Chaos and discord have a way of springing on us when we least expect it. Our lives can challenge us, frustrate us, and fray the bonds we hold with each other. If we take to heart and show courage, though, we might just inspire each other, conquer our obstacles, and bring a little peace into our world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a nutshell, that\u2019s the message of Sinclair graduate Kelvin Buerkle\u2019s new book, \u201cTurtle and a Circle.\u201d<\/a> Buerkle collaborated with illustrator James A. Roberson on the project, a children\u2019s book released in paperback and eBook format last month. Colorful and well-written, it tells the story of an old turtle who can\u2019t fall asleep after a noisy construction crew brings the craziness of a new roundabout to his quiet neighborhood. A mess of busted bumpers and fired-up feelings comes with it, but the turtle finds a way to bring everyone back together again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Buerkle based the story on a roundabout built in his family\u2019s neighborhood. He saw a turtle in their front yard crawling through the street. That turtle later became the inspiration for the story\u2019s titular character. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Buerkle wants to inspire people with his book. He received an Associate\u2019s in Criminal Justice from Sinclair and works locally as a police officer. He believes Sinclair helped him develop into a well-rounded person and he appreciated being able to meet people from \u201cso many different backgrounds.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFor a student and for anyone in general that has a dream that they want to get out there, it\u2019s possible,\u201d he said. \u201cMy meaning and my theme [in this book] is that we live in a world where everyone really needs to come together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Buerkle faced challenges in the process of writing. Publishing his book took longer than anticipated but, in the end, he put out something he\u2019s proud of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt was a very, very long process,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was longer than I think it should be to get it out. I did a lot of research on YouTube, I self-published it, I paid for the ISBN number, I contracted with an illustrator off of Fiverr, contacted the copyright office, and spent a lot of my personal money to do this, too.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Collaborating with illustrator Roberson was the most important part of the process. Buerkle chose him after vetting his portfolio and reviews and feels they communicated very well throughout the book production process. Roberson enjoyed working with Buerkle as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cKelvin was amazingly patient and kind through the process, which took longer than expected,\u201d Roberson said. \u201cThere were so many cars and cartoon animals driving and yellin’ that I wanted to take my time and really figure out how to present them in a fun way that matched the energy of the writing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Through patient cooperation, Buerkle and Roberson put out a book made with intention and love. Buerkle learned a lot throughout the process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI always wanted to write a story and get it out there as part of my legacy,\u201d he said. \u201cI already have content for new books after going through this process. I know what I would change and do differently.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can buy \u201cTurtle and a Circle\u201d <\/em>on Amazon<\/a>. <\/em>Keep an eye on its Facebook<\/a>. You can check out more illustrations from Roberson, also known as JARHUMOR, at his website<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Carlos Jilson<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Reporter<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Chaos and discord have a way of springing on us when we least expect it. Our lives can challenge us, frustrate us, and fray the bonds we hold with each other. If we take to heart and show courage, though, we might just inspire each other, conquer our obstacles, and bring a little peace into […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10416,"featured_media":33873,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2104,2616,2974,3],"tags":[5332,5296],"class_list":["post-33872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","category-featured","category-literature","category-tartan-news","tag-carlos-jillson","tag-sinclair-alum"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":false,"source_text":false,"source_url":false},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5s3vR-8Ok","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/718UcZT2PHL.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10416"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33872"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33872\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33878,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33872\/revisions\/33878"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}