Odyssey: The Story Of A Lovelorn Xenophobe And Her Turbulent Voyage To The Romantic "Island Of Set Free" (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781547192977)

Born "barefoot poor" in the Missouri Ozark Mountains, Ruth was blessed with two wise and loving parents and in spite of two older sisters, "who I'm convinced were put on earth to make my life a livin' hell," she enjoyed an idyllic, country childhood, and has traveled a truly magnificent life journey. But growing up in what she called "the hatred belt of the country," if you were not "white, straight, and Protestant you were going to hell." These xenophobic beliefs around her clashed painfully with her childhood sensibilities and what her parents had taught her. Later on, as an adult, she became a tireless fighter for human rights-worker and renter, as well as animal rights, and was arrested and jailed more than once fighting for those rights and more than once having inequitable, false charges against her dismissed in the courtroom. Amidst fighting City Hall, Ruth became a successful fashion model, which afforded her the means to obtain two college degrees, one in English Literature, and one in Psychology. Her life experiences formed her distinctive writing style and led her to write the book Odyssey, as well as two others in the making, both relating to xenophobia and its devastating impact on our world. "Ours is a world of 'man's inhumanity to man," a desolate landscape of xenophobic fear and hatred. It's time for us to trade fear for courage, hatred for love-it's time for us to come together." Such were my thoughts when I first determined to write Odyssey, The Story Of A Lovelorn Xenophobe And Her Turbulent Voyage To The Romantic "Island Of Set Free."