Friday, July 19, 2013

A Blue Million Books' interview with Joel Savage

Featured Author: Joel Savage




Thursday, July 18, 2013


Joel Savage, author of Overseas Chronicle-The Rome and Amsterdam Experience, and he's here today with Virtualbookworm Publishing to talk about the book and writing in general.


About the book:

The Roman Catholic priests continuously abused the young boys they had provided accommodation and in Amsterdam, the liberal laws on drugs have destroyed a lot of people that there are walking dead on the streets.

In Amsterdam, the police successfully have impounded hundreds of kilos of drugs which are brought into the country through the airport Schipol, yet marijuana and other harmful drugs find their way into the coffee shops for customers. Where do those drugs come from? Who is controlling it? The government, the army, the police, or the Queen?


Interview with Joel Savage


Joel, how long have you been writing, and how did you start?

I have been writing since I was a teenager. I grew up in an environment where I witnessed the experiences of those dying in desperation, and it deepened my understanding and knowledge to start writing books inspired by true events.

What do you like best about writing? 


Writing has been my passion. It may be a hereditary thing since my father was a journalist and writer. 

What’s your least favorite thing?

I don’t have any least favorite thing but I feel restless when a particular book I’m working on is left uncompleted.

Do you have another job outside of writing?


Yes, when I am not behind my desk, I work as a cleaner or sometimes as a forklift driver to support my family.

How did you create the plot for this book?


I was aware of the subject I wanted to write about and since it falls in the genre of non-fiction, I made the book very interesting to read, letting the reader feel that he or she is witnessing firsthand.

Do you outline, write by the seat of your pants, or let your characters tell you what to write?


Having the story in mind, I just plan the outline and the story continues as the book is inspired by true events.

Did you have any say in your cover art? 


I love being creative and adventurous. I, therefore, design the cover illustration of every book I have written.

What books have you read more than once or want to read again?


The Power of Positive Thinking
 by Norman Vincent Peal

What’s your favorite line from a book?


There was advice to a certain lady to refrain from thinking in order to prevent wrinkles from forming on her forehead.

Tell us a book you’re an evangelist for.

The Devil that Danced on the Water
 by Aminatta Forna.

What do you do to market your book?


I write little feature articles on my blog relating to my books before they are published.

Joel, tell us about your favorite scene in the book.


When I was invited by the police in Amsterdam for my documents, I went without any idea that I was going to be arrested and thrown behind bars. The police told me “We knew that woman more than you; she takes money from foreigners under the pretext of helping them.” I couldn’t say anything.

What song would you pick to go with your book?

I don’t have any song which suits my case but I remember that time the African-American musician, R Kelly’s lyrics, “
I believe I can fly” supported me spiritually through faith to survive.

Who are your favorite authors?
Norman Vincent Peale, Aminatta Forna, Jeffery Archer , and Ryszard Kapuscinski.

What are your favorite books as a child, as a teenager, and as an adult?

Books inspired by true events.

Which author would you most like to invite to dinner, and what would you fix him? 


Harrison Ford. I will first ask him what he likes best.

Do you have a routine for writing? Do you work better at night, in the afternoon, or in the morning?

I write when time is available. It can be morning, evening and even at midnight.

Where and when do you prefer to do your writing?


At home at night.

Do you ever get writer’s block? What do you do when it happens?


At the moment, I haven’t experienced any writer’s block because I’m still working on other scripts.

What’s one of your favorite quotes?

“Whatever happens to me benefits me, because it educates me morally and spiritually.”

What three books have you read recently and would recommend?


Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less, by Jeffrey Archer; My Laugh Comes Last, by James Hadley Chase; and Cry My Beloved Country, by Alan Paton.

What do you like to do when you’re not writing?
Watch a favorite program on the television.

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be? Australia

If you could take a trip anywhere in the world, where would you go? 
United States of America

What are you working on now?

My new script The Passion of Reggae and African Music.

The Book Connection Guest Blogger Joel Savage


The book connection






Everyone has objectives, but not everything goes as planned for those who want to achieve something unique in society. I am one of them. I missed part of my education after the sudden death of my father. It occurred to me that if I really wanted to further my education, the only option was to travel to Europe. 


 

I wasn’t greedy, thinking that Europe makes one rich overnight, but I had an idea that if I succeeded to integrate legally, I could follow my dreams since they have the best educational facilities and good teachers.

Upon arrival in Europe, I realized that going to a foreign country could be very difficult in regards to financial aspects and visa applications, but nothing was more difficult than gaining legal immigrant status in a foreign country.

Like Paul’s missionary journey to Rome, I found myself sleeping in rough places, including the central train station and a deserted food factory. Rome might be a strong Catholic city but they view foreigners, especially blacks, as people from an unknown, strange planet.

At the mission houses amongst other foreigners, we continuously witnessed the abuse of young boys by the priests and the constant stealing of money from our letters that passed through the mission’s office, because we had no resident address. In Rome, I went to a school run by the ‘Caritas’ [Charity] under the umbrella of the Vatican City.

I could read and write Italian very well but that didn’t help to facilitate my status as a legal immigrant. The continuous degradation, racism, and discrimination forced many immigrants from Africa to leave Rome as illegal immigrants, but I stayed hoping for the best; however, the situation never changed.

After working as a house boy to an Italian journalist, I saved enough money and moved to Amsterdam, leaving behind a year-old child and my wife in Africa. Holland is a multi-cultural country and far ahead in development and integration.

Unfortunately, the hard immigration policies and liberal laws on soft drugs have encouraged others to do hard drugs, thereby taking drastic effect on many people including illegal immigrants. I saw the disastrous effects of drugs on many, but they turned blind and pretended they didn’t know what was going on because free sales of drugs are like a catalyst which sustains the tourism industry.

This was something I wanted to avoid, and the only way to prevent falling victim to depression and drugs was to fight for my documents after almost four and a half years as an illegal immigrant. One thing I didn’t understand was the drug issue.

The Dutch drug force in the past and present had successfully arrested drug couriers in the city and Schiphol, the airport, but the coffee shops sell drugs, including marijuana, to customers without impunity. Who then supplies drugs to the coffee shops? This was a question I never found the answer to.

I never encourage crime or violence. I fear these two acts, and therefore, try my best to live a clean life. But in order to upgrade my status to the legal resident, I was involved in a serious crime, leading me behind bars. A Surinamese women collected money from me with the promise of helping me get my papers. I didn’t know her but I trusted her.

According to the police, she was a criminal preying on illegal immigrants. I was thrown behind bars for several days while my passport was with the immigration police. It was likely they were preparing my documents to be deported, as I foresaw my deportation to Africa to be very close.


One day while behind bars, I had no bath and food for the whole day, even though every day the cell was opened for me to wash and be served food. The next day when they served me food, I asked them why they had failed to give my food the day before.

The officer thought I was joking, but he quickly realized I was speaking the truth. According to him, I was a very quiet person, therefore, the officers on duty failed to realize that there was someone in the cell. Because of this mistake, they gave back my passport and set me free. Today I am a married Belgium national with three children.


Overseas Chronicle: The Rome and Amsterdam Experience




Overseas Chronicle: The Rome and Amsterdam Experience

Sunday, July 07, 2013

Belgium diplomat thrown out of golf club for wife breastfeeding a baby


The Belgian couple and the little baby


The Belgian couple and the little baby

A Belgian diplomat says his family was bounced from a White Plains golf club and treated like terrorists, simply because his wife was breastfeeding at a table and he was carrying a black backpack. 


Tom Neijens, 36, and his wife, Roseline Remans, 34, stopped by the Metropolis Country Club on June 8 and asked if they could
 

have lunch despite the fact that they weren't members.

Staffers gave the Harlem family permission to dine on the terrace, where Remans said she discreetly bared her bosom to feed her daughter, Luka. A female manager swiftly intervened to nip the feeding in the bud.

She said, ‘Please leave immediately, you are disturbing the members,’ ” Neijens, first secretary of the Belgium Mission to the UN, told The Post.
Neijens said it would only take a few minutes, but Remans was told to finish in the restroom.

“You don’t ask a person to have lunch in the restroom — why would you ask a baby to have lunch there?” Neijens said.

Minutes later, the Greenburgh Police Department arrived. Detective Scott Harding allegedly yelled, “Close the doors!” and two other diners were told to leave the terrace.

“He was walking as if he was acting in a Western movie,” Neijens said. “He had one hand on his gun, one hand on his Taser.”

Neijens said the officer warned the couple they were trespassing and said some people at the club thought they were terrorists because of their black backpack.

When Remans, on the verge of tears, questioned why terrorists would breastfeed at a ritzy club, the cop allegedly replied, “In Sri Lanka, babies are used by terrorists.”

Harding changed his tone when Neijens revealed his State Department-issued ID. “You have to understand, this club has had terrorism threats in the past,” the cop said. 
The family was escorted out through a back door.

Days later, the diplomat sent an e-mail demanding an apology from Metropolis general manager Tracy Fraus and assistant general manager Audra Vaccari.

“I am deeply worried about your staff if they cannot distinguish between a European couple looking for a quiet place to breast-feed a baby and suicide terrorists carrying a backpack,” Neijens wrote.

Fraus declined to comment.

Neijens and his family are moving to Ethiopia in the next few weeks.

Lt. B.J. Ryan, a spokesman for the Greenburgh PD, called the incident a “cultural misunderstanding” — and said it was Neijens who fumed, “You must think the baby is a terrorist.”

Culled from The New York Post July 7/2013

Thursday, July 04, 2013

BELGIUM, A HAUNTED COUNTRY


Joel Savage


Joel Savage

I don’t have a third eye, neither I am a soothsayer nor a clairvoyant, but I believe there are thousands of Belgians who would agree with me that Belgium is a divided country with a bleak future, without any hope for rescue and success but only fighting tirelessly to survive as a member of the European Union.


Belgium’s Political Crime in Africa


Adam Hochschild, the author of ‘King Leopold’s Ghost, A story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa’ writes “In the 1880s, as the European powers were carving up Africa, King Leopold II of Belgium seized for himself the vast and mostly unexplored territory surrounding the Congo River. 

Carrying out a genocidal plundering of the Congo, he looted its rubber, brutalized its people, and ultimately slashed its population by ten million--all the while shrewdly cultivating his reputation as a great humanitarian.

Heroic efforts to expose these crimes eventually led to the first great human rights movement of the twentieth century, in which everyone from Mark Twain to the Archbishop of Canterbury participated. King Leopold's Ghost is the haunting account of a megalomaniac of monstrous proportions, a man as cunning, charming, and cruel as any of the great Shakespearean villains. 

It is also the deeply moving portrait of those who fought Leopold: a brave handful of missionaries, travellers, and young idealists who went to Africa for work or adventure and unexpectedly found themselves witnesses to a holocaust.

In regard to the crime which was orchestrated by King Leopold, can one say is Belgium cursed? Are the ghosts of those massacred taking revenge on this country, which has led to the difficulty to unite its people? Is the blood they poured on the soil of Congo haunting them or simply is the restless soul of Patrice Lumumba whom the Belgians assassinated also taking its sweet revenge? 

Frankly speaking, Belgium pretend to be okay but they know the troubles they are facing in everything from the rich man to the common man on the street.

The Negative Attitude of Belgium’s Media

The Negative Attitude of Belgium’s Media


Like few European countries, Belgium including Britain and Holland colonized African countries, but Belgium is entirely a different country. The common things one sees in Britain, Holland, the United States of America, etc, are not commonly seen in Belgium. 

As an immigrant, it took me five years to see the first black bus driver in the city of Antwerp and seven years to see the first black policeman. It's a country for the past twelve years I haven't seen any black journalist working for the electronic or print media. 

As a black writer and author of six books, I am still unknown in Belgium, yet when a white Belgian writes a book, the news over that author is flooded in every newspaper in the country. 

It came as a surprise to me when I was featured online in a newspaper in Brussels after every media in Belgium failed to publish articles I sent. I sent a message of thanks to the editor who published “A Glance of Joel Savage’s Life and his Books.” 

This was her message "I appreciate your thanks but I'm sorry, I'm not a Belgian, I'm from Romania." What a shame to the Belgium media?

I have lived a very hard life in Belgium as an author, amidst discrimination, racism, and subject of ridicule, yet my seventh book is coming out soon. Without the support of Belgium’s media, I have excelled in my career as a writer, even though I work as a cleaner. I have received many invitations to attend conferences which I couldn’t participate in because of my work. 


King Leopold's book by Adam Hochschild

King Leopold's book by Adam Hochschild

I have advice for anyone who has aim and objectives. Just be a conscious man, no matter the number of obstacles along the path; never allow anything to distract your attention. Be prepared to endure trials and tribulations. At the end of the dark tunnel, there is a bright light of success waiting for you.


"Little Boygium, Wonderful Experience" reveals how Joel endures nearly impossible challenges while simultaneously juggling a forklift driving course and writing books. He calls these tough moments "the wonderful experience." 

A brilliant book written by a writer, an adventurer, and a storyteller, "Little Boygium, Wonderful Experience" is an incredible book of inspiration and encouragement to anyone who may suddenly find themselves in an unfamiliar profession.