A young man once labeled severely learning disabled journeys across America to find others who have used humor, imagination, and resiliency to create satisfying lives beyond normal.
When his teachers decided Jonathan Mooney needed special ed because he could not follow directions, sit still, or read well, he feared he had lost his chance to be a regular kid. Suddenly he was not normal. Suddenly he was a short-bus rider destined to travel a harder road, a distinction that screamed out his difference to a hostile world. Along with other kids facing similar challenges, he was denigrated daily. He almost lost hope. Yet ultimately, Jon shocked the skeptics, graduating from Brown University (with honors). But he could never shake the voice that insisted he would always be less than.
So he hit the road. To free himself, he dreamed up an epic journey across the U.S. on a broken-down short bus. This inspiring record of his odyssey documents Mooney's search to help himself by learning from others once labeled abnormal who had learned to live in beautifully original ways. (Excerpted from http://www.jonathanmooney.com .)
First of two interviews (the next a year later) with author Jonathan Mooney conducted by John Quinlan for the Madison, WI-based public affairs program, Forward Forum (http://wwww.forwardforum.net ), on Sept. 16, 2007.
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