Spotlight Interview

Michael O. Brickell, CEO of Holistic Junction has been the driving force behind the revolutionary site, Holistic Junction -- geared toward positive community awareness; a portal to alternative & holistic education, and a plethora of healthcare information resources and the arts.

I had an opportunity to speak candidly with Michael and asked him what inspired him, and why he wanted to create an online holistic journal with such a wide array of topics:

[C. Bailey Lloyd] Good Morning Michael. Tell me a little about yourself, personally -- Where were you born, a fond childhood memory, or perhaps what makes you -- you?

[Michael O. Brickell] First of all, let me say how appreciative I am of all the work our team members, including those not directly connected to Holistic Junction, have contributed. So much positive energy has gone into this challenging and wonderful endeavor. Every single contribution regardless of size and detail, is so very important. Each one of our team members bring certain talents to the table and everything we have accomplished and continue to do is done with such great cohesiveness and attention to detail. Everyday in some way there is an improvement within the site and it's such a joy to see all of the integral pieces of this giant puzzle come together as it does.

Most of the improvements to date have been program related but in the very near future we will also begin to see notable changes in the site design itself. It's all very exciting to me and I look forward to these visible changes as they occur. It's something that we will all be able to see and share. [MORE]

Spotlight Article

There are no two greater ironic comparisons than that of a biscuit and life. For over two decades, I'd feverishly tried to bake biscuits. Being a baking 'connoisseur,' I was quite disheartened that I could easily knead & bake home-made yeast, cinnamon rolls and croissants - but try as I did, I could never grasp the technique of making southern-baked biscuits. Regardless whether I used the quick mix or home-made recipe kind, somehow my biscuits either came out of the oven with the texture of mortar, fell apart like charcoal briquettes or tasted like salty play-doh. In any event, it was my solemn quest to bake these tasty breakfast breads some time before I die.

It was almost embarrassing whenever I would makes the Shoney's type breakfasts without the biscuits. While my kids were small, they pined for the buttery taste of home-baked biscuits...of course that never happened. I did attempt to make them countless times, but each time I retrieved them from the oven, they got harder and harder. At one point, I even thought about marketing them as indestructible bricks for housing contractors. But my family was fairly nice to me. They would 'try' them from time to time, and in most cases, nearly chipped their teeth. [MORE]