New Pangaea - Duffey, Brenda

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Biographie:
Brenda Duffey is a retired teacher of English and American history who has lived and worked in public schools all over the country. For ten years in Albuquerque, NM she worked as an eighth grade humanities teacher incorporating literature and the arts into the teaching of American history. During this time, she worked with the administration to radically change the way American history was taught to incorporate all cultures that make up this country into the teaching instead of teaching white man's political history. The most important change was incorporating the history of the Indigenous people of this country whose land was taken through wars of extermination and broken peace treaties. The Covenant Chain on the front cover is a treaty made with the Iroquois Confederacy and George Washington before the American Revolution and one that was continually violated as the new United States began its westward expansion. After ten years of teaching the actual story of American history, Brenda developed the idea for a book similar to James Michener's The Covenant that would teach the true story of American history in fictional form. The idea remained with her when she moved to Oregon with her second husband. In 1997 Brenda was hired by the federal government to teach one semester at Chemawa Indian School in Kizer, Oregon. The course she taught was Native American history. In the library of the school, Brenda learned about the Iroquois Confederacy and the Peacemaker. She found the starting point for her book. After two years of searching for another permanent teaching position Brenda landed a teaching position at a facility in Oregon that worked with adjudicated youth. Her Master's in Social Work was key to obtaining this position. The idea for the book never left her during the time she was there - 1998-2003. A whistleblowing experience forced Brenda into early retirement in 2003 and during this time, she began work on The Peacemaker. She finished the book in 2009 and self-published the book. After two cross country book tours, Brenda decided the book needed a second printing and revised the book in June, 2010. Brenda has devoted her time to the marketing of this book since then with one vision in mind - to bring the message of The Peacemaker to a global audience in order to awaken the public to what was lost in 1776 and what needs to be done to address the challenges created by this. That vision has stayed with her through the loss of her job, widowhood and health challenges resulting from the whistle blowing. In 2018, Brenda was able to realize her vision when she moved to Charlotte, North Carolina and began a project with her older daughter. That dream was to create a model of sustainable living on 1.3 acres of land she purchased on the urban edge of Charlotte. Since then, Brenda has developed a sustainable garden, had her property listed as a certified wildlife habitat and has been busy restoring the land while her daughter has worked rehabbing the current structure on the property to use alternative energy sources. She now lives in Charlotte enjoying the companionship and support of her older daughter and finding time to spend with her younger daughter who lives in San Diego, CA. At present Brenda is busy finalizing her construction and move to her tiny home she is building on the property and planning a bigger and better garden that she hopes will serve to train urban youth about growing their own food and the principles of sustainable living presented in The Peacemaker....