The Art of Persistence: Earning a PhD and Other Degrees

It starts with love. . .

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Often people think I am smart because I have a PhD, and though I have written many books and they sell on Amazon, I am struggling with money and recently filed bankruptcy as my medical bills destroyed my life. . . even though I have insurance.

However, if I have extra money, I give it to the homeless; indeed, a homeless veteran refused money and only wanted to learn Tai Chi from me. Tai Chi is not some sort of moving yoga slow meditation; instead, it is a deadly martial art.

I am mixed blood and struggled for respect. I love the band K-pop Black Pink especially Lisa who is from Thailand. I know she struggled for respect in Korea and is perhaps the most popular member of the band. I also struggled all my life. Asian attacked me for being mix. Bruce Lee was mixed and experienced the same. I am writing a book on him now: the truth. All the movies and books miss the racism he faced from Asians.

I taught for a year in Korea, and taught some of the smartest high school students I ever met, for they spoke three languages and loved me because I loved to teach. For years, when I returned from Korea, they wrote me letters telling me how successful they were becoming. Indeed, they inspired me to never give up.

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Service to the Community: Helping Other First

The word Samurai comes from the verb in Japanese meaning to "Serve" : 侍! I volunteer to do many things at my university and was not paid: Assistant Chair, Writing Director, Writing Center Director, and so on.

Indeed, once I had 60 part time instructors under me, and they gave me no extra pay. I donated money to the department, but never once received a thank you note. Later they fired me for no reason.

NEVER GIVE UP : One Step at a Time

However, earning a PhD was not hard; instead, it was about persistence. I have always hated school and never learned, but I have loved to read since I was a kid, so I taught myself.

We moved from Europe to America and my English was poor, so I started to read to learn English. I read children's books since I was a child and loved comic books and the pictures more than the words.

My English was so poor, that I made up stories as I read the comic books, and American comics have a lot of narrative. Japanese comics do not, for I also grew up in Japan and love their mangas. They are the size of telephone books, with a lot of drawings.

Becoming poor and working for low wages, my life sucked, and I didn't date because I felt like a loser. I was failing my university courses; indeed, I did the same in high school in Los Angeles, as I never went to school and had sex workers as my mother figures.

Something happened in Los Angeles, for I decided to finish my high school and later my college degrees. My English teacher hunted me down and found me on the street one day and told me I was the best writer she ever had. I was shocked because I wrote quickly and turned them in without thought or revision.

If a teacher was terrible, I rarely went to class or walked in very late. I failed a lot of classes because I hated the teacher. Furthermore, I loved Spanish and was on the Spanish Honor Roll in college, for I only made A's, so I earned double degrees in Spanish and English, since I loved Madrid and loved to dance. I even lived in Guatemala for a summer to perfect my Spanish. I only read the magical realism of Latin American authors because I think American author are terrible authors. I read the original books in Spanish. I so love the poetry from Spain and how they tried to write about the mystical love of the divine magic. I remember visiting the mountains of Spain thinking that here is where the mystics lived, away from society to be closer the divine love of heaven.

I worked hard on an MA in English and pushed my way through my PhD, even though I had some bad grades. Finally, I graduated with a PhD, but there was no celebration, for I had no friends and family members who cared, for my mother died, my sister was jealous, and my father called me stupid all my life. Even my old girlfriend was shocked because she thought I was an idiot. Before I graduated, I was offered a job at a university, but at the worst and most racist one in Oklahoma. I took it thinking I would just work there a few years. Some thirty years later, I had to retire because of my cancer. I so hated working in that dead university. Reminded me of the crap from Mississippi that my mother hated when she met racism in person. We moved from hell quickly.

Never give up and feel the divine light of love heal your heart. Give to others who need help. We are here for others, not ourselves. Never ever, ever give up on your dreams.