Surviving Cancer: Entering the Golden Alchemical Door to Teaching

It starts with love . . .

Entering the Golden Door: Who Am I?

Going through cancer treatments with chemo, a strange thing happened, for I started to forget things, even who I am because my wife ghosted me and my friends would have nothing to do with me. Without human contact, you forget what it means to be human. I am a professor at a university, but I forgot what I taught. . . .

I am sleepless, and feeling depressed, so I am writing this to help me rethink my insomnia. . .

I have had four sleep doctors and nothing worked.

Finally, the last doctor admitted that she had nothing to offer me.

Since I was a kid, I could not sleep, I think I suffer from PTSD and ADHT.

However, I do not want to take sleeping medicines.

I also have the best drugs that Cancer can buy. . . I even helped a corporation develop a new medicine to help with pain.

They gave it to me free during testing, but now I can't afford it, my insurance sucks.

Here is my biography for my classes:

Instructor: Dr. Wayne Stein, Professor

Being a professor, he teaches classes on Asian culture, world literature, and the history of rhetoric. He was awarded the DaVinci Fellow from the Oklahoma's Creativity Think Tank (2008), the ESL Professional of the Year Award from OKTESOL (2003), the Service to the Sanga (Community) Award from the Stillwater OSU Buddhist Society (2003), and various other awards.

He has published books, chapters, and articles for newsletters, newspapers, and encyclopedias. He graduated from Oklahoma State University with his Ph.D. in English.

Reading changed my life. Neither of my parents graduated from high school. I almost gave up high school too. For years in my youth, I had the worse jobs: a brick layer's helper in construction, sacking food in a grocery store, and working in a candy factory, where I was allowed to eat as much candy as I wanted. I did.

Through it all, I read and read and read. That kept me sane. No one believed in me. However, I did. I shocked everyone and earned multiple degrees.

Don't give up on your dreams. Believe!

I love to read world literature the most! Latin American literature is my favorite! I can read Spanish. I have a BA in Spanish. I think they have the richest literature. Enjoy the readings!

Entering the Golden Door of Life

I was recently fired from my job, the dean of the college invited me to her office and told me, smiling that I was fired. The problem is that I was paid little as an adjunct, but I love to teach.

No matter how depressed I was, or how little sleep I had, when I entered a room to teach, it was like entering the gates of heaven and feeling the love of the divine. I entered the alchemy of healing as I started to look at my students.

i would smile, laugh and joke. Many students took me several times and loved my classes, even if they were not English majors. I so miss teaching . . . .

When I entered my classroom, I felt alive, happy, and myself. I so love to teach. Even if I am sad, depressed, and confused that day. I become animated, have a sense of humor and even laugh. My students love my classes and worked hard. I listen to them and I love my students.

Thank you so much, for I so love teaching.

It starts with love. . love what you do and find the golden door to life, love and laughter.