James Fairchild:  

After high school in 1960, I attended the University of Utah, dropped out, and worked for a couple of years, then finished up at BYU in 1967. I taught secondary ed for a while, then in February, 1970, started Maharishi's Transcendental Meditation technique. In less than a year, I attended a Teacher Training course in Mallorca, Spain, to become a TM teacher. Most of my life since then has been involved in one way or another with the TM Movement. In 1992 I received a Ph.D. in English from the University of Iowa. By that time, I had been living in Fairfield, IA, for a couple of years while writing my dissertation. For three years, I worked on, then directed, a publication from Maharishi International University called MIU World. In 1995 I started teaching Professional Writing for MIU and in 1999 began to teach for the Literature and Creative Writing Department. Although I'm retired, I still teach online courses to supplement my income. Everyone at MIU—including faculty, staff, and students—practices the Transcendental Meditation technique. Needless to say, TM transformed my life from a troubled youth to a (fairly) responsible adult. I've been living in Iowa since 1983 and consider it my home state. These days, I hardly recognize Las Vegas, where I grew up, and rarely visit there. Iowa is a very wholesome state with little atmospheric pollution, though the water is pretty bad because of so many insecticides and chemical fertilizers in the soil. F...Expand for more