Dear Alyssa

Dear Alyssa by Jon McLane is an inside look into the life of a man that served through war, politics, homelessness, drug addiction, and turned it all into an opportunity to teach and help others, culminating into the making of this book. The book is written as a guide left for the authors eldest daughter, and intended to be the first of a series of how-to guides designed to teach the authors children how-to do one of the many jobs the author has done in his life. This man has...
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Dear Alyssa by Jon McLane is an inside look into the life of a man that served through war, politics, homelessness, drug addiction, and turned it all into an opportunity to teach and help others, culminating into the making of this book. The book is written as a guide left for the authors eldest daughter, and intended to be the first of a series of how-to guides designed to teach the authors children how-to do one of the many jobs the author has done in his life. This man has eventually found himself creating a tiny house village designed to house unhoused veterans and civilians, and is using the proceeds of this book to help fully fund that effort."I have been meaning to put this book out since 2012 because I felt like I reached the nexus in my story, but little did I know the ending was a ways away. I have been keeping notes through Google Docs, Facebook, and Youtube videos knowing that one day I would write this guide so you would better understand the "why" to this journey I have been on all this time without you, and the "how" to enacting change if a cause or purpose has grabbed your heart and soul as helping others has done for me. When I first started down this rabbit hole in 2011--recently removed from serving in the Army after one combat tour, the host of an environmental talk radio program, and owner of a pool and landscape company--I expected nothing more of the adventure than establishing myself as a serious stakeholder in my community, if only intellectually. With this guide I hope to give you a sense of the environment you will be stepping into if you walk into the political arena, not to deter you by any manner. I once believed that I would be welcomed with open arms and applause for my creative and new ideas, but you will soon see it was the very opposite most of the time.Though this book will guide you in political processes and my experience with them, there is always more than one way of doing things. Throughout my own learning process I have met many people, much smarter than myself, who have gone through different routes in order to seek very similar results, and many of us have been successful in our own right. I want to pardon myself of the assumption that I have it figured out. I don't. I can only attest to what life has shown me from a now humbled point of view.I'll be honest with you: I really hope this book never serves you, short of a crash course civic lesson or glimpse into my heart. I hope it grows with dust in a box in your closet somewhere, because you have found a comfortable place for yourself in this world where you felt your children were safe, and you knew you would rightly leave the world better than you found it, or even better. You might be too busy to care, but after reading this from cover to cover, you won't be able to plead ignorance regarding how to put that care into action.I write this book not to expose anyone or any organization necessarily, but to convey to you these different legal, political, and social processes--and my experiences with them--from as much fact based documenting as I would want to read myself. Ultimately, I want you to know in your bones that this information is produced out of a love for the notion that you, I, the 92 year old man, and even the homeless man can change the world with the right info, right friends, right purpose, and right heart, and that I love you."