International Writers Inspiring Change featured author: Ronald Schulz

Released from jail and the asylum in 1970, Ron turns eighteen and gets his draft card, but can never betray his convictions or cut his hair and join straight society. From Rock Concert to gritty city streets, Ron hits the road and finds wild love and wilder sex, along with betrayal. Ron and his wild, tree hugging band of saboteur friends fight back against the Establishment from the first Earth Day school walkout until he joins the White Panthers, whose motto is, "Dope, Rock 'n' Roll And Fucking in the Streets!" This memoir is a sequel to CHICAGO RAGE, and he is working on more to follow about his adventures when he ran away to New Orleans at 15, communal life in the frozen north, and traveling the world on the cheap to spend nine months in a Buddhist Monastery.

Reader Review:

"This was a good read and kept my interest. Events are true and give the reader a sense of the way things were during that turbulent time." - R.E.

Our review of Party at the End of the Rainbow

Party at the End of the Rainbow, by Ronald Schulz is a biographical rendering of the author's actual experiences during the late 1960s and early 70's, as a young adult growing up in the turbulent and ever-changing culture of the time. First of all, it is noteworthy that the author's recollection of details, that is events, dialogues, descriptions of people etc. is quite astounding. The detail he has put into recapturing times and events which took place over half a century ago is a big plus. One feels, as one turns the pages, that one is sitting there, listening into their conversations. What really stands out, and which the author captures in the book, is the mentality of the counter-culture movement of the time. The leagues and groups formed by young people making a stand against the Mediocrity of the time, the political ineptitude and corruption and the Vietnam war. One feels the pulse, the passion, the sheer rage they lived with at having to face a cultural wall that actively stood against them. It reminds us, as we see even today, that is the young people who take action, who protest, who revolt against the status quo. Clearly, for anyone who grew up in this time period, it is a throwback to a time when the youth of the world revolted against conventions; long hair and beards, free love - lots of it, ample drugs, open revolt against the authorities who detested and tried to stop their crusade for change. It was passionate, it was driven, it was carefree and alive - but it had a purpose, and clearly, their pursuits did ripple through society and result in change. It's an interesting read not only for those who lived through that time, the Vietnam War et al., but for anyone wanting to step through the window of time and experience exactly what it was like to be part of a counter-culture movement. We gave it 5 stars for its uniquely detailed narrative and for capturing a piece of history with such lucidity.

Review by International Writers Inspiring Change

An early image of the author

Review

"This was a good read and kept my interest. Events are true and give the reader a sense of the way things were during that turbulent time." R.E.

About the author

RONALD SCHULZ was born in 1952 in Chicago. He dropped out to explore the Sixties radical counterculture before hitchhiking across Europe and Africa on a roundabout Buddhist pilgrimage to Nepal. Now a semi-retired hobo and a new author writing his honest history of those tumultuous times. He hopes to honor the memory of departed friends before he too vanishes from this planet. He has taken advanced writing classes at the University of Washington and Hugo House. Ronald is a father of two and a grandfather of three, who believes in living life to the fullest, regardless of circumstances.

1. What inspired you to write?

I've always been interested in realistic stories about life adventures; however, I was too busy living them to take the time to write until the dawning of this new 21st century. Friends who listened to some of my tales encouraged me to take a few writing classes, and my resolve to share my slice of history grew. I had made notes and a few brief descriptions beforehand, most of which were lost due to my nomadic lifestyle, but the act of writing them imprinted the memories deeper into my mind, where I was able to retrieve them later. When a few of my lost notes turned up, I discovered that they were almost word-for-word what I had written subsequently; proof that note-taking is beneficial for memory, even if you lose the notes. 

2. Who or what most inspired you in life?

Adventure inspired me.   The books of exploration and survival I read as a kid opened my eyes to what I wanted from life. The workaday world of my parents, that I grew up in held little attraction for me, and rather than surrendering to a staid security, I seized the chance to run away as soon as I thought I could pass for older and live on my own.

Since running away from home at fifteen, my life has been an adventurous one, living among down and outers on skid-row, and becoming involved with the communal hippie and radical subcultures of the 1960s before I hitchhiked across North Africa to Asia, gave me plenty of material.

3. What do you hope to inspire with your writing?

The technological revolution has given us useful tools. Unfortunately, they have grown like weeds and taken over the experience of genuine living for many people, especially younger folk, who are being marinated in so-called virtual reality. Their horizons are often stunted by a sterile, artificial existence, without enjoying the visceral pleasures real life offers. Such an existence terrifies me, and I hope to awaken a lust for real life, real love, with all the ennobling features of courage and compassion that grows within our heart from overcoming obstacles and even threats.  

4. Is there a backstory to your book? How did it come about?

 Yes, I soon gave up on the idea of one big book that grew into a monster, like the famous tome, War And Peace, which takes too much time for any reader who has more to do in his or her own life than live life vicariously. My books are in a series that dives deep into a period of my life and, although each are stand stand-alone books, they pick up where the last leaves off, and follows into my next adventure.