Don Karp

The Bumpy Road, a Memoir of Culture Clash Including Woodstock, Mental Hospitals, and Living in Mexico Don Karp

Reading The Bumpy Road promotes self-examination and encourages transformation. Everyone lives a personal "hero's journey". The Bumpy Road shows how culture clash is a muse for creative transformation. It tells the story of childhood followed by adolescent confusion. A boy struggles to become a man by buying into institutions that did not work for him--a marriage to a woman, whose entire self-concept was tied to "the relationship", and as a science student in academia where success is about publish or perish: lies, back-stabbing, and the old boys' club. The 60's culture came and personal chaos ensued. Relying on mental institutions to correct the evils of the aforementioned institutions created new problems instead. But the human spirit is resilient. The Bumpy Road details how the habit of going to the hospital for help was broken, and a new artistic identity replaced the old one. Primed for seizing cultural diversity opportunities, new struggles and successes were encountered in Mexico.