This book contains a compilation of stories that provide first a warning of where we are headed as a nation then traces the authors life from growing up in poverty and climbing out of the well of dependency to achieving a place in the American Dream that includes hard work and commitment to principles of responsible citizenship. In growing up there are many events that remain in the mind forever. Growing up experiences can be depressing, a learning experience or a guide to future behavior.



Thomas J. Miranda, is a native of Hawaii and has been active in the field of Polymer Chemistry and Coatings Technology for over forty years. His achievements as scientist, inventor, author and lecturer are well documented in polymer synthesis, heterogeneous catalysis, polymer stabilization, water soluble polymers, emulsion technology and radiation chemistry.

The author was born in Ewa, Oahu on a sugar plantation and grew up in Honolululiving there until a year after the Pearl Harbor bombing that he witnessed. He moved to California, graduated from San Jose State College with an AB and MA in Physical Sciences and taught there for one year. He served in the Army Chemical Corps, then received a PhD in Organic Chemistry from Notre Dame University where he was the W.R. Grace Research Fellow and an MSBA from Indiana University where he taught as an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Chemistry over a twenty year period.

His business experiences include Director of Research for the O'Brien Corporation, Staff Scientist at Whirlpool Corporation. He served as President of the Paint Research Institute, Technical Editor for the Federation of Societies for Coatings Technology's Journal of Coatings Technology for twenty years and Editor of the Monograph Series on Coatings Technology. He served as an Industrial Consultant in the Materials Science area.

He received a number of local and National Awards for Outstanding ScientificAccomplishment and the Distinguished Business Alumnus Award from the BusinessSchool of Indiana University South Bend.

He is the author of Growing up in Hawaii and has published over 50 papers, bookchapters and the author of 13 United States Patents.