Newspaper Page Text
6A
June 28, 2007
Focus on the Gflfld NBWS
‘The Secret’ says people can draw negative happenings toward them
By TARA BURGHART
Associated Press Writer
CHICAGO (AP) — Want
to know a secret? Thoughts
of fear and powerlessness
among the people who died
in Hurricane Katrina and the
Sept. 11 terrorist attacks
attracted them “to being in
the wrong place at the wrong
time.
That's probably the most
eye-popping claim associated
with The Secret, a book that
tells us that the “law of
attraction” - basically “like
attracts like” — governs our
universe.
“If people believe they can
be in the wrong place at the
wrong time, ;m(r they have
no control over outside cir
cumstances,” the book says,
*“those thoughts of fear, sep
aration and powerlessness, if
persistent, can attract them
to being in the wrong place
at the wrong time.”
The Secret, is the work of
Rhonda Byrne, an Australian
television and film producer.
Introducing Paul DeForrest Scisney and ‘Street Pedal Black’
7DmORAH\V.MOODY
ugusta Focus Staff Writer
When meeting Paul
DeForrest Scisney, a distin
guished young man with
piercing eyes and a genuine
smile stands before you.
The courteous demeanor
gradually reveals an intellec
wally gifted individual who
is on the move. This recent
Morehouse graduate - Cum
Laude with departmental
honors in English - is pur
suing his dreams with a pas
sion. DeForrest credits his
parents, Harvey and
Pauline Andrews, both edu
cators, with nurturing the
aptitude they saw in him.
“Ever since his story was
featured in the ACE Gifted
Program in 2002, his father,
grandparents, and [ have
always tried to cultivate his
talents,” his mother stated.
His parents purchased him
a Wacom digital drawing
tablet and his creativity
flourished.
He has taken his love of
writing, art, and imagina
tion to pen a short futuristic
novel that captures action
conveys it to the pages of
his book, Street Pedal Black'
The Augusta Focus inter
views this up and coming
writer.
Augusta Focus — When
and why did you begin
writing?
I started writing and
drawing during Bth grade.
I watched a lot of anime
Annual SRS Golden Harvest
food drive check presentation
AIKEN, SC. (June 25—
The Savannah River Site hopes
o raise $12,000 in its four
week annual food drive for the
Golden Harvest Food Bank.
Employees and media are invit
ed to artend the 2007 Golden
Harvest Food Drive Check and
Food presentation, Thursday,
June 28, 23&2\;{ in fimßatd:
building 70 (SRS
Office).
All SRS organizations are
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The book, which advocates
the power of positive think
ing, has more than 5.2 mil
lion copies in print. A 90-
minute DVD of the same
name has sold 2 million
copies.
A pop culture phenome
non, its also attracted critics
are particularly bothered by
what they see as a philosophy
that could diss‘of:fc into a
blame-the-victimy mentality,
and suggest it could be dan
rerous to those suffering
%rom serious Illness, who
back then (and 1 still kind
of do), and | liked how a
story was told in a span of a
short series as opposed to
the Western style in around
100 or more episodes, and |
wanted to create something
like that. So I just started
writing liberally, about any
crazy thing I could think of,
and [ ended up with a pro
totype series—completely
horrible, but I developed
my literary syntax and
grammar. | may rewrite it
and release it one day, but 1
just enjoyed writing,
Augusta Focus — When
did you first consider your
self a writer?
Really, when 1 got more
ideas for Street Pedal Black.
Episode 11 was supposed to
be a one-shot, but I got
more ideas, and it became a
trilogy soon after.
Augusta Focus - What
inspired you to pen your
first novel?
I just really liked the idea
of creating my own sto
ries—it was never some
thing 1 had to do. T was
drawing different charac
ters, | wanted to give them
their own world, and |
enjoy the overall process.
After 9 years of honing my
art and writing style, Street
Pedal Black — Episode II:
Streets Warfare was pub
lished.
Augusta Focus — Where
did you get the title of your
book?
participating in this food
drive—Washington Savannah
River Company, Bechtel
Savannah River, Inc, BNG
America Savannah River Cor
poration, BWXT Savannah
River Company, CH2 Savan
nah River Company, the U.S.
Forest Service-Savannah River,
Wackenhut bavolofm Inc., and
the Department of Energy.
The SRS food drive is one of
Golden Harvest Food Bank’s
AUGUSTA FOCUS
don't get any medical treat
ment.
Others find the movement
embarrassingly materialistic
or the latest example of an
American propensity of
wanting something for noth
ing.
Most of the book and
DVD focuses on how people
can improve their lives,
health, relationships and
financial situations. But it
also says people can draw
negative happenings toward
them.
In the DVD, for example,
a man so worried about his
bicycle that he secures it to a
pole with heavy chains
returns to find his bike has
indeed been stolen.
“The condition of being
overweight,” the book says,”
was created through your
thought to it. To putitin the
most basic terms, if someone
is overweight, it came from
thinking ‘fat thoughts,’
whether that person was
aware of it or not.”
To tell you the truth, 1
was inspired by the video
game Jet Set Radio (Jet
Grind Radioin the U.S.) in
many ways in regards to art
and attitude (My character
Hoodie-Bo pays homage by
parodying Prof. K). It has a
rating system where the
lowest is “PEDAL.” For
some odd reason, it stuck
out in my mind compared
to the others. 1 had Street’s
character design and a loose
storyline in my mind at the
time, but I didnt have a
name for either. | decided
to add “Pedal” somewhere
in his name, and | wanted
“Black™ for an edge of
power behind it. “Street”
just kind of came out of
nowhere—l mean, have
you ever heard of a dude
named “Street?!” (Just to be
clear, “Pedal Black” is his
last name.)
Augusta Focus — Is there a
message in your novel that
you want your readers to
grasp?
The story itself is over 6
years old, and 1 have
changed a lot during that
time. In the first draft, it
was “just a story.” When |
revised it for print, | started
to see some themes that
apply to the world today. 1
started writing Street Pedal
Black exactly a month
before 9/11, so I wasn't
thinking about the “great
battle of good vs. evil” back
then—it was just an action
largest fund-raisers in the local
community. The Sites wo
food drives, one in the spring
and one in the fall, have been
consolidated into one spring
drive. The Golden Harvest
Food Bank must meet needs
year-round, and SRS organiza
drive would be the best way
help with that effort.
And during “events in his
tory where masses of lives
were lost,” the book says, the
“frequency of their thoughts
matched the frequency ofg the
event.”
The positive spin the book
places on that assertion is
that believers will no longer
be worried of being victims
of the “luck of the draw.”
Instead, “whatever you
choose to think will become
your life experience.”
Byrne expanded on the
issue in a response to several
e-mailed questions from The
Associated Press.
“In a large-scale tragedy,
like 9711, Hurricane Katrina,
etc. we see that the law of
attraction responds to people
being at the wrong place at
the wrong time because their
dominant thoughts were on
the same frequency of such
events,” she said.
“Now, this doesnt mean
that they thought of the
same exact event, but if their
dominant thoughts and feel
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Paul DeForrest Scisney
story. Today, war is a very
controversial topic, and
there were a few times that |
thought about changing the
Government’s name, but
I'm glad that I didn. |
think that alone sends a
really powerful message, but
I would rather the readers
find their own message like
I did for my own story. It’s
really abstract.
Augusta Focus — Do you
have a specific writing style?
I like to write in Ist-per
son; | let the characters tell
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ings were in alignment with
the energy of fear, separation,
powerlessness and having no
control over outside circum
stances, then that is what
they attracted,” she said.
She said there is “no one to
blame,” in such cases and
that besides the deaths,
injuries and other losses,
“there were also many mirac
ulous stories of survival.”
That whole concept is one
of the most troubling asser
tions of The Secret, according
to John Norcross, a psychol
ogist and professor at the
University of Scranton in
Pennsylvania who conducts
research on self-help books.
“So that would mean that
it you're poor, you have
somehow carned it by your
thinking,” Norcross said. “If
you've been sexually abused,
youd be surprised to hear
that someway, you're respon
sible for that.”
The book’s mantra of “ask,
believe, receive,” he said, eas
ily transtorms into a blame
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the story. I'm also very
liberal with the story itself.
[ have an “almost-every
thing-is-okay” philosophy
when it comes to fiction
since pretty much anything
can happen in the real
world—it builds a good
amount of shock value and
keeps the suspension of dis
belief.
Augusta Focus - As a
child, what did you want to
do when you grew up?
I was originally going to
be an engineer (it was my
first major in college) since
the victim mentality.
“Cancer victims. Sexual
assault victims. Holocaust
victims. They're responsi
ble?” Norcross said. “The
book is riddled with these
destructive falschoods.”
Such concerns seemingly
have not dimmed sales. And
The Secret has been featured
on the TV shows of Larry
King, Ellen DeGeneres and
Oprah Wintrey, who devot
ed two episodes to the sub
ject.
Byrne said she was strug
gling personally and profes
simmlrvc several years ago
when she was given a nearly
100-year-old book called
The Science of Getting Rich,
by Wallace D. Wartdles. In it,
readers are guaranteed to
become wcalthy if they learn
and follow “certain laws
which govern the process of
acquiring riches.”
Inspired to do turther
research, Byrne said, she
resolved to create a film to
Sce Secret, page 7A
I'm good at building and
fixing things, but I had a
real passion for art, especial
ly when 1 developed my
own style.
Augusta Focus — Do you
see writing as a long or
short-term career?
[ see it as a dream. | love
to entertain others, and 1|
would like to entertain and
somewhat educate the
world. It’s one thing to
write a book or make a
drawing—it’s even more to
S Defforest, page 10A