Showing results by author "Jeff Rasley" in All Categories

Jack Ross is lonely. It feels like he has lost everything that gave his life meaning. His wife Sherry died 19 months ago. He retired from practicing law nine months ago. Sports injuries forced him to give up playing basketball and tennis. He is lost without the love of his life, meaningful work, and the outlet of playing sports to distract him from the pain of his loss. When his former law partner invites him to try out a new game with the silly name of pickleball, Jack is skeptical, but he agrees to give it a try.

Jack Ross loses his soul but finds redemption representing an evangelical African-American preacher. Jack's downward spiral begins with his idealistic but doomed defense of his best friend and colleague. It becomes an existential crisis. His wife leaves. His partner is in alcohol rehab. Jack's struggle to reclaim professional and self respect is aided by a petty criminal and a hot young reporter. Jack sets out to right the wrongs done to his Christian prophet-client.

This is the fictional memoir of an 18-year-old hitchhiking across the country in 1972. But it is inspired by the humorous, bizarre, and scary experiences Jeff Rasley actually had hitchhiking from Goshen, Indiana to Key West and then to New Orleans for Mardi Gras. Jeff dropped out of Goshen College after one semester, worked in a factory for six weeks, saved up $65, and began thumbing south.

America's Existential Crisis: Our Inherited Obligation to Native Nations is a historical journey and a road trip through "Indian country". The surprising stories of two ancestors of the author lead into the Plains Indian Wars, the 1830 Indian Removal Act, the Potawatomi Trail of Death, and the massacre of Sioux at Wounded Knee.     

The history of religious intolerance and political extremism on the far right and left is bloody. Islamic jihadists, crusading fundamentalists, fascists, and Marxists divide the world into believers and heretics. Their propaganda has persuaded followers to torture and slaughter unbelievers. Godless proposes a cure for the pathology of fanatical religious beliefs and political ideologies. 

Chip Hilton was an ideal hero for boys growing up in small Midwestern towns in the 1950s and '60s. Chip was the best athlete at his school, an A-student, loving son, and hard worker at the local drug store. He had a gang of loyal friends and was the star player on his high school teams. But Chip was just a fictional character in a series of sports-action books. John Ritter was a real, live boy who seemed to be as close to Chip Hilton-like perfection as humanly possible. 

COVID-19 is spreading across the country. Peaceful demonstrations for Black Lives Matter after the murder by cop of George Floyd have turned violent. President Trump’s handling of the pandemic seems incompetent and chaotic. Infections and deaths continue to rise. When Attorney General Barr orders riot police and troops to clear peaceful protesters from Lafayette Square for Trump’s photo-op with a Bible, something snaps in Jack Blair. After a psychotic episode he is thrown into prison, and his life is threatened by white nationalist boogaloo bois.

The true stories in this audiobook are about temporarily disconnecting from the ordinary life of a big-city lawyer to experience exotic islands, strange creatures, and different cultures. The stories are not so much a travelogue as a vicarious island-hopping adventure and spiritual journey.

In a culture of outrage, social media is the go-to place to attack and to hide. Users rant and vent, and they huddle in like-minded silos. We can block, unfriend, and hunker down in private groups. Social media has so far aggravated, rather than helped to cure, ideological polarization and partisanship. Is there a higher and better use?

Was this ragtag band of precocious intellectuals the worst, or the most courageous, team in college football? From 1892 until the 1930s the legendary Monsters of the Midway dominated college football. However, in 1939 the University of Chicago killed its varsity football program. But now, it's1969 and football is back. Sadly, the team plays more like the lab mice of the Midway. They lose game after game. Yet, guys whose IQ is greater than their weight refuse to give up their mission to win one for their old coach, Wally Hass.

This is a guidebook to enhance your spiritual, psychological, and philosophical health. The 72 Wisdoms cover 72 concerns all thinking people care about. The wisdoms are quotes which introduce particular topics of concern. They come from sources as diverse as Old Testament proverbs, ancient Greek and Roman aphorisms, Quaker values, a Beatles song, neuroscience, astrophysics, and memorable lines from classic flicks and TV shows. The people quoted are also a diverse lot, including, for example, Jesus, Muhammad Ali, the Dalai Lama, Betty White, and Stephen Hawking.