All posts by jamaicaninchina

"Once upon a time, there was a Jamaican civil engineer living in New York City who hated his job. He followed his passion, started a sideline business publishing his own books, quit his job, escaped the rat race, ran off to a tropical island in the Pacific, and started a tourism business so he could give tours of the island to pretty girls every day! He now lives a nomadpreneur's dream life, while helping others do the same!" This is his story: Read more at : https://www.jamaicanonsaipan.com/
2012

Stay strong, my friend

To a dear friend who is experiencing some challenges through the actions of individuals who seem intent on orchestrating her demise:

In the perfect order and balance of this universe, of ours, my friend,  there is absolutely, positively no way that your good deeds, your pure heart, your noble intentions, your generosity, your honesty,  your empathy, and your sincere appreciation of the humanity and value in others can ever be “rewarded” with the success of others who plot your demise.

Every apparent block to your forward progress exists in apparency only because of your forgetting that we live in a friendly, supportive universe, all things work towards your good, and obstructions are deliberately placed in your path to encourage you to stretch and climb ever higher to see above, around and beyond them and make the effort to overcome them in order to assume your rightful, destined place in the unfolding of the divine plan of the planet of which you are an integral player. 

Based on what I know to be true about you, know that you have greater forces at the ready, waiting to lift you past this. Remain above the fray.

Your tormenter is not in your league.

Stay strong.

Your friend, Walt

2012

“It’s like a new genre, sort of like a reality travel guide!”

I’ve sold a lot of books since I began writing in 1992. Several years ago, I computed that I’d sold close to 3/4 of million dollars in books. And while my passion for writing and sharing information has not waned, and while there’s still a thrill about receiving a check in the mail, or that familiar email notification of a sale, the difference is that the sale of the first copy of a new book doesn’t have the same first time feel it once did.

That changed a few days ago when I made my first sale of Jamaican in China: Guess Who’s Coming to Dim Sum on the Nook platform! I couldn’t quite put my finger on why it felt a little different. After all, I’d already done a somewhat similar book with Jamaican on Saipan. I’ve also sold Nook (and Kindle) copies of other books. So, why was this sale any different?

Here’s what a friend of mine said about the book: “It’s like a new genre of ‘reality travel guide!” It’s got adventure, danger, mystery, humor and romance just like those fictional stories set in real destinations, except yours is actually real life, with the photos to prove it, AND I can still learn a lot about the country, too!” 

She added that it showed that the purchaser had a more personal interest in me. She suggested that they didn’t necessarily buy it to learn how to start a business, or launch a website, or to learn something for their benefit, but to learn about me, as an individual.

That was really cool! If true, I guess it might explain in part why that first sale felt a little different. I agree that there’s more of me in this book than any previous. I’ve taken more chances and revealed more about who I think I am. However, I’m still not quite sure if that’s the reason, but something about having my blog adventures occupying someone’s Nook e-reader felt a little different.  What’s your opinion? Why would this sale be any different from those before? In any event, it’s reason to celebrate. Break open the sparkling apple cider, and time for lunch, perhaps, at my favorite vegetarian spot here in New York! See you later!

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FULL EBOOK FREE!

2012

Why do I go abroad? To create a world without borders

3 Comments

Here’s the conclusion of Jamaican in China: Guess Who’s Coming to Dim Sum, inspired by GoAbroad.com’s “Why Do I go Abroad?” Contest:
[BEGIN]

Well, that’s my story! And I’m sticking to it! I really had an absolutely, positively, wonderful and life-changing time being Jamaican in China, Singapore and Laos, and I hope you enjoyed reading about it.

In addition, I hope you got something much more from Jamaican in China than just an entertaining read. I hope it expanded your awareness and consciousness in some small way. Wherever in this world you may call “home,” (even if you already live in China), I hope it gave you a little peek into a reality that you might not have otherwise been aware of. I hope it showed you people, places and possibilities in a way that affects how you see yourself, your world, and your place, role and identity within it. I hope you can see a little bit higher above and a little bit further beyond the misconceptions and fears that often flavor our perception of “others” and those we consider “not like us.” The fact is, we are and have been manipulated to live in such fear.

It seems an unavoidable outcome of this manipulation, and the fractionalized, brainwashed society that we live in as a result, that people are taught to, and thus become inclined to identify and separate themselves according to arbitrary and meaningless national, ethnic, racial and religious lines. We are taught to fear these supposed differences and thus we perceive “others” who are “not like us” as threats to our individual and/or collective identity, control, autonomy and survival. This fear leads to a false sense of elitism, then to bias, prejudice, preferential treatment, discrimination, and attacks of psychological, verbal and even physical nature.

This is all a construct. It is not natural. We are not wired to fear, attack and ostracize others because of these differences. This is all learned behavior. If you don’t believe me, then simply watch young children–before they’ve been brainwashed–playing with each other in harmony if you wish to observe the instinctive, communal, inclusive, welcoming “wiring” that we are born with. Yes, something has been taken from us.

As the Occupy Movement in the states, as well as on-going protests worldwide reveal, people are ready for a change of the existing paradigm of manipulation, fear and the strategy of divide, conquer and exploit. People are agitating for change. They want to take that thing back– that thing that has been taken from our natural wiring. It can be done. It is being done!

The internet and our technological age makes possible the reality of life without borders and other arbitrary lines that separate humanity. The plethora of internet and tv bundles that has become accessible to almost every household in many countries worldwide has led to a sort of informational revolution which can be used to usher mankind towards the right knowledge. It can be used to encourage the sort of boundary-breaking, limitless, expansive and inclusive thought and action that will unite and free us. Jamaican in China is just one of many real-life adventures which offer alternative ways to be, think and act in the pursuit of such freedom.

Now, it may be presumptuous or naive of me to hope and believe that my little nomad adventure, and a relatively obscure book about it all can somehow contribute to the massive paradigm shift in consciousness for which the world yearns, and for which it now seems poised. However, I’ll share with you a thought that caught my eye some time ago. It’s a truth with which I resonate profoundly, and it represents an ideal to which my life (and thus this 6 month chronicle of my life) is a testament.


“To create a just, sustainable world, nothing is more important than being able to think and act across borders. Whether our passion is protecting the biosphere or preventing war, we will succeed only if we have the passion and courage to cross the national, ideological, ethnic, and religious borders of our time.” –Mark Gerzon, author of Leaders without Borders.

These borders are all arbitrary lines. They do not exist in reality. They are all learned and superimposed upon the now fragmented minds and thinking of individuals who should instead be thinking and acting as a global community on a single planet.

In my naiveté, I believe that Jamaican in China has the power to plant the seed of a thought about “others” who are “not like us” that says “Perhaps things are not as I’ve been led to believe. Perhaps these people are not my enemies. How do I know? Well, there’s this Jamaican guy who went all the way to China, and let me tell you what he experienced….!”

And with the single click of button or a tweet of technology, you can use this book to change someone else’s perspective as well. It only takes one.

There’s more of a global ideological shift going on than we may realize. The “social networking” paradigm which has existed for millennia has now been dramatically enhanced by the Internet. It has changed everything. Videos go viral, protests proliferate, movements gain momentum, and individuals are impacted in meaningful ways by a “tweet” or a “like” or a “friend” an upload, or by a single post in a forum often by a single individual on a single gadget, Nook, Kindle or keyboard. Yes, my friend, keystrokes and a click can change the world!

It is from this place of sincere respect for the power of communication in general, enhanced by the potential of the internet in particular, that I travel abroad, write, blog and “share what I know so that others may grow.” I hope you will fulfill my humble request to use my adventure to communicate some new possibilities to at least one other person somewhere else across the arbitrary, imaginary (and slowly dissolving) lines that seek to divide us.

If you are reading this on a Nook, Kindle, iPad or any e-reader, you have the ability in most cases to share this book electronically with others. I encourage you to do so. Feel free! Please share a link or a like or a tweet with someone in your world, and thanks for being part of my adventure!

To share my borderless world, order and download Jamaican in China: GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DIM SUM in Kindle, Nook and pdf ebook formats CLICK HERE

2018 addendum: Also, please visit and subscribe to the Jamaican in China Youtube channel at

https://www.youtube.com/JamaicaninChina

2012

Happy new year from the Jamaican in China! Disaster, anyone?

Okay. You know I’ve been busy converting a few of my books to Kindle and Nook formats. Well, I’ve finally finished all the conversions I’ll do for now, and will next focus on marketing them. Meanwhile, however, I’ll give you an update.

First of all, I’m still in New York city. It’s cold, but not oppressively so, thanks to global warming! In creating the Kindle/Nook edition of Jamaican in China: Guess Who’s Coming to Dim Sum, I had a chance to review and reminisce about my entire 2011 trip to China. Those were some good times. I see a return trip in the stars for 2012! So, stay tuned.

So, what’s life like in New York? Well, hmmm. Let’s see. What can I show you that gives the best synopsis of things here in the Big Apple? I know! Check this out. Here’s a sign, a huge sign right off the highway near the apartment I’m currently staying. I think it adequately reflects the mood here.


Nothing like a focus on fear and catastrophe to get the new year rolling off to a good start…. and then off a cliff!

2011

Book version of Jamaican in China blog NOW available for Kindle/Nook! ($2.99 introductory offer!)

CORRECTION: After doing a test-launch of the new book on Amazon’s site, I discovered that due to the huge file size of this book Amazon prevents me from selling it at $0.99 as originally intended. Even splitting it into two volumes doesn’t work. Therefore, the lowest price possible $2.99!
Now available for Kindle

Now available for Nook (in two parts)!

Don’t have a Kindle or Nook?: order regular, ol’ ebook at a Kindle price and download immediately!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Jamaican in China: Guess Who’s Coming to Dim Sum, available NOW!! (“Like” me on facebook to be notified of updates!)

January 1, 2012–China: Join nomadpreneur, minimalist, vegan, author Walt F.J. Goodridge as he occupies Justin Bieber’s Beijing, Selena Gomez’ Shanghai, Rebecca Black’s Xishuangbanna, Kardashian’s Kunming, and Herman Cain’s Hainan, proving–as the consummate marketer–that he’s not above throwing in the top ranked keyword search terms in his press releases in order to attract attention for his already compelling blog to book release, Jamaican in China: Guess Who’s Coming to Dim Sum

Jamaican in China: Guess Who’s Coming to Dim Sum is a humorous, hellacious, insightful, instructional, fun, fascinating, yet oddly functional all-in-one reality show travel guide blog book lifestyle primer chronicling Goodridge’s adventures in China, Laos, Singapore and Saipan. You can visit his award-nominated blog’s archives, but THE BOOK….ahhh! The BOOK, my friends is where the action is! It’s even better than the blog! Really!


In the book, you get what is essentially a “Behind the Scenes” “Bloopers” and “The Making of The Jamaican in China blog” all rolled into one, including:

•Over 600 full-color, many never-before-published photographs! That’s right, 635 in all!!

•  Edited and expanded blog posts

• Deleted scenes & out-takes too controversial for the blog

• Commentary from Walt’s circle of friends, advisors and enemies

• Dating advice from Chinese men AND women!

• “Grown-ups only” material

• The full “Coming Black to Asia/Travelling While Black” Manifesto

• The secret origins of Walt’s nomad-inspired Coffeepot Cookbook!

SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE

Yes, there’s something to APPEAL to everyone! Walt is a Jamaican-born, US University-schooled, Spanish speaking, single, minimalist, vegan, nomad bachelor in China who quotes Willie Nelson, Van Morrison, Bonnie Raitt and Bob Marley in his blog as he offers survivalist cooking tips and dating strategies, fights crime and promotes freedom, dates cross-culturally, crossing borders, cracking stereotypes, breaking hearts, winning friends and influencing people (meeting fellow travelers from Norway, Russia, Myanmar, Guyana, Italy), living and spreading his philosophy of “freedom, function and fun” while making money as a nomadpreneur throughout Asia, while motivating and inspiring others through his prose, poetry and presence to do the same!” It doesn’t get more widespread in appeal than this! If you want a slice of this cultural pie, then why not look at asia travel as well? You’ll be full up with amazing sites and sounds in one of the most beautiful places on earth.

What’s even better (for selling books, that is) is that if you take this stuff too seriously, there’s bound to be something offensive for just about everyone, too:

• Yes, his thoughts on “Germ Theory in China” may offend you if you’re Chinese!

• His thing for interracial dating may offend a few skinheads!

• His “How to Meet Girls in Beijing” may offend feminists!

• His take on “Traveling While Black” may offend entire continents of people!

• And even the world’s innocent little children have something to be offended about with his irreverent parody of Dr Seuss’ beloved and iconic Cat in the Hat! (To answer your question: “Um, no, nothing is sacred!)

 

So, if you’ve ever asked yourself…


“Can a single, minimalist, vegan, Jamaican author and nomadpreneur escape the rat race, reinvent his life, live true to himself, find love, happiness, organic food, but more importantly, an apartment with a kitchen, sunshine and a wi-fi connection in China without paying the ultimate price…the foreigner’s price?”

(and who among us hasn’t asked ourselves that at some point in our lives? Admit it.)

…then you can NOW discover the full, potent, unadulterated, undiluted, non-dairy, wheat & gluten-free answer for yourself in the Nookified and Kindleized edition of Guess Who’s Coming to Dim Sum: The Jamaican in China!! and own a copy on your Kindle (or Nook) for ever and ever and to lend freely to friends and family!


IMPORTANT: To help Guess Who’s Coming to Dim Sum break into the Amazon Kindle bestseller charts, we need to have as many sales as possible on the SAME DAY! So, please share this with as many people as possible, and do your budget planning to have your $2.99 ready to place your order within the 24 hours of January 1, 2012!!

Here’s a little preview of some of the fun:

——————————————————————–

Guess Who’s Coming to Dim Sum?

So, what do you think? Me and Lucy Liu in the starring roles, plus Jackie Chan and Michelle Yeoh as the Chinese parents; Tell them all I’m casting now!

——————————————————————–

Available for your new e-reader! (Including Kindles, Nooks and through Smashwords! Join the list using the form on the left, or simply “like” me on the facebook page to the right, to be notified of future updates!

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2011

Video inside a “Kardashian” sweatshop garment factory with Chicken Feathers & Garlic Skin video

Click on image to watch a this video filmed by Chinese workers inside an actual garment factory/sweatshop: 

 

“If you happen to be in the United States, you don’t have to go all the way to third world countries [or to China] to find the factories commonly referred to as ‘sweatshops.’ As recently as about 30 months ago, garment factories were operating right on US soil in….”  Thus began my answer to a question posed recently on Yahoo Answers.

A visitor to the Yahoo site asked, “What do modern day sweatshops look like? The new Kardashian controversy is, in some sense, helping to turn many people’s attention to the ongoing situation that occurs all over the world.

I was able to do my own part in increasing awareness through being the “as told to” author of Chicken Feathers & Garlic Skin: Diary of a Chinese Garment Factory Girl by Chun Yu Wang… a book which has been praised as insightful and revealing even by those in positions of oversight at the time, but who had no idea of the actual conditions inside such factories.

The former Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Insular Affairs, during the Bush administration, offered this after reading the book:

Chicken Feathers takes us inside a world that was almost impossible to understand from the outside. This book is a great public service, but a great read as well.”–David B. Cohen, Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Insular Affairs 

Angelo Villagomez, the Saipan Blogger, offered this:

“…It is a story that deserved to be told and shines a light on a situation that should never have been allowed on American soil.”

In doing my research for this book, I compiled and collected photographs, videos and interviews which could prove quite insightful, and even shocking to those who are now being brought into the discussion–a discussion which has been ongoing for decades.

If you’d really like to learn more, first check out Chicken Feathers and Garlic Skin

Chicken Feathers & Garlic Skin
Diary of a Chinese Garment Factory Girl on Saipan
by Chun Yu Wang and Walt F.J. Goodridge

Chicken Feathers book cover
It took a lot of courage for a 25-year-old girl from Wu Xi City in Jiang Shu province, China, who had never flown on a plane, and who had never left home before, to travel 2,000 miles to a foreign country in search of work. It took even more courage to stay once she discovered what life was really like for a factory girl on the island of Saipan in the US Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). This is
the only first-hand account of work and life in the garment factories of Saipan.
(196 pages; 5.5″ x 8.5″; ISBN: 978-0974531342) Read more at www.saipanfactorygirl.com

Also available in Spanish


download iconDownload a preview

Order in your favorite format:

buy paperback
buy ebook
buy kindle edition
buy nook edition
buy on Amazon
buy on GooglePlay

Read more about the author and view/download videos/interviews at https://www.saipanfactorygirl.com HERE

Read facts about the modern day garment factory era in the US HERE

Read my Yahoo Answers response HERE

 

 

 

2011

Jamaican sequestered in New York!

I feel so bad for not posting in such a long while. However, as I mentioned in the previous post, I’ve sequestered myself in a corner of Queens, in New York city, while I wait out the holiday travel season. I’m starting to plan my return to China, but in the meantime, I’m very focussed on continuing the creation, conversion and promotion for the Kindle editions of my books. So, similarly to when I locked myself in a hotel room in Beijing to work on debugging shopping cart software code for my website, now I’m holed up in a two by four room in the big apple, keeping odd hours (up at 3:00am, bed at 11pm), doing my best at cracking the Kindle code to really jumpstart and generate sales! Stay tuned!

And, not to worry, Nook Reader owners. I’m doing conversions for you, too!

2011

It doesn’t matter who occupies the white house….

One thing that has become frighteningly clear to the masses is that it really doesn’t matter who occupies the white house. Whether the candidates have been chosen, groomed and financed into the position, or perhaps visited, blackmailed and coerced to do so after attaining the position, they (the “elected” officials) eventually must do the bidding of certain interests and agendas that have existed way before their election. I believe it is this disillusionment that has set the stage for the uprising we now witness. The irony, in other words, is that it is the very election of a Black president (with an agenda for change that hasn’t seemed to manifest) that has contributed to the rejection of government and the entire economic system that is occurring on his watch. Fault not the man. There are bigger forces at work. 

2011

The futility of Suppression: Why attempts to quell the revolution simply hasten its eruption.

Reports out of Wall Street indicate that many people are convinced that cell phone communication during today’s shut down of the stock market were blocked.

The police, once believed to be there to “serve and protect” are discovered to be tools of the 1% when they raid and pillage the Occupy encampments and attack the protesters.

Paypal, once believed to be an independent, autonomous, non-political entity reveals itself to be a government tool in their freezing of Wikileaks’ account.

Politicians, once believed to be elected by and there to serve the interests of the electorate, are shown to act outside of the law and are reigned in by the courts as acting unconstitutionally.

The irony of these various acts of suppression by the forces that seem is that they increase the very sense of frustration that sparked the uprising.  

The alleged collusion on the part of cell phone companies, the police, the mainstream media, Paypal (and other companies), as well as  the politicians, identifies them as “the enemy.” The growing sense that there’s nowhere to turn, and no other alternative but all-out revolution simply grows.  

2011

Occupy Wall Street, The Uprising goes viral! Bob Marley would be proud!

I’m very fortunate to be here in New York–ground zero of the Occupy Wall Street Uprising, and the flashpoint of the global day of protest. I’m glad to be witness, participant and documentarian of this insurgency, protest and revolution in thought and action. It’s exciting, encouraging, and inspiring!

Part of my support is simply adding my blog voice to the throngs. Here are some photos of the encampment at “Liberty Park” in New York of a few weeks ago, and this popular viral shot of Dorli Rainey, the 84-year old who was pepper-sprayed by the Seattle Police.

Today is the International Day of Solidarity, Day of Action in which protests, demonstrations and occupations are occurring all around the US and in other locations around the globe.

 

 

Zuccoti “Liberty” Park in lower Manhattan, before the recent raid by NYC police


Zuccoti “Liberty” Park in lower Manhattan, before the recent raid by NYC police


Dorli Rainey, 84-year old pepper-sprayed by Seattle Police
Stay tuned for more!


This is the Uprising” lp cover


Check out the lyrics of “Revolution” by Bob Marley, from the Natty Dread LP

Revelation reveals the truth – revelation.
It takes a revolution to make a solution;
Too much confusion, so much frustration, eh!
I don’t wanna live in the park (live in the park);
Can’t trust no shadows after dark (shadows after dark), yeah!

So, my friend, I wish that you could see,
Like a bird in the tree, the prisoners must be free, yeah! (free)

Never make a politician grant you a favour;
They will always want to control you forever, eh!
So if a fire make it bun (make it burn, make it burn)

And if a blood make it run (make it run, run, run),
Rasta de ‘pon top, can’t you see?
So you can’t predict the flop!

We got lightning (lightning), thunder (thunder),

brimstone (brimstone) and fire – fire (fire, fire);
Lightning (lightning), thunder (thunder),
brr-brimstone (brimstone) and fire – fire – fiyah!


Kill, cramp and paralyze all weak at conception;
Wipe them out of creation (creation), yeah-eah! (creation)
(creation)

Let righteousness cover the earth
Like the water cover the sea, yeah! Yeah!

2011

Gourmand Awards for the category Culinary Travel? Yes, you heard me!

No, I haven’t won yet! However, I never would have imagined that I would be entered in a cookbook competition, but someone from Gourmand contacted me and suggested I enter The Coffepot Cookbook in the Culinary Travel portion of the annual Gourmand Cookbook contest ! 

According to their cookbookfair.com website, last year, a total of 154 countries participated in the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards 2010. Categories include TV Celebrity Chef, Innovative, Entertaining, Bloggers, Guides, Cookbook of the Year, Best Cover, Design, Sustainable, Health and Nutrition, Children and Nutrition, Culinary Travel, Easy Recipes, and more! 

 

2011

Jamaican in Macau!

Now, before you get too excited….and before I get too far ahead of myself, I am NOT in Macau. However, like any true and wise revolutionary, I do have an undisclosed number of face doubles, stand-ins, stuntmen, body doubles, affiliates and certified guest hosts to “sub” for me should the need arise. (I do, however, perform all dating and romantic assignments in house. These are rarely subcontracted.)

With that said, my friend Ron, the interim Jamaican on Saipan, whom faithful readers will recall from Friends in High Places…skewing the distribution and [SaipanTribune story:]There are more Jamaicans on Saipan was in Macau recently and took a few photos


While I’m away, I’ve even given Ron–as stand-in Jamaican– the keys to my secret hideaway on Saipan! Don’t get too comfortable, buddy…