Every Town Needs a Castle

	Every Town Needs a Castle, Especially When Built of Recycled Junk & Spunk
"Who would've thought, we could get all this done?" Michael would say, rubbing a dog, rocking his chair, and overlooking the big tool shed amidst the flurry of happy humming birds.	Book Summary with Chapter Descriptions
December 2011 Xmas Hardback SALE Price $~~29.99~~ $25.00 + Domestic Shipping & handling for 1 hardback book $3.50 + Domestic Shipping & handling for 2 hardback books $4.50 Total for 1 Hardback = $28.50 (Shipping, handling and 2 Hardbacks costs $54.50) December 2011 Xmas Paperback SALE Price $~~19.99~~ $17.00 + Domestic Shipping & handling for 1 book $3.10 + Domestic Shipping & handling for 2 books $4.10 Total for 1 Paperback = $20.10 Shipping, handling and 2 paperbacks costs $38.10. + Domestic chipping & handling for 3-6 books) $7.00 For autographed copy inscribed with some personal note (MAYBE WITH BUYER'S HELP ;>) ) send gold-backed check & YOUR RETURN ADDRESS to either: Marlene Hunn, 1817 California St. Unit 201 San Francisco, CA. 94109, 415-673-0369 or Dwayne Hunn, 359 Jean St. Mill Valley, CA 94941 415-383-7880. Allow extra time or a couple weeks for delivery. Our stagecoaches are old and they are still coming over hill and dale.. If interested in learning more or purchasing Dwayne's first book, Ordinary People Doing the Extraordinary, click to : Press Release From Nader praise to a junkyard maze? Nader places author’s first book on 2009 Top Ten Books to Read List and second book is about a junkyard? Mill Valley, CA – If, like the author, you’ve lived in Cleveland, Chicago, New York, Mumbai, Claremont, St. John, Sacramento, or San Francisco, you’ve seen Knight Nader attack political fortresses. So, if Ralph praises your first public policy book, oRDINARY pEOPLE dOING THE eXTRAORDINARY, why do your second on Prince Philip’s favorite junkyard, California’s Rubelian Castle, forged from junk piled 76’ high by a band of phunny pharmers for no monetary gain in the midst of exclusive suburbia? Every Town Needs a Castle, Especially if Made of Recycled Junk and Spunk, is filled with pictures and art (80+) depicting zany building that baffles, amazes, and inspires; old-timers’ homespun wisdoms needed again today; and hands-on adventure tales that are weakly replaced today with IPOD’d ventures. This is a book for kids, because Rubelia’s King was a kid who never grew up; for builders, especially those who build differently; for story lovers, for it presents several wonderful story tellers; for quixotic dreamers, because this Don and his Sanchos tilt with everything while building windmills and crazy stuff; for budding leaders, travelers, and doers, because it reveals how the benevolent Rubelian Ruler developed his unique public policy perspectives. With so much going wrong for so many, the grandfatherly spirit permeating this book provides stories and pictures that elicit smiles while riding through today’s dark tunnels. Its Twainish escapades show readers how to build and scale TALL BARBED WALLS, so Nader should like it too. For more on this book, go to www.dwaynehunn.biz/every_town_needs_a_castle.htm. For a requested autographed copy order through www.dwaynehunn.biz/every_town_needs_a_castle.htm or through an autographing event at Glendora’s Village Bookstore (626-335-5720) or Glendora’s Historical Society (626)963-0419). To order the book from Xlibris go to go to www.xlibris.com and type in the book title or see if www.everytownneedsacastle.com is up. You local bookstore can also order it for you. On bookshelf at Cleveland's Visible Voice Books, Corte Madera's Book Passages, Sausalito's Habitat Books, Mill Valley's Book Depot, ... And ask your library to stock it... Some already do... For MCR and Rubelian mementoes like Rubelia’s T-shirts and stuff go to http://www.cafepress.com/dailygrill/3990918 . Some comments and book reviews... Hi Dwayne, Your book is terrific. I'm waiting to see a much needed TV series about "Rubelia." think about it. Contact someone. Lynn W. Ohio 2-13-2013 Hi Dwayne, Greetings, hope you got back to the USA ok from Dubai and are keeping well. Just to let you know I bought a copy of Every Town Needs a Castle yesterday and have so far just read the Appendix about you ....enjoyed every bit of it! .... Your school battles reminded me of the film "Dead Poets Society" with Robin Williams playing the free spirited inspirational teacher who helped his students to question and discover the true nature of things and go on to reach their true potential in life. I also managed to find a used copy of The Story of Ed and Joyce Koupal and the Initiative Process in a US bookshop, so am eagerly awaiting its arrival here in the UK. This end, life is very full of teaching ....currently assessing student presentations and planning for teaching in India (Bangalore and Mysore) in January. I thought of you tonight when I watched a BBC TV program called 'Scrapheap Orchestra' - an entire orchestra of 44 instruments made entirely from scrap - analogous to the Castle built of recycled junk! Professor PS, United Kingdom, email 12-2011 I love my copy. Don't forget to read the end where Dwayne wins a big one against an overly conservative school district. 12-5-2011 Facebook post, Author DW Facebook, "I'm immensely enjoying the book too. What great memories!" Classical musician JK, France 11-2011 “Half way through the book. Really enjoying it. Very anecdotal. Very funny." Dr. KC California. 11-2011 "It's a book to savor." DO, California. Hi Dwayne - I have to tell you that I am reading your book now and I'm on page 89. I bought your book to be nice (at Cleveland's Visible Voice Bookstore) and I really can't put this book down. I am really glad I had the opportunity to meet you and thank you for putting such an amazing story in your book. Can hardly wait to finish....it's a great read!! God bless. KJ, Ohio If you enjoy stimulating your mind and heart through reading, you will enjoy "Every Town Needs A Castle". If you love history, the excitement of current events, public policy and insights into humantity, this book has the power to capture your imagination. It will transport you to exotic places and introduce you to unique people. You can almost see, smell and hear the activities on the "Pharm". This book reflects the "wisdom of grandfather Deuele, Michael Rubel and other wise men and women. In this book, you will share the "dreams of dreamers" mixed with the realities of modern day life in the late twentieth century in Southern California. The "Pharm" served as a meeting place for people from all walks of life. The author has an outstanding ability to write with emotion, insight and humor. So read, reflect, journey, laugh and cry. "Every Town Needs A Castle" is a great read. CR, ILLINOIS The Castle of Rubelia: Philosophy Becomes Architecture Never mind castles in Spain. How about one smack in the middle of the ‘burbs of California? And how about instead of quarried stone it’s made with every dadblamed thing handy, including lots of tin cans and junk, the whole mess assembled any which way but straight, clean high as the turrets, riz up to a towering, beautiful extravaganza of cemented wonder? Reading this book, you’d be sure you had to be reading sheer fiction if it weren’t for those brain-bumping photos throughout, snapshots that make it undeniable that somewhere along the Pacific side of America, as visitors the likes of Ike and Mamie, Jack Benny, Henry Kissinger, Harry Reasoner, Barbara Walters could testify, the Castle of Rubelia is as real as death and taxes. Even better than this, though, is how the castle got built, and the assortment of unlikelihoods who played their parts in its hard-to-believe history. Therein hangs a tale. This is a book that recovers something lost—something as precious as a birthright. We all hear the lament that what once was is now not: that what we once valued most, and called these United States, has perished from the earth. What WAS that? I think Mark Twain would have been able to tell you, and show you. Great gallivanting galluses and golly Aunt Polly!, old Sam Clemens would’ve loved this book. Imagine the arrival of Huck Finn to this California craziness, this loony excuse for architecture that started out as a ruin. “Seems to me, Jim, that we’ve got ourselves to thish ‘ere part a the country where folks ain’t ezackly in their right minds. But it kinda grows on you, don’tcha find?” “Reckon so, Huck.” What grows on you, the reader, is not just a castle that stands like a parody of the grand edifices of the Old World, but the unique spirit of this book. It’s not easy to nail a spirit. The best I can do is to point again in the direction of what we all feel has slipped away from our sense of what it is to be Americans. Have you noticed that going to college now is all about so we can eventually make more money than the dropouts? It wasn’t always like that. A liberal education, once upon a time, was supposed to teach us what would allow the fullest awareness of just what being a human being amounted to. To expose us to all the great minds and the great books of the world, like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. And to make us see that life, instead of a security blanket, is itself as wild an adventure as we let it be. Well, Dwayne Hunn, who’s a modest fellow, is not one who’d claim to stand alongside the great humorist from Hannibal, Mo. Nevertheless, Sam Clemens would be the first to clap him on the shoulder, because he’d know a brother of the craft when he met one. Adventure? You better believe it! Loveable characters? Bet your long johns on it in a cold winter in Kansas. Humor? Yep. Wager major with any tough teenager that he can’t get through the read without cracking up, ‘cause this sucker is FUNNY. Wait till you read how a defecating pig running wild in his house turns out to be the making of Grandfather Deuel’s fortune. Read about how he played strip poker with fan dancer Sally Rand. Stay calm and solemn till you read how his charismatic grandson, Michael (one day becoming the master architect of Rubelia Castle), at age 12 became the hero who, singlehandedly, warded off the great invasion of Azusa Canyon. You want wit and wisdom? Try to keep a straight face while you soak up the endless epigrammatical sayings of Grandfather Deuel. You like fascinating characters? Meet Grandfather’s beloved bevy of loyal friends like Stanley Baird and Odo Stade, or the good witch Mrs. Friezner. But the true harvest here is with Michael and his grandfather, and everything that is represented in the way they take hold of life and live it. Grandfather Deuel, very much a Man of the People, grew up in the old schoolroom of working class folk who believed that hard work was the bedrock of character. But he also believed that making money had its place, and that what could happen when volunteers building a castle, loyal friends who gathered regularly to hear stories told while Gallo jug wine was passed around in shrimp cocktail jars, took priority over rising up in the world. How much Michael Rubel loved his grandfather, no one can miss. Nor can anyone miss how the man who wrote this tribute to them, Dwayne Hunn, loved the both of them. Or why. Dr. TK, California ------- The perfect mix of reality, nostalgia, small town politics and the pursuit of a personal vision embraced by a cacophony of personalities who live with gusto day in and day out. If you're not afraid to reduce the number of sleep hours, because you simply can't put the book down and close it because you're falling asleep, start reading it early Saturday morning. If you're one that squeezes the feelings and lets your imagination run away, as if you're watching a 3D, technicolor, stereophonic series of events that surrounds you, then you will go a lot slower and you may have to call in sick rather than dislodge yourself from the content of the pages in this wonderful story. I will have to read it again... JK, California I have known Dwayne Hunn, the author since 1972 when he was my teacher in High School. He lived at "The Castle" with Michael and the rest of the gang. This book is an excellent memorial to Michael Rubel and was equally a funny memoir to those who didn't know Michael well or even knew of him. The end pages of Mr. Hunn's book were interesting because this was the time I first met him and didn't quite understand what was happening in his world. I am forever grateful for his teachings and of his patience with everything in his life. KP, California Tucked close to the San Gabriel Mountains in an upscale neighborhood in Glendora, California on 2.5 acres of land sits a pile of junk rising 80 feet in the air. The junk pile has a clock tower that holds a large old fashioned clock which chimes like Big Ben. For most people, the junk would have been taken to a landfill to be covered by earth moving equipment. Instead, it was recycled into an 80 foot tall edifice complete with catwalks and battle mounts that today is seen as a magnificent structure of historical significance. In building their edifice, the workers followed two simple principles: One, There is nothing on this planet that cannot be recycled. And Two, If we work together, we can remain free individuals, and accomplish more than we ever dreamed was possible. The patriarch and owner was Michael Clark Rubel. Many people helped Michael recycle the junk, but there were five principals who were especially important. Dwayne Hunn was one of the principals. His book chronicles their collective experience. In his book, Dwayne addresses three questions: What was Michael's inspiration? How did the dream become reality? And, why does every town need a castle? Dwayne addresses the first and second questions in a wondrous tale that is humorous and entertaining, and makes the reader eager to turn each page. The third question is equally entertaining but is discussed more subtlety than the first two questions. Dwayne Hunn's work shows rather than tells the reader the story of young Michael's dream. Dwayne shows the reader how Michael's dream not only never went away but became Michael's life work. Dwayne is brilliant in creating scenes that enable the reader to feel they are part of the story. The result is the reader feels what the boy feels as the boy's dream becomes transformed over a lifetime into the reality known as "Rubelia." What is especially gratifying about Dwayne's narrative is that the reader feels what it means for a person to live with themselves, and in community. As well, the reader feels that the process of achieving an accomplishment is as fulfilling and sometimes greater than the accomplishment. In the end, the reader understands that the Castle is a metaphor for what every town needs. As such, castle can be anything from a physical structure, to an idea, or to something written. Perhaps, most of all, the reader feels the passion Michael felt when he said about the process of building the castle: "This is how people have to live when nothing in their lives is working." What Michael meant by this, Dwayne explains, is that people are eager to help each other when the going gets tough. But Dwayne takes Michael's passionate observation of the human condition to another level. Equally as passionate as Michael, Dwayne says that people shouldn't wait for tough times to help one another. Rather, we should all learn to live each day in community. Indeed, Dwayne says, the process of building the castle is a model for all of us to live by. So, like the economic historian, R. H. Tawney who wrote about abstract structures that hold together social edifices, Dwayne uses Castle as a metaphor for the structure that holds together the social edifice known as town, i.e., castle becomes the abstract structure that helps society become a community. And what the reader sees and feels in Dwayne's narrative is that community is about living with yourself, and living with others. It's about rebellion and personal discovery. It's about process and completion. It's about redemption. It's about "Woulda, Shoulda, Coulda," becoming "We did it." Dwayne shows that a community cannot develop without people demonstrating courage, taking risks, and thinking and doing outside the box. Most importantly, Dwayne shows that rugged and free individuals are stronger and freer when they work together, when they share, and when they help one another. In conclusion, Dwayne Hunn shows the reader what "Green Sustainable Construction" is, and how it's done. He explains that the Rubellian Castle is filled with stuff from the 1920s and '30s. And all of it works! One of the nicest touches is that Dwayne shows that the Castle was built in a setting evoking earlier times and earlier feelings, and while the book may not lead to a new career job offer, especially in an economically depressing 2010 decade, it offers lots of old fashioned tips on how to live a richer life, even when depressions try to get in the way. In the end, Dwayne Hunn's book is an inspiration to all the community builders and all the Do It Your Selfers who wonder if they can make it happen. To this, Dwayne and Michael, and all the other Rubellians say, "Yes You Can," and "Have Phun Doing It." Dwayne Hunn's book is a story that will delight, entertain, and make you cry with joy. It's a must read. It's an especially good end of summer read. Incidentally, Every Town Needs a Castle is the first of an “Every…” series. Every Country Needs a World Service Corps is in its embryonic stage. Dr. JE, California	Book Reviews on-line OpenBookReviews Amazon reviews Comments on the book Show it to your kids.... Read it to them... Let them dream while they can... The man behind all this dreamed well beyond kidhood... And it was good for him... And for a bunch who hung around and helped lug big things... And built big arms that built a zany Castle heavenward... When read by adults serious about concrete, rebar, and ketchup bottles... In a teetering world, this book offers grownups balancing thoughts... And the thoughts are only a little hidden between the smile lines... Since kids see essential Castling ingredients a lot quicker, you, as a grownup, may need to read this book just to catch up with the joys of kidhood.