymour Davis-- I describe her as one of part Whoopi Goldberg
and one part Deeepak Chopra.  But even that doesn't do her justice. 
She is brilliant, insightful, and pee- in- your- pants funny.
Michio Kaku-- considered the probable heir to Einstein, he not only
makes physics an adventure (who can resist parallel universes, time
travel and the possibility that we are living in a universe of more
than three dimensions?), but he also manages to make all of this and
more perfectly understandable.  He has a social conscience and great
wit.
Deborah Mash-- a world-renowed neuro-sciencist with the soul of a
mystic, she coined the phrase "Neuroshamanism", and has more passion
for her work than almost anyone else I've ever met.
Christine DeLorey-- she elevates numerology into something all
encompassing, writes beautifully, and does it all with heart.
JoAnn Morgan-- the highest-ranking executive at NASA's Kennedy Space
Center, she was their first female aerospace engineer and has been
there since before NASA was even called NASA.  She is not only a
walking history book, she is a real sweetheart, the kind of a person
you want to have over for milk and cookies.
Now, on to my favorities among those I've interviewed over the years
that are not in Voices of Truth.
My very favorite interview of all time was with singer/songwriter Dan
Fogelberg.  Anyone between the ages of 40 and 50 will certainly
understand why.  I interviewed him back in the fall of 1987, after a
concert in Philadelphia.  He is as down-to-earth as he is talented.
Among my other favorites: the late comic actress Imogena Coca, the
late great actor Anthony Quinn, and the late crooner Perry Como, who as
it turned out had a fabulous sense  of humor.  Also: Christopher
Reeve, whose courage is beyond inspiring; Jimmy Buffet, who wore an "I
Survived Catholic School"   t-shirt to the interview; the late puppeter
Jim Henson, creator of the Muppets, who phoned me for the interview at
8:00 a.m. on a Saturday morning, and woke me up (I'd forgotten to set
my alarm), and in my grogginess I thought that Kermit the Frog was on
the phone.  Even in normal conversation, Henson sounded just like
Kermit and it took me a few minutes to realize what was going on.
I'm sure I'm leaving lots of people out, but this list could go on for
days.
My lease favorite interview was with someone who shall go maneless. 
All I'll tell you is that he is still alive, was one of the most famous
actors from the 1950s Golden Age of Television, is still revered the
world over, and was perhaps the most mean-spirited human being that I
have ever had the misfortune to meet.  Thinking perhaps I'd caught him
on a bad day, I asked a number of fellow writers and reporters if they
had ever interviewed him or knew anyone who had and found out, much to
my relief, that this actor had been just as nasty to be around with
everyone else.  I never published the interview.
  

    

  Nina, any thoughts on my questions in #14 above?
  

    
Cynthia:
In case anyone was going to ask whose on my wish list for future
interviews, here's my answer:
Former President Jimmy Carter is number one.  Others include: Steven
Spielberg, Rob Reiner, Carl Reiner, Barbara Streisand, Walter Cronkite,
Denzel Washington, Madeleine Albright, Spike Lee, Frank McCourt
(author of Angela's Ashes), Sidney Poitier, J. Richard Gott (Princeton
professor of Astro-Physics and author of Time Travel in Einstein's
Universe).
  

    
Hi Bob:
I agree that curiosity and a love of the exploration process are
traits found among the kinds of people you refer to.  All of the people
in Voices of Truth also have those traits, and enjoy the discovery
process as much as they do finding the occasional answer.
The conversations with each of the 14 people in the book touch upon
many aspects in society, and on a few occasions, public policy,
politics and religion do come up as they apply to areas such as Arun
Gandhi's discussion about his grandfather's life mission, Charles
Jaco's conversation about working as a war correspondent for CNN, and
in other chapters regarding science, medicine and spirituality.
  

    
Great stuff. Nina. 

Did you miss my question yesterday, #19?

Also, who is the interviewer you most admire and why?
  

    
Oops. that was supposed to read "Great stuff, -- comma not period --
Nina."