Meet the Authors

Kathy Casey-Kirschling
Kathy Casey-Kirschling was indentified as the First Baby Boomer, born one second after midnight on January 1, 1946, by Landon Jones in his book Great Expectations: America and the Baby Boom Generation. Media interest around her has brought her interviews on CNN Live, Smithsonian, CBS Evening News and other media outlets. She turned 60 in January, 2006 once again leading the vanguard of baby boomers, now, into perhaps one of the biggest decades of their lives.  Kathy retired from school teaching last year and has pursued what she sees as the new mission of boomers: giving back.  She traveled to help Katrina victims this past year under the auspices of the Red Cross.  In her retirement she is also enjoying being a grandmother.  Kathy assisted in the writing and provides the media focus for the book. She also handles publishing, publicity and marketing.

James Loretta
Jim Loretta has been in education since 1969 and has also studied martial arts for the past 39 years.  Travel in Japan, Okinawa and India in the 1980s eventually led him to expand his studies into Chinese medicine, shiatsu, macrobiotics and feng shui.  He won a 2004 National Character Education Citation for his unique approach to successfully applying feng shui within the traditional school setting and has had articles dealing with this subject published in both the Student Assistance Journal and Qi: The Journal of Traditional Eastern Health and Fitness.   He was a guest speaker on feng shui and its hidden energies and why it works in schools at the 2006 National Student Assistance Convention in San Francisco .  He is married to Patti Biehler and did the research and writing for the book.

Patti Biehler
Patti Biehler is a fellow boomer and the childhood best friend of Kathy Casey-Kirschling.  Patti is currently an educator in the Pennsauken School System and recently received recognition in her district as Teacher of the Year.  She is the math department chairperson, conducts inservices in her area of expertise, Connected Math, and also runs the AIM Program for at-risk students.  She has successfully applied feng shui in her classroom setting, bringing her great success with the often emotionally troubled students she teaches.  She is very much enjoying being a grandmother.  Her work on the book is writing, editing and public relations.  She is married to Jim Loretta.