Her popularity on orkut can be judged by visiting her profile, she cant add anymore friends because she already touched the limit of more than 900 friends, her fans list is flooding with nearly 400 people. She joined orkut soon after the birth of orkut, she is a owner of some very interesting communities like Scorpio & Astrology, Michelle Young is very well known as a kind hearted, soft spoken, friendly and highly respectable woman on orkut.com. Orkut’s Hall of Fame is thankful to many personalities on orkut for there time and dedication, we till now successfully featured some really outstanding people on OrkutHeroes.com who took social networking more than its traditional way, the one such personality is Michelle Young an astrologer from United States of America, interview with Michelle was one of my best interview till now.
Welcome Michelle to Orkut’s hall of fame
Thank you, zazo. I’m very honored to be here.
My pleasure Michelle, please tell us about your background. Your birth place, family and place where you live.
lol You wanted this brief, not a book, right?
I was born in a small community in upstate New York, and now I live about 15 minutes by car from there in a much smaller village of 13500 people. I’m in the midst of moving in the next week and a half, in fact, but still in the village.
I come from a very multicultural family–a complete shock to my parents who had really thought they were done with childbearing by the time I came along many years after my brothers–and I am only the second generation in my family to be born in the USA. My roots are based in two continents and at least two religions–one of the reasons my father called me his Little League of Nations when I was born on St. Patrick’s Day, a pretty significant holiday for the Irish in the USA. We are not Irish. lol For that matter, we’re not French either, but my maiden name is an Italianized version of a French word. My mother was a concert pianist and composer who had studied at the finest schools in Europe and performed in concert halls throughout Europe and the East coast of the USA. My father was a poor shoemaker. He died when I was 4, and my mom raised me and my two older brothers alone. For all purposes, I was born in the theater, and that’s where I was raised.
By the age of 9, I was performing with my mother throughout New York State. I sang and danced and played several instruments. But it was my mother’s and grandfather’s (her dad) fervent wish that I develop a concert violin career. My grandfather had been a concert and vaudeville violinist, so this was really all I knew. They and my violin teacher (the concert master of a symphony orchestra founded by her husband who was a music conductor) felt I should go to the Juilliard School of Music when I was of age.
Like I said, this could end up a book if you want me to answer this question fully. I’ve tried to make it concise.
What are your educational qualifications Michelle? How was the teenage life?
Hmmm…qualifications? Well, I trust you mean formal education. I had hoped to become an English professor. The economy here kind of nipped that in the bud even though I had been considered the top prose writer on campus and had additionally won an award for excellence in first year college Spanish after I received the top grade in the state. The highest grade possible was 100.6. My average in Spanish had been 100.3.
My teenage years were rough. By the time I was 14, there had been at least one feature article in the papers about me, and having newspaper write ups became quite common. Things began to change when I was 15. There was something wrong with our school’s water, and some students contracted Hepatitis. I contracted it as well and was hospitalized for a couple of weeks. Until I was 15, all I knew pretty much was practicing and performing. There wasn’t too much beyond. Seven weeks after my bout with hepatitis, my performances came to a screeching halt as a result of my being hit by two cars while I stood on the sidewalk. I spent the next three months in the hospital, the result of a ruptured thigh muscle from the accident, and I had to learn to walk again.
I was 16 when I went to live with the Oglala Sioux Indians at Pine Ridge, South Dakota for the summer. That was part of my informal education and what began to enable me to blossom more in my understandings of other cultures, other worlds. Where I had loved people from all cultures since I was very young, that love became a passion for me. I had to know more, I had to see and do more with people around the world. It was as if the world suddenly became a prism for me, so many hues, shapes, sizes, fascinating twists and turns!
An interesting past Michelle, How astrology came up? from all of your answers above I can guess that till your teen age life there was no sign of yours to be an astrologer, was it just a coincidence? please shed some light on this.
There actually wasn’t any sign even in my teenage years. In fact, I was intrigued with reading about the Sun signs and the books that helped me understand more seemed to be a challenge for me to find. What little I could find, however, piqued my interest enough that when my first marriage began to crumble, I went in search of an astrologer. There were two listed in the yellow pages of the phone book. I managed to call the wrong one.
The person I called was what I consider to be a con artist, one who claims to know astrology and takes your money while knowing nothing. Everything he told me, I had already figured out from the few books I had bought, and he not only couldn’t tell me what I needed to know–whether I had a chance at saving my first marriage or I needed to move on–he couldn’t even get the correct rising sign for me because he hadn’t stressed the importance of an accurate birth time!
I was so highly incensed at being ripped off by this individual, I swore I was going to find someone who knew astrology and who could teach me. About two months later, such an individual came into my life. As it happens, he and I had the same unique blend in our families although reversed, and our parents had known each other even though we didn’t. He agreed to teach me, and for the next year, I studied intensively with him. I didn’t know I was going to become a professional astrologer yet. I just wanted to know I could protect myself from another astrological fraud. But the more I studied, the more I became convinced that if I ever decided to become a professional astrologer, I was going to teach people the difference between “real” astrology and not.
Now please don’t misunderstand. I am not talking about Indian versus Western astrology. I’m talking about how you can be ripped off regardless of which school you prefer, and you’re less likely to be ripped off if you’re educated on what and who to look for.
So how much astrology turned your life after making it as a profession? Is it your full time job?
I’m not sure I understand what you mean by “turned [my] life after making it as a profession.” I actually became a cover features writer and monthly columnist for a globally top astrological magazine for nine years and focused more on my being a writer and editor than on whether I was a professional astrologer. On the other hand, I was getting paid for my articles, and some pretty nice sums overall for writing on astrology and other topics. But I didn’t actually come out and accept that I was also a professional astrologer on top of my writing career until the very last of years of the 20th century. But looking back, whew! I’ve been a professional astrologer since before I started my writing career, and my first published article was not on astrology and came out in early 1987.
Full-time job. I think my being a woman is a full-time job. I think my being a mother is a full-time job. I think of my being creative as a full-time job too, for that matter. I think of my being a professional astrologer as work I enjoy doing, as I do my writing. I don’t know that it’s full time. I do as much as my strength allows, and I try to do as much as I can till my eyes won’t stay open any longer. I’m guilty of falling asleep at the computer many times, and some of my closest friends chastize me and remind me that I have to go to bed! lol So what’s a full-time job? I work for myself and set my own hours. Don’t you work for someone else with a full-time job? I decide what assignments I’d like to do, what articles I’d like to write, my style of work with the astrology because no one knows my ability better than I.l They can know I’m qualified, but they can’t assess what my true ability is. Astrology is as individualized as a writing career is.
Since when you are on orkut? Orkut is not so popular in U.S like other social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook, but from your activities on orkut I can say you are pretty much settled here, isn’t?
I joined at the end of February 2004. I love Orkut. It’s a home away from home for me. Not that I don’t belong to other social networking sites. I do: Ryze, LinkedIn, Hi5, Gazzag (forgive me, but I never go there, it’s a nuisance in my mind), Tribe, Facebook…I think there are others. That’s really all I can remember. Orkut remains #1 in my mind and in my heart despite a few flaws here and there. So yes, you could say I’m “pretty much settled here.”
Please tell me about your community Scorpio! (Created 24 Jan 2004), it seems one of the earliest community on orkut since orkut came live in the year 2004. What is Scorpio all about?
Yes, Orkut was born in January 2004.
Scorpio! (Created 24 Jan 2004) started out as a Sun sign community, but it has evolved through the years into much more than that. Many people think Western astrology is just about the Sun, just as many think Indian astrology is just about the Moon. But both schools of thought use the Sun and the Moon to develop their charts. The reason for the difference in focus between the two simply lies in the calendars used. Indian astrologers work with the lunar calendar, and Western astrologers work with the solar calendar. There are many variations between the two schools, but both are correct in the signs they use with the planets (even though it appears that both use the signs at different times), and both are accurate in their calculations. Since I wanted so much for people to understand and be able to ask questions about Western astrology because I don’t want them to get ripped off, I simply worked to help people know that astrology doesn’t begin and end with the Sun (or the Moon in Indian astrology). That’s a nutshell synopsis of the evolution of the Scorpio! (Created 24 Jan 2004) community.
When I joined Orkut, Scorpio! (Created 24 Jan 2004) had 100 members. So did the Astrology community, which I also own. By 6 November 2004, we had 1000 members. On 10 April 2006, we hit 10000, and five months later, we were at 20000. The growth has been mind blowing for me. I don’t remember when we hit the next numbers, and certainly Orkut’s computers that can’t count haven’t helped along those lines. But those things are minor in the long run. What is so wonderful for me and for those who have belonged to the community for a long time is that we remain a close-knit family despite the size, and despite the challenges we’ve met along the way. For me, personally, I saw the unity of this family when I had a life-threatening illness in 2005, and every member waited for my return. That illness simply bonded us more closely.
Is Astrology and Religion are two sides of the coin? How many people you met who are atheist but do believe in astrology? I am a stranger so please don’t mind if this question sounds funny.
I find that astrology and religion go hand in hand in India; this is not so in the West where believers seem to be more broad-based than that, from atheists to agnostics to devout believers in some religion, perhaps related to Western astrology’s history dating back to the Middle Ages when Dante, a graduate of the University of Bologna, where the first department chair of Astrology was created, penned The Inferno and Divine Comedy. In an unrelated situation, the department chair was burned at the stake for heresy. Dante blasted astrology in The Inferno but praised astrology in Divine Comedy. He did so in his belief that if astrology doesn’t use necromancy, it’s fine and permissible in religion, but if necromancy is used, it’s blasphemy. St. Thomas Aquinas launched an investigation when it was discovered that the popes were visiting astrologers and tarot readers and people who worked with what are called the metaphysical arts and concluded that Dante’s notes about necromancy were accurate.
Astrology has had a bad reputation through the centuries. It has entered a plethora of categories from fad to pop culture to the absurd. You’ve heard, I’m sure, the advice some people have had that asking someone’s sign is a good way to break the ice. I suppose that’s true, but then we’re getting into Linda Goodman’s world instead of the real essence of astrology, the philosophy of living, not through a belief that the heavens control us and our movements in life. I don’t mean to offend those who believe the cosmos has dominion over our lives, but I see the astrological chart as a symbolism of the energies inside us. We remain in charge of our own behaviors.
So I honestly can’t answer how many are atheists versus not. I’ve had some pretty hot debates with people on both sides of the belief coin. The following may interest you though:
Astrology – Myth or Reality
http://www.orkut.co.in/CommMsgs.aspx?cmm=6669&tid=2563453857037431215
American Presidential election is the hottest topic in United States, as an American who do you support and what is your astrological calculation says?
Lol Yes it is a hot topic. In some of the professional conversations this week, the question was asked about how so many astrologers can be wrong. That’s simple: We all warn students that your emotional attachment to a person will warp your interpretation of the chart. And yet every single astrologer does it when it comes to an election or another major event like that.
I have been a deeply devoted supporter of Hillary Clinton. With all my heart, I had hoped she’d win the Democratic nomination. I feel that Obama may have bitten off more than he can chew although time will tell. With all my heart, I hope John McCain doesn’t win because I think we could face the threat of a world war if he did.
I can’t help but feel that Barack Obama is a snake oil salesman. He’s too smooth for my taste. He’s been groomed in Chicago politics, and that worries me, but it would appear that he is who the Democratic National Convention will nominate at the end of August. He’s shrewd. But he also reminds me of the kid at school who brown noses the teacher by tattling on another student by asking, “Isn’t he breaking the rules???” That innocent, “oh-gee-educate-me” little boy approach makes me very nervous.
But if that’s who the Democratic National Convention nominates, that’s who I will vote for. I will staunchly reject a Republican president, especially one who is about as quick on the draw for jumping into war as the current excuse of a president has done. Obama is not my first choice, but if that’s the choice I have, so be it. He is the lesser of the two evils even if I don’t trust him because he’s selling that snake oil and wooing those with an expendible income. I don’t think he’s much more real than what the Republicans have offered for many years, but he’s all this voter has to consider.
Astrologically ? Yes, I think it’s going to be Obama, but my heart is involved here. I felt Hillary could have won the election. There would have to be a miracle in August in order for that to happen.
Michelle, in your earlier reply you told me how workaholic you are, do you ever get time to freak around? any hobbies or interest you would like to share?
LOL!!!! I burn out like the rest of the world, zazo. Sometimes I’ve been known to get involved in movies on television and forget about the computer nearly the whole day. Most of the time if that happens, it’s on a Saturday or Sunday. If a match with Rafael Nadal is on television, chances are I’ll be watching that too, and if there are no good flicks on TV and no good tennis matches, you might see me watching CSI or Law and Order.
I also enjoy cooking and baking; I love to read a wide range of books. Travel is another love of mine, as is gardening, knitting, and my music. I don’t have a lot of my instruments anymore, but I brought a guitar back from Brazil when I went there in 2006, so I have that at least. I’m not a shopaholic–unless I have money to head for the bookstore. (My family dreads that! lol) I also am passionate about Scrabble.
Oh, and I also love learning languages. Not that I’m fluent in anything but English (or rather I hope I am fluent in English! lol), but I do love learning languages because these are the stepping stones between cultures and the opportunity for world peace.
There’s probably more but you might have to prod me to get me to remember I didn’t say that. Lol
Where do you like to see yourself in next 5-10 years?
In order of desires with this question, I’d have to say:
1) Alive!
2) being the author of a best-selling book
3) whether or not I got #2, a lottery win might be nice.
If the lottery was big enough, for that matter, I could do some altruistic things, like establishing halfway houses for the victims of domestic violence to start getting back on their feet. I’d also like to have enough to travel the world to meet in person all the wonderful people I’ve met in all these years on Orkut. My life has been richer and fuller because of them.
Any secret of Michelle Young? 
lol Lots of those. 
And that’s where they’ll stay too. 
Michelle it was a wonderful experience talking with you, thank you so much for giving your precious time in making this interview successful. I wish you for your success and to see you always so lively as you are. Thanks again!
Thank you, zazo. I thoroughly enjoyed it!
Michelle’s Communities:
Scorpio (Created 24th jan 2004)
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Excellent interview Michelle.
LOL, you forgot to tell that you are the Italian Butterfly (Barboreta Italiana) too.
Well, my interaction with Michelle started through the Orkut Hospital community itself. I was proposing anonymous postings and she was opposing it, and that was a time some of the members of the hospital community thought that we were at war.
Hehe, do you remember Michelle.
But later it became clear to people that we are indeed limiting ourselves to friendly discussion. Gradually, it became clear to me that she is one lady whom I should remember for life.
To add (and to confirm) that there was a time when both of us wanted to be added, but she could not (nor could I) because the limits posed by Orkut.
Am really proud of being in her friends’ list.
@Michelle
Just today I came to know that you play so many musical instruments. Hats off man.
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Thanks to Zazo for the interview.
First of all many congratulations to you Michelle, oops typing error : I meant Dr. Michelle. I know Michelle ji (we add “ji” in India as a suffix title indicating 'respected') through Orkut Hospital where she is found to be absolutely dedicated, sincere and kind hearted. She has been an epochal figure of making “Orkut Hospital' what it is today. Her post (answered) regarding many medical queries through the vast knowledge base of her sheer experience & passion devoted to the well being of the human being calls for an standing ovation. I believe she is an absolute beautiful human being and I admire her for that; if I go more eloquent about this; I'd say that I am a fan of you Michelle ji.
I wish Michelle ji the very best in her life & may God bless her.
Cheers !
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