“The Tao Te Ching says, ‘A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.’ I would say this describes Carole Garrison perfectly. Her book THE WANDERER chronicles her journey around the world, often times as a solo traveler, seeking the joys of connecting with global friends made over a lifetime, experiencing some of the world’s most sacred, treasured and mystical sites, while at the same time, looking within to evaluate how she got there in the first place. It’s a journey of reflection, beauty, insight and renewed energy we can all benefit from.” ~Jana Kappeler, Kentucky Acrylic/Mixed Media Abstract Artist
“Wanderlust captured and conveyed in such a delightfully contagious way, in THE WANDERER, Carole Garrison’s writing reads, and feels, like a vicarious vacation. Treat yourself!” ~Carl Root, PhD, Lecturer, School of Justice Studies, Eastern Kentucky University
“As an avid traveler, author, and editor, I set very high standards for the books I review. In short, this around-the-world journal is out of this world! THE WANDERER is not your typical travelogue. Rather, it’s an insightful, touching account of people and places written by an intrepid woman whose quirky approach to planning belies her superb attention to detail and understanding of culture. Don’t finalize your “bucket list” until you read this book.” ~ Lynne Willard, editor and author
“An inherently fascinating read from beginning to end, The Fourth Moment: Journeys from the Known to the Unknown is a candidly personal and deftly crafted memoir by Carole J. Garrison that is certain to be an enduringly valued addition to library Contemporary American Biography collections.” ~Midwest Book Review
“The Fourth Moment: Journeys From the Known to the Unknown, is in equal parts a woman’s travel adventure and a mother’s love letter to her children. With crisp prose and richly textured writing, Carole Garrison sheds light on Cambodia’s dark history, and also its beautiful culture, sharing stories of what it means to be a mother, a daughter, and a family in our increasingly global world.” ~Loung Ung, author of First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers (2006)
“The Fourth Moment: Journeys From the Known to the Unknown is a collection of memoir-essays, snapshots of life’s big and small moments that lie just beyond the forgettable. These experiences bubble up unbidden into consciousness at the witching hour, or nudged into focus by something familiar, perhaps recorded in a locked diary, and if you’re very lucky, shared with someone you love and trust. Garrison’s stories are filled with sensory stimulation, colors, sounds, sights and aromas that sweeps across nations, through the sometimes tragic tales of friendships and romance, always infused with heartfelt warmth and longing. They lurk, then rear up demanding to be understood, processed and added to the body of knowledge that is both unique to you and part of the universal stream of life–fourth coming.” ~Deborah DeNicola,author of Future That Brought Her Here, The Memoir of a Call to Awaken (2009)
“Garrison’s stories are compelling. For example, ‘Roaches’ in Garrison’s hands turns a base repugnancy into eloquent compassion. She somehow manages to weave a perfect description of their hardiness with today’s political climate, and it all results in a resounding ‘yeah!’ in our minds at the end. This is a rare and true voice of an outsider looking in, and becoming comfortable, yet never forgetting that in our world, we are all, somehow, strangers in a strange land.” ~Barbra Nightingale, poet, author and professor emeritus from Broward College, and Advisor Emeritus from Phi Theta Kappa
”Masterful! Garrison’s extraordinary ability to take every day experiences and make them life learning treasures for the ages is almost ingenious. Walking the reader so generously through her failures and triumphs without pretense, with a lens of transparency she aims to redeem and transform the human spirit.” ~Councilwoman Veronica Sims, Akron City, OH
“I know the author as ‘Mamma.’ She’s been Mamma to us since moving to our small village in the summer of 1992, when I was eleven years old. Her stories are Cambodia’s stories, and we lived them with her. Like her, these stories resonate with our challenges, passions and accomplishments. Be inspired.” ~Sok, Keang, UNICEF, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
“Garrison cultivated her relations with Russian and Chinese members of the UN on a personal mission as an American to improve relations with them. She also was untiring in engaging with her many friends in the military from all countries to lobby for the acceptance of women fighters. It was a pleasure watching and learning from her can-do spirit.” ~Kathleen Graff, International Red Cross (ICRC)
“As a political philosopher, I have long struggled with the question of how to live justly in a society comprised of people of different genders, races, religions, classes, ethnicities, and geographical locations. In her memoir, Carole J. Garrison provides the missing pieces to the puzzle. She makes the struggle for a just society personal. Whether it’s growing up Jewish in 1950’s America, or a 13 year old girl’s first encounter with racial segregation in the U.S. South, or a female police officer’s orientation to the profession, Garrison articulates the effects of social disparities on the human heart with razor-like precision.” ~Laura Newhart, professor of philosophy, Eastern Kentucky University
In The Fourth Moment, the disjointed structure and frank tone support the theme of finding the “nowness” in a random and chaotic life. Dr Garrison generously shares her family, friends, and experiences that have conjoined to forge a 21st century woman from sound traditional stock. ~Dennis J. Kennedy
I picked this book up late one night and didn’t put it down until I was finished at 3 am. Garrison is a natural storyteller and completely draws the audience in with her eloquent personal narratives. Her raw, honest accounts of what it means to be a mother, a wife, a daughter, a police officer, and a world traveler had me laughing and crying intermittently throughout the whole book. I highly recommend The Fourth Moment to anyone and everyone, but especially fellow women that find themselves juggling many roles and identities, as you will immediately recognize the sentiments that Garrison conveys. You won’t be disappointed! ~Allia Vaez
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Carole J. Garrison 