Welcome to the World of Me (T.J. Belasco's Home Page)

It has been quite some time since I played with this page, yet this is still work in process. Hey ,then again isn't every component of our lives an unfinished peace[sic]. Before I go on if you care to listen to some music while you travel the web, simply proceed to the bottom and push play. If you are browsing with MS explorer -- well you are already listening. Stop back often as I just reposted this page and it will be undergoing a MAJOR overhaul in the next month.

And now a little about myself before I bore you to death. The name is T.J. Belasco, and I am an English Teacher at Lower Cape May Regional High School which explains my love of literature, while a quick glimpse at my favorite sites will show my focus on America's finest free thinkers. Additionally, now that I am teaching Advanced Palcement Composition I will link to some key writing and composition sites. My Taoist beliefs evolved after discovering Benjamin Hoff's The Tao of Pooh, after which I quickly reread The World of Pooh and then began my journey along The Way. I have been influenced by The Tao for the past fifteen years. I have included a link to my basic philosophies and connections to online Tao Te Ching translations.

This page's name takes root in my two strongest studies, taoism and literature.In addition to these areas, I have listed some of my other favorite sites to explore .

These are my favorite Literature sites:

Banned Books Online A complete collection of the best banned books on The Net
The Electronic Drummer The Thoreau Institute newsletter -- A plethora of great ideas
Civil Disobedience The text by Henry David Thoreau
Life of Henry David Thoreau Just what the name implies.
Steinbeck Research Center A great starting point
Jack Kerouac A great jumping off point for Kerouac's works as well as an introduction to his thinking.
Walt Whitman A great collection of Uncle Walt's works. Leaves of Grass anyone.
National Council of Teachers of English Keeping us all informed. Thanks for the great work.

The following are some interesting Taoist sites:

Alan Watts Alan Watts and his work on the philosophy and the psychology of religion.
Taoism Information Page A collection of taoist related sites found on the web.
Thigpen's Taoism Page Another fine collection of Taoist sources available.
Temple of the Immortal SpiritSome ideas on Western Taoism (No, this is not an oxymoron.)
Arne Morken's Reference page Great links to Taoist pages and texts
Abode of the Eternal TaoA host of rooms all linked to contemporary Taoist issues.
Taoist Bibliography An extensive bibliography on Taoism

Versions of The Tao Te Ching

· Feng/English Tao Te Ching -- My personal favorite

· My own page of Merel's Tao Te Ching. This enables you to access specific chapters directly, as well as providing a basic bibliography for other texts.

· English translation of theTao Te Ching

· Tao Te Ching R.B. Blakney's translation of The Book of The Way

· Tao Te Ching Translations