American Jihad: A Love Story (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781681818412)

After losing my father and my first love at a very early age, I began to seek answers to life's eternal questions, including "Why are we here?"

I then met Ken at the New York World's Fair and tenuously accepted his offer of taking "self-defense lessons."

Ken told me that I would become a teacher, but for years I fought against the idea. Eventually, I did become a teacher of learning disabled students, but only recently did I truly understand what Ken's lessons meant. The lessons led me on a journey that redefined everything I thought to be "true."

It's been said: "When the student is ready, the teacher will appear." Ken appeared to me when the time was right, and his words are being offered to those ready to hear them.

I am not a writer, but feel compelled to spread Ken's story. Unbelievable to even myself at times, it offers insight and enlightenment to those who listen to its lessons with open minds and hearts.

About the Author: V. Diorio (V. B. D. D. D.) grew up in New York City during the 1960s and spent summers in Italy with his opera singer aunt. He moved to Kent, Ohio, to realize his dream of becoming an astronaut. But events at Kent State University on May 4, 1970, changed his career path forever. Instead of traveling into space, he became a teacher. Now retired, the author is a community volunteer living in Akron, Ohio, about 15 miles west of Kent. Every May 4, he revisits campus to remember the four students killed there during a Vietnam War protest.