Feeling the Culture Shock in "A polyglot, fuzzy-edged Blade Runner world"?

Is America a “culture-shocked society” at war with itself, like the rest of the world?

Mr. Ian C. Dawkins Moore, a man on a mission who hates “boring xenophobes” who, on an ongoing journey of self-discovery, traveled through the heart of Europe back to Africa and then America, thinks so. .

And so, taking the term “culture shock” from Alvin Toffler’s 1970 book Future Shock, he has set out to wake us up and help us better understand the multicultural world we live in through Culture Shock News (CSN), which is now you can watch 24/7 all over the world in flash video format.

Mr Moore’s argument is that while we have reached “fantastic heights” technologically, “the parallel development of social interaction, integration and inclusion has not kept pace”.

He believes that societies are “at war with each other and with themselves because they do not accept the need to treat each other as they would like to be treated.”

Ever the optimist, however, Mr. Moore sees a way out of our state of culture shock.

“My experiences,” he says, “have shown me that when people listen to each other, they each get positive feedback.

“Every person I meet is a potential creative force that can change the nature of their lives and those around them.

“By focusing on one person at a time, I’m encouraged by the potential for change in the future.

“As Christians say: if I can help someone on their life path, then my life will not have been in vain.”

The qualifications of this writer, teacher, engineer, and video producer, who was born in London, England, to deal with the impacts of a multicultural world, or what one writer has described as “a polyglot, fuzzy-edged Blade Runner world.” while reviewing Mr. Moore’s work [Anneli Rufus in the East Bay Express, August 10, 2005]-They are persuasive.

As “the child of the fifties and sixties”, he believes he belongs to “perhaps the first generation to give voice to the multicultural reality of the modern world”. [Culture Shock Essays by I. C. Moore, Jukebox Press, Oakland, CA, 1999; page 1].

“I am,” notes Mr. Moore, “a product of an English mother and a Jamaican father,” and because neither of them raised him, he had many foster parents and families from whom he learned “to love those who give love.” .”

And in what would be characteristic of him in later years, he spent his youth on the run from “xenophobic donkeys.” [“My Bio-Sphere,” Culture Shock Essays].

After graduating in 1970 with a British degree in civil engineering, Mr. Moore embarked on a journey across continents that honed his vision and role in a multi-cultural world.

First, he traveled throughout Europe, working various jobs. Then, in 1974, he decided to dedicate himself to teaching and traveled for two years to West Africa in search of “the African side” of his nature.

He crossed the Sahara desert and traveled through Algeria, Mali (visiting Timbuktu), Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso), Ghana, Ivory Coast, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, teaching English and working as a graphic designer, sales executive, and diamond miner.

Moore writes that his African odyssey had a “profound effect” on his “early manhood”. [“The Road to Ramadan,” Culture Shock Essays, p. 51] when he realized his true African connection.

It was also during this trip that he became a Muslim.

On his conversion to Islam, Mr. Moore reflects in “The Road to Ramadan”:

“Through faith and compassion, my understanding of the world and its different peoples was greatly enhanced. Above all, the search for truth through constant inquiry and self-examination has persisted throughout these many years since I I found on the way to Ramadan”.

In 1976, he returned to England again and worked on an oil rig in the North Sea as a laborer and planning engineer for an oil company in Aberdeen, Scotland. He also played the saxophone in various bands at local establishments and participated in a number of stage productions.

Then, in 1981, Mr. Moore moved to the United States and established himself as an award-winning freelance writer, graphic artist, and video producer, and set out to wake us up with CSN.

His mission enlightens him. Delving into CSN’s exploration of the contributions of all the cultures that make up the American family, including their confrontations, Mr. Moore says, “I have set myself one of the most exciting challenges of my life: Changing the world through poetry and art expression, one poet at a time.

“I have a gift for meeting people and nurturing their creative spirit.

“Each individual must free themselves, and that can best be done by opening to their creative spirit.”

He has written four books, two on culture and education, and two poetry books.

This avid reader, who averages “one book a week,” all of which influence him, says in his autobiographical poem, “My Biosphere.” [Culture Shock Essays, p. 110]:

I read like a fish that swims in the night

I spend more on books than I have such a right

I meditate, calm down and keep myself without tension.

My dreams are to learn the heart of the word.

My hopes are to chase that winged bird

My efforts, I pray, are to teach and to be heard.

Poem © 1999 Ian CD Moore

Based in Oakland, California, since 1981, Mr. Moore lives with his wife, Bridgette, and their daughter, Jazmine.

Flash Reviews of Two Books by Ian C. Dawkins Moore

culture shock essays [Jukebox Press, Oakland, CA, 1999; $13; ISBN 0-932693-04-0]

All of these essays are animated by Mr. Moore’s unique point of view. He says what he has in mind, a mind that is attentive to the multicultural possibilities and contributions of our time, as well as its confusions, as he describes his journeys in essays entitled: ‘Coming to America’; ‘See London and Die’; ‘The Road to Ramadan’ (about his conversion to Islam); ‘China: 6,000 years in 6 days’; ‘The promised land’ (his stay in Palestine); ‘Jamaica-No Problem’ (her experience of him during Hurricane Gilbert in 1988); and ‘Nice Chap’ (an essay on his relationship with his father).

The color of jazz (poetry) [Quilombo Enterprises ICM, Oakland, CA]

Recording memorable observations and moments in Mr. Moore’s life, each written with one person in mind, including poets, musicians, politicians, himself and his family, these poems were published in 2001 under the title ‘Kweku Dawkins, writer, poet, short story writer. The one that I found interesting was a poem for the poet written by the poet that reflects an essential aspect of himself, both as a poet and as a person, that he wishes to celebrate and acknowledge:

IT IS NOT WITH EYES OF TEARS (To Kweku D.)

It is not with eyes of tears

I greet the dawn of the new season.

Nor do I chase like a butterfly

Threads of a half-forgotten tapestry.

I sing no song of pain to raise my muse

Because she calls me in all moods,

A spirit fixed in my inner soul

—-I just have to listen.

Poem: © 2001 Ian CD Moore (Kweku Dawkins).