About Jeshua
I am Jeshua, son of Maryam, son of Joseph, and a son of God.
My journey began in the dry lands by the Western Sea
And it led me to hidden places in the mountains of the East.
Every life is a book, and if we do not write it down,
Surely it will blow away, like dust in the wind, and
The memory of all the acts that mark our lives and paths in the world will disappear.
If you find this, my book, and if you read its words,
May they be a map that leads you to that hidden land,
To that fragrant valley where there is peace and love,
To that place of refuge from the chaos of our world.
And should you follow even a small part of it,
My journey will not have been in vain.
A Rush of Dreamers
In San Francisco, a city famous for its eccentrics, the most celebrated of all was Joshua Norton who, in 1859, declared himself Emperor of the United States. One of the original ’49ers, Norton made and lost a fortune (and a good portion of his reason) during those rough and ready first years of the “instant” city that grew out of the sand dunes of Yerba Buena.
Charles Olson and Edward Dahlberg
This book focuses on the human and artistic dimensions of the contacts between Charles Olson and Edward Dahlberg, two of the most interesting figures of modern American letters.
Imagination and Innovation
For more than half a century, Weston Woods has been regarded as the leading creative force in the production of films for children. The list of the authors and artists whose works have been transformed from books into films by the studio includes the most significant figures in children’s literaturefrom Robert McCloskey, William Steig, and Maurice Sendak to Margaret Mahy, Sims Taback, Rosemary Wells, and Mo Willems.
The Story Behind Jeshua
This book has been with me most of my life. I was not quite in my teens when I began to wonder how a boy from such obscure origins became known as the son of God. Myth, the historical record, and traditional teachings have all remained silent on the matter. We are left to believe, on faith, that the extraordinary moral, ethical, and spiritual development of the young man we call Jesus of Nazareth simply occurred, without need for any explanation. We do know that when Jesus was twelve years old, he famously debated with the priests at the Temple in Jerusalem, and then he simply vanished and did not reappear in the Galilee until he was nearly thirty years of age.
The general silence concerning these “missing” years has led me to reflect on what may have happened to him. What was his spiritual journey? What led him to become a healer and worker of miracles? What might have been his grounding, his education, his development during these missing years? How did he come to incorporate those values of love, compassion, and forgiveness that distinguish his character in a world that was hostile to these very principles? This novel endeavors to imagine how this part of his life may have unfolded.