Category Archives: 2011

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!

###

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…

2011

Required viewing for the Revolution!

Few of us–especially if we consider ourselves optimists–want to be the bearers of bad news and predictions of doom and gloom. However, it’s becoming increasingly evident and undeniable that something big is happening. Within my circle of friends, in between our mantras of abundance and visualization of prosperity, we talk furtively about what we see happening even here in the United States.

As much as I’ve resisted coming right ond saying it, I’ve realized that to speak of what’s coming is not pessimism, at all. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. It’s actually a ray of hope that things are about to change. I see myself becoming more and more of an advocate of making the necessary shift in order to survive and usher in the new paradigm. With that said….check out:

1. The Zeitgeist Movement 

Among other things, this amazing documentary puts the entire economic paradigm and its deceptions, delusions, inconsistencies, and insanity into perspective and offers a solution! I will be reviewing this on my blog because this accurately represents everything that I have come to understand and believe about where this is all heading.

 

 

2011

Freedom is achievable! I’ll coach you through it!

Do you want to turn your passion into profit? write and publish a book? escape from the rat race and/or to live somewhere else? live a natural and rejuvenating lifestyle and grow younger every day? Trust me, it’s not only possible, it might even be imperative that you do! 

The year 2012 will mark a pivotal time of transition for many people. If you have any goals to achieve the freedom to profit, the freedom to escape, or the freedom to be ageless, then sign up for my new season of “Achievable Freedom” Coaching.

Beginning on November 1, 2011 (11/1/11), I’ll be coaching no more than 10 people to achieve their desired 2012 freedom goals. Sometimes just a single session can change your entire perspective and make something click. Other times, it may require once-weekly sessions. You’ll decide.

PLEASE NOTE: I cannot and often will not work with just anyone.  Not everyone is ready. Not everyone is coachable. However, because I’m making this announcement quite public, if you wish to be considered for one of the ten slots, it will be necessary to pay a deposit (which is fully refundable if we decide NOT to work together), BEFORE I send you the qualifying questionnaire and interview. (Sessions are conducted by phone or Skype and are priced at $100/session until Nov 1, 2011. Will increase thereafter.)

  • Read more about the categories of coaching
  • $50 Deposit to reserve a slot (pending interview) or send via paypal to “orders (at) passionpofit (dot) com”
  • Email me with any questions

    Thanks, and see you on the other side!p.s. Here’s my new favorite quote from Mike R., who has already gotten on board for some health & nutrition coaching.  Thanks, Mike!

    “That’s huge, man! You’re living life on your terms! You come and go as you want. You decide you wanted something different. You decided this is what you wanted and you went for it. You don’t apologize. You take no shorts. You’re living the life of your dreams. Who does that????? In a world of people settling, who does that??? That’s badass! That’s nothing short of bad assss!”–Mike R. (coaching client, New York)

     

     

2011

Mommy, the other kids are laughing at my phone!

SCENE 1:

“Oh, my heavens! Walt, what’s THAT?”

“Um, what do you mean?”

“Is that a phone???”

“Um, yes?”

“Wow! Does it work?

“Of course it works! What do you mean?”

“Well, it’s just that…well, I didn’t know they still made those. Hey, honey [to her husband], come look at Walt’s phone! Check this out…It’s even got a little antenna! That’s so cute!”

 

SCENE 2:

ME: [whips out phone thinking he’s cool]

SHE: [incredulous stare]

ME: “Kim, what’s wrong?”

SHE: [shakes her head to snap herself back into reality] “um, do you mind if I take a picture of that?”

ME: “picture of what?”

SHE: “That.”

ME: “You mean my phone?”

SHE: [pulls out her smartphone and snaps a photo]

ME: [hides the phone and looks around nervously if anyone is looking]


my phone


“Yes, it works, dammit!”

Yep. This is my phone. It’s not a Blackberry™. It’s not an iPhone®. (In fact, it’s not really that smart at all.)  Whenever I travel to New York, after I land, I whip out my Boostmobile phone, purchase a SIM card and I’m ready to rock and roll! Well, at least I THOUGHT I was rockin’ and rollin’. According to my friends, it’s not rock and roll, it’s more like music from an ancient banjo with missing strings.

According to Consumer Reports: A smart phone can typically handle multiple e-mail accounts (including corporate types), has a sophisticated organizer, and can handle Office documents. Some allow you to create and edit spreadsheets and documents, and they usually support Microsoft Exchange. Their touch-screen displays are larger, and their cameras are more advanced than those on conventional phones. And they typically have Wi-Fi, and support higher mobile wireless data speeds that facilitate better Web browsing and streaming media. Their advanced operating systems give them access to a host of applications: productivity tools, shopping, multimedia, games, travel, news, weather, social, finance, references, etc.

Nope, my phone does none of these things. I find that I don’t feel the need to shuffle Office documents while I’m on a beach on Saipan. But my phone does, in fact, do something amazing that just 20 years ago was unheard of: it makes phone calls, and allows me to talk to someone else while I’m out walking around outside without having to use a land line. Imagine that!


I don’t care WHAT you say, flip phones are still cool! I feel like I’m Captain Kirk.”Beam me up, Scotty, the aliens are laughing at me.” [Taken on Oct 17, 2011 with Kim’s fancy shmancy smartphone and sent to me in an email entitled “Walt on his fossil”]

Along with Facebook, the smart phone revolution sort of goes forward without me. That’s what can happen when you’re living on a tropical island in the middle of the Pacific. When I take the subway here in New York, I’m practically the only one who hasn’t assumed “the position:” head bowed, ear-piece inserted , elbows close to the body, forearms extended, thumbs working, eyes glued to a screen. No one makes eye contact. They look up just briefly enough to see what station they’ve reached, and if it’s time, they snap the phone shut and speed out. (“Lady, wait! You forgot your kid!”)

Assume the position! [courtesy of asiagoans.com]

Sigh. I think I missed the memo. 

2011

The best-kept-secret-passion-prophet-nationwide-tour comes to the Queens Library for Teens in Far Rockaway!

The Queens Library for Teens is a unique project in Far Rockaway, Queens, New York. It boasts a computer center, game room, mini-recording studio and workshops to offer students aged 12-19 growth, networking and an after-school meeting place.

Since I’m passing through New York, my friend, Kim, a counselor at the library, invited me to stop by and share a few words of career advice and inspiration to her students.

It was a great, informal event. The students were very engaging, curious and asked great questions!


Queens Library for Teens. 2002 Cornaga Ave


My introduction


Awaiting the spotlight


Who wants to make money doing what they love?


Sharing the story of my first book


Great team of youth counselors!

FROM LIBRARY LITERATURE: Queens Library for Teens opened one city block from Queens Library at Far Rockaway in December 2007. A 3,000-square-foot former retail store, it is open Monday through Friday, 2:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. for young people ages 12 to 19. The library houses computers designed for several users to huddle around; plenty of relaxed, comfortable seating; and library materials of high interest to young adults, including lots of magazines, graphic novels, a recording studio, xbox, wii ps 3 test-prep materials., job readiness home work help, college club and much more.

Rules about noise and snacking are more relaxed than in the “regular library.” We’re now able to schedule more programs of interest to young adults, such as chess tournaments and how to make your own MySpace page. Pre-GED and basic education classes are ongoing and are held in the mornings.

The Library for Teens is staffed by youth counselors, a model that’s been integral to the library’s success. Queens Library trains its entire public service staff to recognize that “everybody serves youth.” Nevertheless, youth counselors have been a major asset.

You can learn more about the library at https://www.queenslibrary.org/index.aspx?page_id=45, and you can visit them on Facebook!