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You can now follow Evan Wright online by subscribing to his blog, Cost Combat. It is indeed the official blog to learn about the retail jungle and tactics to not fall into traps.

Gilbert Mirambeau: "Art in its raw form can't be handled by the human brain"

Photo provided by Gilbert Mirambeau

Writing is second nature to Gilbert Mirambeau. In fact, he spends most of his free time writing. He enjoys going to the movies, hanging out with his friends and cooking a good vegetarian meal, but at this point in his life, his mind is very focused. 

He plans to become one of the contemporary writers that is studied, and with the dedication he has, he is one step away from actualizing this dream.

Everything related to culture interests him and strengthens his exclusive mentality. 

Born and raised in Haiti, writing gradually became a part of Gilbert's life in high school until it became a compulsive need to vomit a divine thing (as he describes it) on paper.
It all started with him being excruciatingly bored and probably annoyed at the French literature that he was forced to read and memorize while at St. Louis de Gonzague in Haiti. As a way to rebel against this educational system, he started writing poems.
For the longest time, it was just a habit until he discovered The Battle of the Titans and fell in love with Greek mythology.
The way that the characters were contrived definitely got his attention. It inspired him to write, create astonishing characters and take on other literature genres aside from poetry.
He only started writing professionally 3 years ago. Although not specified, something happened. He attended several workshops and became even more dedicated to writing.
Although he is an avid reader, Gilbert tries to not be influenced by other writers and create his own masterpiece.
"I want to sketch my own path," he explained. He defines his writing not as a gift but rather as a message that he is compelled to share with his readers. He attests that a divine thing comes to him in the form of an image and he projects that image in his writing.
He decodes that picture and brilliantly pulls the senses of his readers towards every last bit of details that composes the whole picture. Because of that, his writing tends to be very graphic. The quote in the title of this blog post ("Art in its raw form can't be handled by the human brain") describes that powerful step that he goes through before editing and polishing his works.
However, behind the sweat, the bashing and the smell of his words lay a simple yet unique man with a systematic plan to impact his society. He admitted that he has always been an outcast with a constant need to pick apart society as a whole and isolate himself from shallow attitudes that cripple our mentality. Hence, his writing is his weapon against all entities that are destroying our daily life. His piece, Les Miens, deals with this issue of self vs. society.
Moreover, as an activist, he needed an extensive medium to pass along his message. This quest guided him towards playwriting.
"When you assist a play, it is more in your face," he said. "The actor is living the character for an hour and a half in your face. It is so believable that you grasp everything- the emotions, the tears and even the breath."
He once hired a cast and crew and presented a play in Montreal with family members, friends and professional actors in attendance. It was a way for him to test the market, and he received many positive criticisms for his play.
Writing takes more than just the willingness to write, and Gilbert understands that. Now, he is in the process of moving back to Haiti to present his play. This will also help him reconnect with the people of Haiti (outside of Port-au-Prince) and draw inspiration.
Eventually, he will travel the world, especially Europe where the theatrical culture is at his highest, and tour his plays.
He has four major projects that he is working on. The first one, My Last Orgasm, depicts a mentally challenged, old woman looking for herself; the second one addresses the issue of skin color and loveless marriages; the third one, 4 H 53, is related to the Jan. 12, 2010 earthquake in Haiti, and his last project centers around the life of a restavek in an urban family.
To know more about Gilbert, please visit his blog. Do not forget to translate the page in English if you do not speak French nor Creole.

Ordinary People, Extraordinary Planet

Photo provided by Dr. Shellie Hipsky

Ordinary People, Extraordinary Planet is Dr. Shellie Hipsky's latest book, which focuses on a dozen of interviews with people who have overcome challenges in their life and are able to inspire others through those challenges.
Hipsky began writing this book while promoting her fourth book, Mentoring Magic, with her cowriter, Dr. Claudia Bavaro. She was at the Ray Leonard's radio show, which is broadcasted in 75 countries and is also named "Ordinary People, Extraordinary Planet." Leonard introduced her to Clarel Radicella, the woman who inspired Hipsky to write this book.
"I was supposed to talk with Clarel about marketing my book," said Hipsky. "As we began to talk, her life story fascinated me, and I started writing her story."

Photo provided by Dr. Shellie Hipsky

Racidella was a mother of three who was diagnosed with AVM and a brain aneurysm, and founded mindyourbiz.org. She had helped a lot of people and in her own way made a great impact on her surrounding before passing away from cancer in July of 2011. She is survived by her three children, and Hipsky had a chance to write her story, which keeps her legacy alive.
"I think people will be uplifted," said Hipsky about what the readers would think of this book. 25 percent of the revenue of this book goes to the charities featured in the book and the Homeless Children's Education Fund, an initiative dear to Hipsky's heart, which she has raised over $35, 000 to support.
In her own way, Hipsky is a living, breathing image of her own book. Because of the academic challenges she faced in high school, she realized that there needed to be a different way of teaching, and decided to dedicate her life to teaching others about this new way.
Her three previous books, Arts Alive! Textbook, The Drama Discovery Curriculum and Differentiated Literacy and Language Arts Strategies for the Elementary Classroom focus on the goal of educating and how to teach using creativity and meeting the needs of the students.
"Every child has a gift to give to the world, and teaching can help with that," explained Hipsky. Her mission to globally entertain, educate and inspire sums up this goal.
Aside from writing books and articles (approximately 100), Hipsky also teaches at Robert Morris University. She does multiple public speaking, such as at  Pepperdine University and the University of Oxford in England. With her foundation as an Associate Professor of Education, Dr. Shellie Hipsky is a co-owner of a wonderful (soon to be launched) e-story book company for young children, Learning Mountain.
Most Importantly, Hipsky will soon be hosting a talk show, "Inspiring Lives with Dr. Shellie Hipsky." One of her first guests will be Alicia Kozakiewicz, a woman who was abducted at 13 years old after chatting with a stranger on Yahoo chat room. Kozakiewicz is now working at Carnegie Mellon University and teaching teenagers around the country about internet safety. 
To learn more about Hipsky's inspirational life and work, please visit her website at http://www.shelliehipsky.com/ and her Amazon author page at http://www.amazon.com/Shellie-Hipsky/e/B002P8TLY6/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1

Cost Combat "Retail Boot Camp" Class"

On Thursday January 19th, 2012, Evan Wright will be leading a free seminar at the Sewickley public library to teach about the basics of retail spending and saving. Please attend it if you are in the Pittsburgh area because this class could be very helpful to you.
"What I want to do is give an overview of the whole process," said Wright. "I'm thinking on doing other classes focusing on different sections of the book."
Please click here to know more about the seminar.

Naomie Labaty

Born in Haiti after the ousting of Jean-Claude Duvalier, Naomie Labaty describes herself as a person with a creatively incoherent mind; therefore, she decided to write poems.

"I always have tragic thoughts in my mind,"said Labaty, who writes about Haiti, love (especially love that is unfulfilled) and other entities that she is deeply drawn into. 

She partly grew up in Haiti where she completed her primary education at Saint Francois D'Assise and spent two additional years at Centre D'Etude Secondaire.  At age 13, Labaty moved to the United States and finished high school there.
Labaty spent three years at a university in Boston, but  couldn't decide what career path to take. It wasn't until the massive earthquake in Haiti (12/01/10) that she realized that her actual goal in life was to be helpful to her country. Thus, she moved to Florida to feel closer to Haiti and to study political science and international relations at Florida International University.
Labaty also became involved in many cultural activities promoting the Haitian society. She even had the chance to perform in a spectacle called Ayiti Manman Libete, which focused on dance, music and poetry to support the culture of Haiti.
Along with a friend, she founded Boukan, a cultural night, at Moca Cafe in Florida.
In addition, she enjoys reading and reciting her poems, and to share those poetic thoughts with others, she videotapes them and uploads them on youtube. Above is one sample of her videos recounting the animated life of the haitian youth in a first person scenario. She had received great feedback for it and explained that many thought that she was telling her story.
"When something speaks to them, they give so much back," said Labaty.
Labaty, who describes speech as her forte, also host a show on Island T.V., called Plezi Soley, at 8 p.m on Fridays. 

She has a blog, Anthology of a Heartbreak, where she shares writings and videos pertaining to the subject of love. Please take a look at it at http://naomiel.blogspot.com/. I find her poems conversational and undisguised with just enough literary devices. 

Do not forget to follow her if you enjoy her poems. ☺
Labaty is currently working on a CD version of her most praised poems and short essays. 

Here are additional links to her facebook page and youtube channel.
http://www.youtube.com/user/naomiel1

https://www.facebook.com/naomielayiti?sk=wall

Photography, Jazz and Heather Pinson

Photo provided by Heather Pinson

There are many photographic books on Herman Leonard, but what makes Heather Pinson's book, The Jazz Image, unique is its focus on the life of Herman Leonard and his jazz photography, representing symbolic images of jazz players.
He was a photographer from the mid 1900's and worked for famous magazines, such as Playboy magazine and Life magazine.  He was also a commercial photographer and took pictures of album covers for major record companies.
Aside from his other works, Leonard, who loved Jazz, was a good friend of some of the jazz musicians and used to frequent Harlem where the African-American culture culminated. He would follow the jazz musicians from New York to Paris and took many pictures of them.
Even though he was not the only photographer to capture the life of jazz musicians, he was given credit for creating that jazz image. One of the main features of his photographs was his focus on smoke. Even in a dark background, Leonard was able to capture the immersing smoke, which helped symbolized the jazz image.
Even though those pictures were taken during the 1940's and 1950's, he only became famous in 1988 when he had an exhibition, titled The Image of Jazz, at The Special Photographer's Company in London. People started seeing his jazz photography and paying attention to his emblematic and amazing images. This show helped relaunch his career.
"Herman caught them at the right time in the right place," said Pinson, referring to Leonard's importance in photography pertaining to jazz.

Herman Leonard and Heather Pinson. Photo provided by Heather Pinson

Pinson wanted to write about how Leonard represented jazz in his photographs and created the visual culture of the jazz music. She also had the great pleasure of meeting this legend and interview him for her book.
"[this book] contributes to a view point about jazz that people don't look at," said Pinson. "It is about visual photography and music."
Her book is very important not only because it tells the story of the culture of jazz but because it is the last book written before the death of Leonard.

http://www.amazon.com/Jazz-Image-Leonards-Photography-American/dp/1604734949

Luca Guardabascio

Photo by Noah Purdy © 2011 noahpurdy.com 

Not too long ago, I met a very kind and extraordinary man walking along the campus of Robert Morris University; his name was Luca Guardabascio, and he was one of the visiting scholars for the Fall 2011 at this school.

I soon realized that Guardabascio was a very intriguing artist and a very dedicated soul to the Italian cinema. At six years old, Guardabascio published his first collection of short stories- 70 short stories to be exact. 

He always had an interest for eccentric movies, especially The Twilight Zone. As a matter of fact, Guardabascio formed a new genre for movies, called marron, that he introduced to the Italian cinema.

"Marron is a genre that I build from thriller and film noir," said Guardabascio. 

The first movie that he produced under this genre was Dismophobia, a short story about a man who has fallen in love with a woman who rejected him. The movie is in black and white with a single scene in sepia, and has a very original ending. 

Guardabascio, who is also an actor, took part in many cinematic projects in Italy, such as  Con Rabbia e con Amore and Anime Nera. 

He is also a screenwriter and a novelist. His book, Una Guerra Privata, depicts a friendship between an Israeli and a Palestinian. They both live in Italy under the same roof, and fall in love with the same woman.

In the story, both friends realize that despite the political and ethnic conflict between Israel and Palestine, they are not so distant as people. Nonetheless, falling in love with the same woman has created another type of conflict between the two friends, and at the end of the book, an unlikely resolution is revealed. 

"I'm very interested in other culture," said Guardabascio about the book. 

He wrote another book about the summer of 1983, entitled Ancora Un'estate o un'estate Ancora.
He further explained that it was an important time period because there was a lot of issues that were being raised in world, such as the discovery of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). 

"In Italy, with Betino Craxi in charge, the socialist party went into power for the first time," said Guardabascio. "It was a very good period of time. Italy went into G7."

As he mentioned, many other things happened during that time. A girl by the name of Emanuella Orlandi was kidnapped in Vatican and no one knows what happened to her until this day. In addition,  Israel invaded the South of Lebanon, which became the tragic first Lebanon war. 

As a result, the book emphasized on the growing fear among Italians of the world outside of home. The story focuses on a man who kills a shy singer because of jealousy and hides the body in the sea. People begin to speculate that the shy singer is kidnapped.
I have the impression that this is just one aspect of the book as the book seems to incorporate many more. Although I do not speak Italian, this book is definitely something that I would like to read. 

Below are a few links on Guardabascio and his accomplishments.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1029841/
http://books.google.com/books/about/My_own_Una_guerra_privata.html?id=3OWoPAAACAAJ
http://www.ilviolinoedizioni.it/web/quarto-libro/