The story is an offbeat memoir of the American West based on his childhood in Cheyenne, Wyoming, after World War II and his experiences living around the state until he moved to Boulder, Colorado, circa 1993.
Alan’s original story is available on the Boulder Community Media website. He relates his experiences in the context of the current social and cultural divides prevalent in the United States today and the consequential need for greater civility.
Social change happens one person at a time. After Pearl Harbor was bombed on December 7, 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which established the War Relocation Authority that ordered 120,000 Japanese-Americans to uproot and be transported by train to 10 relocation centers.
Japanese, including Alan’s family members, who resided in the U.S. interior, including Wyoming and Colorado, were considered “Interned in place.” They avoided life in camps like Heart Mountain near Yellowstone National Park and Granada in Southeast Colorado.
Nonetheless, Alan and his family were still subject to the subtle and overt racism toward Japanese residents during and after the War. He recounts his experiences and weaves them with the history of the once vibrant Japanese neighborhood in the 400 and 500 blocks of West 17th Street in downtown Cheyenne.
My Chat with GPT is an Artificial Intelligence (AI) Handbook for Cyber Citizens in eBook form, and is now available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. The hard copy will be available soon.
The handbook is based on a personal conversation with ChatGPT about where computer programming and the human environment intersect. I’m a user of Artificial Intelligence (AI) but don’t know much about how it works other than prompting GPT and asking for responses to questions I pose.
I recently gave an AI workshop at the Audio Video Expo in Denver, Colorado. Since the audience comprised people involved in digital technology, I presented how AI affects individuals and the creative industries. The open conversation was dynamic, including healthcare, financial, and banking vulnerabilities.
Human error is the general entry point for bad actors infiltrating an organization’s computer network. Those include opening an alarming email that releases digital entities, including AI, that enter and compromise operating systems.
Over a few days, I went to the source and interviewed ChatGPT about my concerns about AI and its effects on everyday people.
I finished my first novel, “Libby Flats” which is set in 2006 Colorado and flashes back to past lives in New Jersey and Wyoming during the 1960s and 1970s. It’s about that time in the twilight of your life when your friends are closer than family.
Views from Atop My Bedpan, a memoir by Alan O’Hashi, is a memoir about the author’s experiences with the American healthcare industrial complex spanning seven decades.
“Views from Atop My Bedpan” is set to release on April 1, 2023. The cover picture is of author Alan O’Hashi as if he had aged 10 years.
During his journey, Alan learned about the Emergency Department bottleneck when he was nearly dead for six weeks. His road to recovery was a long one through alternative treatments. As he grew younger, his contact with the healthcare system was much simpler.
The storymoves backward, starting with his healthcare in a Boulder, Colorado, senior cohousing community. Read about his acupuncture torture and drunken raisin arthritis remedy until he was kicked out of his retirement home for being too healthy and young.
The book recounts Alan’s medical-related experiences in the working world, including a small-town hospital merger and an emergency CPR RESCUE.
The story follows his time in college, then traces his life through high school, his adolescent experiences with sex education, and his struggles with poor eyesight and teeth in grade school.
His life ends as a twinkle in his parents’ eyes.
Some content may not be suitable for some readers.
There’s a paradox. Public and private healthcare providers are dedicated to keeping people alive and free from disease, but at the same time, they must also generate a financial profit to sustain themselves.
At the same time, the industry keeps its heart thumping and pumping based on continually expanding the number of patients who consume the latest pharmaceuticals, visit doctors, and are diagnosed by the newest machines. It’s better that people stay a little sick rather than be cured from a profit-and-loss standpoint.
According to the latest Social Security Administration actuary chart, the author has 10.4 years to go. He conjectures his death at 79. He’s had a flirt with death every 20 years or so, most recently surviving an exotic lung disease in 2013.
“We all have unique experiences as we move through life. Being at the top of my game has been hard work. I prefer to have positive influences on others I meet.” Alan O’Hashi
If you have questions or comments, message the ALAN-BCM BOT. We learn more and more every day!
Support local independent artists this holiday season. Author Alan O’Hashi is offering three Kindle books on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, November 28th!
True Stories of a Mediocre Writer is Alan’s memoir about his unique writing style and process that resulted in the publication of his first book, Beyond Heart Mountain released by Winter Goose Publishing in February 2022.
He explains how he overcame perfection that made him more confident.
In his case, luck plays a big part. In June 2019, he attended a writing conference and talked to Winter Goose Publishing. He was asked to submit a full manuscript. He wrote 80,000 words and signed a contract in November.
True Stories of an Aging Do Gooder is another memoir about his journey through life living in accidental and intentional community settings. Those began with a large extended family in Cheyenne, Wyoming, living four years in the same dorm room at Hastings College, a “Golden Guys” house in Gillette, Wyoming, an apartment above the Ace Hardware store in downtown Lander, Wyoming and a Buddhist-centered coop house in Boulder, Colorado.
Those housing configurations set him up to finally move into the Silver Sage Village cohousing community. The book relates his experiences and war stories for anyone who wants to overcome loneliness.
On the Trail: Electric Vehicle Anxiety and Advice is Alan’s real-time travelogue about a “Beyond Heart Mountain” book tour he took driving his Nissan Leaf 2,600 miles on the open roads of Wyoming.
The first leg was a 178 mile drive to Casper that took 15 hours.
He recounts his “range anxiety” navigating through wind , cold, and snow with no charging stations in many Wyoming communities.
Beyond Heart Mountain is Alan’s memoir published by Winter Goose Publishing. He doesn’t have control over those book sales, but if you’re in Denver, Alan will be signing copies at the Tattered Cover Book Store on Colfax on Black Friday, November 25th from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.
His book is about growing up Japanese in Wyoming after World War II and the demise of the once vibrant Japanese community on the 400 and 500 blocks of West 17th Street in Cheyenne.
Wyoming was the site for the Heart Mountain War Relocation Center, one of 10 camps set up in the U.S. interior.
Even though his family didn’t spend time in a camp, they had to endure the subtle and overt racism toward Japanese. The upshot of the story is to close economic and social divides, Americans should become more civil.
If you’re in Denver on Black Friday, November 25th, author Alan O’Hashi will be signing his memoir Beyond Heart Mountain at the Tattered Cover Bookstore on Colfax from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
The book is Alan’s story about growing up and living in Wyoming after World War II. He recounts the subtle and overt racism he and his family had to endure. His family was spared from living in a War Relocation Center because Japanese individuals who resided in the U.S. interior were deemed as being interned in place.
I wrote a new book that was just released by Boulder Community Media entitled, On the Trail: Wyoming Electric Vehicle Adventures. It was written in real-time between May 16th to July 2nd on three road trips totaling 2,600 miles around the vast sparseness of Wyoming.
Here’s the third person blurb from the back cover:
On the Trail is a memoir recounting author and risk-taker Alan O’Hashi’s reflections on his experiences with the automobile over the years and how his life evolved along with those vehicle choices. Now in his twilight years, he trekked 2,600 miles around Wyoming in a 2021 Nissan Leaf SV Plus electric vehicle (EV) 62 kWh at a time (that’s the battery size).
If you’re curious about EVs, he explains some about the different kinds of vehicles in the marketplace, but more about how to overcome “range anxiety” when there is no charging station nearby and the battery is about empty. He explains, in lay terms, about charging station subtleties, general details about battery efficiency, and the pitfalls drivers may encounter on short trips around town and longer drives over, say, 100 miles, including confusion around the three levels of charging stations and different types of plugs.
Alan was not the first driver to embark on a long-haul EV road trip but was a pioneer in navigating the road in the sparsest state in the Lower 48, having to figure out how to keep moving forward despite numerous setbacks including snow and 30-degrees.
His sojourns weren’t as arduous and rustic as they would have been in a covered wagon or a handcart but navigated gravel roads and isolated ribbons of highways in search of 50-amp power at campgrounds, motels, and businesses with external electrical outlets.
Joining the EV movement meant a big lifestyle change, mostly around slowing down
the pace of his life. “Maybe there’d be less road rage if traffic moved slower and drivers put less pressure on themselves to get from place to place,” he said. “I’ve been reimaging ‘Superman’s American Way” and changing my material consumption habits.”
The cover photo is of Alan’s Leaf charging at the Indian Campground in Buffalo,
Wyoming. He found that campgrounds consistently offer 50-amp power in the hook-up pedestals. Plan to stay someplace overnight and wake up with a full charge.
May is Asian Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Beyond Heart Mountain author and filmmaker Alan O’Hashi will be on the road showing his documentary and speaking about his memoir. The program is entitled, Civility, Culture, Community, All times Mountain Daylight Time. To schedule an event, please send us an email.
Two one-of-a-kind versions of the “Nishigawa Neighborhood” coffee table book is now available as NFTs on the opensea.io blockchain. If you want a true collectible, one or both of these have premium value because they are unique with colorized covers.
Both include unlockable assets that can be downloaded by the successful buyer. Both NFTs are watermarked with March 17, 2022, the publication date. The first is a one-of-a-kind digital version. The second is an MP4 movie of the 84 pages tracked by original music compiled by author Alan O’Hashi. If you want an autographed copy of the hardcover book, they areavailable from the author.
Click the image: Nishigawa Neighborhood LTD one of one unlockable MP4 NFT
Click the image: Nishigawa Neighborhood LTD one of one unlockable digital book NFT
I read on many of the Facebook groups about the frustrations self-publishing authors experience when they try to upload their manuscripts to Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP).
Brain damage and frustration are the prices you pay to self-publish all by yourself without signing up for a “pay to play” publishing house or hiring consultants to help you. I’m an analog writer, and dealing with the technology of authorship can be frustrating.
Self-publishing means we do it ourselves. I also have a publisher that takes all the brain damage out of all this.
Making my own books gave me an appreciation for what established publishers do on behalf of writers. I can attest that they earn every penny they squeeze out of each book sale.
The issue I’ll address here is how to lay out your manuscript for a hard copy book. I’ve published three books on KDP.
The first one had me pulling my hair out, but once I settled on a format, the others were simple, since I followed a template I made for myself with the first book.
Pick out the size of the book you want to publish. The instructions I’m providing instructions for 6″x9″
Here are some simple steps I followed using Microsoft Word (Word). The first step is to decide what size book you want to publish. I chose 6″x9″ from the list that KDP supports. After you’ve opened up Word, pull down “File” and open up “Page Setup.”
Pull down “Page Setup” and open it.
This will bring you to the “Page Attributes” tab where you can set up the page size. After you’ve opened “Paper Size” choose “Other” and type the size. In this case, for 6″x9″ I chose 6.11X9.25.
Pick Other, then type in the desired dimensions from the KDP page size list. For a 6×9 book, I use 6.11×9.25. Also, orient your page to be vertical at 100 percent scale, then hit OK.
After you’ve chosen your page size, open up the drop down the “Page Attribute” box and choose “Microsoft Word.” That reveals a tab. Select “Margins” and then OK.
Select “Margins” then OK.
A new window will open that allows you to select your margins. This is where you can get frustrated, because the margin sizes can be adjusted to meet your visual preferences. This may take you three or four uploads to KDP to see what they will look like. KDP allows you to change your formatting and layouts. If you walk away, remember to save your project as a draft so you can come back to it without having to edit your “sent” project. I did that after I had second thoughts about the layout. For projects that you “submit” and you want to edit, it takes a few days for KDP to process the data and make it “live.” My advice is to be patient and not rush. KDP allows you to sell your “coming soon” book. I settled on these settings, and you can try them. What you pick can vary depending on font and type size. After you hit OK, your manuscript will change. Take a look at it. If you like the balance, upload it to KDP as a draft. What is frustrating is that once your manuscript is uploaded, KDP will make its own version, which will be slightly different than what your Word document looks like. Be patient and take your time.
Deciding on your margins is hit or miss. If there’s any part of this that can be frustrating, it will be your margins. I suggest you jot down the margin combinations you’ve tried, rather than trying to remember them. As for multiple pages, mirror the margins. This allows the gutters to match up with the facing pages.
After you’ve set your margins, open up the “Layout” tab at the top of the box. I use half-inch headers and footers. Again, you can mess around with the settings, but if you have page numbers, you’ll want adequate space so that they fit relatively centered in the header or footer – not too high, and particularly not too low to the page edge.
Select your header and footer. I wouldn’t mess around with the line numbers – that’s for legal documents and legislative drafts. Borders are just aesthetics, but likely unnecessary for book publishing.
That’s it for KDP self-published books. I can’t overemphasize the need for you to be patient with the trial and error you’ll likely experience.
When it comes to the KDP e-book version. You’ll keep your manuscript “one-up” with a single sheet. The frustrating part is with the table of contents. I would leave that out of the e-book because the pages float around and change. Also, the Word table of contents tool doesn’t change as the pages change, and it becomes disorganized.
The e-book title pages and other stuff at the beginning, like the Dedications, may get scrunched together, so be prepared not to have separate pages for the introductory information.
I use a website called Online-Convert to make e-books other than for KDP. It does a pretty good job of converting my Word files, including adding a front cover. Again, nothing is 100 percent. You’ll have to mess around with pages and formatting.
True Stories of an Aging Do Gooder
On the Trail: Electric Vehicle Anxiety and Advice
