Look for me on MTV - True Life episode, March 8

I'll be featured in an episode on MTV's True Life series. The episode, titled "I'm Ex-Amish", airs on March 8. I believe it may also be available online.

See my October 8 post for more details about the ep.

Torah

Invitation to my friend Kevin Powell's 9th Annual Holiday Party and Clothinig Drive at Tribeca Cinemas

Dear Friends,

I am personally inviting you to my dear friend Kevin Powell's 9th annual Holiday Party and Clothing Drive, held at Tribeca Cinemas on Friday, December 11 (tomorrow).

RSVP ASAP to rsvp@kevinpowell.net
You MUST be 21 or over with an I.D.

I am a member of the Host Committee and I really encourage you to come for an amazing night of arts and culture fun.

All you need for admission are clean used or new clothes. This event is truly one of the most fun and worthy causes of the holiday season.

Please click on the image to the left to view the event flyer with all the details.

We have a lot of great musical acts, live visual artists, fashion designers, comedians, and filmmakers participating. It really is going to be a mini-cultural festival in addition to the coat drive. All attendees will get a "menu" as they enter, so all will know which room is housing which part of the party.

Lots of love and happy holidays,
Torah

---
Anheuser-Busch, smartwater, The New York Post, The FADER magazine, 92.3 NOW-FM, Microsoft, Karen's Body Beautiful, Guitar Center, Planet Muzic, Escallier Events, Black Girls Rock!, Omerge Alliances, The Wall Street Alphas Charitable Foundation, AKILA WORKSONGS, LLC, Buzz International Group, Art Battles courtesy of The SOLO Foundation, The BK Style Foundation

invite you to


Kevin Powell's 9th Annual Holiday Party and Clothing Drive


Friday, December 11, 2009
10pm-4am

at TRIBECA CINEMAS
54 Varick Street, at Laight Street
Right near the Holland Tunnel in Lower Manhattan
NEW YORK CITY

SUBWAYS:
1, A, C, E trains to Canal Street


ADMISSION IS FREE with the donation of CLEAN new or used clothes, which will benefit the SAFE HORIZON STREETWORK PROJECT, a program that assists approximately 10,000 NYC homeless young people each year with temporary or permanent housing, and other vital services. PLEASE BRING coats, gloves, scarves, hats, boots, shoes, shirts, pants, sweaters, sweatshirts, thermal underwear, socks, etc., for the winter months.

RSVP to rsvp@kevinpowell.net
You MUST be 21 or over with an I.D.
Cash bar entire night

MUSIC BY DJ Beverly Bond, DJ Misbehaviour, and DJ Reborn



ALL MEDIA INQUIRIES: Marisa King-Redwood, mking@buzzig.com,
or 212-360-0399

The event will include

DANCE PARTY
ACOUSTIC LOUNGE
SHORT FILM FESTIVAL
LIVE VISUAL ART
COMEDY ROOM
FASHION DISPLAY
MASSAGES

I'm featured in an upcoming MTV episode

This summer I had the opportunity to be filmed for an upcoming episode of MTV's True Life series. The episode aims to capture the decision-making process that the Amish teens/young adults featured on the episode go through: Should we practice the Amish religion or not?

At heart, it's a story about human struggles and joys and it may be the best on film to date to capture the complexities of what it's like to be Amish. The filmmakers have done a wonderful job, always coming from the heart. For me personally, it recorded a transition in my life as I was writing and coming to terms with my past. I feel very fortunate to have this on film.

The episode will air in the spring sometime. As soon as I know which date it will air, I'll post it here.

Love and blessings,
Torah

Thank you for your comments

I just read and published all the comments submitted since April. I was buried in the flow of writing and put the blog on the sidelines.

Thank you, all of you, for the wonderful, supportive comments you made. It gives me extra juice for writing and re-confirms the great need for someone to present a well-rounded account of the Amish, in the hopes that assistance will be provided in areas of need within the community. The Amish, just like any other culture, experience the not-so-good sides of life, too.

Your feedback helps me stay on the track toward completing the book.

Thank you,
Torah

You can now subscribe to receive a daily email with new content

You can now subscribe to my blog via this link: Subscribe to Escape From the Amish by Email

If you subscribe, you'll receive a daily email IF there is new content posted on the site. If there's no new content posted, you won't receive any email.

Please also leave comments and submit articles to Digg, etc. if you like what I wrote. It helps boost site rankings, which I would really appreciate.

Thank you!

Love and light,
Torah

Deadly Swine Flu in Mexico: Potential Global Epidemic

I woke up this morning greeted by an email from a friend across the globe, telling me that he's worried about my safety because of the dangerous virus that has broken out in Mexico.

"A dangerous virus?" I wondered. "Maybe he's talking about the drug wars in northern Mexico...."

So I went online and did a search for 'dangerous virus in Mexico' and sure enough, there actually is such a thing as a dangerous new virus in Mexico: the swine flu.

I'm like, "Aha, now I understand why everyone in the bus station on Friday was wearing surgical masks."

I'm here in Mexico to write my book in peace and quiet and this tells you how much of a hermit I am--or how little I follow daily news reports. This lack of following the daily news is a practice I implemented from Tim Ferriss' Information Diet. Read his book, The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich, for more info. It's perfect for anyone who doesn't like the slave-like existence of working 9 to 5. :)

Basically, if you can't remember what was in the morning paper, it was unnecessary information. What this comes down to for me is reading the headlines on newsstands as I go about my daily errands (although since I don't understand Spanish, I haven't been doing this here in Mexico) and relying on my friends to inform me about important events. This relying on my friends really does work, as demonstrated in this morning's email. Here I am in the heart of Mexico having no clue whatsoever about the swine flu and my friend all the way from the Persian Gulf emails me to inform me about the outbreak.

According to an article by the Associated Press in Mexico City, printed yesterday, April 25, by the Casper Star Tribune and titled "Mexico tries to corral dangerous virus; four U.S. states report flu", it turns out that the flu is a combination of swine, bird and human influenza that people may have no natural immunity to and world health officials warn that the outbreak could become a global epidemic.

Scientists have warned for years about the potential for a pandemic from viruses that mix genetic material from humans and animals. Unlike with regular flu, humans don't have natural immunity to a virus that includes animal genes. This is all the more reason for not eating animal products and byproducts. This is one of the things, by the way, that Sharon talks about in her book, Yoga and Vegetarianism.

We wouldn't have this deadly swine flu problem if we didn't eat meat and meat byproducts. We had/have the same problem with bird flu and mad cow disease. Now we have the swine flu. But we're still too addicted to animal products and byproducts that we'll put our own lives, and the lives of our children, at risk just to continue feeding our addiction. If for no other reason than for your own health and safety, don't eat animal products and byproducts--or steadily lessen your consumption with the aim to quit completely.

I say all of this fully aware of my own addictions and behaviors. I'm not preaching anything I, myself, haven't experienced or struggled with or endeavor to practice.


Here are excerpts from the article (see http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2009/04/25/news/breaking/doc49f3bba928ede106953894.txt):

"Mexico's president assumed new powers Saturday [April 25] to isolate people infected with a deadly swine flu strain as authorities struggled to contain an outbreak that world health officials warned could become a global epidemic.

"New cases of swine flu were confirmed in Kansas and California and suspected in New York City, but health officials said they didn't know whether it was the strain that has killed up to 68 people in Mexico and likely sickened more than 1,000.

"Mexican soldiers and health workers patrolled airports and bus stations as they tried to corral people who may be infected with the swine flu, as it became clearer that the government may have been slow to respond to the outbreak in March and early April.

"Now, even detaining the ill may not keep the strain -- a combination of swine, bird and human influenza that people may have no natural immunity to -- from spreading, epidemiologists say.

"Two dozen new suspected cases were reported in Mexico City alone, where authorities suspended schools and all public events until further notice. More than 500 concerts, sporting events and other gatherings were canceled in the metropolis of 20 million.

"The Mexican government issued a decree authorizing President Felipe Calderon to invoke special powers letting the Health Department isolate patients and inspect homes, incoming travelers and baggage.

"At Mexico City's international airport, health workers passed out written questionnaires seeking to identify passengers with flu symptoms. Surgical masks and brochures were handed out at bus and subway stations. The U.S. embassy in Mexico posted a message advising U.S. citizens to avoid large crowds, shaking hands, greeting people with a kiss or using the subway.

"But with confirmed swine flu cases in at least six states -- and possibly as many as 14 -- the efforts seemed unlikely to stop the spread of the disease.

"Particularly difficult in a metropolis as crowded as Mexico City was the embassy's advice to maintain "a distance of at least 6 feet from other persons may decrease the risk of exposure."

"WHO Director-General Margaret Chan said the outbreak of the never-before-seen virus has "pandemic potential." But she said it is still too early to tell if it would become a pandemic.

"The situation is evolving quickly," Chan said in Geneva. "A new disease is by definition poorly understood."

"Scientists have warned for years about the potential for a pandemic from viruses that mix genetic material from humans and animals.

"This swine flu and regular flu can have similar symptoms -- mostly fever, cough and sore throat, though some of the U.S. victims who recovered also experienced vomiting and diarrhea. But unlike with regular flu, humans don't have natural immunity to a virus that includes animal genes -- and new vaccines can take months to bring into use.

"The same virus also sickened at least 11 people in the United States, though there have been no deaths north of the border."

Inner Revolution

Inner Revolution is the first book I read about Tibetan Buddhism and I highly, highly recommend it. It's perfect for newbies and beginners. It was assigned in an introductory class, taught by Dr. Robert A.F. Thurman, that I took during my first year at Columbia (in 2003).

Learning about Tibetan Buddhism was a major turning point in my life. It completely transformed my worldview and helped me tremendously with understanding why things were the way they were. Life post-escape was not easy. For as many absolutely amazing things that happened to me (e.g., having the opportunity to travel to quite a few other countries, earning my pilot's license, being accepted into Columbia, etc.), an equal amount of not-so-good things happened, but my unresolved issues with my father were what bothered and dragged me down the most.

Buddhism was the last on my list in my search for truth amongst major religions/spiritualities. The concepts of karma, relativism (as opposed to absolutism) and infinite lifetimes, as presented in Tibetan Buddhism, were the missing elements. These were concepts that finally made enough sense to me to accept and subscribe to that belief system. (And through Tibetan Buddhism, I learned that the only absolute is that everything is relative. There is no such thing as "absolute truth"--except that everything is relative. :) )

NOTE: I turn to Tibetan Buddhism for my guiding principles but I don't call myself Buddhist. Instead, I'm an aspiring Buddhist. I feel much more comfortable with saying that I aspire to be Buddhist than saying that I AM Buddhist (although there is the idea in Tibetan Buddhism that every being is already a buddha).

You can get the book here: