Ordinary People, Extraordinary Times; A Memoir of One Citizen Activist, Volume 1

CHAPTER 1: RETURNING HOME TO NEW JERSEY -- THIS IS MY OPENING STORY OF TRANSITION FROM A 26-YEAR MARRIAGE IN INDIANA THAT CAME TO AN ABRUPT END WITH MY HUSBANDS UNEXPECTED DEATH THAT LED TO MY MOVE BACK HOME TO NEW JERSEY AND THREE YEARS OF SOUL SEARCHING THAT LED TO ME MOVING TO PRINCETON TO BECOME AN ACTIVIST AT 50 YEARS OLD. CHAPTER 2: MY FIRST CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE -- THE FIRST PRINCETON BASED ORGANIZATION I JOINED WAS THE COALITION FOR NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT, WHERE I BEGAN TO LEARN ABOUT NUCLEAR WEAPONS. FROM AGES 20-46 YEARS OLD I LIVED IN THE CORNFIELDS OF INDIANA AND KNEW ABSOLUTELY NOTHING OF NUCLEAR ISSUES. I ACCOMPANIED A GROUP OF TEN FROM PRINCETON TO DO CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE IN NEVADA, WHICH OPENED MY EYES TO THE NUCLEAR NIGHTMARE MOST OF THE CITIZENS OF THE USA DID NOT EVEN UNDERSTAND OR KNOW EXISTED. CHAPTER 3: MEETING OLZHAS SULEIMENOV BY 1990 I HAD BECOME ACTIVE WITH PARLIAMENTARIANS FOR GLOBAL ACTION IN NYC AND VOLUNTEERED TO HELP WITH THE TRIPARTITE DELEGATION OF PARLIAMENT MEMBERS WORKING TO END NUCLEAR TESTING WORLDWIDE. THIS IS WHEN I MET HONORABLE OLZHAS SULEIMENOV FROM KAZAKHSTAN, WHO WAS A PEOPLES DEPUTY IN THE KREMLIN IN MOSCOW. CHAPTER 4: KICK-OFF FOR UN PARTIAL TEST BAN TREATY I HELPED PARLIAMENTARIANS FOR GLOBAL ACTION PLAN AND PREPARE THE CELEBRATION OF THE OPENING OF THE TEST BAN TREATY CONFERENCE, HELD AT THE TIME & LIFE BUILDING IN NYC WHERE THE GUESTS OF HONOR WERE SENATOR TOM HARKIN, MP ALLAN ROGERS OF THE UK, AND PEOPLES DEPUTY OLZHAS SULEIMENOV OF THE KREMLIN, MOSCOW. CHAPTER 5: CLOSING A SOVIET NUCLEAR TEST SITE RESPONDING TO THE OFFICIAL INVITATION OF OLZHAS SULEIMENOV, I LED A DELEGATION OF SEVEN AMERICAN ACTIVISTS TO ATTEND THE CELEBRATION OF THE CLOSING OF THE SOVIET NUCLEAR TEST SITE IN SEMIPALATINSK, KAZAKHSTAN. THIS IS WHERE AND WHEN I BEGAN TO UNDERSTAND THE HORRENDOUS CONSEQUENCES OF NUCLEAR RADIATION. CHAPTER 6: EDUCATING THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ON THE HORRORS OF THE MUSHROOM -- PART 1 CHAPTER 7: EDUCATING THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ON THE HORRORS OF THE MUSHROOM -- PART 2 CHAPTER 8: EDUCATING THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ON THE HORRORS OF THE MUSHROOM -- PART 3 OLZHAS SULEIMENOV'S TRANSLATOR, VLADIMIR IAKIMETS, CALLED ME FROM THE KREMLIN IN MOSCOW AND ASKED ME TO TRANSPORT SEVEN KAZAKH CITIZENS, INCLUDING KARIMBEK KUYUKOV, ACROSS THE USA FROM PRINCETON TO NEVADA TO PARTICIPATE IN A 3-DAY RALLY TO STOP NUCLEAR TESTING AT OUR AMERICAN TEST SITE. I AGREED, RENTED A TEN-PASSENGER VAN AND DROVE TEN OF US ON A 30-DAY SPEAKING TOUR FROM NEW JERSEY TO SAN FRANCISCO AND BACK, EDUCATING THE AMERICAN PEOPLE OF THE DANGERS OF NUCLEAR RADIATION. THE DAY WE RETURNED WE MET IN NYC WITH THE FILMING CREW AND NEWS COMMENTATOR FOR THE MCNEIL/LEHRER NEWSHOUR TV SHOW AND THEY INTERVIEWED MY KAZAKH FRIENDS. A MONTH LATER THE SEGMENT WAS AIRED INTERNATIONALLY AND SOON PRESIDENT BUSH ANNOUNCED THE NEVADA NUCLEAR TEST SITE WOULD BE PERMANENTLY CLOSED. UNDERGROUND TESTING IN THE USA FINALLY ENDED IN SEPTEMBER 1992.

CHAPTER 9: AN UNEXPECTED INVITATION FROM A VERY FAMOUS LADY -- PART 1 CHAPTER 10: AN UNEXPECTED INVITATION FROM A VERY FAMOUS LADY -- PART 2 CHAPTER 11: AN UNEXPECTED INVITATION FROM A VERY FAMOUS LADY -- PART 3 FOUR MONTHS AFTER OUR TOUR OF THE USA, I RECEIVED A FAX FROM THE FIRST LADY OF KAZAKHSTAN, INVITING ME TO BRING A DELEGATION OF AMERICANS TO ATTEND HER FIRST TV-MARATHON-AUCTION TO RAISE MONEY TO BUILD A CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL IN ALMATY, THE CAPITAL OF KAZAKHSTAN. THE HOSPITAL WAS FOR THE CHILDREN SUFFERING RADIATION DISEASE FROM THE NUCLEAR TESTING IN SEMIPALATINSK. I WENT TO THE BRISTOL-MYERS SQUIBB PHARMACEUTICAL OFFICE IN PRINCETON AND REQUESTED THEY SEND A GIFT TO PRESENT AT THIS EVENT. THEY AGREED AND SENT ME WITH A GIFT OF $60,000 IN LIFE-SAVING MEDICINE FOR THE CHILDREN SUFFERING FROM RADIATION. i WAS ABLE TO PRESENT THIS TO PRESIDENT NAZARBAYEV AND FIRST LADY SARAH NAZARBAYEVA AT THIS FUNDRAISER. CHAPTER 12: ESSAYS FROM PROFESSIONALS