Please join me for the next interview in my ongoing series of the TCK Academy teleconferences. I will be interviewing  Donna Musil,  Army Brat/ATCK, writer, director and producer of Brats: Our Journey Home.

I am really excited about this teleconference interview. I had some time to meet with Donna in person last week while in Denver on business. What a blast!!  Especially since she introduced me to a great restaurant that served the most wonderful Creole/Cajun cuisine!!! Actually, I am thinking about making Donna my newest BFF, especially if she can find one or two more restaurants that remind  me of my “home culture” and its distinctive food!! The one thing that I took away from my meeting with Donna was that she is clearly passionate and knowledgeable about the needs of global nomads, TCKs and brats from all sectors, cultures and backgrounds. You don’t have to be a military brat to find your story in Brats: Our Journey Home. Donna’s work offers a universal message of belonging, coming to understanding and acceptance of the gifts (often hidden) and challenges of living a global nomad lifestyle.
 
 To get the full story click here:
http://tckacademy.com/class/003

 

Donna was raised an Army brat and has lived and worked in Germany, Korea, Ireland, Copenhagen, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington, DC, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, Kentucky, and Paris. As a child, she moved 12 times in 16 years. Her father was a JAG officer and military judge. When she was 16, her father died, and two weeks later, her family moved to Columbus, Georgia, where she finished high school.

For the next 20 years, Donna moved 19 times, graduated college, and worked in a variety of jobs, but always felt “different” from her fellow Americans. In 1997, she learned that she was not alone. While surfing the Internet, Donna discovered a Web site for her Taegu, Korea high school. A few weeks later, she attended an impromptu reunion in Washington, DC. It was revelatory. For the first time, Donna felt like she “belonged” somewhere, and thus began her journey “home.

According to Musil, “It’s really about reconnecting and finding a home…. Finding a home not in a place but with a group of people.”

During our conversation, Donna will discuss the making of her seven-year passion, Brats: Our Journey Home, finding that place of belonging, being comfortable with who you are in the mix of paradoxes, the positive and the challenging legacies that “third culture kids” experience around the globe, and how BRATs/TCKs can develop an ability to “fully employ your strengths and have compassion for your weaknesses.”

Paulette