Feb. 9, 2025

Inspiring Stories: The Journey of John Chanaca and Family Publishing

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In this episode of the Living the Dream podcast, host Curveball sits down with John Chanaca, a children's book author, educator, and founder of MJ Chanaka Publishing. John shares his inspiring journey from a long career in education to becoming a published author, focusing on family values and positive storytelling. He discusses the motivation behind starting his publishing company, the themes explored in his books, and the importance of nurturing young readers. Join us for an uplifting conversation about creativity, family, and the power of storytelling!
https://www.mjchanacapublishing.com

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30:53 - (Cont.) Inspiring Stories: The Journey of John Chanaca and Family Publishing

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00:00:00.560 --> 00:00:08.779
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Welcome, um, to the Living the Dream podcast with Curveball. Um, if you believe you can achieve.

00:00:18.640 --> 00:00:57.869
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Welcome to the Living the Dream with Curveball podcast, a show where I interview guests that teach, motivate and inspire. Today, I am joined by children's book author, educator and publisher, John Chanaka. John is the founder of MJ Chanaka Publishing, llc, and it is a family publishing company that focuses on publishing heartwarming and positive family stories. So we're going to be talking to him about everything that he's up to and what he's going to be up to coming next, and about his books.

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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>So, John, thank you so much for joining me today.

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> John Chanaka>Appreciate it. Curtis, thanks so much for having me on and for hosting this wonderful podcast.

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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Absolutely. Why don't you start off by telling everybody a little bit about yourself?

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> John Chanaka>Good. Um, I'm retired, and I, uh, am married to a Wonderful young, um, lady. 55 years we've been married, and, uh, we have two sons and three grandchildren. Retired from 40, uh, two years in the public schools. Taught kindergarten all the way through eighth grade. And, uh, we did a lot of other teach. We had a martial arts School for 20 years, had over 700 students. So we have lots of experiences with children and parents.

00:01:47.835 --> 00:02:14.331
> John Chanaka>And my wife was an elementary school teacher also, so she's got her, um, tales and expertise and information, and we have, um, enjoyed this new. We'll call it this new Journey. Okay. I know your program focuses on motivation and telling about, uh, um, passions people have and so on. And we.

00:02:14.355 --> 00:02:19.439
> John Chanaka>We've started a publishing company about two and a half years ago in our retirement.

00:02:20.979 --> 00:02:23.360
> John Chanaka>So we're having lots of fun with that. Curtis.

00:02:23.939 --> 00:02:35.532
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Well, speaking of your publishing company, first of all, tell us what inspired you to actually start writing about all the experiences you and your wife have, and what inspired you to start the publishing company?

00:02:35.716 --> 00:02:57.330
> John Chanaka>Good. Very, uh, good question. We were, um, as I said, retired about, uh, I guess about 12 years ago. And we, uh, were doing the things that, uh, people like to do in retirement. We were traveling, enjoying our grandchildren, enjoying our children.

00:02:58.590 --> 00:03:44.689
> John Chanaka>We built a new house. A house, uh, that was a project. And so, um, about five years ago, my wife's mother, she's, um, 91 years old, and we found that she could not take care of herself. She lived in Pennsylvania half the time. She used to come down and live with us. Uh, her husband had passed away around 35 years ago when, uh, she was 60 or so. And, um, so she would spend the winters with us and then the summers back up in Pennsylvania. We're Located in South Carolina. And uh, that was always nice. But when she got to be 91, we found out she just couldn't, you know, live by herself. So she came down to live with us.

00:03:45.229 --> 00:03:55.449
> John Chanaka>And so that changed everything for us, Changed our routine and all the rest. Lovely lady. She's the sweetest woman you ever want to. You ever want to meet Curtis.

00:03:56.750 --> 00:04:17.459
> John Chanaka>And uh, while she was with us, of course she's in her 90s. She uh, started have problems with memory, um, and walking, uh, and uh, so about for the last three years she's uh, been wheelchair bound and has uh, lewdie body dementia.

00:04:18.120 --> 00:04:23.860
> John Chanaka>And this um, was during the COVID time she started to uh, experience these problems.

00:04:24.360 --> 00:04:30.048
> John Chanaka>And uh, while she was with us during that time, we had time during the day.

00:04:30.103 --> 00:05:10.910
> John Chanaka>Obviously we're 247 with her. No, we're not leaving her alone and we're not going on any trips. We're not doing anything. So uh, we're enjoying her of course. But she would take these naps in the. In the morning, one in the morning, one in the afternoon. They were quite long. And we got thinking, gee, we have so many wonderful stories of our children growing up and things they encountered encountered and adventures they had and lessons they learned that were both ethical and moral lessons. And we thought, uh, why don't we write some of these things down in um, uh, stories in story books.

00:05:11.649 --> 00:05:17.389
> John Chanaka>And they would be a legacy. There would be wonderful stories for us to keep, you know, for our children and grandchildren.

00:05:18.129 --> 00:05:23.790
> John Chanaka>We're using their names and everything else or their names would be in the books and they could share them later with their families.

00:05:24.370 --> 00:05:46.790
> John Chanaka>And so we started writing and being invited publishing. We knew nothing about it to start, so nothing about ISBN numbers and formatting books and how to publish and get on kdp, Amazon and publish with Ingram Spark and hire a little illustrators and deal with Fiverr.

00:05:46.870 --> 00:05:52.569
> John Chanaka>And uh, on and on and on it goes. It was an adventure for us. It was exciting. You can imagine.

00:05:53.470 --> 00:06:09.339
> John Chanaka>And um, did our first book. Uh, actually our son Joel is part of our team and he wrote the book. It was a story he had written quite a while ago about one of the cats that we had. It was called uh, Patches the Cat is a Thief.

00:06:10.480 --> 00:06:28.139
> John Chanaka>And um, this particular book, uh, was beautifully illustrated, had a wonderful story and everything else. And so we got started on that note and we just fell in love with it and had a lot of fun with it, a lot of laughs and the family really enjoyed it. So we just continued.

00:06:29.519 --> 00:07:00.529
> John Chanaka>So that's how we got started. And we have over 12 books published now and we're going into a parenting series. We have a Cyber Warrior series, and we also have a sci fi Christian sci fi series where Joel has done, um, a job, uh, with um, um, a character that is just so exciting and so on, and Frogman Puck is the name of it. And uh, we're just having a lot of fun with all of this. It's just been a blast for us.

00:07:00.829 --> 00:07:02.370
> John Chanaka>So that's how we got started.

00:07:02.750 --> 00:07:13.211
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Well, it definitely sounds like you are having fun. Tell us about the Family Value book series. You know, talk about the, uh, themes that this series explores.

00:07:13.406 --> 00:07:32.220
> John Chanaka>Yeah, um, we found out that as we were writing these, we wanted it, you know, to teach a lesson. Besides being entertaining and, and um, um, beautifully illustrated, we wanted to make sure that it was teaching moral and ethical values, family values, if you will.

00:07:32.920 --> 00:08:08.660
> John Chanaka>And um, all the stories centered around, um, caring and sharing, love, uh, kindness, patience, various, um, lessons that the boys took out of raising these animals and the various adventures they got into. And some of them are quite humorous. They're just really funny. As we got back and started to look seriously at all these books. So, um, we have one called Hunter, the English Center. Another one, the Kitty Named Cricket.

00:08:09.060 --> 00:08:11.548
> John Chanaka>One, uh, is called Annie's Flutterflies.

00:08:11.723 --> 00:08:16.680
> John Chanaka>Another one, Babe our Floppy Eared Bunny. And then Where'd the Moon Go Was another one.

00:08:17.579 --> 00:08:39.970
> John Chanaka>Um, what we did was they were getting so successful with that. We actually put the first four books that we did into a series, a collection called Humor and Heart, A Family Values Storybook collection. And uh, we made it an 8 and a half by 11. Normally our books are 8 and a half by 8 and a half.

00:08:40.590 --> 00:08:55.769
> John Chanaka>We made this particular book, um, 8 and a half by 11. And this is, uh, 19 in, in 2024. Last year, just a couple months ago, it won the Global Book Award, uh, for Children's literature.

00:08:57.389 --> 00:09:48.730
> John Chanaka>And then just a week ago, we found out one of Joel's books called Hunter the English Setter, uh, had won the bronze award. So we're winning awards with some of these books, having a lot of fun, put in, building them and, uh, meeting, uh, some tremendously interesting people like yourself on, um, podcasts and bookstores and book fairs. And we, um, even have a authors group here in the Myrtle beach area that, uh, um, 25 or so, uh, authors that meet a couple times a week or a couple times a month and um, share what they're building and what they're making. So all of this has been exciting and, uh, just uh, really fulfilling.

00:09:49.549 --> 00:09:50.529
> John Chanaka>Sure has.

00:09:52.750 --> 00:10:00.964
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Talk about how your extensive background in counseling and education influences your writing, like your themes and all that good stuff.

00:10:01.101 --> 00:10:24.024
> John Chanaka>Right. You can draw um, so many different uh, experiences of people that we've met and so on. You can imagine 42 years in the public schools. How many children I've seen and spent. The last 25, I was a counselor. I wasn't always a teacher. So um, for 17 years I was in the classroom.

00:10:24.072 --> 00:10:29.190
> John Chanaka>And then for the last 25 I was in a elementary, ah, counseling position.

00:10:30.289 --> 00:11:20.450
> John Chanaka>And uh, you know, a school's got 500 kids or so, 600 are the ones that we were involved in. And uh, you can imagine over 25 years how many children would go through the school, you know, thousands. So meeting, um, those kinds uh, of situations, especially in counseling where there's a lot of difficult situations, plus working with teachers and lots of parents. And we had a Christian marriage and family practice that I used to do in the summertimes when I wasn't working, uh, as, as an educator and um, gleaned and learned a lot of things from various parents that, that would share parenting concerns and parenting problems.

00:11:22.320 --> 00:11:58.960
> John Chanaka>And then again, back to your question. Certainly, um, learning in the elementary school and in the middle grades because I did teach sixth, seventh and eighth. Um, you got a feeling for the kind of literature and books, uh, various books, authors, the kinds of things kids were reading. That certainly helped us uh, in uh, in working with um, this publishing company, um, we have started a series of books on parenting which is kind of interesting, kind of an offshoot.

00:11:59.779 --> 00:12:08.039
> John Chanaka>I produced three books. They're small. They're small called A Survival Guide for Parents Part one, two and three.

00:12:09.379 --> 00:12:15.139
> John Chanaka>And um, it gave me a good foundation to come up with.

00:12:15.139 --> 00:12:29.460
> John Chanaka>Um, I'm going to put all these three books together and we're going to be um, producing a, a book and a course and a book called Power Parenting.

00:12:30.279 --> 00:12:36.139
> John Chanaka>So that would be coming somewhere in 2025, maybe 2026.

00:12:36.600 --> 00:12:56.559
> John Chanaka>Um, and it's going to combine everything that I have in those three books and uh, a lot of new stuff to talk about. Power parenting. And what it is is um. It's, it's. They're kind of a survival guide for parents to nurture successful students in the modern world today.

00:12:56.860 --> 00:13:04.559
> John Chanaka>I'm going at it from a different angle. It's, it's a guide for parents to be able to reach their children, to become better students.

00:13:05.820 --> 00:13:15.610
> John Chanaka>And that's, it's kind of exciting and uh, enjoy talking about it and, and moving into that area. So that all has helped us A lot.

00:13:17.669 --> 00:13:27.450
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Well, you got your flagship, the super, uh, student series. So kind of tell us what inspired you to create that. Tell us about it. And what do students take away from it?

00:13:28.470 --> 00:13:31.320
> John Chanaka>It's interesting you mentioned that, and thank you very much.

00:13:31.320 --> 00:13:36.720
> John Chanaka>Um, when I was, uh, in education during those 42 years, the last, um.

00:13:38.470 --> 00:13:52.509
> John Chanaka>Oh, I guess the last 15 or 20 years, uh, I. I was fortunate enough to get a Fulbright scholarship to Japan. And, uh, during that time, it was. It was two months in Japan free.

00:13:52.629 --> 00:13:55.374
> John Chanaka>They picked two educators from every state.

00:13:55.461 --> 00:14:41.048
> John Chanaka>So we had 100 educators that visit Japan, paid for by the Japanese government. And they just roll out the red carpet and take you to all the elementary schools, middle schools, high schools, universities, businesses and so on to give you exposure to the Japanese culture. And, uh, during that time, um, I was very interested in what makes a good student. And of course, Japan was a great place to go. There's a lot of places that, uh, produce great students. We produce great students here in America. But I'd like to see more of them produced in America.

00:14:41.224 --> 00:15:06.700
> John Chanaka>So, um, I had a chance to talk a lot to educators there and watch students there. And so I, uh, after that trip, put together a program called Super Student. And actually I wrote the program, but I didn't publish it myself. Okay. I used Youth Light Incorporated, which is the largest producer of guidance materials today.

00:15:07.320 --> 00:15:32.960
> John Chanaka>And, uh, I, uh, had produced, uh, a program there called Peer Pals before this, which was a kind of a mentoring Big Brother, Big Sister program for older elementary school kids to go and help younger kids during their free time, like recess, lunch, uh, break times and whatever, to become Big Brothers and Big Sisters. They would read to them, do math. They would get to know them.

00:15:33.080 --> 00:15:38.620
> John Chanaka>They would become, uh, just mentors to them. That was a wonderful thing.

00:15:39.320 --> 00:16:54.110
> John Chanaka>But this whole idea of teacher and mentor has always intrigued me a lot. And perhaps because we had the martial arts school, which, you know, is a great emphasis between the student and the teacher. It's an earmark of, uh, Oriental culture. Um, for one, there's other cultures that have prized that. But that whole idea just fascinates me. What is the dynamics, what, between a student and a teacher? What makes a good student? What. What things do good, Good students focus on what, what, what, what's the key? What. What are their tricks or their. Their tips? What writing? That Super Student program, which really was a guide for teachers, by the way. It was supposed to be used in the schools, and it was. We sold it all across the United States. Uh, it was a way for teachers to help Their students become better students. This program that we're doing for parents called Power Parenting is a different approach. It's what can parents do to nurture their children to become super students. You see the different angle, Curtis? You see how thinking in a different way?

00:16:54.409 --> 00:16:55.442
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Absolutely.

00:16:55.586 --> 00:17:15.109
> John Chanaka>Yeah, but you got to have all these pieces kind of fit together and so on. So I just love the idea of parenting. We loved our, you know, parenting our children and, and working with our grandchildren and there's so many people out there. Of course, you know, the children are your legacy. Let me ask you, did you, are you married, Curtis?

00:17:15.769 --> 00:17:18.307
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>I, um, am not married, but I do have two kids.

00:17:18.472 --> 00:17:21.471
> John Chanaka>Okay, so you know what I'm talking about then.

00:17:21.494 --> 00:17:24.699
> John Chanaka>If you have children, what are their ages? How old are they?

00:17:24.999 --> 00:17:28.126
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>My son is 12 and my daughter will be 9 in March.

00:17:28.262 --> 00:17:31.086
> John Chanaka>Oh, that's beautiful age right there. That's beautiful.

00:17:31.182 --> 00:17:31.727
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Yes.

00:17:31.823 --> 00:17:33.727
> John Chanaka>Right before the teenage years.

00:17:33.863 --> 00:17:38.174
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Absolutely. Yeah, I'll actually be 13 in October.

00:17:38.287 --> 00:17:46.652
> John Chanaka>Oh, there you go. You know what, uh, uh, Mark Twain said about teenagers, don't you? Did you ever, uh, do you know his little quip on, uh, that.

00:17:46.756 --> 00:17:47.880
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>What did he say?

00:17:49.220 --> 00:18:26.592
> John Chanaka>Well, he said, uh, when your child gets to be 12 years old, you're getting close to that danger age and what you need to do is put them in a barrel and feed them through a knothole. And then when they could be 13, you need to block up the knothole. Saying that, uh, he was being facetious, of course, but, uh, you know, it's a challenging time as they're growing up, becoming young and trying to be their own person and so on. But that nine year old, I bet you that's exciting. Is it boys or girls, did you say?

00:18:26.695 --> 00:18:28.064
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>I have one of each.

00:18:28.231 --> 00:18:31.200
> John Chanaka>One of each. So the nine year old is what? A girl?

00:18:31.319 --> 00:18:37.471
> John Chanaka>A girl. Okay, so you got the boy and Daniel a little safer.

00:18:37.615 --> 00:18:40.488
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>The names again are Kiara and Daniel.

00:18:40.584 --> 00:18:43.299
> John Chanaka>Kiera and Daniel. Okay, very good.

00:18:43.869 --> 00:18:58.259
> John Chanaka>Um, so to get back to, uh, talking about children and, uh, super students, you know, how important in school is, uh, for them. Do your children like school?

00:18:59.279 --> 00:19:08.059
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Um, I know my son does. I don't know that my daughter necessarily does, but I really didn't like it at first when I was going as a kid either.

00:19:08.400 --> 00:19:41.839
> John Chanaka>Okay. Uh, everyone's different with their likes. And depending on the teachers you have, the school, you have, your likes, your interests and so on, schools can definitely get more exciting. They need to be really dynamic and involved and personal. Everyone's situation's a little bit different, but there are certain things that good students Know what to do. They know how to attack school, if you will. And school is important to kids because it's what they do. I mean, it's their job.

00:19:42.950 --> 00:19:48.756
> John Chanaka>Um, you know, you have an occupation, you have a job, you want to do well at it.

00:19:48.907 --> 00:20:02.932
> John Chanaka>You know, parents usually, uh, get up in the morning, they go to work all day long. Some people hate their jobs, okay, they would like to change their jobs. And, uh, kids have the same kind of feeling.

00:20:03.076 --> 00:20:49.384
> John Chanaka>And good students have learned how to squeeze the best stuff out of school. They know what to ask, they know how to act, they know what to do that makes them successful. And this is funny thing about success. Um, once you're into success, kind of a flow of it, it just feeds on itself, you know, now you're gonna have setbacks. You can learn a lot more from failures and, uh, mistakes, then you sometimes can learn from success, by the way. But, uh, if you are successful and you feel good about what you're doing and contributing and you feel like you have control over the situation and you're mastering certain things, okay?

00:20:49.432 --> 00:21:32.940
> John Chanaka>And kids, in a kid's case, mastering math or reading or spelling and feeling on top of what they're doing, um, they feel like they're wanted and valued. Their opinions are important. They're, you know, and a teacher, of course, is part of that dynamics and so is the parent. But once you feel good about school and learning and so on, it becomes part of your internal kind of motivation, uh, passion, if you will. Okay, so, you know, school's not the only place to learn. Obviously, you know, uh, you know a lot about doing this. Okay, Podcasting it, maybe you're involved in some other things too.

00:21:34.150 --> 00:21:39.140
> John Chanaka>Um, whatever you're passionate about, you know, it shows.

00:21:39.640 --> 00:21:45.152
> John Chanaka>It shows. And, and you know, your program is all about motivation and being excited and passionate about things.

00:21:45.256 --> 00:21:48.079
> John Chanaka>But kids need to be a passionate about learning.

00:21:48.160 --> 00:21:49.819
> John Chanaka>You know, learning is very important.

00:21:51.170 --> 00:21:57.066
> John Chanaka>Um, and I don't care where you're learning, but you know, you need to be passionate about something. And we all have gifts.

00:21:57.258 --> 00:22:07.069
> John Chanaka>You know, you don't have to be an engineer, you don't have to be a doctor, you don't have to be a lawyer. That's not what makes a good student. Do you know what makes a good student, Curtis?

00:22:08.490 --> 00:22:17.309
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Uh, I think it's, it's somebody, you know, who's always open minded and willing to learn and, and to do the, take the steps necessary to succeed.

00:22:18.140 --> 00:22:28.480
> John Chanaka>Exactly. In short, it's all about attitude. Your attitude, which is, by the way, the only thing you really can control.

00:22:29.980 --> 00:22:31.200
> John Chanaka>Did you know that?

00:22:32.059 --> 00:22:35.731
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Yep. They say your out, your attitude determines your altitude.

00:22:35.796 --> 00:22:41.683
> John Chanaka>And there you go. There you go. Let me read you something from one of my books. It's a quote from Charles Swindoll.

00:22:41.731 --> 00:22:42.516
> John Chanaka>If I can do that.

00:22:42.587 --> 00:22:44.099
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Yeah, go ahead. Yes, sir.

00:22:44.140 --> 00:23:03.660
> John Chanaka>Charles Swindoll is probably one of the best Christian writers. He's over 200 books. He was a minister, just a wonderful, wonderful speaker. And, uh, he gives some real great information here. I have it actually, in the forward of one of our books here, parenting books.

00:23:03.819 --> 00:23:23.509
> John Chanaka>He says, the longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude to me is more important than facts. It's more important than past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes.

00:23:23.849 --> 00:23:31.990
> John Chanaka>It's what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, than giftedness or skill.

00:23:32.569 --> 00:23:43.950
> John Chanaka>It will make or break a company, a church, a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude that we will embrace for that day.

00:23:44.500 --> 00:24:14.698
> John Chanaka>We cannot change our past. We cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that's our attitude. I'm convinced that life is 10% of what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you. We are in charge of our attitudes.

00:24:14.874 --> 00:24:16.230
> John Chanaka>What do you think of that?

00:24:17.410 --> 00:24:19.150
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>I think that is true.

00:24:22.210 --> 00:25:08.029
> John Chanaka>Now you know why some of your guests that I've seen, some of your podcasts are wonderful. Some of your guests that come on, that come on from difficult situations, they go through unsurmountable difficulties. Um, if you look closely, you'll see it's their attitude. They're always looking at that glass being half, uh, full, not half empty. They're always looking at things of how to get through, uh, in a. In a happy, positive way that's going to benefit others and in turn benefit themselves.

00:25:10.049 --> 00:25:24.602
> John Chanaka>So there's a secret right there that I'm trying to master. I'm trying to take Charles Swindoll's statement here and try to turn it into action. And I'm trying to. It doesn't work 100% of the time, by the way.

00:25:24.625 --> 00:26:10.349
> John Chanaka>I mean, you're not gonna. You're not gonna have the greatest attitude 100 of the time, but if you can do that more and more each day a little bit better and keep that positive attitude, think about those good things. Think about those things that are positive. Think of the things beautiful. Think about things that are of good report. If you can be thinking about things that are wholesome, uh, that are edifying, I, um, think you will feel different about yourself. And uh, so it is with children when they are in school, uh, making lemonade out of lemons, I guess you would say, what you think of it.

00:26:11.369 --> 00:26:13.710
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>That's right. That's what you have to do in life.

00:26:14.170 --> 00:26:16.385
> John Chanaka>Yeah. It's difficult though, wouldn't you say?

00:26:16.458 --> 00:26:17.778
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Oh yeah, most definitely.

00:26:17.874 --> 00:26:58.622
> John Chanaka>It's not something simple. You have to really be focused on what you're doing and it's just kind of looking at the good, good thing. Breathing, walking, eating, thinking, uh, being able to get around during the day. One thing my mother in law taught me so much when watching her, she's lovely, lovely lady. Is that she was so, she's always so thankful for the little things. So just the small things, you know, looking outside and talk about the flowers or the birds that may be eating it at the feeder, um, you know, just looking at somebody. Here she is in a wheelchair, she's got memory, uh, problems.

00:26:58.685 --> 00:27:04.317
> John Chanaka>She's, she's got um, difficulties, you know, health difficulties.

00:27:04.493 --> 00:28:06.579
> John Chanaka>And she's trying to be looking at the positive side all the time. So Jane, uh, and I, for example, uh, you know, we had to restructure what we did. I mean here we are retired and everything else. Traveling, enjoying it and my mother in law comes to live with us. You know, I could have taken a bitter attitude. Um, but to be honest with you, it was better to look at this time at what can I learn from my mother in law. How can we do something here at the home with the publishing and um, uh, you see, there was ways to improve our situation and to enjoy every day that we had, uh, in a positive way. That doesn't mean every single day is like that. No, but you know, if you find you're gaining this way by controlling your attitude, looking at the positive side, uh, it will just help make you happier, makes you happier.

00:28:08.200 --> 00:28:20.185
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Well, let's talk about your, your Cyber series. You know, your Cyber Warrior series. I'm a cyber security analyst and uh, I know how important it is.

00:28:20.258 --> 00:28:22.470
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>So, you know, kind of tell us about that.

00:28:23.089 --> 00:28:33.990
> John Chanaka>Yeah, for Cyber warriors, um, what we did was we got an idea from um, a communication company.

00:28:34.769 --> 00:28:58.859
> John Chanaka>Um, and we're open to dealing with any communication company that, dealing with Internet, you know, and, and they were very interested in the children's books we were doing. And so they asked us to get together and they said, would you be interested in doing something about cyber bullying, Cyber, Cyber safety, uh, you know, for children, elementary kids.

00:28:59.359 --> 00:29:14.619
> John Chanaka>And we said we would love to, love to do that, love to look at that. So we did our research and so on, and um, this is an important area for sure. Um, do your kids have cell phones? Do they use cell phones?

00:29:16.319 --> 00:29:23.900
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>My daughter has a WI fi phone and my son does not have one, but, but he has a Kindle.

00:29:24.240 --> 00:29:31.539
> John Chanaka>Okay. Uh, how do they use them? Do you, do you see them using them and are you concerned about it?

00:29:31.920 --> 00:29:50.759
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Yeah, I really did not want my daughter to get and iPhone because, you know, she gets on YouTube and you know, gets, uh, plays her games and stuff like that. And I just kind of felt like, you know, she's ah, she, she's uh, just, just too young, you know, that's my opinion.

00:29:51.180 --> 00:30:05.319
> John Chanaka>Yeah. And um, you know, some of the schools, especially the schools, which, I'm glad they are doing this. Parents, uh, I see some parents are really concerned, but here in South Carolina, and I think other states are following suit.

00:30:05.930 --> 00:30:09.508
> John Chanaka>Uh, you're, you're in what state, Curtis? You're in the middle of the country, aren't you?

00:30:09.564 --> 00:30:10.359
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Kansas.

00:30:11.259 --> 00:30:12.355
> John Chanaka>Oh, Kansas. Okay.

00:30:12.387 --> 00:30:13.988
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Yeah. Wichita, Kansas.

00:30:14.163 --> 00:30:17.667
> John Chanaka>Do the deer schools have any restrictions on cell phones?

00:30:17.844 --> 00:30:26.355
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>They have started to ban them in some of the private schools and stuff like that. Are not ban them, you know, but say you have to put them up during the day in like a lock bag or something.

00:30:26.508 --> 00:30:31.779
> John Chanaka>Exactly. And uh, Pennsylvania or uh, South Carolina, the whole state is like that now.

00:30:31.819 --> 00:31:08.960
> John Chanaka>Okay, so every school in South Carolina, you, you can't use your, your cell phone. A, uh, teacher's teaching, you're in the class, math, whatever it might be. You can't take your cell phone out and start using it or, or message or, or uh, you know, use the phone. You have to put it up. It has to be turned off when you come into school and when you leave or at the end of the day, you can turn it back on unless there's an emergency. Now they've got, they've got some little emergency kinds of things going on. You know, they're not going to let a kid suffer, uh, with an emergency or anything like that. But, uh, you can imagine how annoying that would be.

00:31:09.339 --> 00:31:22.240
> John Chanaka>Imagine being a teacher in front of a classroom and you've got 30 people there and you know, 28 of them have their cell phones out while you're teaching. Can you imagine what that would be like?

00:31:23.259 --> 00:31:26.057
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Yeah, I'm sure, I'm sure it's pretty annoying.

00:31:26.203 --> 00:31:28.814
> John Chanaka>Be crazy, right? Ridiculous.

00:31:28.862 --> 00:31:40.009
> John Chanaka>So, you know, educators are definitely, you know, like, when I'm Teaching a lesson. I'm talking to you and I expect you to be listening. You know, I, I want you to be listening. You need to be listening. That's what you're here for.

00:31:40.309 --> 00:31:57.450
> John Chanaka>And um, you know, so there's a time to use a computer and to research and do this and that, and there's a time to talk to your friends and all that kind of stuff. But it's not really in the classroom when math, reading or science or uh, you know, one of the classrooms are supposed to be.

00:31:57.869 --> 00:32:31.730
> John Chanaka>So they have restrictions on them. However, kids are going to use cell phones, children are going to use them and they need to know something about cyberbullying. They need to know something about cyber safety. They need to know about going into certain social, uh, media platforms and so on and giving their name, address, phone number, getting on. There's all kinds of weirdos and crazy, uh, situations, predators out there that are willing to, you know, know, meet up, make all kinds of dates, see all kinds of things, share all kinds of stuff.

00:32:32.069 --> 00:33:34.602
> John Chanaka>And they need to be aware of that. And of course parents need to be monitoring and be involved with that too. But uh, some kids are oblivious to it, what they do, uh, the information they put in and so on. So this book is an attempt to just start. We have a series, uh, that will be uh, going on this, God willing. And um, it's a start to break uh, into it. And uh, one of our local Internet companies would like to use the material, you know, for their customers and such to kind of as a good service, uh, and pr, uh effort to be able to just uh, let parents know that there are the various rules and various things kids can do to protect themselves on the Internet. So it's, it's a start. You know, it's just the beginning kind of a thing. But we're really excited about possibly where that will go and, and how much fun we can have with that.

00:33:34.705 --> 00:33:38.630
> John Chanaka>So that just gives you a little brief overview of that.

00:33:39.089 --> 00:33:40.266
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Appreciate it.

00:33:40.417 --> 00:33:41.018
> John Chanaka>Sure.

00:33:41.153 --> 00:33:49.084
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Let's close it out here. You know, tell us about any upcoming projects that you're working on. I know you mentioned one, but you know, let us know about what you're working on that we need to know about.

00:33:49.241 --> 00:34:45.943
> John Chanaka>Sure. Uh, we've already mentioned of course, the power parenting and the course, um, the book will come out and the course, uh, hopefully during this year, um, my son Joel has got, um, Frogman Puck coming out, which is a sci fi, Christian sci fi, kind of an environmental, save the world kind of a thing with all kinds of exciting characters. And uh, we've gotten into using AI now, which is kind of exciting, um, with illustrations. And he's getting very good on Mid Journey and Leonardo and uh, OpenAI and various other instruments. And that book is just tremendous. Um, we have the Cyber warriors as we've talked about. He also has a book about game wardens, Wild Defenders. My, My son Joel is actually a game warden and he wanted to pay tribute to the work that they do.

00:34:46.112 --> 00:35:04.500
> John Chanaka>So he has a book out on that. And then we also have a book called Scout, which is another one of our animal stories with our grandchildren. And uh, that'll be a fun. A fun book that'll be coming out. So those four books are major projects that we are doing.

00:35:05.440 --> 00:35:16.719
> John Chanaka>I want to let your listeners know too, by the way, that uh, signing up on our website, we. We give out our books four times a year. Free ebooks.

00:35:16.880 --> 00:36:13.476
> John Chanaka>There we have 12 of them and then all the parenting series and so on. But we give them free. They have five days. We have five days every, every quarter, uh, every three months to give um, away books. And uh, if they sign up at our website, they can be part of our membership, part of our family, our launch team, and uh, and receive these books free. Uh, in addition to that, anyone on your podcast today, um, I will give um, you a copy of um, um. Um, A Survival Guide for Parents Part one. And that um, will be free to them. We'll just send it to them. I can send it in flipbook and also uh, a kind of ebook style from Canva.

00:36:13.668 --> 00:36:24.387
> John Chanaka>And uh, this will be a gift for them. All they have to do is click on the link and they have the book. So would that work, Curtis, for uh, your listeners?

00:36:24.483 --> 00:36:30.400
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Absolutely. And now that you're talking about it, that was the next question. Go ahead and throw out your contact info so they can get that free book.

00:36:30.880 --> 00:36:53.271
> John Chanaka>Yeah, uh, which would be great, you know, but again we. We're at www. Uh, uh, MJ Chanaka Publishing, which is M J C H A N A C A P U b l I s H-I-N-G.com and uh, you probably have that in the show notes and everything.

00:36:53.456 --> 00:36:54.615
> John Chanaka>And that's for the sign.

00:36:54.688 --> 00:36:55.981
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>I'll put it in the show notes.

00:36:56.096 --> 00:37:16.989
> John Chanaka>That'd be great. And then um, I will either send you, you know, the links for this survival guide, you can put it in the show notes and then um, you know, it'll be a free. A free, um, free book and a nice introduction to um, survival guide for parents nurturing their, uh, their children. To be successful students.

00:37:19.369 --> 00:37:23.440
> John Chanaka>So those are the projects that we have planned right now.

00:37:24.780 --> 00:37:28.052
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>We'll close this out with some. Go ahead. I'm sorry.

00:37:28.195 --> 00:37:30.387
> John Chanaka>No, I'm sorry. Go ahead. Chris.

00:37:30.483 --> 00:37:36.307
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>I was going to say close this out with some final thoughts. Maybe if that was something I forgot to talk about, that you would like to touch on. Any final thoughts?

00:37:36.324 --> 00:38:06.900
> John Chanaka>Yeah, one thing I would like to touch on real, real briefly, if I can, if I have a minute, is, um, parenting. Parenting is a. Is a very important thing. And you said you were a parent, you have the two children, and, um, so many of your listeners do, and I want to. I want to compare it really to, uh, two sports, okay? Um, parenting is not like ice, uh, skating competitions. Uh, have you ever seen those beautiful ice skating competitions?

00:38:07.239 --> 00:38:11.340
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Absolutely. We just had the figure skaters come to Wichita last week.

00:38:11.880 --> 00:38:19.568
> John Chanaka>Wichita. I saw that one. That's right where the. The men's, uh, that. That one boy, Ilya. Is that his name?

00:38:19.623 --> 00:38:20.293
> John Chanaka>Yeah.

00:38:20.472 --> 00:38:20.719
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Yeah.

00:38:20.719 --> 00:38:26.233
> John Chanaka>Ah, he won the championship for, um, the, uh, men. The nationals.

00:38:26.362 --> 00:38:27.070
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Yeah.

00:38:27.260 --> 00:38:41.110
> John Chanaka>Um, it's not as. Parenting is not like ice skating, okay? Ice skating, if you fall down once or you fall down twice, you're finished. That's it, the game is over, okay? You're done.

00:38:41.900 --> 00:39:03.320
> John Chanaka>Uh, parenting is more like golf, okay? I love golf. And, uh, it's really a lot like this. You're going to make mistakes in parenting, okay? That's all there is to it. And you probably could attest to this. You're going to say the wrong thing, you're going to do the wrong thing, you're going to make the wrong decision. But I don't know if you have ever played golf, have you, Curtis?

00:39:04.300 --> 00:39:07.795
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Not very good at it. But I have, though, okay?

00:39:07.827 --> 00:39:13.119
> John Chanaka>And you probably know what it's like in golf, which, again, I love to play.

00:39:13.949 --> 00:39:28.050
> John Chanaka>Um, in golf, you get many chances, okay? Many, many chances. You. You're on the first hole. There's 18 holes, but you're on the first hole and you hit the ball and goes in the woods. That's okay.

00:39:28.389 --> 00:39:39.809
> John Chanaka>It's a mistake. But you can go down by the woods and put the ball out into the fairway and hit it again. This time, maybe you put it on the green, maybe not. Maybe you put in a sand trap.

00:39:40.619 --> 00:40:23.050
> John Chanaka>Wherever you're still getting chances, you can hit it again and put it on. Maybe that hole you didn't do very well. Maybe you got a six or seven or an eight on that first hole. It was a par four, but you've got the next hole, number two, you get to try again. And that's what parenting is, Curtis. It's learn. It's make a mistake, Learn from the mistake, say you're sorry, try it again, go to the next hole. That's what parenting is like. I'm so glad that parenting is not like ice skating where you fall, you make a mistake, and you can never go back and change it. It's done. You're finished.

00:40:23.789 --> 00:40:29.650
> John Chanaka>So that would be one of my last thoughts, is that stick in there with the parenting study.

00:40:29.949 --> 00:40:39.630
> John Chanaka>Look at people that have been married and have been successful. They raising good kids, they raising wholesome children and so on. See what's going on.

00:40:40.969 --> 00:40:46.789
> John Chanaka>Study about how to be a parent, because it doesn't come with a book. Okay.

00:40:47.769 --> 00:40:56.469
> John Chanaka>When you're married and you have children and so on, that baby doesn't come at the hospital or wherever you had the baby, uh, with a little handbook about how to raise that kid.

00:40:58.010 --> 00:41:07.846
> John Chanaka>You have to be observant. You have to see what's right, what's wholesome. And then you have to, you'll make mistakes, uh, learn from those mistakes and keep moving forward.

00:41:07.918 --> 00:41:23.849
> John Chanaka>Okay? We'd like to help you with our series and maybe you can get some information through the books that we have. But there's many sources out there that, that have good, wholesome, uh, answers for parents. And that would be the last thing I would leave you with. Okay.

00:41:24.590 --> 00:41:58.699
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Okay, ladies and gentlemen, to get that free ebook, please visit mjchanaka publishing.com link will be in the show Notes Follow Rate Review Share this episode to as many people as possible. Jump on your favorite podcast app, follow the show, Check us out, Share it, Leave us a review. If you have any guests or suggestion topics, Curtis Jackson1978att.net is the place to send them. As always, thank you for listening and supporting the show. And John, thank you for all that you and your family do to make the world a better place.

00:41:58.739 --> 00:42:00.280
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>And thank you for joining me.

00:42:00.659 --> 00:42:03.079
> John Chanaka>Appreciate you, Curtis. God bless you.

00:42:03.699 --> 00:42:16.699
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>For more information on the Living the Dream podcast, visit www.djcurveball.com until next time, stay focused on living the dream. Dream.