It is with a great amount of humility and pride...
... that I am I able to announce the publication and
release of our book: "Voices from the Parking Lot -
parkinson's insights and perspectives."
This work is a collection of over 30 contributors and features
artwork, poetry, short stories and prose by PWP's or the people
who love them, and is certainly a must-see-read for anyone who
has PD, is involved with someone who has PD, or for anyone in
the world outside of PD. We sincerely believe that this book is
for everyone who has a heart!
The book was launched at The Unity Walk, (Richard Dreyfus, Ted
Danson and Helen Gurley-Brown all expressed interest in it and
its success, and went away with copies of the book or with an
order form) and was feted afterwards at a very well-received book
signing reception at a Manhattan restaurant.
To order your own copies of the book, please contact Margaret
Tuchman or Carol Walton at the Pakinson Alliance at 1-800-579-8440.
The price of the book is $25, with all profits from the book going
to Parkinson's research.
More on this important book later, but I would like to urge you
all to order a copy and to help spread the word about it, for
it truly is a work of art - both visually and content-wise.
Authors and Don McKinley (to whom the book is dedicated) will
be receiving your book and t-shirt in the next few weeks!
Thank you so very much for the opportunity to be involved
with this wonderful project!
Parkinson Alliance Publishes 'Voices from the Parking
Lot, An Anthology of Stories by People With Parkinson's' .... Profits Go to
Parkinson's Disease Research
PRINCETON, NJ - The Parkinson Alliance, a national non-profit organization
which raises money to finance Parkinson's disease research, is publishing
a compilation of poems, narratives and artwork expressing the personal
experiences of people living with the debilitating neurological disorder.
Dedicated to those who have already gone before in the struggle against
the disease, Voices from the Parking Lot Parkinson's insights and
perspectives, is the inspiration of Margaret Tuchman, President of The
Parkinson Alliance, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease 20 years
ago.
Voices from the Parking Lot is where people with Parkinson's gather to
share their stories about "this obnoxious, insidious, uninvited guest
known as Parkinson's," as one of the book's contributors, Tom
Kelly of Peoria, Illinois, describes the disease.
Voices from the Parking Lot also offers solace to others imprisoned in the
loneliness of Parkinson's. It is an emotional roller coaster through the
world of Parkinson’s disease. The 29 contributors of the 75 passages and
15 artworks are people with Parkinson's, caregivers and family members.
The book grew out of an art exhibit of paintings by Jane Scott, an artist
based in Peoria, Illinois, and photographs by Marc Esser. Their exhibit,
"The Letting Go - A Parkinson's Story," chronicles Ms. Scott's father,
Claude Scott, through his struggle and transformation after his diagnosis
of Parkinson's disease. The collection contains 22 watercolors and
photographs.
Margaret Tuchman conceived of collecting an anthology of literary works to
give voice to these artistic images. "We all met on the Internet," she
says in explaining how people with Parkinson's from around the world began
e-mailing the editors their personal stories to be included in the book.
In a special review of the book, Helen Gurley Brown, Editor-in-Chief of
Cosmopolitan International Editions, writes, "I have become aware of
Parkinson's because the husband of a dear friend fought so valiantly
against the disease, then died of complications. Perhaps that association
has cause me to read Voices from the Parking Lot with such intense
interest, though anyone reading this material would find it haunting and
inspiring."
In entries that are typical of the emotional pull of the entire book, Joan
Blessington Snyder of Chillicothe, Illinois, one of the book's editors,
writes movingly in a passage titled "Kids" of how hard it is to get
children to understand the entire breadth and scope of the disease. "They
will learn to be tolerant of people who are different," she writes of her
children. "I believe this because every so often, I will see glimpses of
startling maturity and gentle little kindnesses."
Another editor of Voices from the Parking Lot, Dennis Greene of Perth,
Australia, has learned to deal with his anger in positive ways, as
expressed in his passage, "Anger."
Contributor John Bjork of Gladstone, MI, faces the adversity with humor
and pathos in his poem, "Musings" in which he asks, "Wouldn't it be great
to take a ride in a magic space ship far beyond the earth where there is
no disease? Tomorrow!"
David R. Boots of Sebastopol, California, adds to the humor with an
account of a struggle to unbuckle his belt titled, "Oh, Lord, Stuck in
Levi's Again!"
In the book's foreword, Robin Anthony Elliott, Executive Director of the
New York-based Parkinson's Disease Foundation, which helps finance
scientifically validated medical research, writes, "This book will be an
enduring source of inspiration and community to the millions who live with
and daily defy this insidious condition. Perhaps even more powerfully, it
will serve as a spur to conscience and call to action."
Earlier this year, The Parkinson Alliance leveraged $125,000 in private
donations into $630,000 for pilot study programs to be awarded by the
Parkinson Disease Foundation to 18 national and international pilot
research projects.
The goal of the Princeton-based Parkinson Alliance is a cure of the
progressive, debilitating disease in five years. The Parkinson Alliance
leverages every $1 donated into $2 for research. Last year, The Parkinson
Alliance's fund raising efforts contributed to $1.4 million in grants for
research projects. So far this year, the efforts have resulted in $1.8
million in grants, almost reaching The Parkinson Alliance's goal of $2
million.
The researchers use the grants to accumulate preliminary data to apply for
additional grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which has
proposed a five-year Parkinson’s research agenda to Congress of nearly $1
billion in new funding for a cure within five years.
The cover price of the book is $25, plus shipping and handling. Net
proceeds (after publishing and marketing costs) will finance pilot study
grants that bear the name "Voices From the Parking Lot". "We could be the
grant that will find the key to unlock the door of this horrific disease,"
says Margaret Tuchman.
The book is being announced during the Parkinson's Unity Walk in New York
City's Central Park on September 24. The Unity Walk is one of the major
national events held annually to raise funds for Parkinson's disease
research, and attracts thousands of people from around the country.
The weather has changed today from the awful, humid
heat of the last few weeks and I feel that September feel in my bones!
Along with the change in season comes also a feeling of hope of
empowerment...I really love fall!! It gets my energies going and it makes
everything just seem to crystallize in my mind's eye.
What I am focusing on right now is the tremendous task
ahead of me and I am thanking the Good Lord for the strength and the
exhilaration that I am feeling. Like the little engine who could. I think
I can.. I think I can. The task ahead of me is the dream that I have been
chasing around for the past year and a half-the dream of seeing the
publication of our book: "Voices From the Parking Lot--Parkinson's
insights and perspectives" and believe me (despite rumors to the contrary)
it has been a labor of love. With over 30 contributing authors and the
compelling artwork of Jane Scott & Mark Esser- this book needs to be seen
and read and taken to heart by the millions out there who have PD and by
the many more millions out there who have no idea of this disease nor
really care.
It all seems like a dream to me now, the fact that I'm
going to be flying with my husband, to New York City in just a few short
weeks to meet up with my partner and friend Dennis Greene from Perth,
Australia and his wife. It will also be my privilege to meet and to
finally hug face-to-face my friend with whom I have spoken on the phone
with practically every day for about the last two years-Margaret Tuchman
and her right hand Carol Walton. Margaret is the executive vice president
of the Parkinson Alliance, while Carol is the executive director.
It is through these women that our book will finally
breathe it's first breath as a beautifully designed and wonderfully laid
out well as a work of art! Dennis and I are looking forward to being very
busy during our visit out east-promoting and advertising the book and
finishing up on the details still left over. I know that I am especially
looking forward to meeting different folks from PLWP at the John Lester
Roast and at the national Unity Walk! So it is with high hopes and lots of
energy that I am facing this autumn season. Lets just hope that this
feeling is contagious!
“If you would like a copy of this
book, please email Joan at
snyder201@mchsi,com
