Dakan's American Journey

Today I'm very excited about beginning a new chapter in my life. I spent the last eight years working on a writing project - which I created so many projections and fantasy's around. It was going to make me rich and famous - blah, blah, blah. And bring love to the world - blah, blah, blah. One of the main teachings in Book One of Twins of Kashal was about "trying." Ironically, I couldn't live the teaching I wrote about in the book. I kept "trying" to make the book series something other than an education in story telling and writing. More than anything, that's what it was - an education. The eight years of authoring those books transformed me as a writer. Now I have the confidence and skills to write the stories I actually began writing prior to 2002. I came up with the original idea for Shambala over 10 years ago, and had outlined it into a movie treatment. Hezar, who worked with me for years on the Ki Story project, always thought that Shambala was the book I should be writing. I also started Two Crows prior to Twins, and it is nearing completion as a full novel. Beginning as soon as I take a deep breath, I will start writing the book that resonates most completely with my heart and who I am . . . the story of 'coming home' . . . Shambala.

I plan on sharing it with you on this blog site.

Before I do I wish to clear something up - about the "off the wall" blog I sent the other day.

To bring my journey up to date - I left Copper Harbor early Friday morning and spent the next 16 hours on the road, before arriving at my friend Karen's house in Dearborn. Saturday we walked miles around Ann Arbor, going from booth to booth in the largest art/craft fair in America. Sunday I crashed. Right now I'm sitting in a Borders, not far from Henry Ford and all that he created. Despite all the jokes about Detroit, this area is abundant with beautiful parks and trees. I'm comfortable here. Karen is a good and wise friend who has offered me a "safe house" to finally relax in. I didn't realize how very exhausted I was until this yesterday - when I was finally able to let it all go.

Going back a few days - sometime Friday afternoon, at a rest stop in northern Michigan, I posted a blog that had to do with forming opinions, points of view and belief systems. In my a satirical humor I layered the blog in a way that might "create opinion" from the reader. I got feedback that it was a bit "racial."

Here in Seattle's Best coffee shop, surround by African American's and Arab American's only, I realize that I am a little bit racist - against boring programmed White Americans. I like color. I am an ethnic being. The fact that I didn't see one black person between Seattle and Detroit, (now that I think about it, I do remember that beautiful girl in Borders in St. Cloud) and that all the Indian stores (except the Sioux museum in South Dakota) were staffed by white people, disappointed me. I thought America was more blended than it is. Yes, I open my heart to all people - any color or any faith - and my particular prejudice is that I resonate with the Rainbow Colors - which includes Hawaiians, Japanese, American Indians, Africans, Arabs and so on. I actually feel more at home surround by the rainbow colors and personalities, than the Walmart white population I experienced on my trip before Detroit. I don't say this to offend my almost entirely white audience - but my art and my writing has always been ethnic, based around indigenous and native cultures. This is who I am.

As far as the line: "And the color girl said . . ." It was taken from a 1972 song by Lou Reed - Take a Walk on the Wild Side. "I said, Hey babe, Take a walk on the wild side. I said, Hey honey, Take a walk on the wild side. And the colored girls say, Doo do doo do doo do do doo."

Stay tuned - you are about to be invited into a new world . . . the return to Shambala.

Blessings, Dakan