THE FOURTH MOMENT, JOURNEYS FROM THE KNOWN TO THE UNKNOWN is a memoir by Carole J. Garrison. A child of humble beginnings, Garrison paved the way for herself to accomplish great things, but for her, the journey was far from your typical “rags to riches” tale. Through a series of tragedies and triumphs, blunders and epiphanies, Garrison’s life has been filled with a number of unusual detours from being a suburban housewife in Miami, to becoming a single mom and police officer in Atlanta, to returning to school to become a seasoned ethics and women studies professor in Ohio and Kentucky, to working in Cambodia as it emerged from decades of civil strife, all the while growing into the passionate humanitarian she is today.

THE FOURTH MOMENT is a remarkable series of recollections from a woman whose experiences cover an extraordinary range of places, people, and interests. Eschewing the formulaic conventions of autobiography, THE FOURTH MOMENT consists of short stories—vignettes—that move back and forth across time and space to describe in vivid detail events and observations from a fascinating life. The stories reflect the acute perceptions of a woman for whom every day is a new adventure and a fresh opportunity to learn. In THE FOURTH MOMENT, Garrison reveals truths not always within everyday reach, but certainly within everyday aspirations, something that readers will be able to connect to. Cover Photo: Marilyn Howard.

Contributors

Afterword by Sarah Willis

SARAH WILLIS has published the novels Some Things That Stay (2000), a New York Times Notable Book of the Year that was made into a movie in 2004; The Rehearsal (2001), A Good Distance (2004), and The Sound of Us (2005). Her short stories have been published in Book Magazine, Confrontation, Crescent Review (nominated for a Pushcart Prize), Tampa Review, Vincent Brothers Review, Rockford Review, Whiskey Island Review, Riverwind, No Roses Review, Artful Dodge, The Missouri Review, and the anthology, Our Mothers, Our Selves (2015).

Here's What People Are Saying

“THE FOURTH MOMENT: JOURNEYS FROM THE KNOWN TO THE UNKNOWN, is in equal parts a woman’s travel adventure and a mother’s love letter to her children. With crisp prose and richly textured writing, Carole Garrison sheds light on Cambodia’s dark history, and also its beautiful culture, sharing stories of what it means to be a mother, a daughter, and a family in our increasingly global world.” ~ Loung Ung, author of First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers (2006)

“THE FOURTH MOMENT: JOURNEYS FROM THE KNOWN TO THE UNKNOWN is a collection of memoir-essays, snapshots of life’s big and small moments that lie just beyond the forgettable. These experiences bubble up unbidden into consciousness at the witching hour, or nudged into focus by something familiar, perhaps recorded in a locked diary, and if you’re very lucky, shared with someone you love and trust. Garrison’s stories are filled with sensory stimulation, colors, sounds, sights and aromas that sweeps across nations, through the sometimes tragic tales of friendships and romance, always infused with heartfelt warmth and longing. They lurk, then rear up demanding to be understood, processed and added to the body of knowledge that is both unique to you and part of the universal stream of life–fourth coming.” ~Deborah DeNicola, author of Future That Brought Her Here, The Memoir of a Call to Awaken (2009)

“Garrison’s stories in THE FOURTH MOVEMENT are compelling. For example, ‘Roaches’ in Garrison’s hands turns a base repugnancy into eloquent compassion. She somehow manages to weave a perfect description of their hardiness with today’s political climate, and it all results in a resounding ‘yeah!’ in our minds at the end. This is a rare and true voice of an outsider looking in, and becoming comfortable, yet never forgetting that in our world, we are all, somehow, strangers in a strange land.”
~Barbra Nightingale, poet, author and professor emeritus from Broward College, and Advisor Emeritus from Phi Theta Kappa

”Masterful! In THE FOURTH MOMENT, Garrison’s extraordinary ability to take every day experiences and make them life learning treasures for the ages is almost ingenious. Walking the reader so generously through her failures and triumphs without pretense, with a lens of transparency she aims to redeem and transform the human spirit. ~Councilwoman Veronica Sims, Akron City, OH

“I know the author as ‘Mamma.’ She’s been Mamma to us since moving to our small village in the summer of 1992, when I was eleven years old. Her stories in THE FOURTH MOMENT are Cambodia’s stories, and we lived them with her. Like her, these stories resonate with our challenges, passions and accomplishments. Be inspired.” ~Sok, Keang, UNICEF, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

“Garrison cultivated her relations with Russian and Chinese members of the UN on a personal mission as an American to improve relations with them. She also was untiring in engaging with her many friends in the military from all countries to lobby for the acceptance of women fighters. It was a pleasure watching and learning from her can-do spirit, which is reflected in THE FOURTH MOMENT.” ~Kathleen Graff, International Red Cross (ICRC)

“As a political philosopher, I have long struggled with the question of how to live justly in a society comprised of people of different genders, races, religions, classes, ethnicities, and geographical locations. In her memoir, THE FOURTH MOMENT, Carole J. Garrison provides the missing pieces to the puzzle. She makes the struggle for a just society personal. Whether it’s growing up Jewish in 1950s America, or a 13-year-old girl’s first encounter with racial segregation in the U.S. South, or a female police officer’s orientation to the profession, Garrison articulates the effects of social disparities on the human heart with razor-like precision.” ~Laura Newhart, professor of philosophy, Eastern Kentucky University