Memoirs Of A Winnipeg Cab Driver

Cab drivers! What a strange lot! Why would anyone want to drive a hack for a living? Other than being capable enough to safely operate a vehicle, you don't need any special skills or training. You don't need a university degree in the humanities, though you may become a qualified human affairs expert after driving a cab for several years. Cabbies must be the most misunderstood creatures in the world! Why else would they do what they do? Without it being said, a cab driver works twelve hour shifts on a routine daily basis. They often get assaulted, and even more often than not, they get ripped off. Society as a whole views cabbies as individuals with the same I.Q. as a lava lamp, who only drive a taxi because they can't get a job anywhere else, and, they probably have a criminal record too! They get screamed at, threatened, spat on, slapped, punched, kicked, stabbed, and tragically, some get murdered. What person in their right mind would want to take on this kind of a life when they could earn a lot more money with a lot less aggravation and abuse by simply donning a pair of dark glasses and selling pencils on any street corner? I drove a taxi in the city of Winnipeg for about twenty years for Red Patch Taxi. These memories are my memories and I am gladly sharing them with you, the reader. My biggest thanks go out to the city of Winnipeg and to all of its citizens whom I found to be the friendliest people anywhere! I hope that these stories of mine will move you emotionally, either with a smile, a laugh or a tear. Winnipeg, thanks for the memories! Savour the stories!

Every day, in every city in the world, people climb into cabs, but how much thought do they really give to the driver? How much do they know about their story, their lives, and their abilities? In his native Nigeria, Chuck Okofor earned a masters degree and taught English literature and English as a second language. In the early 1990s, his family immigrated to the United States with their four young children. His wife worked as a nurse, and Chuck cared for their children during the day. Out of necessity, Chuck took what he thought would be a temporary job as a cab driver, but he grew to love it. In, his memoir, this veteran Chicago driver invites you inside the front seat of the cab. For seventeen years, Chuck was one of almost twenty thousand men and women who took on the challenge of navigating the Windy Citys crazy roads and often-crazier drivers. Now, he gives readers an insiders view into the life of a Chicago cabbie. Youll learn about the complicated relationship shared by cabbies, cops, and the courts; the challenges of driving a cab in daunting Chicago traffic; and what good drivers like Chuck think of cab-service thieves. Youll be amazed at some of the encounters hes had with passengers, including women of easy virtue. Chuck also shares valuable tips into staying safe in traffic, reducing stress behind the wheel, and the real hazards of Chicago roads.

Shortlisted for the Bressani Literary Prize • A Globe and Mail Book of the Year • A CBC Books Best Canadian Nonfiction of 2021 In conversations with drivers ranging from veterans of foreign wars to Indigenous women protecting one another, Di Cintio explores the borderland of the North American taxi. “The taxi,” writes Marcello Di Cintio, “is a border.” Occupying the space between public and private, a cab brings together people who might otherwise never have met—yet most of us sit in the back and stare at our phones. Nowhere else do people occupy such intimate quarters and share so little. In a series of interviews with drivers, their backgrounds ranging from the Iraqi National Guard, to the Westboro Baptist Church, to an arranged marriage that left one woman stranded in a foreign country with nothing but a suitcase, Driven seeks out those missed conversations, revealing the unknown stories that surround us. Travelling across borders of all kinds, from battlefields and occupied lands to midnight fares and Tim Hortons parking lots, Di Cintio chronicles the many journeys each driver made merely for the privilege to turn on their rooflight. Yet these lives aren’t defined by tragedy or frustration but by ingenuity and generosity, hope and indomitable hard work. From night school and sixteen-hour shifts to schemes for athletic careers and the secret Shakespeare of Dylan’s lyrics, Di Cintio’s subjects share the passions and triumphs that drive them. Like the people encountered in its pages, Driven is an unexpected delight, and that most wondrous of all things: a book that will change the way you see the world around you. A paean to the power of personality and perseverance, it’s a compassionate and joyful tribute to the men and women who take us where we want to go.

Howard Hom grew up in China with no money and little education. However, he possessed a sharp mind, a photographic memory, and a strong desire to make his mark in the world. When an opportunity to come to America arose, he grabbed it with both hands. Because she was born a girl, Janet Kong Hom almost didn't live to be more than a few days old. She was rescued by her mother from an "exterminator" who had been hired by her grandmother. Howard and Janet overcame their obstacles to find love, success, and happiness in Tucson, Arizona.The Hom Memoirstells their story.

In 1960, Cathy McClure, age 12, is thrown out of Catholic school. Her father's drugstore, faced with a superhighway and encroaching chain stores, has fallen upon hard times. So the family decides to leave Lewiston, New York, for a fresh start in suburban Buffalo. But even as Cathy embraces the tumultuous sixties and throws herself into a new life as cheerleader, Hojo Hostess, and civil rights advocate, trouble - as usual - isn't far behind. Fiesty and resolute as ever, Cathy soldiers on, but the one thing she can't fight threatens to dissolve the family that, through her many ups and downs, has always been her solid ground. Told with the same wit, charm, and candour that made Too Close to the Falls a modern classic, After the Falls is an evocative portrait of a young woman, and a country, finding its way.

Suddenly able to see demons and the Darkhunters who are dedicated to returning them to their own dimension, fifteen-year-old Clary Fray is drawn into this bizarre world when her mother disappears and Clary herself is almost killed by a monster.

Furiously Happy meets Elaine Lui in this truly original—and surprisingly hilarious—memoir about one woman’s journey to learn how to walk after a debilitating diagnosis turned her life upside down. Learn How to Walk (Again) To-Do List: Step 1: Stand Step 2: Step Step 3: Pee (Yes!) Step 4: Walk with walker Step 5: Walk with sticks Step 6: Walk without props Recreational interlude for sex Step 7: RUN! Ruth Marshall—power mom, wife, actor, and daughter—was in great health, until one day, her feet started to tingle. She visited doctors and specialists for tests, but no one could figure out the cause of her symptoms. Was she imagining those pesky tingles? She tried to brush it off, even as she tripped over curbs and stumbled into people. Clumsiness is charming, right? But when Ruth suddenly couldn’t feel her legs at all, she knew something was terribly wrong. Her fears were confirmed by an MRI revealing a rare tumour that had been quietly growing on her spine for more than a decade. Within days, surgery was scheduled, and after the intense eight-hour ordeal, Ruth woke up to find her legs and feet had forgotten how to do...well, everything. The question that burned in her mind was, “Will I ever walk again?” What Ruth thought would be three days in the hospital turned into months of rehabilitation as she relearned not only how to walk, run, pee, and even have sex again, but how to better appreciate everyone around her—including her devoted husband, her two young sons, her worried parents, her sisters, her loving friends, and the caring staff at the rehab center who help her tackle her recovery head-on. Laugh-out-loud outrageous and searingly honest, this is a memoir that not only entertains but inspires readers to put their best foot forward and walk off anything life throws their way.

At once a financial caper, an international adventure, and a passionate plea for justice, Freezing Order is a stirring morality tale about how one man can take on one of the most dangerous and ruthless villains in the world.