Worldwalker Steve Newman to discuss global journey

                Steve Newman, known internationally as the “Worldwalker,” will be the guest speaker 6:30 p.m. Thursday, April 1, at Southern State Community College’s South Campus, 12681 US Route 62, near Sardinia. The speaking event is free and open to the public; refreshments will be served. For more information, please call Mary Ayres at 1-800-628-7722, ext. 3681.

A Brown County resident and Southern State instructor, Newman is the only American to have walked solo around the world.

                “My dream of walking around the world was born in a nine-year-old’s excitable mind,” Newman wrote in his online blog at www.stevenewman.com. “It was during one of those frequent southern Ohio rainy afternoons, when my imagination was lost in the pages of a stack of old National Geographic magazines. Though the covers of that dignified periodical may have been worn and faded at the time, the beauty of the glossy photographs inside was still unmistakably very much alive. I knew then and there that someday I had to visit all those exotic lands and meet all those smiling faces.”

                From 1983-87, Newman embarked on a solo journey across 21 nations in Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia and North America, with a journal, a backpack, and little else.

                During his four-year, 15,509-mile journey, he tapped into his former career as a journalist and sent more than 100 articles to American newspapers.

In the 20-plus years since the completion of his trek, Newman has been a guest on more than 100 television and radio talk shows. He remains very busy as an author, a public speaker, a motivator and a consultant to two Japanese companies that market Worldwalker shoes and clothing. He is currently an adjunct faculty member at Southern State Community College, teaching English, philosophy and cultural geography.

Newman has written three books chronicling his adventures: “Letters from Steven” (1987), “Worldwalk” (1989) and “Guardians of Yellowstone” (1991).

                “Even now, nearly 40 years later, I can still remember so clearly that night’s restlessness caused by the magic of those paper windows to the world ‘out there,’” wrote Newman. “When my mother came into my bedroom, I remember looking up at her from beneath my blanket and saying, ‘Mom, when I grow up I know exactly what I want to do—be a writer and walk around the world!’ At which point she chuckled and replied, ‘Oh, you mean you’ll be a soldier of fortune?’

                “‘Yeah…,’ I answered, not at all sure what a soldier of fortune was, but sure that it sounded pretty exciting.’”