Amyre Makupson Examines "What's Next?

Amyre Makupson is a popular metro Detroit news anchor, who also hosted a wonderful show, Straight Talk. Cindy and Gerri were in the audience many times. A number of the topics were metaphysical or spiritual. It seems natural that this book comes out of asking those questions. News people are questioning by nature. The new book that Amyre Makupson has published is called “So…What’s Next?”

Many a spiritual path begins with a question.

Amyre Makupson, longtime newscaster in metro Detroit, has been asking questions in her efforts to gain and share insight about what happens after we leave this earth. Is this life the end or is there something more, something that continues on? The question is the same as the title of her book: “So…What’s Next?”

“Obsessed might be too strong of a word, but I have certainly been fascinated with the hereafter for a long time,” says Makupson.

Her own life includes both the joys and tragedies that many people experience – marriage, children, losing loved ones – leading Makupson to ask the profound questions in her work and in her life, looking for glimpses of the spiritual in the everyday world.

“My inspiration actually came when I was 19-years-old and my brother died. I guess I was young enough and ignorant enough to think that people didn’t really die,” she says. Her brother, Rudy, hit a light pole while riding a motorcycle and died of his injuries.

Later that night, Makupson recalls an experience that has stayed with her ever since.

“My bedroom was on the back of the house. Our garage let out onto the side street. When anyone came home, they’d hit a manhole cover. It was a huge, heavy piece of metal slapping on the concrete because you had to go right over it. Bam! And then the side door of the garage, you had to slam it. It made a very specific sound that I laid there in that bed and heard a thousand times.

“The evening he died, I was in bed and I heard the manhole slam and I heard the side door slam and I heard my brother say, ‘Amyre,’ and it scared me to death. I remember jumping up. I don’t remember my feet touching the floor, flying into my parents’ room and diving between them. When I told them what happened, they said, ‘Next time, send him to me.’ You could very easily make a case, ‘You were upset, you didn’t know what was happening, you were afraid.’ Fine. But in my heart and soul, I think he tried to say something to me because he realized I was afraid.”

Then there was the story about her father. He was out of the old school, says Makupson, “So when he said no, it was no.”

The night he died, he had wanted her to stay home, but she went out anyway. “It was under nice terms, but it was the first and only time in my life I ever said no to him. To this day I can’t believe I did it. But to this day, I know it’s what saved my life.”

While Makupson was out that night, her father was murdered in a home break-in. If she had stayed home, she would have been there when the intruder arrived.

“My bedroom was right at the top of the staircase. I’d have been the very first person he saw… Something or someone rearranged things that were way out of the ordinary,” she says.

Also, there was an experience with Makupson’s mother, who had grown up with French-speaking parents in New Orleans.

“My mother’s mother died very, very young and my mother never spoke of her mother…. and never kept up the French. When she was literally dying, she started talking to her mother in French and there is no way, nobody can convince me that her mother wasn’t talking to her in the transition.”

The essays in “So…What’s Next?” are based on interviews with 22 people. Some are family or friends. Other chapters come from talks with people who volunteered after they heard Makupson talk about the project at a Weight Watchers meeting.

“Almost everyone has thoughts about life after death. It’s just that we don’t talk about it in general conversation, mainly because we don’t want people to think us strange, but it doesn’t take much urging to get almost anyone to open up. In fact, once people start talking, it’s often difficult to get them to stop,” says Makupson.

Does this book give a definitive answer about what’s next? While there are many ideas, it looks like the question remains open.

“Most people believe or hope or pray or desire, that they’re going to somehow reconnect with those they have loved and lost,” says Makupson. “Nine out of 10 people think that.”

When she asks herself the question, Makupson has an answer. If she passed on tomorrow, she imagines partying with her cherished family and friends, enjoying treats like Papa John’s pizza, Diet Coke, smoking and pinochle. “I’m pretty sure I can’t sit there in my red suit and touch and talk…but it will be as satisfying to me as if I was sitting at the table talking and eating pizza.”

And writing this book has helped her in at least one other respect. “It has made me not afraid to die. Can I prove it? Absolutely not. But it has made me believe that this is only a stopping point, that this is what we’re doing right now, that there are other things and other places.”

In addition, Makupson has been collecting stories to do a second volume. “Since this has been out, I’ve had so many people approach me” wishing they could have their story included.

“Once you give them a venue and they trust you and know that you’re not going to laugh at them or something like that, you can’t stop them. Everybody thinks about this, more than I thought they did.”

And she’s humble about the wisdom she has to offer others.

“I think it’s not what’s in your life, it’s who’s in your life that counts. I think whatever means or ability we have, we should be good people. If there’s one thing I believe, it’s the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. We have so many opportunities to extend a hand, even to change a life. Old people. Give them five minutes. That’s better than hitting the Mega Millions. They just want a little time. We have an opportunity to do that but either we don’t understand it or we don’t have time. We think we’re too busy. If you can just be the best person you can be, be a good person, I think you’re going to be rewarded for it. I can’t prove it, but I really believe that and I try to pass that on. It takes so little to do so much.”