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http://www.diydharma.org/Thanissaro | 2016-04-30T05:17:01 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-18/segments/1461860111612.51/warc/CC-MAIN-20160428161511-00044-ip-10-239-7-51.ec2.internal.warc.gz | 0.946899 | 227 | CC-MAIN-2016-18 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2016-18__0__43829814 | en | Everything that happens in the mind is part of a causal chain. Meditation is the simple practice of watching the activity of the mind honestly and witnessing their results. Skillfulness is choosing to cultivate what brings benefit and letting go of what increases suffering. Simple common sense. And though tedious on the surface, much less tedious and much less painful that not training the mind.
Taking an interest in the breath is taking an interest in the present moment. Being on good terms with the breath is being on good terms with yourself and therefore with the whole world.
Life is shaped by the friends we choose. Meditation, in allowing us to be comfortable with ourselves, give us great strength to choose our friends and our way in the world.
Secure in solitude.
"A Sangha is a community of resistance, resisting the speed, violence and unwholesome ways of living that are prevalent in our society. Mindfulness is to protect ourselves and others. A good Sangha will lead us in the direction of harmony and awareness. The substance of the practice is most important. The forms can be adapted." ~ Thich Nhat Hahn | literature |
https://oxadventure.com/i-went-to-the-wood/ | 2023-09-30T06:27:15 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-40/segments/1695233510603.89/warc/CC-MAIN-20230930050118-20230930080118-00588.warc.gz | 0.983459 | 258 | CC-MAIN-2023-40 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2023-40__0__183138801 | en | “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.
I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion.
For most men, it appears to me, are in a strange uncertainty about it, whether it is of the devil or of God, and have somewhat hastily concluded that it is the chief end of man here to ‘glorify God and enjoy him forever’”.
– Henry David Thoreau (1817 – 1862) | literature |
https://citemytitle.com/mla-book-citation-guide/ | 2023-06-03T13:35:04 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-23/segments/1685224649293.44/warc/CC-MAIN-20230603133129-20230603163129-00631.warc.gz | 0.872341 | 1,320 | CC-MAIN-2023-23 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2023-23__0__199001504 | en | A MLA book citation follows a specific format that allows the reader to quickly and accurately identify key information. Here’s everything you need to know how MLA cite book works.
Standard MLA Format Book Citation Format
Citing a book is important for several reasons. First of all, it gives the original author credit because books are intellectual properties. When you fail to cite a source, you commit plagiarism and intellectual dishonesty. On the other hand, if you added the correct citation, you display yourself as scholarly with proof of research conducted.
Core Elements of a MLA Book Citation
So, how do you create a book citation for MLA? Actually, it depends on the book. For example, the citation looks differently if it is written by two authors rather than one author. Also, an anthology citation contains more information than a novel.
Even though this is true, all book citations contain specific basic information that is common to all books.
- The name of the author listed last name first.
- The title of book in italics.
- The name of the publisher.
- The year of publication
- The city of publication is optional unless called for by rare situations.
Properly formatted, it will look like this:
Author last name, First name. Book Title. Publisher, Year.
MLA Citation for A Book Chapter
If you are citing a chapter of a book, you will need to include more information. Along with the name of the author of the chapter, you will have to add the name of the editor/s. The page ranges within the book for the chapter you are citing should be cited as well.
For One Author/Editor
Now would be a good time for an example. So, let’s start with something simple like a citation for a book chapter with one author/editor.
Here is the proper MLA format for citing a chapter of a book with one author/editor:
Author(s) of Chapter. "Title of Chapter: Subtitle of Chapter." Title of Book, edited by Editor of Book, Publisher, Publication Date, page numbers.
And, here is an example:
Kang-Brown, Jason, et al. “Zero-Tolerance Policies Do Not Make Schools Safer.” School Safety, edited by Noah Berlatsky, Greenhaven Press, 2016, pp. 50-52.
For Multiple Authors/Editors
Sometimes, a book may have two or more authors. So, let’s take a look at a citation for each situation.
For a book with two authors use the following format:
1st Author's Last Name, First Name, and 2nd Author's First Name Last Name. Title of the Book. Publisher, Year published.
Hawkins, Stan, and Sarah Niblock. Prince: the Making of a Pop Music Phenomenon. Ashgate, 2011.
For 3 or more authors, this is where it changes significantly. So, again here is the format:
1st Author's Last Name, First Name, et al. Title of the Book. Publisher, Year published.
Interestingly, et al. simply means “and all” in Latin.
So, how does it look with real book information?
Bear, Donald R., et. al. Words Their Way: Word Study for Phonics, Vocabulary, and Spelling Instruction. 6th ed., Pearson Education, 2015.
For Missing Author/Editor
A book can also have no author. Well, technically, it would be called a missing author. Basically, the author hasn’t been given credit for the book. This happens with reference books like an encyclopedia.
So, if there’s no author how do you cite the book? You start with the title.
And, it the citation looks like this:
Book Title: Subtitle. [Edition information], Publisher, Year.
Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary. 11th ed, Merriam-Webster, 2014.
MLA Citation for Whole Collection
So that’s how you cite a single book. But, what if you want to cite a whole collection? Don’t worry. There’s a format for that, as well.
And here it is:
Author's last name, First name. Title of Book. Year of publication for the Title cited. Title of the multi volume publication, volume number, Publisher, Year of publication for the collection.
Damrosch, David, et al. The Longman Anthology of World Literature. 2nd ed., vol. C, Pearson Education, 2009.
MLA Citation for Book Editions
What if you want to cite a book that’s a specific edition? Of course, you have to include the edition number. But how do you format the citation? Your citation will look like this:
Author last name, First name. Book Title. Edition. Publisher, Year.
Newcomb, Horace, editor. Television: The Critical View. 7th ed., Oxford UP, 2007.
MLA Book Citation for Ebooks
Of course, books aren’t only found in print anymore. You have to also consider ebooks. So, this is how you cite ebooks:
Author’s last name, First name. Title of the e-Book. E-book ed., Publisher, Year published. Name of e-reader device.
O’Brien, T. (1990). The things they carried [Kindle Fire version]. Retrieved from Amazon.com
MLA Citation for Translated Books
Another special type of book is a translation. Therefore, it has a special citation:
Author’s Last name, First name. Title of the Book. Translated by First name Last name, Publisher, Year published.
Hammesfahr, Petra. The Sinner. Translated by John Brownjohn. Bitter Lemon Press, 2007.
As you can see, there are many different MLA book citations. Which one you use depends upon the information included on the book’s publication page. For your citation to be accurate, you must be sure that you have included all of the relevant information provided. | literature |
http://favoritemormonbooks.blogspot.com/2012/02/life-of-joseph-smith-prophet-by-george.html | 2018-05-22T13:19:54 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-22/segments/1526794864790.28/warc/CC-MAIN-20180522131652-20180522151652-00408.warc.gz | 0.983319 | 375 | CC-MAIN-2018-22 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2018-22__0__117188906 | en | Friday, February 10, 2012
Life Of Joseph Smith The Prophet By George Q. Cannon
In the fall of 1842, young George Q. Cannon, a convert to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, arrived in Nauvoo, Illinois, where the Saints were headquartered. There he met the Prophet Joseph Smith. He writes:
“The author sought with a boy’s curiosity and eagerness, to discover those whom he knew, and especially to get sight of the Prophet and his brother Hyrum, neither of whom he had ever met. When his eyes fell upon the Prophet, without a word from anyone to point him out, or any reason to separate him form others who stood around, he knew him instantly. He would have known him among ten thousand. There was that about him, which to the author’s eyes, distinguished him from all the men he had ever seen.”
From that moment, George Q. Cannon bore strong testimony of the divine calling and the accomplishments of the Prophet and the gospel that had been restored to the earth through him.
In Life of Joseph Smith the Prophet, the author presents firsthand, accounts, letters, and memories of those who knew and loved the Prophet. The story follows the life of Joseph, from his birth in Vermont in 1805 through his martyrdom at Carthage, Illinois, in 1844. In concluding the book with the Prophet’s death, President Cannon writes:
“The enemies of truth were sure that they had now destroyed the work. And yet it lives, greater and stronger after the lapse of year! It is indestructible for it is the work of God. And knowing that it is eternal work of God, we know that Joseph Smith, who established it, was a Prophet, pure and holy.” | literature |
https://www.reinventyourwaste.com/fables-books-goshen-meet-the-authors-february-first-fridays/ | 2024-02-23T06:49:59 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2024-10/segments/1707947474361.75/warc/CC-MAIN-20240223053503-20240223083503-00015.warc.gz | 0.931848 | 235 | CC-MAIN-2024-10 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2024-10__0__161084196 | en | Fables Books, Goshen – Meet the Authors | February First Fridays
Meet the Authors | February First Fridays, Friday February 2nd, 2024 @ 6:00pm – 8:00 pm
While you’re indulging in your favorite downtown shops, swing by Fables Books and treat your shelf to a new read or two. Bring the kiddos in from 5 pm – 7 pm for a fun craft hosted by Triple P Elkhart County. Learn more about how you can protect our environment through waste management with Tyler Kanczuzewski and his book “Reinvent Your Waste.” Or dive into a new mystery with Bruce Cashbuaugh‘s newest novel, “None So Blind.” Tyler and Bruce will be available to answer questions and sign their books from 6 pm to 8 pm.
Finally, grab a gift for your Valentine, Palentine, or Galentine. Our booksellers are happy to help you find the perfect book or gift to show how much you care.
For more information about what’s happening in Downtown Goshen, visit downtowngoshen.org. | literature |
http://www.girlscoutsnebraska.org/blog/a-book-and-a-game-to-strengthen-the-brain/ | 2016-05-30T10:37:53 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-22/segments/1464050960463.61/warc/CC-MAIN-20160524004920-00039-ip-10-185-217-139.ec2.internal.warc.gz | 0.965163 | 309 | CC-MAIN-2016-22 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2016-22__0__25930314 | en | Improving early childhood literacy is one of the most pressing issues facing our nation today. Kids who struggle with reading can quickly fall behind in school and also have a higher chance of not completing high school or going on to college. It can have a lasting, negative impact on their lives.
Allison Tietjen understands the importance of working to improve early childhood literacy and so she decided to make it the focus of her Gold Award Take Action project.
“A Book and a Game – to Strengthen the Brain” focused on improving early childhood literacy in Allison’s community, Chester, Nebraska. She joined forces with area elementary school teachers and librarians and together they selected books for students in preschool through first grade and created a game to accompany each book. The books and games were based on National Reading Standards and the school district’s objectives.
Students participating in Allison’s program can check out a book/game tote bag from their school library and take it home to share with their family. The project had three goals: increase parents’ knowledge of their child’s reading skills, enhance students’ reading performance and create a lasting bond for reading and learning between a child and adult.
“A Book and a Game – to Strengthen the Brain” has been a huge success and with support from school staff, will continue to be part of the early childhood curriculum.
Way to go, Allison! You are truly helping to make the world a better place. | literature |
https://multdems.org/race-informed-social-justice-wednesday-aug-1/ | 2023-11-28T16:29:36 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-50/segments/1700679099892.46/warc/CC-MAIN-20231128151412-20231128181412-00054.warc.gz | 0.927631 | 132 | CC-MAIN-2023-50 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2023-50__0__56595786 | en | Please join Multnomah County Democrats in an informative event and discussion about systemic racism in schools at
6:30 to 7:30 PM
3551 NE Sandy Blvd
We will be joined by author Susan Anglada Bartley, an Educator and an advocate for students in Multnomah County largest school district, the Portland Public School district. Ms. Bartley will be reading from her recently published book A Different Vision A Revolution Against Racism in Public Education. The book is available in independent books store and online. Please RSVP Rachelle Dixon at: [email protected].
Light refreshments will be served. | literature |
https://www.studiomainst.com/products/yoga-bunny-simple-poses-for-little-ones | 2024-02-22T12:24:35 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2024-10/segments/1707947473738.92/warc/CC-MAIN-20240222093910-20240222123910-00736.warc.gz | 0.93217 | 196 | CC-MAIN-2024-10 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2024-10__0__50112385 | en | Yoga Bunny by Sarah Jane Hinder
A delightful new board book teaches babies and toddlers 10 yoga poses inspired by woodland creatures
Yoga Bunny invites you and your little one on a woodland yoga adventure with 10 adorable forest critters. Bunny, raccoon, owl, and deer—the gang’s all here! From Hero and Half Lotus to Cat and Cow, Yoga Bunny leads babies and toddlers through these authentic poses and more, with guidance from some of their favorite animal friends.
With the fourth yoga board book in her wildly popular series, Sarah Jane Hinder offers parents, grandparents, teachers, and daycare providers a wonderful new way to help children increase body awareness, coordination, concentration, and self-soothing. The left-hand page shows an illustration of a child performing a pose, with the facing page featuring a woodland animal in the same pose, along with a playful narrative. Yoga Bunny also includes a complete yoga flow with instructions for all 10 poses. | literature |
http://lunarskeletons.blogspot.com/2005_03_01_archive.html | 2013-05-19T14:28:28 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697681504/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094801-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | 0.969352 | 277 | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2013-20__0__47913145 | en | Saturday, March 19, 2005
It’s not that many people come here to read Lunar Skeletons, and so if I make a book recommendation, it would be like a tree falling in the forest: nobody will hear it. But I thought I would mention Marva J. Dawn’s book entitled “Reaching Out Without Dumbing Down—A Theology of Worship for This Urgent Time” (Eerdsmans Publishing Company, 1995, ISBN 0-8028-4102-3). It’s an obscure book, I grant, and written long ago, but Ms. Dawn has written a very thoughtful book, and it tackles the biggest problem that seem to plague many evangelical churches nowadays: the Great Dumbing Down Syndrome. And it is the case, it seems, that one of the biggest criticisms of the Rick Warren's methodology is that it excessively “dumbs down” the Gospel in order to make it more palatable, or “seeker sensitive.” But she had so many excellent things to say, particularly in regard to worship, that I am giving the book a second reading already. One aspect of the book is that Ms. Dawn wrote it at a time of great personal suffering in her life because of various health problems, which is something that she did occasionally mentioned in her book. | literature |
https://www.realitas-llc.com/positive-dog | 2023-12-10T01:54:25 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-50/segments/1700679100989.75/warc/CC-MAIN-20231209233632-20231210023632-00176.warc.gz | 0.949217 | 201 | CC-MAIN-2023-50 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2023-50__0__137073405 | en | The Fight of Two Dogs Within You
An old wiseman is teaching his grandson about life:
“A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy.
“It is a terrible fight and it is between two dogs. One is evil–he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.”
He continued, “The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you–and inside every other person, too.”
The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: “Which dog will win?”
The old wiseman simply replied, “The one you feed.” | literature |
https://mineralscloud.github.io/research/ | 2023-12-06T03:25:34 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-50/segments/1700679100583.13/warc/CC-MAIN-20231206031946-20231206061946-00732.warc.gz | 0.880581 | 768 | CC-MAIN-2023-50 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2023-50__0__140974083 | en | Performing a state of the art study in geo- materials poses several challenges to both the human and the computer system:
Hydrous phases are among the most important Earth components. They have technological and societal utility and are important for a broad suite of Earth processes, including the origin of life. From both thermodynamic and structural perspectives, however, they represent some of the most complex naturally occurring materials: their bonding often includes a combination of strong covalent, weak ionic, van der Waals, and hydrogen bonding, all within large unit cells. Most are solid solutions, and many are prone to variations in layer packing. Many prior studies of these materials have emphasized experimental measurements and analytic modeling of their thermodynamics. Such thermodynamic studies represent a fundamental tool for understanding present and past natural processes, including those that shaped—and continue to shape—the structure and evolution of our planet. Nevertheless, many properties of these materials and solid solutions are difficult to measure experimentally or model analytically. To make significant new progress and attain a deep and predictive understanding of these materials requires a more atomistic and theoretical approach.
Spin crossover of iron is of central importance in solid Earth geophysics. It impacts all physical properties of minerals that altogether constitute ∼ 95 vol% of the Earth’s lower mantle: ferropericlase [(Mg,Fe)O] and Fe-bearing magnesium silicate (MgSiO3) perovskite.
Using density functional theory+Hubbard U (DFT+U) calculations, we investigate how aluminum affects the spin crossover of iron in MgSiO3 perovskite (Pv) and post-perovskite (Ppv), the major mineral phases in the Earth’s lower mantle. We find that the presence of aluminum does not change the response of iron spin state to pressure: only ferric iron (Fe3+) in the octahedral (B)-site undergoes a crossover from high-spin (HS) to low-spin (LS) state, while Fe3+ in the dodecahedral (A)-site remains in the HS state, same as in Al-free cases. However, aluminum does significantly affect the placement of Fe3+ in these mineral phases. The most stable atomic configuration has all Al3+ in the B-site and all Fe3+ in the A-site (thus in the HS state). Metastable configurations with LS Fe3+ in the B-site can happen only at high pressures and high temperatures. Therefore, experimental observations of LS Fe33+ at high pressures in Al-bearing Pv require diffusion of iron from the A-site to the B-site and should be sensitive to the annealing temperature and schedule. In the Earth’s lower mantle, the elastic anomalies accompanying the B-site HS-LS crossover exhibited in Al-free Pv are likely to be considerably reduced, according to the B-site Fe3+ population.
N. Tosi, D. A. Yuen, N. de Koker, and R. M. Wentzcovitch, Mantle dynamics with pressure- and temperature-dependent thermal expansivity and conductivity, Phys. Earth & Planet. Int. 217, 48–58 (2013). DOI:10.1016/j.pepi.2013.02.004
H. Hsu, Y. Yu, and R. M. Wentzcovitch, Spin crossover in iron in aluminous MgSiO3 persovskite and post-perovskite, Earth & Planet. Sc. Lett. 359-360, 34-39 (2012). DOI: 10.1016/j.epsl.2012.09.029 | literature |
http://centerforbookpublishing.org/books/ | 2022-08-10T21:00:42 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571210.98/warc/CC-MAIN-20220810191850-20220810221850-00287.warc.gz | 0.945724 | 2,074 | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2022-33__0__1516768 | en | Reference Books on Writing and Publishing
There are a lot of books published on book publishing. Unfortunately, like many books on other topics, the books vary greatly on the value of the content presented. We've assembled some of our favorite books on a variety of topics related to book publishing that we believe are worth reading.
Let us know what you think of our suggestions or recommend other books to add to our list.
The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th Edition
by The University of Chicago Press Editorial Staff
Technologies may change, but the need for clear and accurate communication never goes out of style. That is why for more than one hundred years The Chicago Manual of Style has remained the definitive guide for anyone who works with books. In addition to grammar and usage, The Chicago Manual of Style has sections specifically related to the formatting and organization of books.
In the seven years since the previous edition debuted, we have seen an extraordinary evolution in the way we create and share knowledge. This seventeenth edition of The Chicago Manual of Style has been prepared with an eye toward how we find, create, and cite information that readers are as likely to access from their pockets as from a bookshelf. It offers updated guidelines on electronic workflows and publication formats, tools for PDF annotation and citation management, web accessibility standards, and effective use of metadata, abstracts, and keywords. It recognizes the needs of those who are self-publishing or following open access or Creative Commons publishing models. The citation chapters reflect the ever-expanding universe of electronic sources—including social media posts and comments, private messages, and app content—and also offer updated guidelines on such issues as DOIs, time stamps, and e-book locators.
Other improvements are independent of technological change. The chapter on grammar and usage includes an expanded glossary of problematic words and phrases and a new section on syntax as well as updated guidance on gender-neutral pronouns and bias-free language. Key sections on punctuation and basic citation style have been reorganized and clarified. To facilitate navigation, headings and paragraph titles have been revised and clarified throughout. And the bibliography has been updated and expanded to include the latest and best resources available.
This edition continues to reflect expert insights gathered from Chicago’s own staff and from an advisory board of publishing experts from across the profession. It also includes suggestions inspired by emails, calls, and even tweets from readers. No matter how much the means of communication change, The Chicago Manual of Style remains the ultimate resource for those who care about getting the details right.
The Writer's Compass: From Story Map to Finished Draft in 7 Stages
by Nancy Ellen Dodd
Just as surveyors use a compass to map the known world, The Writer’s Compass teaches writers to use their intuition as an internal compass to create their story map. This book simplifies Aristotle’s elements of good writing into easily applicable concepts. Each stage focuses on a major story weakness such as structure, characterization, and creating tension. Through thought-provoking questions, The Writer’s Compass trains the analytical side of the brain to be creative and to write the story the writer wants to tell—in 7 stages.
What's Your Book? A Step-by-Step Guide to Get You from Inspiration to Published Author
by Brooke Warner
What's Your Book? is an aspiring author’s go-to guide for getting from idea to publication. Brooke Warner is a publishing expert with thirteen years’ experience as an acquiring editor for major trade houses. In her book, she brings her unique understanding of book publishing (from the vantage point of coach, editor, and publisher) to each of the book's five chapters, which include understanding the art of becoming an author, getting over common hurdles, challenging counterproductive mindsets, building an author platform, and ultimately getting published. Brooke is known for her straightforward delivery, honest assessments, and compassionate touch with authors. What's Your Book? contains the inspiration and information every writer needs to publish their first or next book.
Journey of Memoir: The Three Stages of Memoir Writing
by Linda Joy Myers
Journey of Memoir --The Three Stages of Memoir Writing is a workshop in a book. Guiding you from your reasons to write a memoir, to how to begin, you will discover the answers to the questions you have about memoir writing. There are lessons on how to write a great scene; information on the difference between freewriting and outlining, and why you need both. Timeline and turning point exercises help you get started and create structure, and you'll learn what the narrative arc is and how to create plot in memoir.
Breaking Ground on Your Memoir: Craft, Inspiration, and Motivation for Memoir Writers
by Brooke Warner and Linda Joy Myers
In Breaking Ground on Your Memoir, Linda Joy Myers (President of the National Association of Memoir Writers) and Brooke Warner (Publisher of She Writes Press) present from the ground up—from basic to advanced—the craft and skills memoirists can draw upon to write a powerful and moving story, as well as inspiration to write, finish, and polish their own story. Full of rich insights and practical advice and strategies, Breaking Ground on Your Memoir offers all the tools writers need to write a powerful, publishable memoir.
Snappy Sassy Salty: Wise Words for Authors and Writers
by Judith Briles
Could you use a pick-me-up? A bit of inspiration or silliness? How about something to chew on or get you unstuck? In Snappy Sassy Salty: Wise Words for Authors and Writers, you will find all that and more.
Author Judith Briles favorite advice over the years to her many author clients is included ... think and write snappy, sassy and salty and surround yourself with cheerleaders for your vision, not distractors.
Writing with a bit of snap, always some sass and yes, there's salt in there.
The Elements of Style: 2017 Edition
by William Strunk Jr.
The Elements of Style is an American English writing style guide. It is one of the most influential and best-known prescriptive treatments of English grammar and usage in the United States. It originally detailed eight elementary rules of usage, ten elementary principles of composition, and "a few matters of form" as well as a list of commonly misused words and expressions. Updated editions of the paperback book are often required reading for American high school and college composition classes.
On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction
by William Zinsser
On Writing Well has been praised for its sound advice, its clarity and the warmth of its style. It is a book for everybody who wants to learn how to write or who needs to do some writing to get through the day, as almost everybody does in the age of e-mail and the Internet.
Whether you want to write about people or places, science and technology, business, sports, the arts or about yourself in the increasingly popular memoir genre, On Writing Well offers you fundamental principles as well as the insights of a distinguished writer and teacher. With more than a million copies sold, this volume has stood the test of time and remains a valuable resource for writers and would-be writers.
Stein On Writing
by Sol Stein
A Master Editor of Some of the Most Successful Writers of Our Century Shares His Craft Techniques and Strategies.
Stein on Writing provides immediately useful advice for all writers of fiction and nonfiction, whether they are newcomers or old hands, students or instructors, amateurs or professionals. As the always clear and direct Stein explains here, "This is not a book of theory. It is a book of usable solutions--how to fix writing that is flawed, how to improve writing that is good, how to create interesting writing in the first place." With examples from bestsellers as well as from students' drafts, Stein offers detailed sections on characterization, dialogue, pacing, flashbacks, trimming away flabby wording, the so-called "triage" method of revision, using the techniques of fiction to enliven nonfiction, and more.
Pep Talks for Writers: 52 Insights and Actions to Boost Your Creative Mojo
by Grant Faulkner
Every writer knows that as rewarding as the creative process is, it can often be a bumpy road. Have hope and keep at it! Designed to kick-start creativity, this handsome handbook from the executive director of National Novel Writing Month gathers a wide range of insights and advice for writers at any stage of their career. From tips about how to finally start that story to helpful ideas about what to do when the words just aren't quite coming out right, Pep Talks for Writers provides motivation, encouragement, and helpful exercises for writers of all stripes.
You Are a Writer (So Start Acting Like One)
by Jeff Goins
Becoming a writer begins with a simple but important belief: You are a writer; you just need to write.
In You Are a Writer, Jeff Goins shares his own story of self-doubt and what it took for him to become a professional writer. He gives you practical steps to improve your writing, get published in magazines, and build a platform that puts you in charge.
This book is about what it takes to be a writer in the 21st Century. You will learn the importance of passion and discipline and how to show up every day to do the work.
You Are a Writer will help you fall back in love with writing and build an audience who shares your love. It’s about living the dream of a life dedicated to words.
How do we select a Book to be included on the Center for Book Publishing Resources page?
All of the books listed on this page have been reviewed by us and we have found that they provide excellent information about their subject matter.
If you have a book that you would like to have listed here, please contact us on our Feedback page. We will need a copy of the book to review. We prefer printed copies, but will accept other formats. | literature |
http://www.clintschumacher.com/rss/quote.php | 2018-01-21T04:49:16 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-05/segments/1516084890187.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20180121040927-20180121060927-00078.warc.gz | 0.940498 | 300 | CC-MAIN-2018-05 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2018-05__0__19020959 | en | Quotes of the Day
Edgar Watson Howe
"Most people have seen worse things in private than they pretend to be shocked at in public."
Miguel de Cervantes
"I say that good painters imitated nature; but that bad ones vomited it."
"Believe those who are seeking the truth. Doubt those who find it."
"The first half of our lives is ruined by our parents, and the second half by our children."
"I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think interior decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves."
"Because things are the way they are, things will not stay the way they are."
John J. Plomp
"You know that children are growing up when they start asking questions that have answers."
"It is far more impressive when others discover your good qualities without your help."
"If people never did silly things, nothing intelligent would ever get done."
"Silly things do cease to be silly if they are done by sensible people in an impudent way."
"Another possible source of guidance for teenagers is television, but television's message has always been that the need for truth, wisdom and world peace pales by comparison with the need for a toothpaste that offers whiter teeth *and* fresher breath."
"The greatest use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it." | literature |
https://www.desireesbooks.com/post/smithy-returns-in-2024 | 2024-02-20T21:17:54 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2024-10/segments/1707947473347.0/warc/CC-MAIN-20240220211055-20240221001055-00557.warc.gz | 0.96404 | 380 | CC-MAIN-2024-10 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2024-10__0__177326235 | en | April of 2021 saw the publication of my novel Smithy, the story of a chimpanzee raised in a storied Newport, RI mansion who just might have the ability to use language--and who just might be using it to communicate with a spirit lurking in the house.
Smithy's journey didn't end when that book ended. When I initially prepared the manuscript of Smithy's story, it was much longer, covering a twenty-year trajectory. That final draft was so long that I ended up splitting it in half. Part I became Smithy. Now, Inkshares will be releasing Part II of Smithy's remarkable adventure this February in a book called Webster.
The forthcoming book follows Smithy as he departs Trevor Hall and travels across the country to a research lab in California. Ruby and Jeff hope this new environment will give Smithy a fresh start and an opportunity to further develop his sign language skills. Instead, they are dismayed to discover the director of the Center for the Scientific Advancement of Man is an abusive bully who neglects the welfare of the animals and tyrannizes his employees. Worse, accidents in the lab and unruly behavior from the research apes suggest that a phantom presence is still hovering over Smithy. Has the "Dark Woman" followed him from Trevor Hall, or are new entities converging on him?
As word spreads of the weird events at CSAM and Smithy's unusual abilities, his notoriety grows to worldwide proportions, eventually claiming headlines, a place in the court of public opinion, and participation in the court of law. It's a story about belief in the mysterious and faith in the unseen. I think it will thrill you. It may amaze you. It might even . . .terrify you.
I hope you will join me and Smithy for the conclusion of a saga that is out of this world. | literature |
https://indigowomenscenter.com/poor-ovarian-responsepor/ | 2020-01-18T03:38:59 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-05/segments/1579250591763.20/warc/CC-MAIN-20200118023429-20200118051429-00103.warc.gz | 0.927662 | 1,186 | CC-MAIN-2020-05 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2020-05__0__180674265 | en | Patients with poor ovarian response (POR) are both challenging to treat and represent a large proportion of patients presenting with infertility . Patients with POR, who are often of advanced maternal age, have a high cycle cancellation rate, higher miscarriage rate, and significantly reduced live birth rate per cycle.
The term “poor responder” is typically referred to as someone whose ovaries and body does not respond to fertility medications. Usually they will require much higher doses of stimulation medications to produce 4 or less than optimal number of eggs needed to proceed in an IVF treatment.
How do you diagnose someone who may be a poor responder?
In most cases a poor responder diagnosis is discovered after going through an IVF cycle resulting in a poor stimulation outcome. However, it is possible to identify potential issues ahead of time through ovarian reserve testing. This can be done through having a provider ideally a fertility specialist, check the FSH levels and conducting the clomiphene challenge test. An ultrasound assessment can help predict both resting and antral follicle numbers. There is one last test that can help determine if a person will be a poor responder and that is cycle day 3 blood testing of the Inhibin B levels.
It has been recognized that, in order to define the poor response in IVF, at least two of the following three features must be present: (i) advanced maternal age or any other risk factor for POR; (ii) a previous POR; and (iii) an abnormal ovarian reserve test (ORT). Two episodes of POR after maximal stimulation are sufficient to define a patient as poor responder in the absence of advanced maternal age or abnormal ORT. By definition, the term POR refers to the ovarian response, and therefore, one stimulated cycle is considered essential for the diagnosis of POR. However, patients of advanced age with an abnormal ORT may be classified as poor responders since both advanced age and an abnormal ORT may indicate reduced ovarian reserve and act as a surrogate of ovarian stimulation cycle outcome. In this case, the patients should be more properly defined as ‘expected poor responder’. If this definition of POR is uniformly adapted as the ‘minimal’ criteria needed to select patients for future clinical trials, more homogeneous populations will be tested for any new protocols. Finally, by reducing bias caused by spurious POR definitions, it will be possible to compare results and to draw reliable conclusions.
It is important that women who are diagnosed as poor responders talk discuss with their fertility specialist on whether they fall in the spectrum. There are studies that indicate that women with elevated FSH levels during a clomiphene challenge test, may have an unsuccessful IVF cycle. However, everybody’s diagnosis can vary as well treatment protocol.
Here are a few different treatments for a poor response to ovarian stimulation that are commonly recommended:
- Altering the pituitary down regulation protocols
- Modifying stimulation cycle medications (e.g., different types and amounts gonadotropins),
- The use of adjuvant therapy (such as, growth hormone or androgen pretreatment), and
- advanced laboratory techniques (e.g., assisted hatching, continuing to egg retrieval despite low follicle numbers, or day 2 transfers)
Agonist Protocol or Microdose Lupron Flare Protocol: If patient had a poor response to other protocols or are of advanced maternal age, we can recommend a lower dose of Lupron that stimulates (rather than suppresses) the body’s natural production of follicle stimulating hormone (FSH). This is considered the “flare” period. patient will continue to take the microdose of Lupron during the stimulation phase up until hCG trigger injection. The combination of low-dose Lupron and stimulation drugs maximizes the patient’s ovarian stimulation potential. eggs will be retrieved, fertilized, and transferred back into uterus. This cycle takes approximately 6 weeks, if birth control is not used, until the time of pregnancy test.
Estrogen Priming Protocol: In conjunction with the Antagonist Protocol, estrogen can be supplemented to silence natural hormone production and ovarian stimulation. The estrogen patch is typically prescribed two weeks before day 1 of cycle and is replaced daily until period (cycle day 1) arrives. The stimulation period begins and follows the Antagonist protocol. This is best for poor responders or women diagnosed with Diminished Ovarian Reserve (DOR).
HOW MINI IVF S ARE INCREASING POOR RESPONDERS CHANCES OF GETTING PREGNANT ?
What is a mini IVF cycle?
Mini, also known as minimal stimulation, IVF protocols have one distinct difference from traditional IVF protocols. Instead of using fertility medication to push the body to produce a large number of eggs, Mini IVF focuses on producing a small number of high quality eggs. On average, a mini IVF cycle retrieves between two and five high quality eggs.
Why are poor responders and Mini IVFs a good match?
Because minimal stimulation IVF protocols are not concerned with retrieving a large number of eggs, poor responders are often a good fit. Each woman is prescribed only the specific level of medication she needs to promote ovulation. Throughout the cycle each woman is closely monitored which allows the care team to make adjustments as necessary to provide the best outcome.
What medication is used during Mini IVF cycles?
Each woman’s medication is determined by her specific needs, therefore treatment amounts vary. Generally, women undergoing a Mini IVF protocol can expect to take one dose of Clomid a day as well as up to three injections of Menopur during the course of the cycle. Additionally, a dose of Synarel – which is administered via nasal spray – is generally used to trigger ovulation. | literature |
https://patricialortie.com/2018/05/09/longing-lazy-days-series-speaking-natures-entanglements/ | 2023-09-24T21:39:39 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-40/segments/1695233506669.30/warc/CC-MAIN-20230924191454-20230924221454-00182.warc.gz | 0.973781 | 558 | CC-MAIN-2023-40 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2023-40__0__282625966 | en | Some time ago, after painting realistic landscapes for ten years, I began looking for my own visual voice. I had realized that the landscapes I’d been painting could no longer speak of the depth and magic of my relationship with the natural world. So I set out to paint differently, to paint in a way that truly speaks of who I am, of what I value, of what I want to bring to the world, and to leave behind. This led me to think deeply about what has influenced my visual world and I soon found myself longing for the lazy summer days of my childhood.
When we were little girls, my sister and I would float on the Chenal du Moine close to the small village of Notre-Dame-de-Pierreville. Our family cabin stood on a small dirt hill protected against the yearly spring floods, and we were two little girls free to find time to daydream in the dark waters of this gentle river.
Those delicious summer days flowed into one another as we followed the warm currents that led us to Saint-Pierre Lake. As we sat on our life jackets, the water surrounded us with its love and patience and we reciprocated fully. Trusting in its arms, we stood witness to its infinite creations: the plants, the insects, the trees, the fish. It felt magical and boundless and we sensed we were part of it, savouring the smells, the sounds and the landscape. Our skin drank the sun, the water and the wind and we were nourished by Nature’s infinite wealth.
At night, I would dream. I would dream of water, trees and sky. I would find myself floating again, this time, amongst the clouds. Sitting on my life jacket, I would weightlessly travel the sky. My subconscious reviling the ultimate expression of the freedom that lived within us during those summer days. Protected from the watchful eyes of adults, my visual and emotional world was taking shape, strongly rooted in the water and in the forest.
Today, I strive to reproduce those childhood experiences through my creative process and to visually express the powerful emotions they awake in me. My work is a visual expression of that sense of freedom, of communion with nature, and with the world. I long to reproduce those experiences, but being an adult with a to-do list that never ends, I find the only place I can replicate that feeling is while I paint them. Today, in every piece I paint, I make a deliberate decision to, at least emotionally, plunge back into those delicious lazy summer days and to express the magnitude of their grip on my being. And my hope is that I can share them with you, offering the peace and magic they have instilled in me. | literature |
https://momentumworld.com/hall-of-fame/j-k-rowling/ | 2024-04-20T07:14:34 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2024-18/segments/1712296817491.77/warc/CC-MAIN-20240420060257-20240420090257-00804.warc.gz | 0.977371 | 598 | CC-MAIN-2024-18 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2024-18__0__180285154 | en | Joanne Rowling (born 31 July 1965), also known by her pen name J. K. Rowling, is a British author and philanthropist. She wrote a seven-volume children’s fantasy series, Harry Potter, published from 1997 to 2007. The series has sold over 500 million copies, been translated into at least 70 languages, and spawned a global media franchise including films and video games. The Casual Vacancy (2012) was her first novel for adults. She writes Cormoran Strike, an ongoing crime fiction series, as Robert Galbraith.
Born in Yate, Rowling graduated with a degree in French from the University of Exeter in 1987 and began working temp jobs as a bilingual secretary. In 1990, the idea for the characters of Harry Potter came to her while she waited on a delayed train; later that year, her mother died of multiple sclerosis. In the seven years before publication of the first Harry Potter novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (1997), Rowling moved to Portugal, married, had a daughter, relocated to Scotland when her marriage failed, divorced, and earned a teaching certificate. She wrote while living on state assistance as a single parent, deeply affected by her mother’s death. By 2008, Forbes had named her the world’s highest-paid author.
Rowling concluded the Harry Potter series with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (2007). The novels follow a boy called Harry Potter as he attends Hogwarts, a school for wizards, and battles Lord Voldemort. Death and the divide between good and evil are the central themes of the series. Its influences include: Bildungsroman (the coming-of-age genre), school stories, fairy tales, and Christian allegory. The series revived fantasy as a genre in the children’s market, spawned a host of imitators, and inspired an active fandom. Critical reception has been more mixed. Many reviewers see Rowling’s writing as conventional; some regard her portrayal of gender and social division as regressive. There were also religious debates over Harry Potter.
Rowling has won many accolades for her work. She has been appointed to the Order of the British Empire and made a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour for services to literature and philanthropy. Harry Potter brought her wealth and recognition that she has used to advance philanthropic endeavours and political causes. She co-founded the charity Lumos and established the Volant Charitable Trust, named after her mother. Rowling’s charitable giving centres on medical causes and supporting at-risk women and children. In politics, she has donated to Britain’s Labour Party and opposed Scottish independence and Brexit. Since late 2019, she has publicly expressed her opinions on transgender people and related civil rights. These have been criticised as transphobic by LGBT rights organisations and some feminists, but have received support from other feminists and individuals. | literature |
https://malenerix.dk/vare/1-bog/ | 2019-03-25T14:29:17 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-13/segments/1552912203991.44/warc/CC-MAIN-20190325133117-20190325155117-00331.warc.gz | 0.976672 | 140 | CC-MAIN-2019-13 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2019-13__0__56570200 | en | Delivered digitally as an pdf ebook.
In 2009 Malene Rix published a book on women and negotiation, which has been translated into English and published as an e-book.
The focus of the book is the terms under which we as women negotiate, but also on the many useful tools and skills we can draw on to make our negotiations both more constructive and rewarding for both sides of the table.
The book looks at classic workplace negotiations but also on the agreements we reach at home with family and friends.
The pdf ebook will be attached to the confirmationmail you receive after payment. You will be able to download the pdf ebook 2 times and the link will expire after 1 month. | literature |
https://af.hkbu.edu.hk/tc/faculty-members/jason-coe | 2023-03-21T11:01:13 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-14/segments/1679296943695.23/warc/CC-MAIN-20230321095704-20230321125704-00637.warc.gz | 0.920145 | 191 | CC-MAIN-2023-14 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2023-14__0__43378467 | en | Dr. Jason G. Coe received his BA in English and Film Studies at the University of California Berkeley. He received his MA in Literary and Cultural Studies and his PhD in Comparative Literature at the University of Hong Kong. His research interests include: Asian/American and Transpacific Film and Media, Gender and New Media, and Storytelling, Stardom and Performance. He serves on the editorial team for Global Storytelling: Journal of Film and Media and on the board of the Women's Studies Research Centre (WSRC) at HKU. His publications appear in Journal of Cinema and Media Studies, Asian Cinema, and Journal of Chinese Cinemas. His non-fiction writings appear in the Engendering a Buzz: WSRC Newsletter, CHA: A Literary Journal, Center for Asian American Media (CAAM) Blog, and Hyphen. | literature |
https://elcafedeocata.blogspot.com/2011/12/carta-de-george-orwell.html | 2021-04-12T06:30:07 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-17/segments/1618038066613.21/warc/CC-MAIN-20210412053559-20210412083559-00302.warc.gz | 0.956112 | 422 | CC-MAIN-2021-17 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2021-17__0__245261777 | en | Carta de George Orwell a su editor Frederic Warburg en 1948, cuando estaba dando los últimos toques a su última novela. Recomiendo llegar hasta el final para no perderse la referencia a Sartre.
Isle of Jura
You will have had my wire by now, and if anything crossed your mind I dare say I shall have had a return wire from you by the time this goes off. I shall finish the book, D.V., early in November, and I am rather flinching from the job of typing it, because it is a very awkward thing to do in bed, where I still have to spend half the time. Also There will have to be carbon copies, a thing which always fidgets me, and the book is fearfully long, I should think well over 100,000 words, possibly 125,000. I can't send it away because it is an unbelievably bad MS and no one could make head or tail of it without explanation. On the other hand a skilled typist under my eye could do it easily enough. If you can think of anybody who would be willing to come, I will send money for the journey and full instructions. I think we could make her quite comfortable. There is always plenty to eat and I will see that she has a comfortable warm place to work in.
I am not pleased with the book but I am not absolutely dissatisfied. I first thought of it in 1943. I think it is a good idea but the execution would have been better if I had not written it under the influence of TB. I haven't definitely fixed on the title but I am hesitating between NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR and THE LAST MAN IN EUROPE.
I have just had Sartre's book on antisemitism, which you published, to review. I think Sartre is a bag of wind and I am going to give him a good boot.
Please give everyone my love. | literature |
https://jenniferfawcettauthor.com/other-writing/ | 2024-02-25T07:48:38 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2024-10/segments/1707947474594.56/warc/CC-MAIN-20240225071740-20240225101740-00420.warc.gz | 0.94626 | 212 | CC-MAIN-2024-10 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2024-10__0__16572718 | en | The first play I wrote was a one-woman autobiographical show about growing up on a goat farm. From there, I’ve gone on to write full-length multi-character dramas, novel adaptations, and pieces that blend a fictional story with text from interviews. I’ve explored motherhood, climate change, bullying, mental illness, the Bosnian War, and witches, among other subjects.
When I write a play, I start with a question - a question I do not know the answer to. A question there is no answer to, at least, not one that is “right.” For an hour or two, I want the audience to live with people who make difficult, different choices – choices that they might never make themselves. Nothing allows us to feel empathy like live theater. That ephemeral magic of a play, the act of witnessing, and how it asks us to suspend our disbelief - no matter how many times I sit in the theatre, it gets me every time and keeps me coming back. | literature |
https://holl.fi/tuote/engaging-to-learn/ | 2019-08-23T16:15:49 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-35/segments/1566027318894.83/warc/CC-MAIN-20190823150804-20190823172804-00211.warc.gz | 0.931727 | 197 | CC-MAIN-2019-35 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2019-35__0__17930192 | en | ENGAGING TO LEARN
eKirja ostettavissa Amazonista, hinta 9,99 euroa / You can buy the eBook in Amazon, 9,99 euros.
This book focuses on questions such as: How can activate the learners to learn? How can we help learners to take control of their own learning?
With the help of this book teachers can engage their students in learning by creating learning opportunities that will make learning inspiring. The book offers practical advice and useful tools for teachers in their everyday work.
At the heart of the book lie learning assignments. A learning assignment is an important pedagogical method and a tool for the teacher. You can find interesting topics and appropriate ideas for a variety of teaching situations from classrooms to eLearning.
The book uses text and figures to introduce how to design different kind of learning processes. The book is aimed at teachers at all levels of education, vocational institutions, colleges and universities and other organizations. | literature |
http://eeweekend.org/sermons/recent/2016/11/15/2-kings-219-22 | 2023-12-01T20:42:41 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-50/segments/1700679100304.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20231201183432-20231201213432-00002.warc.gz | 0.925604 | 620 | CC-MAIN-2023-50 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2023-50__0__100783954 | en | The Wisdom of 2 Kings 2:19-22
Welcome to Catholic Engaged Encounter, a faithful community dedicated to exploring and understanding the profound teachings of the Bible. In this article, we will delve into the wisdom found in 2 Kings 2:19-22.
Understanding the Context
To truly appreciate the depth of this passage, it is vital to understand its historical and cultural context. 2 Kings is part of the Old Testament, specifically, the historical books of the Bible. It recounts the events and stories pertaining to the monarchy of Israel and Judah.
The Miracle of Healing
In 2 Kings 2:19-22, Elisha, the prophet, performs a miraculous healing by purifying the water of Jericho. The city's water source was contaminated, causing harm and even death to those who consumed it. The inhabitants of Jericho sought help from Elisha, who, through the power of God, transformed the water, making it safe and life-giving once again.
Faith and Trust
One of the central themes of this passage is the importance of faith and trust in God's divine intervention. The people of Jericho turned to Elisha in their time of need, demonstrating their unwavering faith in God's chosen prophet. It serves as a reminder that, even in the face of adversity or seemingly insurmountable challenges, placing our trust in God can lead to remarkable outcomes.
Lessons for Today
The teachings from 2 Kings 2:19-22 are not limited to the time in which they were written. Instead, they continue to resonate with contemporary audiences, offering valuable lessons for believers today. Some of these lessons include:
- Prayer and Intercession: Like the people of Jericho, we can seek God's intervention through prayer and seek guidance from figures of spiritual authority.
- The Power of Faith: When faced with seemingly impossible situations, having faith in God can lead to miracles and solutions that surpass our human understanding.
- God's Healing Grace: Just as God healed the waters of Jericho, He continues to offer His abundant grace, providing healing and renewal to those who trust in Him.
- Supporting and Strengthening Communities: The story of Jericho illustrates the importance of coming together as a community, supporting one another, and seeking spiritual guidance.
Join Catholic Engaged Encounter
At Catholic Engaged Encounter, we aim to foster a community based on faith and beliefs. By exploring profound biblical passages like 2 Kings 2:19-22, we deepen our understanding of the Scriptures and strengthen our spiritual journey. Join us today and embark on a transformative experience through our engaging programs, retreats, and online resources.
Whether you are seeking spiritual growth, strengthening your relationship with God, or preparing for marriage, Catholic Engaged Encounter offers valuable insights and support every step of the way.
Discover the power of faith and the transformative teachings of the Bible with Catholic Engaged Encounter. Together, let us explore, learn, and grow in our spiritual journeys.
This page is brought to you by Catholic Engaged Encounter - Community and Society | Faith and Beliefs | literature |
https://irregularadventures.com/blog/book-one-at-the-whim-of-the-open-road/ | 2023-06-07T05:46:35 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-23/segments/1685224653608.76/warc/CC-MAIN-20230607042751-20230607072751-00616.warc.gz | 0.957622 | 239 | CC-MAIN-2023-23 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2023-23__0__292171024 | en | At the Whim of the Open Road – Now Available from Amazon and select book/cycling shops
At the Whim of the Open Road is the story of William Bennett’s journey across Europe, Asia and Australia, from Limerick to Sydney, the first stage of his attempt to cycle around the world.
After five long years of planning and saving, he takes the leap, venturing out into the world with nothing but a tent and some personal belongings strapped to his bicycle. With one pedal stroke he sets in motion his dream of cycling around the world, leaving his comfortable life behind for one of uncertainty and danger on the open road. His goal: to pedal every inch of the way across the inhospitable deserts, towering mountain ranges and dense jungles of our planet.
Along the way, he faces incredible adversity, including wild animal attacks, debilitating tropical diseases, corrupt officials, robbery attempts and near-death experiences. Yet, more importantly, he witnesses the raw beauty of this special planet and its people, breathing in all the wonder that the world has to offer; all of it heightened as he traverses the open roads of the world alone on a humble bicycle. | literature |
https://wellreadnative.com/about | 2023-12-06T17:16:23 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-50/segments/1700679100602.36/warc/CC-MAIN-20231206162528-20231206192528-00064.warc.gz | 0.907461 | 609 | CC-MAIN-2023-50 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2023-50__0__169665783 | en | Co-founders Allie Young (Diné), Kayla Gebeck Carroll (Ojibwe), and Abigail Jackson Smith (Oglala) have been friends since they met at Dartmouth College in 2008.
Quarterly, Well-Read Native hosts a virtual Indigenous Book Club meeting. During a typical meeting, attendees get the chance to see an Indigenous artist perform, ask the guest author questions, and break out into small groups to meet other Well-Read Native members and discuss Indigenous literature.
Since launching in November of 2020, Well-Read Native is honored to have been joined by 11 Indigenous authors and academics, including David Heska Wanbli Weiden (Winter Counts), Terese Marie Mailhot (Heart Berries), David Treuer (The Hiawatha), Melissa Lucashenko (Too Much Lip), Waubgeshig Rice (Moon of the Crusted Snow), Tommy Orange (There There), Professor Nick Reo, Anton Treuer (The Language Warrior's Manifesto), Jesmyn Ward (Men We Reaped), Danielle Geller (Dog Flowers), Brenda Child (My Grandfather's Knocking Sticks), and Stephen Graham Jones (The Only Good Indians). In May, Well-Read Native will host Lisa Bird-Wilson for a discussion of her debut novel, Probably Ruby. RSVP here.
Well-Read Native held its first virtual Indigenous Book Club meeting on November 5, 2020.
Empowering Native American, Alaska Native, and First Nations children to be readers and storytellers is core to our mission. In June of 2021, Well-Read Native launched its Well-Read Native Youth initiative for young readers of all ages—from picture book through young adult.
The Well-Read Native Youth initiative aims to broaden Indigenous families' and children's access to literature that reflects and celebrates the diverse cultures, experiences, and lives of young readers from our communities. To that end, Well-Read Native Youth's programming centers on children's and young adult books by Indigenous authors.
Well-Read Native Youth's goal is for every Indigenous child in every classroom throughout Indian Country and the United States to see themselves reflected in the books they read.
To learn more about Well-Read Native Youth, follow us on Instagram (@wellreadnativeyouth).
Well-Read Native launched its Well-Read Native Youth initiative this summer.
The Well-Read Native Indigenous Book Club is a global community of readers from all over Indian Country and the globe. Our 1,500+ members represent over 95 tribes and 4 countries (and counting!)
While membership is open to allies, our mission is to read and elevate Indigenous voices in academia and literature. The Well-Read Native team is always open to book recommendations. Got an idea? Please drop us a line at [email protected]
Well-Read Native's goal is to build a community of readers throughout Indian Country and the globe who believe in the impact of books—and friendship! | literature |
https://future-portal.com/mountains/ | 2023-09-22T04:32:43 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-40/segments/1695233506329.15/warc/CC-MAIN-20230922034112-20230922064112-00631.warc.gz | 0.874411 | 401 | CC-MAIN-2023-40 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2023-40__0__286231998 | en | Embark on a Celestial Journey: Explore Our 360° Mountain Peak at Night
Ascend to the summit of a majestic mountain and immerse yourself in a breathtaking 360° environment that unveils the wonders of the night sky. Step into our mesmerizing mountain peak at night and behold the awe-inspiring beauty that unfolds before your eyes.
As you gaze into the distance, you’ll be greeted by infinite snowy mountain vistas stretching as far as the eye can see. The pristine white peaks, softly illuminated by the moonlight, create a serene and ethereal backdrop. Each snow-capped summit invites you to embark on a journey of exploration and tranquility.
Look up, and a celestial masterpiece unfolds above you. The night sky comes alive with a dazzling display of twinkling stars, forming a celestial canopy that fills you with a sense of wonder. The breathtaking Aurora Borealis dances across the sky, casting vibrant ribbons of color that weave and twist with an otherworldly grace.
Stand at the pinnacle of this mountain peak and feel the cool, crisp air embrace you. The stillness and tranquility of the night surround you, allowing you to immerse yourself in the majesty of the natural world. It’s a moment of reflection, of connection, and of profound serenity.
In this immersive mountain peak environment, time stands still. You can lose yourself in the infinite beauty of the snowy mountains, gaze in awe at the twinkling stars, and witness the enchanting spectacle of the Aurora Borealis. Allow the serenity of this celestial setting to transport you to a place of peace and introspection.
Escape the confines of ordinary life and step into our immersive mountain peak at night. Let the infinite snowy vistas, twinkling stars, and captivating Aurora Borealis captivate your senses and ignite your imagination. This is a celestial journey that will leave an indelible mark on your soul. | literature |
http://www.alcohol-rehab.net/my-journey-with-meditation/ | 2018-07-20T00:38:55 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-30/segments/1531676591455.76/warc/CC-MAIN-20180720002543-20180720022543-00551.warc.gz | 0.972944 | 982 | CC-MAIN-2018-30 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2018-30__0__125837311 | en | I didn’t always love meditation. When I was first introduced, I actually disliked it. My relationship to it has changed over the years, as I’ve found practices that work well for me. Today, I sit every day, teach meditation with One Mind Dharma, and record regular guided meditations for our community across the world.
The Introduction to Practice
I was introduced to practice at a fairly young age. In my early teens, while I was struggling with depression and drug abuse, my dad gave me a book by the Vietnamese Zen teacher Thich Nhat Hanh. The book, The Miracle of Mindfulness hit me hard. I loved the ideas shared, the simplicity of it, and how pragmatic it seemed. However, I didn’t really put it into use.
Somewhere in my head, I thought that reading about these practices would benefit me without any further effort on my part. This is unfortunately a trap I still fall into. We can read, learn all the teachings, or know everything about a practice, but we also need to actually practice. Although I didn’t utilize what I was learning, I do think that this experience really planted the seed that I began watering years down the road.
Meditating while Using Drugs
When I was in college in Oregon, I sat with a meditation group in Portland. I was using drugs and drinking regularly, and using meditation as a way to try to fix myself. Rather than looking at my addiction, I tried everything I could to get better. It reminds me of the words on page 31 of the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous:
Here are some of the methods we have tried: Drinking beer only, limiting the number of drinks, never drinking alone, never drinking in the morning, drinking only at home, never having it in the house, never drinking during business hours, drinking only at parties, switching from scotch to brandy, drinking only natural wines, agreeing to resign if ever drunk on the job, taking a trip, not taking a trip, swearing off forever (with and without a solemn oath), taking more physical exercise, reading inspirational books, going to health farms and sanitariums, accepting voluntary commitment to asylums — we could increase the list ad infinitum.
This was definitely my experience. My intention behind practicing was to relieve some suffering, but it was really a way of trying to fix myself without addressing my behavior. This led me to eventually realize another important truth: we have to act in a wholesome way if we are to have a fruitful meditation practice. Jack Kornfield often says that it is difficult to meditate after a day of murdering. Although this is a dramatic saying, it’s true. When we are acting in unwholesome ways, practice can be quite difficult.
When I got sober, I was super active in twelve-step recovery. However, as an atheist, it didn’t really click with me super well. I turned toward a meditation center I found called Insight LA in Santa Monica. Although they weren’t recovery-based groups, these meditation classes and sitting groups helped me build a foundation for my recovery.
After a few months, I found Against the Stream Buddhist Meditation Society, also in Santa Monica. I began attending regularly, and they had a specific Buddhist recovery group. This later evolved years later to become Refuge Recovery. What I found with meditation practice was a way to connect with myself, with growth, and with the relieving of suffering. I was grabbed immediately by the Buddhist recovery program when a teacher said that we all have the power and potential to relieve ourselves of the suffering caused by addiction.
Through my practice, I began to see more clearly the reactions that caused suffering and pain. Through mindfulness, compassion, and concentration practices, I have been able to work with impulsivity, anger, resentment, and many more responses that cause harm.
Today, I teach meditation in Northern California. We just opened a donation-based meditation center, teach at addiction treatment centers, and lead Refuge Recovery groups. Although I don’t think meditation clicks for everyone in the same way it has clicked for me, it’s beautiful to have the opportunity to give this offering to the community.
My experience with meditation has gone through many phases, and today it is the foundation of my life and recovery. It takes practice, continuity, and love. I don’t always want to meditate, but I do it anyway. This is part of life and part of recovery. Sometimes I am excited to meditate, and other times I dread it. Either way, I suit up and show up for my practice. I do this because I see the benefits in my daily life, interactions with other, and behavior in the world. | literature |
https://literarytheory.wordpress.com/2007/02/20/elaine-showalter-towards-a-feminist-poetics/ | 2018-07-23T16:55:49 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-30/segments/1531676599291.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20180723164955-20180723184955-00088.warc.gz | 0.955164 | 917 | CC-MAIN-2018-30 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2018-30__0__242938830 | en | Elaine Showalter, “Towards a Feminist Poetics,”
In M. Jacobus, ed. Women Writing about Women (1979), pp. 25-33; 34-6
Showalter begins by distinguishing between what she calls the “feminist critique,” which focuses on “woman as reader – with woman as the consumer of a male-produced literature,” and “gynocritics,” which “is concerned with woman as writer – with woman as the producer of textual meaning.” Feminist critique “is essentially political and polemical,” and is metaphorically similar to the “Old Testament, ‘looking for the sins and errors of the past;'” gynocritics, according to Showalter, “is more self-contained and experimental,” and, to extend the earlier metaphor, is like the “New Testament, seeking ‘the grace of imagination.'”
Showalter then provides an exemplary feminist critique of Thomas Hardy’s The Mayor of Casterbridge to demonstrate that “one of the problems of the feminist critique is that is male-oriented,” meaning that, in some sense, every feminist critique, even when criticizing patriarchy, is focused toward the male. As an alternative, Showalter presents gynocritics as a way “to construct a female framework for the analysis of women’s literature, to develop new models based on the study of female experience, rather that to adapt to male models and theories.”
To begin to trace out this radically female-centered theory, Showalter notes excerpts from feminist historians and sociologists. She then moves on to an engaging discussion of the experiences of Elizabeth Barrett Browning and other female authors to show the need for “completeness” in discussing women authors’ work way in which “it is necessary to leave oneself room to deal with other things besides [women writers’] work, so much has that work been influenced by conditions that have nothing whatever to do with art.”
From these experiences, Showalter then begins an rough sketch of some of the elements that have characterized women’s writing: awakening, suffering, unhappiness, and matrophobia, among others. She concludes with her classification of women’s writing into three phases that “establish[es] the continuity of the female tradition from decade to decade, rather than from Great Woman to Great Woman.” Showalter sees the first phases taking place from roughly 1840 to 1880; she calls this “the Feminine phase” and declares that it is characterized by “women [writing] in an effort to equal the intellectual achievements of the male culture… The distinguishing sign of this period is the male pseudonym… [which] exerts an irregular pressure on the narrative, affecting tone, diction, structure, and characterization.”
The second, Feminist phase follows from 1880 to 1920, wherein “women are historically enabled to reject the accomodating postures of femininity and to use literature to dramatise the ordeals of wronged womanhood.” This phase is characterized by “Amazon Utopias,” visions of perfect, female-led societies of the future. Finally, Showalter posits the third and (at least in 1979) final phase, the Female phase, which began in 1920. In this phase, “women reject both imitation and protest – two forms of dependency – and turn instead to female experience as the source of an autonomous art, extending the feminist analysis of culture to the forms and techniques of literature.” Significantly, Showalter does not (at least in the excerpt presented in the textbook) offer a characteristic sign or figure for the Female phase, suggesting a welcome diversity of experience that is too broad to be encompassed in a single image.
On the whole, I was rather drawn to Showalter’s writing. It is intelligent, largely devoid of rhetorical extremities, and confidently provocative. Welcomely absent is the stridently ideological tone common to so many theorists; instead, Showalter speaks with calmly convincing authority, as one who firmly believes in the verity of what she’s saying. She is both urgent, in that she sees change needing to occur immediately, and patient, in that she expects that, given time enough, the wisdom and truth of her cause will prevail. | literature |
https://www.restoreosteo.com/blog/knee-injuries-are-associated-with-accelerated-knee-osteoarthritis-progression | 2021-04-15T16:59:11 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-17/segments/1618038087714.38/warc/CC-MAIN-20210415160727-20210415190727-00207.warc.gz | 0.906696 | 6,731 | CC-MAIN-2021-17 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2021-17__0__204417168 | en | Frozen shoulder is a common cause of shoulder pain and stiffness, and it is even more common as you age. While anyone can get a frozen shoulder, some people are more susceptible. Here’s how to tell if you’re at risk.
This study from PubMed aimed to evaluate if a recent knee injury was associated with accelerated knee osteoarthritis (KOA) progression.
The conclusion: "Recent knee injuries are associated with accelerated KOA. Most concerning is that certain injuries may be associated with a rapid cascade towards joint failure in less than one year…Individuals with a history of joint trauma are 3 to 6 times more likely to develop knee osteoarthritis”
If you have experienced knee injuries or have a history of joint trauma, our team at Restore Osteo of Colorado can offer effective treatments, such as joint injections like hyaluronic acid, to help relieve pain related to osteoarthritis and help you get your life back.
To read more on this study, please refernce it below: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4211979/
We aimed to evaluate if a recent knee injury was associated with accelerated knee osteoarthritis (KOA) progression.
In the Osteoarthritis Initiative (OAI) we studied participants free of KOA on their baseline radiographs (Kellgren-Lawrence [KL]<2). We compared three groups: 1) individuals with accelerated progression of KOA: defined as having at least one knee that progressed to end-stage KOA (KL Grade 3 or 4) within 48 months, 2) common KOA progression: at least one knee increased in radiographic scoring within 48 months (excluding those defined as accelerated KOA), and 3) no KOA: no change in KL grade in either knee. At baseline, participants were asked if their knees had ever been injured and at each annual visit they were asked about injuries during the prior 12 months. We used multinomial logistic regressions to determine if a new knee injury was associated with the outcome of accelerated KOA or common KOA progression after adjusting for age, sex, body mass index, static knee malalignment, and systolic blood pressure.
A knee injury during the total observation period was associated with accelerated KOA progression (n=54, odds ratio [OR]=3.14) but not common KOA progression (n=187, OR=1.08). Furthermore, a more recent knee injury (within a year of the outcome) was associated with accelerated (OR=8.46) and common KOA progression (OR=3.12).
Recent knee injuries are associated with accelerated KOA. Most concerning is that certain injuries may be associated with a rapid cascade towards joint failure in less than one year.
While knee osteoarthritis is typically a slowly progressive disorder, it has recently been appreciated that 5 to 17% of knees have a rapid progression of structural damage (e.g. from normal to end-stage disease within 4 years) (1, 2). Characterization of the structural aspects of this phenomenon and its risk factors may provide insights into the nature of osteoarthritis progression and allow us to identify an at-risk subset for intervention. Identification of knee osteoarthritis phenotypes, such as those with accelerated knee osteoarthritis progression, may allow us to refine sampling for clinical studies (2-5) and develop interventions targeted at specific subtypes.
Individuals with a history of joint trauma are 3 to 6 times more likely to develop knee osteoarthritis (6, 7) and are diagnosed approximately 10 years earlier than individuals without a history of joint trauma (8). Within 5 years of injury, knees have structural changes reflective of altered joint health (e.g., altered cartilage composition, altered bone structure) (9-12). Knee injuries are a strong risk factor for knee osteoarthritis and may distinguish knees with accelerated knee osteoarthritis from common knee osteoarthritis progression or knees with no knee osteoarthritis. We aimed to evaluate if a recent knee injury was associated with accelerated knee osteoarthritis. Furthermore, we conducted preliminary analyses to determine if participants with accelerated knee osteoarthritis progression, common knee osteoarthritis progression, and no knee osteoarthritis differed based on key baseline characteristics, which we selected a priori. These preliminary analyses helped us verify which variables should be adjusted for in our primary analyses.
To assess the association between recent knee injuries and accelerated knee osteoarthritis we used data from the Osteoarthritis Initiative (OAI). The OAI is a multicenter observational cohort study of knee osteoarthritis that collected longitudinal clinical and image data (13) as well as biospecimens from 4,796 participants over an eight-year follow-up period. The primary variables (presence of radiographic knee progression and knee injuries) were from baseline and the first four annual OAI visits (months 0 to 48). OAI data are available for public access (14).
Among participants with no baseline radiographic knee osteoarthritis (Kellgren-Lawrence [KL] Grade<2) in either knee (n = 1,930) we evaluated three groups that we defined based on radiographic definitions of OA: 1) accelerated knee osteoarthritis: at least one knee progressed to end-stage knee osteoarthritis (KL Grade 3 or 4) within 48 months, 2) common knee osteoarthritis progression: at least one knee increased in radiographic scoring within 48 months (excluding those defined as accelerated knee osteoarthritis progression), and 3) no knee osteoarthritis: no change in KL grade in either knee at baseline and 48-month follow-up. We omitted 364 (18.9%) individuals from the analyses because missing radiographic data made it impossible to determine group assignment (19 potential individuals with common knee osteoarthritis progression, 345 potential individuals with no knee osteoarthritis).
At baseline, participants were asked during an initial eligibility interview: “Have you ever injured your right knee badly enough to limit your ability to walk for at least two days?”. A similar question was asked for the left knee. At each annual visit participants were asked “Since your last annual visit to the OAI clinic about 12 months ago, have you injured your right knee badly enough to limit your ability to walk for at least two days?”. A similar question was asked for the left knee. Among individuals with accelerated or common knee osteoarthritis progression we focused on injuries to the knee that progressed. Among individuals with no knee osteoarthritis we evaluated if the participant had a knee injury to either knee.
We focused on injuries at 4 time points: 1) prior to the OAI baseline, 2) during the total observation period, 3) within one year of the study outcome, and 4) between 1 and 2 years prior to the study outcome. We defined the study outcome visit for each group as follows: 1) accelerated knee osteoarthritis: the first visit with a KL grade of 3 or 4, 2) common knee osteoarthritis progression: the first visit with an increase in KL grade, and 3) no KOA: the 48-month OAI visit. The total observation period was defined as beginning at the OAI baseline and ending at the visit with the study outcome (ranging from 12 months to 48 months). For example if a participant had a knee with KL=1 at baseline and year one, KL=2 at year 3, and KL=3 at year 4, they would meet criteria for the accelerated group, and year 4 would be the outcome study visit. However, if a participant's knee stayed at KL=2 at 48 months, they would be considered to have common knee osteoarthritis and year 3 would be the study outcome visit. Finally, if the participant stayed at KL=1, then year 4 would be the study outcome visit.
Weight-bearing, bilateral, fixed-flexion, posterior-anterior knee radiographs were obtained at baseline and the first 4 annual OAI visits. Central readers, who were blinded to sequence of follow-up radiographs, scored the paired images for KL Grades (0 to 4). The agreement for these readings (read-reread) was good (weighted kappa (intra-rater reliability) = 0.70 to 0.78). These KL grades are publicly available (Files: kXR_SQ_BU00_SAS (version 0.6) , kXR_SQ_BU01_SAS(version 1.6) , kXR_SQ_BU03_SAS(version 3.5), kXR_SQ_BU05_SAS(version 5.5) and kXR_SQ_BU06_SAS (version 6.3) (14)).
Demographic, anthropometric, and other participant demographic characteristics, which we selected a priori, were acquired based on a standard protocol (data and protocol are publicly available (14)).
At the OAI baseline visit, research staff measured static knee alignment with a goniometer while the participant stood with feet approximately shoulder-width apart and toes directed straight ahead. The staff positioned the goniometer based on a standard protocol: 1) goniometer's axis was proximal to the tibial tuberosity in line with the knee joint line, 2) distal arm of the goniometer was aligned with the tibia and pointed towards the center of the ankle, and 3) proximal arm of the goniometer was aligned with the mid thigh. Normal alignment was defined as 0 degrees and any deviation was defined as varus or valgus malalignment.
We first evaluated the distribution of baseline descriptive characteristics among the three groups with Chi-square tests or analyses of variance (with Tukey HSD post-hoc comparisons as needed). Based on the initial analyses we entered baseline descriptive characteristics that may distinguish individuals with accelerated knee osteoarthritis (i.e., variables with p values < 0.10 and a sufficient sample size) into a multinomial stepwise logistic regression model to determine if they were associated with accelerated knee osteoarthritis progression as an outcome compared with no knee osteoarthritis or common knee osteoarthritis progression.
For our primary analyses, we used multinomial logistic regressions to determine if a history of knee injury or a new knee injury was associated with the outcome of accelerated or common knee osteoarthritis progression before and after adjusting for age, sex, body mass index (BMI), presence of static knee malalignment, and systolic blood pressure. We also conducted a secondary analysis by replicating these analyses with 71 additional individuals who had accelerated knee osteoarthritis but their contralateral knee had prevalent knee osteoarthritis at baseline. This permitted us to explore our hypothesis in a larger sample size.
Individuals with accelerated knee osteoarthritis (n = 54) tended to be older and have greater baseline BMI and systolic blood pressure (see Table 1). Specifically, in the post hoc analyses we found that individuals with accelerated knee osteoarthritis were older than those with common knee osteoarthritis progression (p = 0.02) and had a greater BMI than those with no knee osteoarthritis (p = 0.01). The frequency of static knee malalignment was not different between individuals with accelerated knee osteoarthritis and the other two groups but individuals with no knee osteoarthritis were more likely to have knee malalignment than individuals with common knee osteoarthritis progression (p = 0.01). None of the post-hoc analyses supported a difference in systolic blood pressures among the groups. Only baseline age (odds ratio [OR] = 1.04, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.01 to 1.08; per year) and BMI (OR = 1.10, 95% CI = 1.03 to 1.17; per kg/m2) were associated with accelerated knee osteoarthritis progression compared with those with no knee osteoarthritis. In comparison with individuals with common knee osteoarthritis, only age was associated with developing accelerated knee osteoarthritis progression (OR = 1.05, 95% CI = 1.01 to 1.09; per year). Accelerated knee osteoarthritis progression was not associated with a history of injury prior to OAI baseline (see Table 2).
|No KOA (n = 1325) n (%) or mean (SD)||Common KOA (n = 187) n (%) or mean (SD)||Accelerated KOA (n = 54) n (%) or mean (SD)||Univariate Analyses1 p-value|
|Females||759 (57%)||122 (65%)||34 (63%)||0.093|
|Race other than white (n miss = 2)||177 (13%)||34 (18%)||8 (15%)||0.205|
|Age (years)||59.2 (9.2)||58.0 (8.3)2||61.8 (8.6)2||0.023|
|BMI (kg/m2)||27.1 (4.4)3||27.8 (4.5)||28.9 (4.7)3||0.002|
|Abnormal weight circumference (n miss = 78)||847 (67%)||127 (73%)||40 (74%)||0.197|
|Systolic blood pressure (mm Hg)||121 (16)||118 (13)||123 (14)||0.047|
|Fallen in past 12mo (n miss = 27)||433 (33%)||63 (34%)||21 (41%)||0.479|
|Static knee malalignment (Varus or Valgus, n miss = 79)4||992 (79%)5||122 (70%)5||40 (74%)||0.020|
|History of knee surgery (n miss = 1)||132 (10.0%)||13 (7.0%)||2 (3.7%)||0.144|
|No health insurance that covers prescription (n miss = 23)||117 (9%)||12 (7%)||8 (16%)||0.126|
|Income < $50K (n miss = 52)||403 (31%)||48 (27%)||22 (43%)||0.087|
|Less than a college degree (n miss = 8)||434 (33%)||73 (40%)||16 (31%)||0.186|
|Self-Reported Health Assessments|
|Frequent knee pain on most days of a month in past year (n miss = 1)||502 (38%)||77 (41%)||25 (46%)||0.344|
|WOMAC pain score||2.2 (2.8)||2.1 (2.6)||2.7 (3.0)||0.346|
|Charlson Comorbidity Score > 0 (n miss = 2)||264 (20%)||28 (15%)||14 (28%)||0.099|
|SF-12 Physical Summary Score (n miss = 13)||51.5 (7.8)||51.7 (7.6)||50.8 (9.7)||0.773|
|SF-12 Mental Summary Score (n miss = 13)||53.4 (7.5)||53.8 (7.5)||53.4 (7.7)||0.733|
|Depression score (CES-D; n miss = 11)||6.0 (6.3)||5.6 (6.1)||6.1 (5.9)||0.708|
|Physical activity score (PASE score; n miss = 7)||169 (82)||177 (82)||182 (91)||0.250|
|Right hand bony enlargements (n miss = 20)||697 (53%)||107 (58%)||31 (57%)||0.498|
|Left hand bony enlargements (n miss = 21)||617 (47%)||93 (50%)||32 (59%)||0.191|
|Handy bony enlargements (either hand; n miss = 20)||776 (59%)||122 (66%)||37 (68%)||0.128|
|Any back pain, past 30 days (n miss = 2)||781 (59%)||99 (53%)||36 (67%)||0.134|
|Doctor diagnosed back OA (n miss = 55)||190 (15%)||30 (17%)||11 (22%)||0.346|
|Doctor diagnosed hip OA (n miss = 44)||94 (7%)||11 (6%)||5 (10%)||0.624|
|Doctor diagnosed hand OA (n miss = 44)||215 (17%)||21 (12%)||9 (18%)||0.200|
|Doctor diagnosed back, hip, or hand OA (n miss = 48)||357 (28%)||48 (26%)||19 (37%)||0.296|
|Doctor diagnosed hand OA AND hip or back OA (n miss = 65)||101 (8%)||8 (4%)||3 (6%)||0.235|
|Either knee, used meds for pain, past 12mo (n miss = 2)||571 (43%)||86 (46%)||27 (50%)||0.490|
|Either knee, injection for arthritis, past 6m (n miss = 1)||13 (1%)||4 (2%)||2 (4%)||0.094|
|Take any pain medication today (for any pain)||124 (9%)||18 (10%)||8 (15%)||0.410|
|OTC NSAIDs for joint pain, past 30days (n miss = 3)||213 (16%)||27 (15%)||15 (28%)||0.059|
|Acetaminophen for joint pain, past 30 day (n miss = 2)||112 (9%)||12 (7%)||7 (13%)||0.303|
|Rx NSAIDs for joint pain, past 30days (n miss = 1)||56 (4%)||9 (5%)||1 (2%)||0.634|
|COXIBS for joint pain, past 30days||86 (7%)||9 (5%)||4 (7%)||0.641|
|Strong Prescription pain med for joint pain, past 30days||29 (2%)||3 (2%)||0 (0%)||0.485|
|No KOA (n=1325) REFERENCE GROUP||Common KOA (n=187)||Accelerated KOA (n=54)||Common KOA Unadjusted OR (95% CI)||Accelerated KOA Unadjusted OR (95% CI)||Common KOA Adjusted OR (95% CI)||Accelerated KOA Adjusted OR (95% CI)|
|History of knee injury before OAI baseline (n = 1554)||461 (35%)||52(28%)||16 (30%)||0.74 (0.52, 1.04)||0.78 (0.43, 1.42)||0.76 (0.53, 1.08)||0.84 (0.46, 1.54)|
|New Knee Injury|
|Between 1 and 2 years prior to study outcome (n = 1441)1||54 (4%)||5 (5%)||2 (5%)||n/a||n/a||n/a||n/a|
|Within1 year of the study outcome (n = 1558)||39 (3%)||18 (10%)||13 (25%)||3.57 (1.99, 6.38)||10.97 (5.42, 22.17)||3.04 (1.66, 5.58)||9.22 (4.50, 18.90)|
|During total observation period (n = 1507)||145 (11%)||23 (13%)||17 (32%)||1.12 (0.70, 1.80)||3.67 (2.01, 6.70)||0.99 (0.61, 1.61)||3.37 (1.82, 6.25)|
|During total observation period among knees with no history of injury prior to baseline (n = 980)||76 (9%)||12 (9%)||9 (24%)||1.02 (0.54, 1.93)||3.13 (1.42, 6.88)||0.88 (0.45, 1.74)||2.97 (1.33, 6.65)|
A knee injury during the total observation period was associated with accelerated knee osteoarthritis (odds ratio [OR] = 3.37, 95% CI = 1.82 to 6.25) but not common knee osteoarthritis progression (OR = 0.99, 95% CI = 0.61 to 1.61, see Table 2). Furthermore, a recent knee injury (within the year of meeting the study outcome) was associated with accelerated (OR = 9.22, 95% CI = 4.50 to 18.90) and common knee osteoarthritis progression (OR = 3.04, 95% CI = 1.66 to 5.58). Our analyses among individuals with no history of knee injury prior to the OAI baseline and the secondary analysis supported our primary findings.
Knee injuries are an important risk factor for knee osteoarthritis and may lead to an early onset of knee osteoarthritis (6-8). Our findings further support the hypothesis that knee injuries may be an important risk factor for the development of accelerated knee osteoarthritis. Perhaps most concerning is that certain injuries may initiate or coincide with a rapid cascade towards joint failure that may occur in less than one year. Thirteen out of the 17 individuals with accelerated knee osteoarthritis and a knee injury during the total observation period experienced their injury in the year prior to developing end-stage osteoarthritis (KL ≥ 3; definite joint space narrowing). Therefore, the first year after an injury may be an important time frame to differentiate those susceptible to accelerated knee osteoarthritis, common knee osteoarthritis progression, or no knee osteoarthritis. Despite an emphasis on a hypothesis that injuries cause accelerated osteoarthritis, an alternative explanation for our findings is that the onset of accelerated knee osteoarthritis increases the risk of injury. If this is true, this could create a vicious cycle where accelerated knee osteoarthritis leads to an injury, which subsequently leads to another phase of accelerated knee osteoarthritis. If we can identify which injuries are associated with accelerated and common knee osteoarthritis progression then this may enable us to recognize these potential phenotypes.
The odds of having knee osteoarthritis after joint trauma are 3 to 6 times higher than an individual without a history of knee injury (6, 7). During the total observation period, we observed similar odds ratios for individuals who developed accelerated knee osteoarthritis; but, this was not the case for individuals with common knee osteoarthritis progression. Future research to determine why some patients develop accelerated knee osteoarthritis after a knee injury while others develop common knee osteoarthritis progression or no knee osteoarthritis will be instrumental in identifying individuals at highest risk for structural progression after an acute knee injury. Individuals with accelerated knee osteoarthritis tended to be older and more obese; therefore, obesity and age may be important factors. However, after we adjusted for age and BMI the association between knee injury and accelerated knee osteoarthritis was still significant.
While the association between recent knee injury and accelerated knee osteoarthritis progression is independent of age and BMI we could not explore some important factors in this study: the type, severity, mechanism, subsequent treatment of the knee injury. An individual with an anterior cruciate ligament tear and cartilage damage or meniscal pathology (including partial meniscectomy) is more likely to have radiographic knee osteoarthritis later in life than an individual with an isolated anterior cruciate ligament tear (15-18). Furthermore, certain types of meniscal pathology (e.g., meniscal root injuries) may be associated with spontaneous osteonecrosis and thus accelerated joint degeneration (19, 20). While certain injuries may predispose a knee to accelerated osteoarthritis, the role of subsequent treatment (e.g., surgery, rehabilitation, return-to-activity timeline) at modifying the risk of osteoarthritis remains poorly understood. Now that we verified that knee injuries are associated with accelerated knee osteoarthritis we need to determine the type, severity, and mechanism of the injury as well as subsequent treatment so that we can better understand who and why some injuries are associated with accelerated knee ostearthritis. Our findings should also raise awareness that this research needs to include older adults with injuries and not just younger, physically active individuals that tend to be included in these studies (16, 21, 22).
Thirteen out of the 17 injuries among individuals with accelerated knee osteoarthritis and 18 out of 23 injuries among individuals with common knee osteoarthritis progression experienced their injury within the year of reaching their study outcome. This supports a hypothesis that the first year or two after an injury is an important time frame that may set a path to joint failure (23-25). This suggests that we will need to determine which type, severity, mechanism, or subsequent treatment of the knee injury predispose individuals to the onset of accelerated or common knee osteoarthritis progression and then attempt to recognize these injuries as soon as possible. If researchers want to pursue clinical trials among individuals that are at risk for progression then it may be ideal to recruit participants at the time of an injury.
While injuries may cause accelerated osteoarthritis, we cannot rule out that knee osteoarthritis progression (accelerated or common) may increase the risk of injury. This alternative hypothesis may explain why the association between injury and osteoarthritis progression (accelerated or common) is greater during the 12 months prior to the study outcome compared with the association found with injuries during the total observation period, which include time intervals with no osteoarthritis progression. Knee osteoarthritis and knee pain are associated with altered neuromuscular control (e.g., proprioception, muscle activation patterns)(26-28), which may increase the risk of injury or falls (29, 30). If osteoarthritis progression influences neuromuscular control then an individual may be more susceptible to knee injury. If this hypothesis is true, then it may be important for clinicians to monitor older patients who report a knee injury because it could be an indicator that the joint is experiencing the onset or progression of osteoarthritis. This could also introduce a vicious cycle where osteoarthritis progression may lead to a knee injury, which could further hasten the degenerative changes.
An acute injury may be a very important risk factor for accelerated knee osteoarthritis among this sample but we still need to better understand what triggered accelerated knee osteoarthritis among the 70% that did not suffer an acute knee injury during the total observation period. It's possible that some of these individuals suffered minor perturbations to the joint that may not have been reported as an injury but nonetheless compromised the integrity of joint tissues. Subsequently, these altered structures may have exposed the joint to repetitive overloading, which could further compromise other tissues like the subchondral bone and articular cartilage(31).
This study highlights the importance of knee injuries in the incidence of accelerated knee osteoarthritis but has several limitations. As noted previously, we lack granular detail about the knee injury and if joint structures could have been compromised during the total observation period despite the participant reporting that they had no new knee injuries. Conversely, many participants (n = 145) reported an injury despite no radiographic evidence of osteoarthritis progression (accelerated or common). This could be attributable to a lack of data regarding the type, severity, mechanism, or subsequent treatment of the knee injury and limitations of self-reported injury data. Some individuals may have reported an injury that was not an intraarticular injury or only a minor injury that is not associated with knee osteoarthritis. These analyses were also limited to 54 individuals with incident accelerated knee osteoarthritis. We attempted to address this concern by conducting a secondary analysis among 71 additional individuals who had accelerated knee osteoarthritis but their contralateral knee had prevalent knee osteoarthritis at baseline. These analyses supported our primary finding. The limited sample size limits our ability to offer a precise odds ratio but it is unlikely to change our overall findings that knee injuries are associated with accelerated knee osteoarthritis. However, these findings may not be generalizable to the overall population since the OAI is not a populationbased cohort study. Future studies could pursue this research in population-based cohorts but we believe these findings will be confirmed since they complement the existing literature about the association between knee injuries and early onset knee osteoarthritis (8).
We often focus on the association of injuries and osteoarthritis later in life for a younger, physically active population but this study reminds us that even among older adults we need to pay attention to self-reported injuries. It is concerning that certain types or severities of injuries may be associated with a rapid cascade towards joint failure in less than one year. Future studies will need to explore if certain injuries are causing accelerated knee osteoarthritis and/or accelerated knee osteoarthritis is increasing the risk of injury. We must develop strategies to recognize this potential phenotype promptly after their injury and discover interventions to delay or prevent the onset of accelerated and common knee osteoarthritis progression.
Older individuals and those with a recent knee injury may be more likely to develop accelerated knee osteoarthritis.
Recent knee injuries are frequently associated with a rapid cascade towards joint failure in less than one year.
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https://memoirsofagaijin.com/new-beginnings-in-japan/ | 2019-05-23T22:02:20 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-22/segments/1558232257396.96/warc/CC-MAIN-20190523204120-20190523230120-00009.warc.gz | 0.981354 | 1,392 | CC-MAIN-2019-22 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2019-22__0__59528679 | en | “The frog in the well does not know the great sea.”Japanese proverb
It should be obvious that this past week brought forth a slew of new beginnings in my life. The beginning of the 14 hour flight from New York to Tokyo, and the beginning of the jet lag that followed. The beginning of my new cell phone plan, apartment lease, and job contract, as I settle into my new home in Kiryu. The beginning of new relationships with my coworkers and newfound friends in my town, as well as the beginning of a new era in my friendship with my native Japanese friends from Geneseo. In the most succinct way possible, this week marked the beginning of a new life for me.
The American bank accounts have been closed, the car sold, and the goodbyes said, replaced with Japanese bank accounts, a bike, and new hellos. I am truly beginning this new life, and only now has it begun to set it, six days after arriving in Tokyo, and four after coming to Kiryu.
But where to begin?
As I write this, there is a festival whose own beginning shall come at the arrival of dusk, and I will soon be partaking in the festivities to take in new experiences. I feel this event shall play a major part in the differentiation of my life in Japan from my life in America. Festivals exist in each country, but Japanese matsuri are a much different beast from the American carnival or festival.
Over here, festivals exist for everything from the blooming of sakura trees in spring, to the celebration of the new year, and even the casting out of the demons in February; while we may have similar ideas behind American holidays such as Halloween and Easter, these Japanese styles of celebration emphasize the roles of spirituality and tradition in a more overt fashion than the undertones common in American celebrations. In the sense that I now find myself at the outset of a new life in the influence of the Japanese tradition, it is only fitting that this new life is distinguished by the festival and the way of life that it represents.
Ironically enough, the moment this week that begot the realization of this new life was an out of body experience. I was sitting in a small restaurant in Hirosawa-cho, the neighborhood in which I find my new apartment, and I was struck by a sudden realization:
I am in Japan.
Sure the realization had been repeated like a mantra over the last week, and, especially when I was traveling in Kabuki-cho in Tokyo with my good friend Arisa or wandering alone around Shinjuku with my camera at dawn, I had felt the sense of being in Japan; however, it was none of those things that brought my epiphany.
I may have been surrounded by Japanese culture in every sense of the word, but at that time, I had still felt like a gaijin. I was in Kaubki-cho, Shinjuku, a section of Tokyo tailor-made for the consumption and marketing of Japanese culture to foreigners, and, even though I was enjoying myself greatly while I was there, I had never felt as though I was truly immersed in the culture.
No, it was not the sensory overload of Tokyo that brought me this immersion. It was instead s quiet moment inside a restaurant in Kiryu, and it was the state of being truly in that moment that brought me such clear thought.
So far as moments go, it was nothing too special, even for a Japanophile such as myself. I was simply sitting in the restaurant, having just ordered my dinner and my drinks in Japanese. As I sat there, I was almost an observer looking into the moment from outside the restaurant. In the booth in front of me, two friends shared dinner and laughter over some cold Sapporo beer, and the booth behind me contained a family that seemed to be having a celebration of some kind; perhaps the son had been accepted into his first choice university. In the far back of the restaurant, the kitchen hummed with the sound of the dishwasher, and the exclamations of the chef as he received and completed orders, a sensation that evoked memories of my first job as a busboy at a steakhouse.
Finally, in front of me, I had beef and pork, which I was then to grill on the small grittle laid into the table before me, and the kimchi, and sake that I had ordered to go with it. The sake label was barely legible to me, as I took my time reading it and trying to practice my kanji readings. Afterwards, I placed the bottle back down, and the fleeting nature of the moment, the fact that it was just a slice of my new life, brought about that realization I mentioned earlier: that I was in Japan.
After all of my imagination, aspiration, and determination, I had finally made it. I was here to begin my new life, and I would have all sorts of moments as I live that life. I guess, in the end that was what made it so special. That it was something that I would be able to appreciate at any time during my stay here. From that moment on, I am comfortable in saying my new life in Japan has finally begun, and I need to stop and appreciate it as much as I can while I am living it.
I am a frog who has been catapulted from my well into the great sea, and all I can do now is learn and master these new waters.
Song of the Week
“Hey Look Ma, I Made It” by Panic! At The Disco
For this week, the song is again tied into the theme of my post. So far as personal anthems go, I have been greatly enjoying this new song by Panic!, especially as I approach these new beginnings and appreciate my past achievements.
“Hey look ma, I made it
Hey look ma, I made it
Everything’s comin’ up aces, aces
If it’s a dream, don’t wake me, don’t wake me
I said hey look ma, I made it”
Taken from the chorus, these words are wonderful in giving me the strength and optimism to charge head forth into my job as an English teacher as I begin work next week. I’ll stop to admire my medals before I go forth onto the next round of challenges that life will throw at me. I hope I can impress the judges, but, come rain or shine, at the very least, I will be able to tell my mother I made it.
If you would like to listen to this song or any of the other prior Songs of the Week, check out the Spotify Playlist linked above! | literature |
http://www.paullindholm.com/new-blog/2017/1/2/eskimo-girl | 2019-10-14T13:15:45 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-43/segments/1570986653247.25/warc/CC-MAIN-20191014124230-20191014151730-00148.warc.gz | 0.971144 | 283 | CC-MAIN-2019-43 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2019-43__0__47690456 | en | When I think about where I come from, I think about my mother, and I think about the north. My mother was born in Alaska. My mother's father, grandpa John, was born in Alaska. His mother, great grandmother Selma, was born in Alaska. And before her, my ancestors for the past 10,000 years plus come from the north, from Alaska. Somewhere beyond memory, faded into the very fabric of family history, exists my Inuit mother. My great great great great grandmother. She lived a full life and experienced all the universal moments of being human, all the feelings of hope, sorrow, peace, conflict, love, pain, and so on and so forth.
I believe that all the moments we have as humans are the same. Difference arises from expression, and only in our unique expression do we create a multitude of variation. But in the end, in its fundamental form, all the moments of existence are shared. I like to believe that I can share my great great great great grandmother's experience of being an inuit girl watching the clouds drift across the northern sky. I like to believe that she shows up across the genetic code and is still a part of the migration from generation to generation. Sometimes I see her in my mother's face, and sometimes she gazes at the stars of her youth, through the eyes of her distant great great great grandson. | literature |
https://knickertwist.weebly.com/blog/the-last-of-the-magnificent-matriarchs | 2024-02-28T08:52:14 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2024-10/segments/1707947474700.89/warc/CC-MAIN-20240228080245-20240228110245-00572.warc.gz | 0.978553 | 2,157 | CC-MAIN-2024-10 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2024-10__0__161482069 | en | Quite some years ago, when my mother was elderly but not as elderly as she would become, she attended the funeral of a dear friend right here at St Al’s. Afterward, she remarked to the young priest who had presided what a lovely service it had been, how all its details had so thoughtfully reflected the wishes of the departed. In response, the young priest made the mistake of asking my mother whether she had made her own, y’know, plans. “No!” my mother responded. And then the padre made the further mistake of saying, “you should get on that. You don’t want to burden your children.” To which my mother shot right back, “Oh yes I do, Father! And why not? My children have been burdens to me all their lives.”
Guilty as charged! But were that we could all bear burdens so beautifully. As any child of Elizabeth Julia Veronica Murphy Durkin can tell you, she bore her seven burdens as trees bear fruit, as the kings bore gifts, as Shakespeare bears quoting, as great stories bear retelling.
My mother’s was a great story. As a girl, she – a child of the Depression – had no phone and no car, and used to help her father sift coal in the cellar. As a woman, she routinely dazzled prelates, pooh-bahs and politicians. I can’t begin to tell that story here.
What I am moved to try and do, though, is to mark the passing not only of my mother, but of a kind of mother. My mother emphatically believed that women should have the chance to run the world and everything in it. But she grew up at a time when most women did not have that chance, so even the smartest, hardest-working and most ambitious had to make their home their world, and be content with dominion over only the humans they made themselves. In the wrong circumstances, of course, the concentration of such vast personal force into so few hearts and minds could be toxic. But in the right circumstances – in our circumstances -- it was magic.
To be mothered by our mother was magic. All her brilliance, her wit, her yearning, her dreaming, her moral sense, her aesthetic sense, her optimism, her romanticism, her originality, her creativity, her infinite variety….yes, it went into her college education, which she completed, with high honors, at age 54. Yes, it went into her businesses, her legendary entertaining, her travels. But mostly, all of that – all of her -- went into us.
It went, of course, into our magnificent, much-missed father too, and in light of their almost-65 years of marriage, it seems preposterous to contemplate her life without major reference to his. In 1949, Betty Murphy pledged to love Tom Durkin until death did them part, but we all know she didn’t stop then, or ever. But Mickey has Booper now, and we don’t. So he is going have to forgive me for skipping over the myriad ways in which, as he often remarked, “no man ever had a better wife,” as I touch upon just one of the ways in which no child ever had a better mother.
Now, often when the subject is exemplary motherhood, the tone becomes one of boring beige solemnity: the sacrifices she made, the faith she instilled, the excellence she encouraged, the pain she soothed – and make no mistake, our mother did all of that, all the time, for all of us. But all my life, whenever I have been with my mother or thought of my mother or heard anyone speak of my mother, the word that has always bobbed right up to the surface like a buoy in the ocean is fun. Even words of condolence this week have included the word “fun.” “I’m so sorry you lost your mother. She was so much fun.” “Sharp as a tack, and such fun.” Even amongst ourselves: “Remember that time when Mom and Aunt Doris got the bright idea to…? That was so much fun.”
Last night, as I struggled to find some words for this morning, I found myself fighting with fun. I’d scribble out something weighty and worthy about my mother – but then my mind would stray to this or that hilarious memory and enjoy itself there for a while before I’d pull it back and scold myself like a nun at St. Cecilia’s: I can’t spend the last formal words I will ever speak on behalf of my incredibly accomplished mother describing her as some kind of party girl…even if that was her absolute favorite way to describe herself.
Then, somewhere around dawn’s early light, this dawned on me: what a good, even godly, trait it is to be fun. After all, how do we often describe life as it comes from God? How, if we are so lucky and so wise, do we see life? As a gift. What is the word for opening a gift -- for treating each day as a gift -- if not fun? And what better way to communicate to the human beings that you have brought into the world that they belong in the world; can thrive in it, and find joy and love and purpose in it, than to act as if having them with you in the world is fun?
And so, my brothers and sisters in Christ, without apology, I submit to you: Elizabeth Murphy Durkin was many, many tons of fun.
She had different levels of fun.
Everyday, offhand fun:
Some mothers, if they found themselves serving dinner on a school night at 8:30 p.m., might say, “sorry it’s so late, you must be starving.” Our mother said, “pretend you’re in Spain. This is early.”
General, embrace-the-chaos fun:
Whether her station wagon was headed to Washington, D.C., the Mississippi Delta or the A&P in Verona, it was always packed with kids, who were packed in with groceries or antiques or Irish setters. Sometimes the station wagon of the moment did not have the best brakes, in which event Booper did not panic. Incorporating her general approach to life, she simply learned to swerve.
Soon after Corny got engaged, Mom had the idea of holding a tea party in honor of the prospective bride’s mother, and inviting all the ladies in her family. Not stopping at the traditional spread of finger sandwiches and scones, Booper decided that what would really set the gathering off would be for us to dress up in Edwardian garb, complete with gloves and great big hats, and greet the guests in character and voice of a tentatively-trained Eliza Doolittle: “How kiiiiiind of you to come to teeee.” Miraculously, Mary Ellen went ahead with the wedding.
Good, old-fashioned, party-hardy fun:
Some grandmothers, when they hit eighty or so, would either decline big family parties or sit demurely to the side, leaving the dance floor to the young people. Booper, somewhere around ninety, boogied so big at Teddy’s wedding she had to be hospitalized.
But again, I beg you not to take from this that my mother was more style than substance. Nor was she even best termed a person of style and substance. No: My mother’s style came from her substance.
For many years my parents hosted an annual summer picnic for people who were both visually and economically impaired. Ridiculously late on the night before one such event – maybe midnight -- my sister and I came upon our mother, ironing a huge pile of linen tablecloths. We laughed at her. We said “Mom, what are you doing? It’s just a picnic, and the guests literally can’t see.” My mother continued undeterred. Come noon, a guest was led to her table and the minute she sat down, she took a corner of cloth in her hand. “Ah,” she said, rubbing it luxuriantly between her fingers. “I knew this was going to be nice.”
Those picnics took place at 100 Rensselaer Road. My mother loved that house. Like all my siblings, I loved it too, and even now, I appreciate it, in the form of a painting that hangs on the wall in my mother’s final home in Spring Lake.
A week ago today, just after my mother left this world, my salt-watered eye happened to fall on that picture. And like a shot, it hit me: “That house was never really my home. She was.”
It has long since become the fashion in America to skimp on grieving the way a dieter skimps on gravy. Especially with a decedent of a great age, we are urged not to mourn, but to celebrate! And you might expect that, since I have just devoted a funeral oration to fun, I am going to close on such a note. I’m not. I can’t. When I fall silent, I am going to fall still. And in the stillness, I am going to feel the awful wind blow through the hole that my first friend, my primary pillar, my indelible grace, my model, my mirror, my mother blew in me by her leaving. I am going to feel the cold of that, and the wrench of that, and very often for a good while yet, I am going to cry over that.
But I am my mother’s daughter. We are our mother’s children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren. So Mom, one day that we can’t imagine right now, we are going to find some fun, and that is where we are going to find you. From that moment on, we are going to prove you right on one of your signature points. You always said that your children were your ticket to immortality. And we are. | literature |
http://lolipoplearning.blogspot.com/2014/ | 2018-07-17T17:16:47 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-30/segments/1531676589757.30/warc/CC-MAIN-20180717164437-20180717184437-00102.warc.gz | 0.969928 | 1,169 | CC-MAIN-2018-30 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2018-30__0__262488511 | en | Teaching Writing in the Right Order
I like this meme! I think it does a simple yet good job at listing the writing modes. But what I really like is that they are in the correct order! By "order", I mean that this is the order in which writing should be taught.
When teaching children to write, start out with narration. The first step of narration is talking, so start having quality conversations with your little ones. Ask them about their day. What did they do? Ask for details, so they must add descriptions. What did they like? What did they dislike? Why! Why! Why! Keep asking questions. Don't settle for descriptions like "cool", "fun", "pretty", "nice". When you read stories together (you're doing that daily, right), ask your children to retell parts of the story. Or, tell it with a different ending, or from the villain's point of view. That's all narration!
At least once a week, scribe for your child as he narrates. Yes, YOU are doing the writing, but it's still his writing. It's the first step. Physically writing is a different skill from composing written thoughts. Don't let the physical skill of writing letters on a page, using that fine motor skill, hinder the development of your child's inner-writer. They will, eventually, write for themselves. They will, eventually, get tired of waiting around for you to write for them and start writing down their own stories...if they have learned the joy of putting thoughts on paper, and have acquired the confidence to do so.
Level 1 of writing is simply getting what is inside your head out and onto paper.
Narrating moves naturally into descriptive writing, as parents and teachers simply ask questions. What did the boy look like? Where does that story happen? Is it cold or hot? What are the characters wearing? What sounds do they hear? Children can write character sketches about characters from books they are reading (or you are reading to them). Have them draw a picture to go along with their words.
Level 2 of writing is getting what is inside your head into the head of another person. That is done through good descriptions. When the reader can see what you see, that is success! Children naturally want you to see what they see, but they don't realize how to do that...so help them...with questions!
Here comes the scandalous part of the blog... I do not teach expository writing before age 12, and I don't teach persuasive writing until the other 3 modes have been developed. If I have a child who wants to write something expository or persuasive (like why she should get a puppy or why he should get an xbox), I certainly allow and encourage that, but I don't push it or formally teach it (unsolicited) before age 12.
The most persuasive writers are also great narrators! They move us through stories then come in for the kill with their logical and descriptive point of view.
Level 3 of writing is using your written words to change the thoughts of another person.
The trouble with some of our state standards in writing--and yes, this includes Common Core--is that they dictate that children learn all 4 modes of writing from an early age. Children as young as 3rd grade (that's as young as 7 years old) are required to write reports and expository paragraphs. Yes, they are simple assignments, but that doesn't matter. When children are asked to do expository writing, before they have experienced the joy of narration and descriptive writing, they develop a hate of writing. They come to view academic (school) writing as something completely different from the writing they do for enjoyment and to get their deep thoughts out onto paper. We don't want that! Because when they are ready to do expository and especially persuasive writing, we want them to be passionate about it. We don't want them to do the minimum to get a passing grade.
The other concern I have is that creative writing (narration) is phased out around middle school. Students need to return to creative writing from time to time, to keep the juices flowing. They need to learn how to incorporate narration and even fictitious creative writing into persuasive writing. So, even as students progress and new modes are added, we should still return to the previous modes periodically.
Here are some ideas for young writers...
Set a timer (just 5 minutes is fine to start and work up to longer) and just write! It doesn't matter what they write. You (parent/teacher) should be doing this right along side them, in your very own writing journal.
Nature makes a great subject for developing descriptive writing. Without naming a plant or animal, can your child describe it so well that you know what it is?
This sounds so tedious, I know! But copy work helps children who are still learning good writing form to imitate it without the pressure of creating it themselves. They can copy anything! A funny poem, a funny part of a story, a recipe, instructions for a game...get creative!
Take pictures and make a book with your child and let her add the narration to go along with the pictures. Family vacations or just an ordinary day...both are fun for kids to narrate.
Letter Writing & Cards
Thank you to grandma for that gift. Get a pin pal. Make cards for friends. Write out their own invitations for parties.
Wish lists. Christmas. Birthday. Pros & Cons for a choice. Plan for getting something they want.
Above all, remember, your priorities are:
Creating joy and building confidence in writing, not grooming the next Shakespeare. | literature |
https://yogiamandeep.wordpress.com/ | 2022-11-26T18:35:38 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-49/segments/1669446708046.99/warc/CC-MAIN-20221126180719-20221126210719-00772.warc.gz | 0.966947 | 2,063 | CC-MAIN-2022-49 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2022-49__0__43045211 | en | When I was young, I ran away from home to be with the Himalayas.
At that time, the mountains summoned me. Like a soothing Mother, the mountains spoke to me; I heard them say, “Come beloved child. Be here!” Happily, I surrendered to this calling with my whole being and ran straight to the lap of the Himalayas.
Seems only moments passed. She whispered sacred teachings to me; and I received as would a child receive mother’s milk. I was prepared to spend the rest of my life in this cozy lap.
Then suddenly, and to my surprise, the Himalayas said, “Now, go!”
As Her child, I resisted. I refused to leave the Mother.
Somehow living as a mountain recluse was not my destined path, and I had to return to my birth family. But there remained a deep calling; the mountains reassured me, as if to say, “Bring these mountains with you wherever you go. Make the world your cave. Go to the world, but return home to the mountains as often as you wish. You have been blessed a messenger; you are impregnated with teachings. Your job is to give birth to a great conversation. You shall turn sacred the wild, worldly dust. Most important, keep the dialogue going between the modern world and the ancient mountains. Gather seekers who are longing. Guide them to feel called and welcome here.”
Since then, I have been blessed to guide yatras to the Himalayas. We go to the mountains to bow. Two years ago, we journeyed to the Himalayas on a Yatra to Hemkunth Sahib, the abode of Rishi Dushta Daman.
At a very sacred bridge the Bhim Pulh, the Bridge of Bhima, we passed through a vortex that only opens for those who have been initiated into the Dharma.
We had entered the realm of the Shrine of Rishi Ved Vyas. Rishi Ved Vyas was the great sage who downloaded all the ancient yogic wisdom from the Akashic records. With Ganesha — the remover of obstacles — as his trusted stenographer, Ved Vyas penned down wisdom, bringing it into form and structure so that the realm-of-time-and-space can remain in sacred dialogue with the Realm Beyond. This became the Vedic tradition.
Now, our Hemkunt yatra group had entered a sacred experience here that is beyond all time and space. Near the shrine, we noticed a cave. Once again, I felt summoned.
In this cave, a yogi sat alone.
Graciously, he invited me and the yatra group into his cave. In moments that seemed to stretch for an eternity, we enjoyed one another’s presence in this cave.
Here, a space opened up for this yogi and I to engage in a profound heart to heart conversation. Now, this kind of conversation is called Gosti in Gurmukhi, which translates to Conscious Sacred Exchange. Such an exchange is characterized by short, meaningful phrases, silence, and gestures. It is a communication of the highest dignity in that it crystalizes universal unity consciousness.
In this conversation, every word, pause, and gesture is expressed in the now; so, all expression blooms as a call and response that is nearly simultaneous. Every moment of the exchange is here and now. It is a deeply mystical exchange in that it carries profound wisdom of both the ancient past and distant future in the here now.
Such a yogic dialogue is bestowed and flows only in the right time and space; the only condition is reverence — reverence is adab in Gurmukhi.
Really, dialogue is too dualistic a word to use for Gosti because in this conversation, the two sharing the “dialogue” become one. A better word might be uni-logue if the English language had such a word … Even the English word ‘monologue’ does not work here because this is an expression of the Universe, not the individuated self.
This short exchange of words, silences, and gestures is compact in as few as 6 moments. However, contained within this short exchange exists all the wisdom of the 6 philosophical orders of the yogic teachings.
Here is the Gosti we shared:
1. We held one another’s gaze and instantly recognized our connection: I wear the saffron robes, carrying the color of the sun. This yogi wears ashes, carrying the color of the moon. Recognizing we are connected as sun and moon brought big smiles to our faces. With great joy, he sang out in Hindi, “Yogi ko Yogi Meleh!” A Yogi meets a Yogi.
2. Welcomed so, I replied by consciously proceeding into his sacred cave. I placed my right foot into his cave first, as the right foot is the foot of Dharma. As he noticed I did so, he rose to his feet and folded his hands the same time I folded my hands into Anjali Mudra, the lotus seal. Two hands represent duality, but Anajali Mudra brings all duality together into union — the negative and positive mind come to neutral, and the sun and moon energies of the body come to one. We bowed to each other simultaneously, and greeted each other in unison with the Himalayan Yogic greeting: “Matha Tekda Maharaj!” Oh sage, I bow to you!
3. Next, he invited me to sit next to his yogic seat. He said in Hindi, “Bhaout Kripa ke aphne.” Thank you for coming and blessing. Offering the seat is a gesture that carried with it every welcome, every blessing, and every gratitude of all creatures in cordiality. Here is awareness of every expression of giving and receiving hospitality throughout eternity. Here is awareness of every being sharing and deeply cherishing one another’s presence.
4. As I sat on the seat, he asked, “Aph kis Gurpranali se dikshat ho?” Which lineage are you initiated into? He asked my lineage, Gurpranali it is called. The Gurpranali is the lineage to which you have gifted your heart.
This question contained the essence of the Yogic teachings. In the Himalayan yogic teachings, one is known only through a lineage, not as his individual self. I repeat: the Himalayan tradition recognizes you only through your Gurpranli, not as an individual. In fact, there is no individual self on this path. On this path, only the divine through the master speaks through you, and that is what you convey. Only the Guru exists; the small psychological self died ages ago.
This is a path of total surrender to the one who has sparked the fire of wisdom within. The Himalayan sages teach that one has to be initiated into Dharma through a lineage, without this initiation, a being is seen as an Orphan in the spiritual world. One only comes into the shelter after one is initiated into the Dharma.
5. With a smile on my face and mentally bowing to the question, I replied, “Guru Nanak Sut, Baba Sri Chand ke Udasin Gurpranli Se Dikshat Hun Ji Maharaj.” Guru Nanak’s beloved son, Baba Sri Chand’s Udasin lineage into it I am initiated, oh dear one!
6. Hearing the name of the ageless yogi, Baba Sri Chand, a wide smile came on his face. He removed his inner shawl and took out a pendent of Baba Sri Chand that he showed to me as he said, “Hum Bhi Udasin Pranali sey Hai” I am also an Udasin; this is my lineage, too. Together, we laughed. We held hands as two brothers on the path.
One yogi made the Himalayas his world; one yogi brought the Himalayas into the world. Both yogis are Naadi Putras, children born through the word of the Guru and spreading the Dharma of the Guru in their own unique way.
It is said that Baba Sri Chand is the protector of all Yogis, and it makes no difference if the cave is the yogi’s world, or the world is the yogi’s cave.
Our dialogue created unity. What needed to be said was said. What needed to be replied was replied. All was for the purpose of exchanging sacred dialogue that creates unity.
We both bowed to the Gurpranali from which we have sprouted and all the masters that carried the Dharma and thanking them for giving us the shelter in its fold. In the words of the Himalayan masters, I bow to all those who have walked the path of the Dharma.
With Joy in my heart and both hands united above my head, I sealed our Gosti. I called out a Jaikara, a glory proclamation of Baba Sri Chand: “Bolh Bhagvan Sri Chander Maharaj Ke Jai,” may all sing the glories of the great Baba Sri Chand. All those present joined us and chanted along with us as one.
With this exchange of statements between a yogi and a yogi in the cave of the Himlayas, the womb of Yogic teachings, the essence of the 6 philosiphical orders of yogic lineage; Khat Darshan its called, the Gosti was complete.
This completes the dialogue.
We go our separate ways, vibrating unity.
Watch this video of the Mystical Hemkunt
Journey with Yogi Amandeep 2016 | literature |
http://www.stx.ox.ac.uk/about-st-cross/news/colin-dexter-obe | 2019-04-19T22:43:36 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-18/segments/1555578528430.9/warc/CC-MAIN-20190419220958-20190420002958-00283.warc.gz | 0.994661 | 177 | CC-MAIN-2019-18 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2019-18__0__19984788 | en | Colin Dexter OBE
The College is deeply saddened to hear of the passing of author Colin Dexter, who had been a St Cross Fellow by Special Election since 2005.
Colin was best known for his Inspector Morse novels which were later adapted into a successful television series starring John Thaw. He was appointed an OBE in 2000 for services to literature, and in 2001 he was awarded the Freedom of the City of Oxford.
Colin very much enjoyed his association with the College and regularly attended events. Students and their families, who had enjoyed reading tales of Oxford's most famous detective, were equally delighted to find themselves in conversation with his creator. Colin Dexter's love of poetry, mischievous sense of humour and ready wit left wonderful memories with those he met. He will be genuinely missed by the College community and our thoughts are with his family.
Tuesday 21 March 2017 | literature |
https://christchurchcelebrants.co.nz/seanjoyce/ | 2022-05-19T16:31:13 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-21/segments/1652662529538.2/warc/CC-MAIN-20220519141152-20220519171152-00540.warc.gz | 0.952698 | 337 | CC-MAIN-2022-21 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2022-21__0__140335701 | en | Celebrant Sean officiates at weddings throughout Christchurch and Canterbury, but is happy to go anywhere in the glorious South Island.
Sean will craft you a ceremony to have you relaxed, confident and in-the-moment. Your family and friends will be enthralled by a ceremony that they feel part of. A validated member of the Celebrants Association, Sean is also a trained speaker, stand-up comedian and popular Christchurch performance poet. He’s happy to travel throughout the South Island for weddings.
Tell us about yourself? Everything I do, from the very first meeting, is to earn the trust and confidence of the couple. I want them to stand in front of all their guests confident they are already a team of two, still private yet powerful and in control. Then it’s easy for me to appear relaxed, professional and fully prepared. “Relaxed” and “entertaining” are the most common words in my 300+ reviews.
Tell us about your style? Relaxed and entertaining.
Best part of any ceremony for you? The guests caught-off-guard by the open sincerity of the couple’s vows.
Favourite things? Spending time with my granddaughter while we eat ice cream and generally philosophise. I enjoy public speaking and MCing. I write a bit and my poems and stories have been published in various publications from the Christchurch Press to Bob Dylan’s home town of Hibbing, Minnesota. My first book will be self-published on Amazon in August 2021.
GET IN TOUCH!
T. 021 951 949 | literature |
https://www.angusauxiliary.com/people/miss-american-angus/2022-Mary-Wood.html | 2024-04-18T17:22:49 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2024-18/segments/1712296817222.1/warc/CC-MAIN-20240418160034-20240418190034-00305.warc.gz | 0.979094 | 1,029 | CC-MAIN-2024-18 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2024-18__0__55367047 | en | My late mother, DeEtta, had one of those smiles that could light up a room. In my opinion, her smile could light up an entire city! She embodied the sentiment credited to Mother Theresa, “Peace begins with a smile.” I am my mother's daughter and believe that forming meaningful connections with others is our highest calling. We have learned over the past few years the devastation that occurs when we are disconnected and isolated. As a young woman, I have been fortunate to learn from mentors within my family, community, and the Angus industry on what it means to handle differences. Meeting people where they are, communicating with integrity, and leading by example are the essential elements that have enabled me to create profound relationships along my journey.
In To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee writes, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... until you climb into his skin and walk around in it."rdquo; There is far too much division in the world in which we live. We must meet people where they are, diffusing opposition with a kind word, with empathy, with a smile. When we take a step back from the situation and put ourselves in another person's shoes, we can better understand and appreciate their unique experience. As a young junior member, I struggled to get involved in the National Junior Angus Association activities. In 2013 at my first junior nationals in Kansas City, I was hesitant to participate in the Cook-Off competition because I would be working with people I did not know. An advisor from my state, Jamie, encouraged me to get involved in the Cook-Off competition. She saw in me the insecurity that was holding me back. She met me where I was and provided the compassion and support that I needed. From that situation, I made new friends and became more active in my state association. By meeting people where they are, we establish relationships. Through these relationships, I recognize that diversity enriches our lives and our moments with others.
Words have the power to unite or destroy. In our society, there seems to be a need to share every thought that comes to mind with little worry of how it might affect others. Our cultural landscape would look different if every single person communicated with integrity. From the leadership opportunities of my teen years and transitioning into college life, I have learned that it is best to express my values honestly and respectfully to others. This practice builds trust so that both parties can work together to resolve differences. While others may not agree with our thoughts or beliefs, they are at least allowed to witness the transparent communication of our convictions. Communication also involves listening to others with an open heart. The Certified Angus Beef brand is a well-known brand that has created a reputation by being honest about its purpose and product through truthful communication with consumers. While market demands fluctuate, CAB has not wavered from its consistent mission to promote registered Angus cattle through offering a high-quality Angus beef product. As a result, the brand has now seen six consecutive years surpassing one billion pounds of sales. We share our vision and create a dialogue that averts conflict and promotes successful collaboration by communicating with integrity.
As we meet people where they are and communicate with integrity, we display purposeful leadership to conquer problems as they arise. Leaders who lead by example are next-level problem-solvers committed to their personal growth and the benefit of others in their community. My brother Justin is one of my greatest role models who retired from the National Junior Angus Association board of directors this year. It was exciting to see him achieve this accomplishment that he had set as a goal early in his youth. However, his time on the board turned out to be more challenging than expected for the reason that no one could have imagined. The COVID-19 pandemic changed the rules for so much of Junior Angus operations. As the Leadership Director, I saw Justin deal with the obstacles of virtual rather than in-person events, the disappointment of canceled events, and the struggle with finding locations to host junior activities like the LEAD conference. When faced with many different ideas about moving forward, Justin kept a level head and stepped up to the leadership position that he was elected to by working with his fellow board members as a quiet example of consistent leadership. Through this chapter in his life, he encouraged others through a difficult time and has certainly inspired me with a desire to be a leader that sets an example for others.
I can still hear my mother's voice in my mind whenever I face potential conflict, “Mary, be the bigger person.” As a child, I did not truly understand what that meant, but by her example, I learned how to approach obstacles. Not surprisingly, she was a woman who confronted difficult situations head-on, creating opportunities for friendship where there might have been strife. Meeting people where they are, communicating with integrity, and leading by example have become the foundation I continue to build upon as I move to the next chapter. But, I always begin with a smile. | literature |
https://baptisttrumpet.com/2022/10/25/we-dont-skip-verses/ | 2024-03-05T08:28:54 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2024-10/segments/1707948223038.94/warc/CC-MAIN-20240305060427-20240305090427-00331.warc.gz | 0.969304 | 906 | CC-MAIN-2024-10 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2024-10__0__183772660 | en | By Jordan Tew, Executive Director • Baptist Publishing House
I remember visiting a used bookstore several years ago, and while I was there, I stumbled upon a collection of used Sunday School curriculum. This curriculum was supposed to be a book-by-book study of the Bible. I was intrigued, so I picked up a book and read through it. It did not take me very long to see that the author had skipped many verses and even entire chapters.
Granted, the verses and chapters that were skipped are often considered “controversial” by many. Indeed, Romans 8-10 has caused many a theological debate over the years. I was, however, saddened by the fact that a Christian publications ministry would rather skip verses (and chapters) than deal with what those verses said. Why be timid when it comes to God’s Word?
I will be the first to say there is no need to cause unnecessary strife or friction between brothers and sisters in Christ. However, there is also never any need to be ashamed of the Word of God.
When I became the executive director of Baptist Publishing House (several years after the aforementioned bookstore experience), I knew we must stand upon God’s Word without any compromise or fear. I will admit this is not a popular stand to take in today’s world, where compromise is celebrated and cowering is a virtue.
I believe God’s Word is powerful, authoritative and true. The Apostle Paul said, “I am not ashamed of the gospel.” Certainly, to be unashamed of the gospel means we also must be unashamed of the Word of God.
These convictions are also shared by our writers. The men who write for Baptist Publishing House are BMA pastors and educators. They work very hard to provide our churches with a true verse-by-verse study of God’s Word, and I am grateful for their consistent and selfless work. I can assure you it would be much easier to skip the “hard verses” in several instances, but we cannot do that because we are men bound by the Word of God. We understand our calling is to proclaim God’s Word faithfully and without compromise. That is what the churches of the BMA of America have commissioned the Baptist Publishing House to do.
This is not a new concept. The BMA has had many faithful Sunday School writers over the years. We are dedicated to preserving this legacy of faithful writers, who possess a devotion to the authority of the Bible and hold to sound doctrine.
Throughout the countless hours of writing, editing, correcting and rewriting each and every lesson, we have all solidified our conviction that we are 100% committed to God’s Word. The phrase “We don’t skip verses” is slowly becoming our motto. Second to the Word of God, our commitment is to the Doctrinal Statement of the BMA of America. Simply put, we will not and cannot produce anything that is not in total agreement with this statement.
Why are we so passionate about it? I think the answer to that question can be found in the Doctrinal Statement of the BMA of America, Article II:
• The Scriptures are God’s inerrant revelation, complete in the Old and New Testaments, written by divinely inspired men as they were moved by the Holy Spirit (II Tim. 3:16; II Peter 1:21). Those men wrote not in words of human wisdom but in words taught by the Holy Spirit (I Cor. 2:13).
• The Scriptures provide the standard for the believer’s faith and practice (II Tim. 3:16, 17), reveal the principles by which God will judge all (Heb. 4:12; John 12:48) and express the true basis of Christian fellowship (Gal. 1:8-9; II John 9-11).
While the world is critical of such convictions, God is honored. We are grateful that the Lord has continued to pour out His blessings upon this ministry. Each quarter, more and more churches begin using BMA curriculum in their churches, and they have shared good reports about how it has helped their people grow in the knowledge of God and His Word. Some have even been saved! Indeed, as the Lord said, through the Prophet Isaiah, “My Word will not return void.” | literature |
https://fcpeboiscolombes.fr/forums/topic/beyond-the-darkness-buy-book/ | 2021-11-29T10:13:14 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-49/segments/1637964358702.43/warc/CC-MAIN-20211129074202-20211129104202-00540.warc.gz | 0.826064 | 454 | CC-MAIN-2021-49 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2021-49__0__174849968 | en | - Ce sujet est vide.
20/11/2020 à 15 h 19 min #17175Adra KellyInvité
Beyond the Darkness
A Biography of Bede Griffiths
by Shirley du Boulay
- Genres: spirituality
- ISBN: 9781903816165 (1903816165)
- Author: Shirley du Boulay
- Publisher: John Hunt Publishing
- Format: paperback, 308 pages
- Language: english
- Release date: February 4, 2004
About The Book
Even though the English Benedictine monk Bede Griffiths was well known during his lifetime (1906-1993) for his efforts to harmonize the spiritual practices of East and West, the full range of his influence is only just becoming widely appreciated. Now, from respected journalist and biographer Shirley du Boulay, comes the first major biography of Griffith’s life, Beyond the Darkness. Du Boulay shows the transformation of Griffiths from an idealistic, highly intelligent, serious, and sometime irritable schoolboy into a man of profound wisdom who emanated unconditional love, and who was often revered as a holy man and a living saint. During his life of intellectual and spiritual discovery, he became an associate of the Inklings, a close friend of C. S. Lewis, and eventually a leader of an ashram in India.
FB2 ebook Beyond the Darkness Shirley du Boulay on Walmart. MP3 book Beyond the Darkness download for PC. EPUB Beyond the Darkness buy iPad. Online ebook Beyond the Darkness by Shirley du Boulay read on Barnes & Noble.
TXT book Beyond the Darkness on IndieBound. Hardcover Beyond the Darkness Shirley du Boulay read online on iOS. Hardback ebook Beyond the Darkness by Shirley du Boulay buy cheap on Kindle. Paperback book Beyond the Darkness download on Book Depository.
PDF Beyond the Darkness by Shirley du Boulay buy cheap on Amazon. FictionBook Beyond the Darkness for reader. MOBI ebook Beyond the Darkness Shirley du Boulay read on Kobo. TXT book Beyond the Darkness download Android. | literature |
http://dendiva.com/this-n-that/5-promises-men-should-make-this-womans-day/ | 2019-03-20T09:19:17 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-13/segments/1552912202324.5/warc/CC-MAIN-20190320085116-20190320111116-00367.warc.gz | 0.957886 | 850 | CC-MAIN-2019-13 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2019-13__0__67280943 | en | For one second, even if we concede that “it’s a man’s world,” then by that sheer logic, “International Women’s Day” is a day of grave importance to a man. But is it really a man’s world? Take my life for instance. The driving force of my life is indeed my Wife. She drives me to drive, she drives me to shop, she drives me to clean, and she drives me to take the dog out for a walk. And all this while she is steering me to do stuff, I can see the lost sheen on her face. Her worry-laden face that screams to say enough is enough. Frankly, I don’t really blame her for those thoughts. I respect and secretly envy her multi-tasking skills. The lazy Joe that I am, I cannot match to her achievements and capabilities.
However, it’s time to redeem myself. Indeed, enough is enough. So, as a man who promised to stand by you through thick & thin, I pledge thee the following vows that will showcase a man that you want to be with.
I would Ignore My Phone around You!
I swear! No more shall I give precedence to my phone over you. No more shall I spend Sunday afternoon’s lurking over my phone. I shall pay more heed to your words, rather than play games on my phone. Like you said, I am not 17 anymore.
I also promise to be more like your great grand uncle who imported loose diamonds from Africa back in the days to present his beloved wife a pair of beautiful diamond earrings. I can’t reach the shores of Africa to get you lose diamonds, but I can certainly pick them up from CaratLane.com.
Remote is your Property!
Yes, Honey! I have been thinking for a while. Why should a small oddly shaped thing come in between our love? I rather let you watch your favourite shows than hijacking the remote to watch a cricket match or catch the latest episode of Game of Thrones. I’ll rather wait till the latest season is released on Netflix and I will be more than satisfied watching the cricket highlight than catching the match Live. Even better, we’d rather cozy up in the decadent corner of the house to catch up the episode together but only after I have done assisting you with the household chores.
Never again will I act like a self-entitled obnoxious creature when on a shopping trip with you. Whether you are browsing online to shop for jewellery or Window-shopping at Zara, I shall stand by you like a rock.
I will also give you my honest feedback on the clothes you buy. For instance, I will have prompt answers to your questions like- whether you should buy nude pumps with the salmon pink dress or the white ones? Just for record! Nude pumps are every green.
Movies every Weekend!
I make a pucca promise to take you on a movie date every weekend. And of course, the movie will be of your choice (that goes without saying). No Ironman, Transformer or Batman. A movie followed by a sumptuous meal is what our weekend itinerary will be. And just in case (subject to disclaimer), you are in a happy mood and decide to watch a superhero or an action flick. I shall be more than glad to oblige.
Would say Love you at least 20 times a day
See I have already started. I know that you know that I love you. But should that stop me from telling you “that I love you”? Definitely not! I love you, and I will not hesitate, miss or shy away from telling that to you. Just like Mr. Darcy your favourite character from the book Pride and Prejudice, I shall pledge to say ‘I Love you’ most ardently.
Menfolk, the secret to the happiness of a man are linked to that of his wife’s happiness. Hold that thought to your heart and be a man of not empty words. | literature |
http://jungian.libsyn.com/webpage/2007/07 | 2020-10-23T00:03:53 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-45/segments/1603107880401.35/warc/CC-MAIN-20201022225046-20201023015046-00153.warc.gz | 0.887678 | 402 | CC-MAIN-2020-45 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2020-45__0__170179148 | en | Sun, 22 July 2007
JUNG PODCAST #16 - FAIRY TALES 3
In this episode we continue with a Jungian approach to fairy tale interpretation. I introduce the "Moreau Guidelines", a concise overview of how one may interpret a fairy tale. The Moreau Guidelines are covered in detail. The first step of an interpretation, using these guidelines is explained, with examples from Grimm's (Rapunzel, The Devil's Sooty Brother, The Raven). Four core ideas are presented : all elements of the fairy tale are elements of a single psyche; all the characters in the fairy tale represent structures of the same psyche; we have to take an interpretive stance for the fairy tale based on whether we feel the tale represents a masculine or a feminine psyche; all the elements of the tale are symbolic.
Mon, 2 July 2007
Jung Podcast #2 - Jung's Model of the Psyche
In this episode I cover the fundamental aspects of the psyche and review the core structures associated with each such aspect. To assist in our model development, I have used Jung’s topographical model of the psyche. We begin with seeing the psyche as comprising four aspects – consciousness, the personal unconscious, the collective unconscious and the body. The structures within the first three aspects are the ego, complexes and archetypes respectively. The five functions of the ego are reviewed. The contents of the personal unconscious, in the form of complexes, are dealt with in depth to assist in gaining an understanding of how, when our complexes are constellated, they imp[act certain of the ego’s functions. Archetypes are simply defined as symbol-producing structures of the collective unconscious. A link between the three strata of the psyche (conscious, personal unconscious, collective unconscious) is made with the body. THIS IS A RE-RECORDING OF THE SAME EPISODE IN AN ATTEMPT TO IMPROVE THE AUDIO QUALITY | literature |
http://spiritualinquiry.com/articles/forgiveness/ | 2017-03-29T17:12:03 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-13/segments/1490218190754.6/warc/CC-MAIN-20170322212950-00515-ip-10-233-31-227.ec2.internal.warc.gz | 0.954815 | 261 | CC-MAIN-2017-13 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2017-13__0__245358680 | en | When somebody hurts us, we have two ways to move on: we can forgive, or we can forget. These are not the same thing. When we forget something, we have not really dealt with the issue, we have just blotted it out. If we happen to remember the incident again, then the pain and anger will resurface. Forgiveness takes more courage than forgetfulness. To forgive, we must accept what the person has done. We accept it, try to understand it, and only then can we move on. When we forgive, we use the incident as a way to increase our understanding and compassion, and a way to release our own ego. When we forget, we simply pretend the incident never happened at all.
It is easy to go through life without ever forgiving. People do things, we get angry, and then eventually we forget about it. Forgetting about it helps ensure that we do not just stay angry forever, but it does not guarantee that future incidents will not make us angry and upset all over again. By contrast, forgiveness has longer lasting benefits. When we learn to forgive, it is not only the pain of the present that is relieved. By enhancing our compassion and understanding, we are better equipped to deal with any pain that the future may bring. | literature |
http://nakedoriginality.blogspot.com/2012/09/grief-law-of-attraction-part-3.html | 2017-12-12T16:03:14 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-51/segments/1512948517350.12/warc/CC-MAIN-20171212153808-20171212173808-00256.warc.gz | 0.97007 | 1,139 | CC-MAIN-2017-51 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2017-51__0__195822245 | en | By: Jim & Jamie Dutcher
I had to force myself to come back to this page today.
The journey through Grief continues. I was curious to know how many days it’s been. Twenty-one. I have stumbled, fallen, and coerced myself to deliberately reach for a higher feeling thought, just a small improvement, more than twenty-one times. I consciously work not to succumb to lower level emotional vibration. The pain of Rudy’s absence, once searing, has lessened bit by bit, day by day. The disappearance of his life-force is a pragmatic reality that now sits in a medium-sized white box with wonderful and happy dog paws imprinted randomly over the surface. You’d expect the box to be filled with doggie treats not Rudy’s ashes. They arrived yesterday, hand-delivered by our compassionate and extraordinary Vet, Ronit. She adored Rudy and cried with us the day he died.
My life is sustained by books. Real books. Ancient books made of paper and cardboard and binding. They are everywhere in our bungalow. From the time I was a little child, when feeling frightened, sad or lost, books were my “safe-place.” I would find exactly the right book and run outside to my beloved Tree Fort built high in the branches of our huge Bay tree. Like a transfusion, I could feel the energy of the wise tree vibrate through my body. I would breathe-deep of the unique and delicious scent. I would kiss the bark and thank my tree for its protection. Then, I would snuggle into my sleeping bag, open the book and travel wherever it offered to take me. It felt wonderful! I was on a Magic Carpet ride, flying through the air. Time and Space did not exist. Now, I realize it was my first experience with Quantum Physics and the Law of Attraction.
The Little Engine That Could was my favorite story for it made me believe anything was possible, “I think I can. I think I can. I think I can.” The message filled every fiber of my being with wonder, courage, strength and optimism. “I think I can. I think I can. I think I can.” Without exception, this mantra has served me through every milestone and saved me from drowning when I found myself furiously paddling upstream, against the raging currents of painful emotion.
Only yesterday, I smiled at myself when I realized these words were streaming through my mind as a coping mechanism, I think I can find my way through missing Rudy. I think I can erase the horrible images of his tumors and feeling profoundly inadequate as a person dedicated to healing. I think I can focus on all the wonderful moments and memories Rudy gave me. I think I can let him go with love and light. I think I can deeply love another dog that, I know, will come into our lives. I think I can survive the future death of all my beloveds. “I think I can” is in the process of becoming “I know I can.”
Then it happened. SynchroDestiny took my hand. Created and defined by renowned mind-body authority, Dr. Deepak Chopra, SynchroDestiny describes an extraordinary conspiracy of improbabilities in which seemingly unrelated circumstances and conditions weave together to form an unforeseen event. SynchroDestiny explores the universal patterns that shape our lives and expand our potentiality as it relates to intention, consciousness, karma and coincidence.
A respected colleague and friend, Jane Bay, describes it this way: “SynchroDestiny has the ability to transform our lives once we understand what is happening, enabling us to experience miracles and feelings of joy, and consciously participate in our own evolution with a better understanding of our meaning and purpose in life. The ultimate goal…is to expand consciousness and open a doorway to enlightenment – a rebirthing or awakening.”
How does this apply to Grief? Here’s my answer: I had forgotten about three books I bought last fall. They have been sitting on a shelf, crisp and new, unopened. Herein lies the power of our subconscious minds and the magnetic forces in our Universe – I absently, without conscious intention, walked to this particular shelf. Words streamed through my head, I think I can. I know I can. I think I can. Oh, Rudy, I miss you so! But I know I can process this Grief. I know I can!
This particular bookshelf is high on the wall and as I reached up, I knocked off one book. It fell to the ground, bounced once, and landed on the tiles. The crash-landing impact caused it to open with pages facing the floor. I picked it up. And, I kid you not, the page read, “Example 32: My Dog Died and I Feel Grief.” Holy Bow-Wows! Talk about an instantaneous shift in energy. It actually took me a few seconds to process the profoundness of what just happened. I was being offered the opportunity to expand my potentiality as it relates to intention, consciousness, karma and coincidence.
If you scroll down to the next post, I share passages from Esther and Jerry Hicks book, The Astonishing Power of Emotions – Let Your Feelings Be your Guide in hopes it offers you some measure of comfort and opens a doorway to understanding and processing the tumultuous emotion we call Grief. | literature |
http://www.transrespmed.com/content/1/1/11/abstract | 2015-11-30T06:09:19 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-48/segments/1448398461113.77/warc/CC-MAIN-20151124205421-00201-ip-10-71-132-137.ec2.internal.warc.gz | 0.893325 | 701 | CC-MAIN-2015-48 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2015-48__0__154957507 | en | Sputum matrix metalloproteinase-9 is associated with the degree of emphysema on computed tomography in COPD
1 Immunology, Institute of Infection, Immunity & Inflammation, University of Glasgow and Gartnavel General Hospital, Glasgow, Scotland G12 OYN, UK
2 Pfizer Research/Translational Medicine Research Collaboration, Dundee, UK
3 Pfizer Research/Translational Medicine Research Collaboration, Cambridge, MA, USA
4 Pfizer Research/Translational Medicine Research Collaboration, Collegeville, PA, USA
5 Robertson Centre for Biostatistics, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
6 MRC Centre for Inflammation Research, Medical Physics and Clinical Radiology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
7 Radiology Department, Gartnavel General Hospital, Glasgow, UK
8 Ear Nose and Throat Department, Gartnavel General Hospital, Glasgow, UK
Translational Respiratory Medicine 2013, 1:11 doi:10.1186/2213-0802-1-11Published: 6 June 2013
Matrix-metalloproteinase (MMP)-9 has been implicated in the pathogenesis of COPD, although its link to disease severity is unclear. The purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between disease severity assessed by lung function and computed tomography (CT) and sputum MMP-9 expression, concentration and activity in patients with COPD.
In 53 COPD subjects, smokers and ex-smokers; 46 healthy controls, smokers and never smokers, we measured sputum MMP-9 concentrations (ELISA) and enzyme activity (FRET), sputum MMP-9 mRNA expression, spirometry, diffusing capacity for carbon monoxide (DLco) and CT assessment of emphysema (% low attenuation areas below-950 Hounsfield units).
Sputum MMP-9 concentrations and mRNA expression in COPD subjects were significantly greater than in healthy never-smokers (p = 0.007 and p = 0.001 respectively) and similar to those in healthy smokers. Disease severity when assessed by the extent of emphysema measured by CT, but not by spirometry or DLco values, was directly associated with sputum MMP-9 concentrations [r = 0.442 (0.171, 0.634), p = 0.020], and MMP-9 activity [r = 0.447 (0.219, 0.643), p = 0.010]. In moderate to severe COPD, increased MMP-9 mRNA expression levels were associated with reduced post-bronchodilator FEV1 [r = −0.530 (−0.686, -0.327), p < 0.001], FEV1/FVC ratio [r = −0.551 (−0.701, -0.354), p < 0.001] and reduced DLco [r = −0.399 (−539, -0.102), p = 0.048].
Sputum MMP-9 concentrations in COPD are directly associated with the extent of emphysema measured by CT and MMP-9 expression levels are inversely associated with DLco. These findings support a role for MMP-9 in the pathogenesis of COPD. | literature |
https://alphabeticalbrain.com/m.humanist-stars-eagleman.html | 2019-12-10T21:31:35 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-51/segments/1575540529006.88/warc/CC-MAIN-20191210205200-20191210233200-00326.warc.gz | 0.876644 | 179 | CC-MAIN-2019-51 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2019-51__0__82722173 | en | ALPHABETICAL BRAIN™ VOCABULARY
HUMANIST GALAXY OF
SECULAR BRAIN SCIENCE STARS
September 25, 2019
David Eagleman has written two important books about the new brain science, which should be read and discussed throughout the Humanist Galaxy.
The first book is:
THE BRAIN: The Story of You published by Pantheon Books, 2015 (218 pages) is the companion book to the six-part PBS TV series, THE BRAIN, that aired in the fall of 2015.
This book is outlined at the link at the bottom.
The second book is:
INCOGNITO: The Secret Lives of the Brain published by Vintage, 2012 (304 pages). It will be outlined and reviewed soon.
Click or Tap Link for Outline and Reviews:
The Story of You | literature |
http://allhindugodgoddess.blogspot.com/2010/08/prayer-for-lord-vishnu.html | 2018-07-15T19:44:35 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-30/segments/1531676588961.14/warc/CC-MAIN-20180715183800-20180715203800-00174.warc.gz | 0.837328 | 450 | CC-MAIN-2018-30 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2018-30__0__137172600 | en | Prayer for Lord Vishnu
vande vishnum bhava-bhaya-haram
who is the embodiment of peace,
who lies on the Shesha serpent,
whose navel is the source of the Lotus,
whose complexion is swarthy like the clouds,
whose body shines with heavenly beauty,
who is the beloved of Goddess Lakshmi,
whose eyes are like Lotus,
who is meditated upon by the yogis,
who is the remover of the fear of the world-process.
He who has the peaceful (shaanta-)
demeanor and visage (-kaaram).
He who sleeps and reposes (-shayanam)
on the serpents (bhujaga-).
He who has a lotus shaped (padma-) navel (-naabham).
He who is the master and lord
of all the gods (suresham).
I pray to the Lord Vishnu.
He who holds (-dhaaram) the
universe (vishwaa-) in his hands.
He whose vision (-sadrasham) exceeds
beyond all the skies (gagana-).
He whose color and visage (-varanam) is
changeable like the clouds (megha-).
And he who is filled with goodness (shubh-)
in every part (-aangam) of his body.
I sing praise to the Lord Vishnu.
He who is the husband (-kaantam)
of the goddess of wealth (-lakshmi).
He whose eyes (-nayanam) are surreal
like a lotus flower (kamala-).
And he who yogis yearn to reach (-agamyam)
through meditation (-dhyaana).
I sing praises (vande-) to the Lord Vishnu (-vishnum).
He who removes (-haram) all our fears (-bhaya)
due to our inborn nature (-bhava).
And he who is the master (-naatham) of the
entire (-sarva) universe and creation (-lokaika). | literature |
http://www.oakapplepress.com/variorum.html | 2023-01-30T20:15:06 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-06/segments/1674764499829.29/warc/CC-MAIN-20230130201044-20230130231044-00426.warc.gz | 0.943823 | 917 | CC-MAIN-2023-06 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2023-06__0__302714755 | en | We are pleased to announce publication of The Variorum Gilbert & Sullivan, Volume I, the essential textual reference to the first four operas by W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan: Thespis, Trial by Jury, The Sorcerer, and H.M.S. Pinafore.
So…what's a Variorum? The term, Latin for of various people, refers to an edition that presents the variant states of a text, with editorial commentary. This is the first of a five-volume variorum of the Gilbert & Sullivan libretti, documenting their evolution from pre-production drafts and the early productions, through revivals, twentieth-century D'Oyly Carte amendments, and the contributions of later editors and editions.
The book is 781 pages, of which the first 169 are a general introduction that discusses the partners' working methods, a survey of the sources and the textual problems they present, and the editorial process. Each opera also has a separate detailed introduction that discusses its textual history, sources, and issues. These introductions are substantial resources in and of themselves: that of Pinafore runs to over 100 pages.
We have researched hundreds of manuscripts, libretti and scores, including many prompt books and early drafts never before published, such two early plot sketches of Thespis, and Gilbert's first draft plot of Gilbert & Sullivan's first international hit, H.M.S. Pinafore. (We don't want anyone to be misled: the two Thespis plot sketches are a total of five pages, the Pinafore plot draft seven pages. We think you'll enjoy reading them, but the book isn't worth it for those items alone.)
Also included are deleted passages (cancelled lyrics and songs) and supplemental material, such as "An Elixir of Love," the short story that inspired The Sorcerer, presented with the original Gilbert drawings as it appeared in Christmas 1876 issue The Graphic, with variants noted from its re-publication in Gilbert's 1890 compilation of short stories, Foggerty's Fairy and Other Tales.
There are, of course, many collected anthologies of Gilbert's libretti. Most offer the texts with no analysis at all, or with mainly non-textual commentary (e.g., production practice; definitions of obscure words and phrases). Reginald Allen edited what he took to be the first-night libretti in The First Night Gilbert and Sullivan; Ian Bradley quoted many of the pre-production drafts and variant readings in The Complete Annotated Gilbert and Sullivan. But neither explored the full textual history of Gilbert's libretti systematically.
Textual criticism isn't an exact science: other editors would reach different conclusions. But as this is a variorum, variant readings that have any reasonable claim to authority share the page with the libretto text, so that readers can judge for themselves the basis of our decisions. We also consider all of the surviving drafts, discarded versions, and other historically important sources—even if the latter did not have the authors' approval or willfully contravened it. Those who have wondered about the provenance of a variant passage will now have its textual history.
Beyond the value of establishing a text, a variorum serves other purposes. Performers may choose to restore material that the authors had rewritten or cut. Alternative readings shed light on the history of a work's creation and reception. From the evolution of the texts, we learn more about the thought processes of the men who created them and the cultural climate in which they worked. Even their rejects make compelling reading. Their discarded drafts are the residue of a creative process that was often more complex, and less linear, than would be apparent from the familiar biographies.
At one time, we thought we could accomplish all of this, for the whole canon, in one book. We now find that we have enough material for five volumes. The second volume (with Pirates, Patience, and Iolanthe) will follow eventually, and so on to the end. Some readers may be aware that we have been working on this for a long time: 35 years, believe it or not: there's decades of work invested in this first volume of four operas.
The Variorum Gilbert & Sullivan, Volume I, is published in hardcover with a dust jacket, and is available from Lulu.com for $40 plus shipping.
Marc Shepherd & Michael Walters | literature |
http://jcasatodd.com/?p=2043 | 2018-01-16T17:11:45 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-05/segments/1516084886476.31/warc/CC-MAIN-20180116164812-20180116184812-00269.warc.gz | 0.975704 | 491 | CC-MAIN-2018-05 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2018-05__0__20535243 | en | I can’t wait to share my passion about the topic of Digital Leadership with the world in the form of my upcoming book, Social LEADia. In anticipation of its release I will be sharing excerpts from it… until which time I can actually hold the book in my hands!
This is one of the stories which I share in the book which reaffirmed for me the need for adults to be in social media spaces together with our students and children.
In the Spring of 2016, I tweeted out the link to a hashtag that kids had created for the Ontario Secondary School Literacy test. #osslt2016 My daughter and I got a real kick out of the very clever posts by students who had just written the test. Even EQAO (the governing body overseeing the test) responded light-heartedly:
— EQAO (@eqao) March 31, 2016
Then a friend of mine pointed out that there was an extremely inappropriate post in the feed. When I looked, I was mortified. Instinctively, I deleted my tweet and reported the tweet as offensive. This student basically likened writing the test to wanting to be a suicide bomber and included a photo!
Then I took a closer look. This was just a grade 10 kid trying to be funny and not really understanding the impact. I looked at his Facebook page (easy enough to find) and realized from the very innocent profile and posts that he had just made a vast error in judgement.
I instinctively contacted him via Twitter. It could have gone one of two ways: he could have responded maliciously, or he could have realized his error. Here is how the exchange went:
Me: This is never ever appropriate. Nor is it funny. And this tweet can come back to haunt you in the future.
Student: (Liked, Retweeted) Thx
Me: You are welcome. Delete it and hopefully no one will see it for now. Good luck!
Student: Kk (Deleted the tweet)
If I wasn’t in this space, I would not have been able to help this student.
This experience has reaffirmed my conviction that we need to spend more time focusing on using social media in positive ways. When we talk about social media, we can't always use the fear narrative; and we need to be in these spaces to help students navigate the tricky waters! Click To Tweet | literature |
https://dhanjaldiaries.com/2019/07/05/introduction/?shared=email&msg=fail | 2020-10-20T00:02:09 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-45/segments/1603107867463.6/warc/CC-MAIN-20201019232613-20201020022613-00598.warc.gz | 0.982489 | 499 | CC-MAIN-2020-45 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2020-45__0__154128604 | en | Hello! Welcome to my blog. I am very excited to share my first blog post with you. It has been a long time coming. Creating my own personal blog had been just a thought that floated in my mind for several years, but I’ve finally decided to go through with it!
Well to start off, a little bit about me: I graduated from the University of Guelph-Humber from the social services program back in 2017. I was lucky enough to experience a number of different jobs within the field early on (because I could not see myself settling in any one position for too long), which ultimately gave me a general idea of what to expect. Although this field of work is very valuable (and it takes a very special type of person to do it), I have come to realize that it is not the direction that I would like to pursue at this point in time. Regardless though, it most definitely was NOT a waste of my time, as I’ve had the honour of meeting and working with such beautiful souls along the journey who have truly made me the person I am today. As all things must come to end, I believe my time in social services has reached its end point. However, this decision has only further ignited the fire within me to pursue my dreams and goals of making a difference in society; no matter how small.
Why blogging you ask? Well simply because in my last few years of university I had come to realize how much I love to write, not the essay assignments which darkened my eye bags and made me lose many hours of sleep per se, but in general. I love the idea of putting my thoughts, feelings and experiences in writing and having it spark similar feelings in another person. I intend to write about anything and everything from personal experiences/thoughts to mental health to wellness to Oneness. Whatever else comes to my mind, you and I both will have to wait and see. Sometimes all it takes is a random conversation with a stranger to generate new ideas.
Essentially I will be discussing matters that have always been close to my heart, and then anything else that resonates with me along the way, which I feel others should know and learn about. The theme will vary from formal to informal because INCLUSIVITY hello!?! The intention is to reach out to as many people as possible, regardless of age or gender, and hopefully to help spark something within them in one way or another. | literature |
http://www.authorsalliance.club/scammers/dont-fall-for-these-self-publishing-frauds-protecting-your-work-and-wallet/ | 2024-02-24T23:53:43 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2024-10/segments/1707947474569.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20240224212113-20240225002113-00845.warc.gz | 0.953638 | 725 | CC-MAIN-2024-10 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2024-10__0__156935276 | en | The prevalence of bookselling scams is causing many self-published American authors to suffer significant financial losses. This is due in part to the fact that many self-publishing companies use high-pressure sales tactics and promise quick and easy success, while failing to deliver on their promises. Self-published authors may fall victim to scams perpetrated by individuals posing as literary agents or publishing professionals. These scammers may offer to represent the author or offer to publish their work, but require the author to pay upfront fees or sign contracts that are unfavorable to the author. Despite the efforts of trustworthy online marketplaces like Amazon, Google, and eBay to tackle this issue, the process is complex and may take several years for affected writers to recover their earnings. It remains unclear whether scammers or the publishing sector are primarily responsible for these scams and what measures authors can take to safeguard themselves.
Navigating the Tough Terrain of Self-Publishing
While self-publishing can offer authors greater creative control and independence, it also exposes them to the risk of falling victim to book sale scams. This is due in part to the fact that individual authors often lack the necessary tools to adequately monitor their online book sales operations and might not possess the legal knowledge essential to find and prosecute scammers who exploit their work. As a result, writers who choose to self-publish must navigate a complex and often treacherous landscape of online book sales, where fraudulent entities are all too common.
In the publishing industry, vanity presses and scammers frequently employ a range of tactics in order to defraud aspiring authors. It is essential for writers to be aware of these tactics and to exercise caution when considering any publishing opportunity.
The Re-publishing Scam
Authors should be wary of a prevalent fraudulent practice where scammers target published writers by offering them false assurances of improved quality, enhanced credibility, or connections with traditional publishers. This tactic is aimed at enticing writers to republish their books, which can then be used to pitch to film studios or traditional publishers. As such, authors need to exercise caution and stay vigilant against such deceptive schemes.
The Playacting Scheme
Even though publishing press releases can be done for free, scammers take advantage of this tactic by charging hundreds of dollars for it. They frequently use the names and logos of reputable publishing specialists and organizations to mislead their clients, and they don’t hesitate to use dishonest tactics to sell their services.
If you are not watchful, you could easily fall for their trick. As a result, you should carefully check the legitimacy of anyone or any organization that makes a claim to be affiliated with a renowned publishing house or professional.
The prevalence and complexity of bookselling scams are staggering, and they represent a significant threat to the work and livelihood of authors. While self-publishing has given authors more freedom and control, it has also exposed them to fraudulent activities, with single authors lacking the resources to monitor their sales activities online and protect their intellectual property.
To make matters worse, scammers have become more sophisticated in their approach, using fraudulent techniques to market their services and prey on unsuspecting authors. They often use the logos and names of reputable publishing professionals and firms, making it challenging to detect their deceit.
In conclusion, it is crucial for authors to be vigilant and proactive in safeguarding their work from bookselling scams. They should always verify the authenticity of anyone or any company claiming to be associated with a reputable publishing professional or firm. By staying informed and taking preventive measures, authors can better protect themselves from these fraudulent activities and continue to thrive in their craft. | literature |
https://library.bentley.edu/research/ebooks.asp | 2021-01-18T07:38:28 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-04/segments/1610703514423.60/warc/CC-MAIN-20210118061434-20210118091434-00566.warc.gz | 0.915065 | 661 | CC-MAIN-2021-04 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2021-04__0__156576249 | en | eBooks and Audiobooks Bentley Library’s eBooks and audiobooks may be found by searching the library’s catalog. Most eBooks are formatted to read online or in PDF format, but some may be downloaded to transfer to another device, such as an iPod or Kindle. OverDrive audiobooks may be enjoyed in the mobile app or on your computer. The library also has a collection of audiobooks on CD located in the Popular Reading section. In addition, depending on the desired format and device, additional software may need to be downloaded. Check the individual eBook collection for more information. Audiobooks What’s included? The Library’s collection of audiobooks is available on CD and also downloadable through OverDrive. Find a list of the library's audiobooks here. OverDrive Downloadable eBooks & Audiobooks What’s included? eBooks and audiobooks with an emphasis on popular fiction and nonfiction, but including some research materials. New materials are added on an ongoing basis; suggestions for new materials are welcome at our Suggest a Purchase page. View our Overdrive Downloadable Books page for more details. Books 24x7 (Skillport) What's included? Books on business, finance, information technology, health and wellness, and productivity. Also included: study guides for exams such as the CFA, and software manuals for business and statistics applications such as SAS and SPSS. Ebook Central (ProQuest) What’s included? Ebook Central (ProQuest) contains the Academic Complete collection: downloadable ebooks that encompass areas of the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. Academic books, software manuals, and more are included. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost) What's included? EBSCO eBooks offers general-interest and curriculum-focused titles curated by Bentley librarians. New materials are added on an ongoing basis; suggestions for new materials are welcome at our Suggest a Purchase page. Gale Virtual Reference Library What’s included? The Gale Virtual Library Reference Center provides full-text access to more than 50 reference e-books including titles in the arts, business, the environment, history, literature, medicine, multicultural studies, geography, and science. JSTOR What's included? JSTOR provides unlimited access to downloadable selected scholarly books from academic publishers. Project MUSE What's included? Project MUSE offers downloadable full-text versions of scholarly books from many of the world's leading university presses and scholarly societies. Safari Books Online Safari Books Online offers books and audio recordings on in-demand technology and business topics, including study guides, programmer and technical manuals, and more. Free Ebook Content Freely available books and other electronic media that are searchable by keyword. Google Books Search and read the full text of millions of books. Internet Archive A digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form. It provides free access to researchers, historians, scholars, and the general public. LibriVox Free, public domain audiobooks searchable by author, title and subject. Online Books Page A website that facilitates access to books that are freely readable over the Internet. Project Gutenberg First and largest single collection of free electronic books, or eBooks. | literature |
https://www.hmoodle.com/whos-to-blame-for-romeo-and-juliets-death/ | 2021-07-29T16:34:58 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-31/segments/1627046153860.57/warc/CC-MAIN-20210729140649-20210729170649-00508.warc.gz | 0.973653 | 1,519 | CC-MAIN-2021-31 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2021-31__0__263411448 | en | Novice essayist Keithan Thao is a 9th Grader of Osseo High School in Osseo, MN. His fascination for literature has progressed immensely since his grade school days. Probing with the task to write an essay about who is to be blamed for Romeo and Juliet’s Death in William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, here is going into the mind of a 9th grader. Read on as he dissects this tragic love story to ascertain who the real offender is that had become the catalyst to their death.
A typical story portrays a valiant protagonist earning accolades through perseverance and adversities from the twists and turns of an allegorical plot with a climatic end to find the protagonist heroic from all odds while intact, safe, and winning the hearts of the readers. With a macabre imagination in William Shakespeare’s story telling in Romeo and Juliet where this innovative dramatist ends with both main characters dying in their endeavor to find love; love that had become an entrapment for their death. Their love, their enigmatic end! Who is to blame? To point the finger is to find the root cause of the issue. If I can rewind back to the very beginning I can tell you who I would choose as the sole perpetrator. In William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Romeo is to blame for his own along with Juliet’s death because he initially pursued Juliet knowing she was a Capulet, he had too much trust in his confidence in Friar Lawrence, and lastly, had relied heavily in his naivety.
Everyone and everything has a beginning. A tree doesn’t grow without its roots. Romeo is to blame for his own along with Juliet’s death because the root cause of this incident began with his decision to pursue a relationship with a Capulet household member, which was forbidden. Romeo understood the possible consequences to initiate a courtship with lying with an enemy. He already knew that both households Capulet and Montague were sworn enemies from generations before them. Unbeknownst to them, fated to become an inescapable tragedy that would ensue to their demise. If Romeo didn’t attend the Capulet party, he would never have met Juliet, unfortunately he did. His first sight of her beauty seems a little cliche but warranted the conundrum of the idiom of love at first sight which paved way to giving him the butterfly tingles in his stomach to continue his pursuit. “Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight! For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night” (1.5. 54-55). He secretly followed her to her chambers, climbed up to her window from outside to meet her, and this was the beginning to what we know now as the ending to this holy matrimony.
Romeo had too much trust in Friar Lawrence, a forerunner to his downfall. Although Friar Lawrence had good intentions to help keep Romeo and Juliet’s relationship a secret, this later led him down the path believing Juliet’s death was real. Although Friar Lawrence seems to see this love as a skeptical one, he says: “Young men’s love then lies not truly with their hearts, but in their eyes” (2.3. 67-68). Friar Lawrence agrees to marry the two in hopes to end their families’ feud. “But come, young waverer, come, go with me. In one respect I’ll thy assistant be, for this alliance may so happy prove to turn your households’ rancor to pure love” (2.3. 96-97). Juliet confides in the friar who gives her his advice of a possible way for Juliet to get out of the arranged marriage. Friar Lawrence’s proposal to Juliet was to agree to marry Paris; then on the night before the wedding to drink a sleeping potion that will make her seem that she is dead; while Friar Lawrence will send a letter to Romeo to be at her side when she wakes up. The friar’s letter to Romeo did not get to him before this turned for the worst. Romeo’s trust in Friar Lawrence was Romeo’s fate to die.
Lastly, he relied heavily on his naivety. From the inception, he’s the one who gave birth to the seed that has grown to flourish into roots that would sprout to influencing the bitter sweet love tragedy that has us pointing fingers. Romeo’s naivety in his decisions from pursuing Juliet was his first mistake. Then to having too much confidence in Friar Lawrence in relying too much in his advices. Subsequently, with Friar Lawrence coming to Juliet’s aid in a final plan of a fake a death to deceive her family while sending word to Romeo about the plan, so they can be together at last. Love always triumph over hate. Without receiving the letter from the friar, he made a final impulsive decision to accept death if he cannot be with his love Juliet for his death would mean he can be with her. After seeing his beautiful Juliet in a lifeless slumber, he said: “Here, here will I remain with worms that are thy chamber maids. O, here will i set up my everlasting rest. And shake the yoke of inauspicious stars from this world-wearied flesh! Eyes, look your last. Arms, take your last embrace. And, lips, O, you the doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss a dateless bargain engrossing death” (5.3. 107-114). He kisses Juliet and gives a final monologue, “Come bitter conduct, come unsavoury guide! Thou desperate pilot, now at once run on the dashing rocks thy seasick weary bark! Here’s to my love! Drinking. O true apothecary, thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die” (5.3 115-120). A young, simple-minded virgin without wisdom of age, reckless with youth, innocent in a young love that may have been the disease of infatuation to become susceptible to gullibility in killing oneself for love.
In the case of who killed Romeo and Juliet, Romeo is to blame. I have concluded three facts and reasons on why he is the perpetrator. I have shown you that Romeo pursued Juliet knowing she was a Capulet, a sworn enemy of the house of Montague; which should have been an impasse. Then he gave reliance to a man named Friar Lawrence who eventually gave advice to Juliet to fake her death without confiding in him first. Lastly, his naivety with young wisdom and young love of infatuation had him recklessly killing himself believing that it would unite him with her in death. Consequently, Juliet waking up from her slumber, seeing that her one true love had slain himself for her. Their love, forsaken by their parents’ approval, she would go through the same distance as he had done, to kill herself to be with him. “Yea, noise? Then I’ll be brief. O happy dagger! This is thy sheath; there rust, and let me die” (5.3. 168-169). Their love; their tragic end! | literature |
https://www.leadershipquantified.com/blog/tag/Good+to+Great | 2019-10-18T06:18:56 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-43/segments/1570986677964.40/warc/CC-MAIN-20191018055014-20191018082514-00001.warc.gz | 0.954811 | 838 | CC-MAIN-2019-43 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2019-43__0__136236039 | en | One of the more frequent questions I get from my executive clients is “What should I read?”
The answer may not be what you expect - because it certainly isn’t business books.
The best executives with whom I’ve worked rarely read business books. Even I don’t read them very often - and I’ve written them.
There are a couple of reasons for that.
The first is that too many of the books aren’t implementable. They tell stories about companies that have done this or that - but rarely give you enough of the process to be able to replicate. As a result, they’re like the “Executive Missions” that were (and still are) so popular.
Here’s how it works:
You get jealous.
You decide that you’re going to make your company do that [it doesn’t really matter what the “that” is], too.
You go home.
You tell your executive team that you saw the most amazing thing and that you know that “we can do it, too.”
The reason you fail - whether executive mission or business book (remember “In Search of Excellence” and “Good to Great”?) is because you’ve seen the outcome. You’ve not learned the process that the companies went through - most importantly, all the good and bad of it.
The books can tell you a story. They can’t solve your problems.
Even truly excellent books like last year’s “Measure What Matters” by John Doerr ultimately don’t work without additional support. That’s why there’s such extensive follow-on for readers that sign up for the ongoing support. It doesn’t cost anything - and it helps - but it’s still a high risk maneuver without more in-depth, real-time guidance.
Which leads me to why the majority of business books really, really don’t work: It’s because all they’re there for is to increase the visibility and market for the consultant who wrote it. Yes, it’s another consultant ploy.
So what do executives read?
History. Mystery. Science Fiction. Physics. Spirituality. Medical Science.
You name it. They read it.
And, for their business reading, they read Biography - including biographies of businesses (like “How Google Works”) and industries (like pretty much every one of Michael Lewis’ books). They also read Executive Autobiographies - with a couple of the favorites being Andy Grove’s “High Output Management” and Ben Horowitz’ “The Hard Thing About Hard Things.”
(Can you tell I don’t bother with getting a fee for my recommendations? You have to find the books yourself if you’re interested enough!)
The important thing isn’t even what you read. It’s that you read.
If you’re interested in travel, read about it. If you want to know what happened in the Spanish Civil War, read about it. If music fascinates you and you think that one day you’d like to compose, read, read and read more. (Then go compose.)
The whole purpose of reading is to broaden your horizons and open you up to new worlds. To be exposed to different thinking than your own. To see the world through someone else’s eyes.
Because the most amazing thing about reading is that you’ll find yourself incorporating those expansive, mind-expanding, sometimes mind-bending experiences into your day-to-day thinking - which will make you better at what you do. And that will make you more likely to get to where you want to go.
Which is really the point, don’t you think? And this way, you’ll enjoy yourself all along the way. | literature |
http://peacockfamilycenter.org/blog/2019/11/opening-our-eyes-to-equity-diversity-and-inclusion-in-childrens-books/ | 2020-05-26T09:45:07 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-24/segments/1590347390755.1/warc/CC-MAIN-20200526081547-20200526111547-00410.warc.gz | 0.972498 | 847 | CC-MAIN-2020-24 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2020-24__0__2701801 | en | On Friday, October 25th, a sold-out crowd came to support Peacock Family Services and explore with Dr. Déana Scipio how children’s books can and should demonstrate equity, diversity, and inclusion. Whether this was their first or fifth Peacocktail Party, the community was clearly interested in this subject.
For our 5th annual Peacocktail Party, we once again brought together a community of voices in support of developmental strategies for working with children of all ages. WEAVE Presents hosted the venue, which held the conversation and presentations wonderfully. Fig & Spice catered the sumptuous appetizers and evening treats to the delight of all in attendance. And Eagle Harbor Book Co brought a selection of books for the participants to peruse and purchase.
Peacock’s Executive Director, Kathy Haskin, welcomed the packed room filled with teachers, parents, school librarians and administers, local council candidates and committee members, as well as other curious colleagues in the field. “Tonight we are here to open our eyes, then talk about what we see.”
Currently the Director of Campus Education Programs at IslandWood, Dr. Déana Scipio delivered an informative and insightful presentation. She brought her love of children’s picture books, her focus on broadening participation, and equity-oriented approaches in teaching and learning to the talk. Quoting children’s book author Grace Lin, Dr. Scipio explained how “Your children’s bookshelves should have mirrors and windows.” Books can be windows to the rest of the world, as well as mirrors allowing them to see themselves in the stories.
Our exploration into the subject continued with a view of diversity represented in current children’s books. For example, we looked at the percentage of books depicting characters from diverse backgrounds based on publishing statistics compiled by the Cooperative Children’s Book Center, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School of Education. The percentage of representation in 2018 was as follows:
- 1% of books published had American Indian/First Nations characters,
- 5% were Latinx,
- 7% were Asian Pacific/Asian Pacific Islanders,
- 10% were African American,
- 27% of the characters were animals, and
- 50% were White.
Dr. Scipio went on to question and explain what children may be seeing, or not seeing, in the stories we share with them. Do children see a character or image they can relate to? Are there stories that are missing? All children deserve to see themselves in their heroes.
This was an eye-opening event for many people in the room. The presentation looked into the non-dominant communities. Are books reflecting the way all people live their lives, not to mention how each of us view history? As one participant reflected afterward, “I thought this was going to be about making the girls the hero more often. This was about gender, but it is also about representing race, LGBTQ, ableness and abilities, communities and cultures. It was so much more than I thought it would be!”
The Peacocktail Party discussions then continued into the evening, straight through dessert. We hope that these conversations will now endure throughout the community in the coming months, through emails, over coffee, in classrooms and meeting rooms. To that end, Dr. Scipio offers her Suggested Book List, which includes blogs and TED Talks from other thinkers.
If you are curious to learn more about this evening, and the recent work of Peacock Family Services in the community, let’s get together. Your participation and continuing support is very much appreciated, because John Dewey was right when he said, “what the best and wisest parent wants for his own child, that must the community want for all its children.”
Peacock Family Services is grateful for the support of individuals, business partners, foundations, government agencies, and special events, which we rely on to sustain our programs and services throughout the year. | literature |
https://ahearingloss.com/2014/09/12/my-grandmas-hands/ | 2017-03-23T02:18:51 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-13/segments/1490218186608.9/warc/CC-MAIN-20170322212946-00200-ip-10-233-31-227.ec2.internal.warc.gz | 0.983983 | 382 | CC-MAIN-2017-13 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2017-13__0__106791180 | en | by Michele Linder
I watch her from where I am. I see her smile while she is watching others, watching and waiting for someone to take the time to come and talk to her on her terms — one-on-one.
I see the light in her eyes when she speaks and listens to what they have to say, and in a little while they are gone.
She’s still smiling. I go to her and tease her. I tickle her neck, I whisper in her deaf ears knowing she can’t hear me, but also knowing she loves my taunts and teasing. She loves me like no other.
I speak to her. If she can’t ‘get’ what I’m saying, I finger-spell (she taught me) the sentence until she understands. I am patient and attentive… until I see a cousin or sister run by, and then I have to go. Child’s play is so alluring.
I’m still watching her. When no one takes the time, I see her focus on her hands. She turns them over, examining every crease, every line, every scar, and she feels the softness and roughness with her fingers.
I always wondered why she was so interested in her own hands? What made them so mesmerizing? What about them demanded such attention? Her smile is gone, she has more of a contemplative look on her lips. I can see her thinking.
What is she thinking? I used to wonder, but now I know. When no one takes the time, you begin to feel the world shrink away, you need a diversion to keep the sadness at bay and to steer your mind away from how truly isolated you feel.
Now that I’m deaf, I find myself mesmerized by my own hands. | literature |
http://www.howtolovegod.org/blog/ | 2020-06-01T20:46:04 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-24/segments/1590347419593.76/warc/CC-MAIN-20200601180335-20200601210335-00075.warc.gz | 0.950954 | 668 | CC-MAIN-2020-24 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2020-24__0__18850142 | en | How do we cultivate a sweet, personal, devotional relationship with God?
One key, for me, was to realize and accept that God wants our love and needs our love.
“God yearns for our love … what is God longing for? Our love. Our attention. He has made it very difficult for Himself, because He gave man free will to seek Him or reject Him. He says, ‘I am pursuing every heart, waiting for My children to spurn My creation and turn toward Me.’ … unless we choose to go to Him willingly He cannot free us or Himself from suffering.” —Paramhansa Yogananda
Feeling or imagining God’s need has been a crucial part of my own devotional practice.
When I first started taking daily devotional walks several years ago, I first focused exclusively on giving love to God and feeling God’s pain at my lack of appreciation for Him and His joy and delight for the efforts I was now making.
The relationship we have with God as His children, is reflected in the relationship we have as parents with our own children. How does it feel when our children ignore us? We don’t stop loving them, but our hearts are pained. How joyful and how much gratitude do we feel when our children show us some love and appreciation. God feels the same with us.
Since starting the devotional walks, there have been times, months, even year(s) when I’ve not focused on God’s need and just practiced sharing love with God while feeling God as an impersonal Spirit. This was definitely helpful, but not as sweet as when I felt God needing my love.
Many great Saints have focused on the suffering of Christ as a doorway into deep devotion.
“I used to find myself most at home in the prayer in the Garden, whither I went in His company. I thought of the bloody sweat, and of the affliction He endured there; I wished, if it had been possible, to wipe away that painful sweat from His face.” —Saint Teresa of Avila
Christmas Nativity scenes can be deeply moving, because they awaken a divinely nurturing spirit in us. A love and nurturing for God as the baby Jesus.
By practicing loving God, we help God.
Lately, rather than focusing on God’s need and pain, I’ve been practicing feeling God’s gratitude to me for efforts made, no matter how small, to love Him.
When taking walks or sitting in contemplation, I feel God & I are making love at the top of every breath, while also feeling the deep mutual gratitude we have for each other. This helps open up a wonderfully sweet, personal communion.
Sitting at my computer now, it is hard to write this. Feelings of unworthiness come up.
How can I be deserving of God’s gratitude?
Even looking at the picture of Master on my wall right now is hard, feeling unworthy, feeling I’m being pretentious.
But God and Master coax me …
“look at Me … it’s OK to accept God’s gratitude.” | literature |
https://www.dubsandseahorn.com/post/exciting-update-on-book-project | 2023-11-30T08:29:26 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-50/segments/1700679100172.28/warc/CC-MAIN-20231130062948-20231130092948-00518.warc.gz | 0.988891 | 132 | CC-MAIN-2023-50 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2023-50__0__166490435 | en | Exciting update on book project.
I am so happy to tell you that the first draft of the book on defending accusations of sexual abuse has been finished. I have sent portions to a publisher who seems to be very interested in the book. The committee is going to consider it in September with a view to hopefully publishing it in the near future. I very much hope that this book will be available to those of you who defend sex cases because I think it will be very helpful for you to have as a reference in addition to doing consultations with you directly.
Hope you and all those you care about are all well and healthy in this very difficult time. | literature |
https://stjosephwritersguild.wordpress.com/ | 2022-10-05T03:31:00 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030337531.3/warc/CC-MAIN-20221005011205-20221005041205-00318.warc.gz | 0.952478 | 180 | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2022-40__0__207294152 | en | Welcome to the St. Joseph Writers Guild website. We are a group of individuals who love words and books of all kinds. There is a variety of artists, writers, editors, and readers in our group. The goal of our group is to encourage writers to have confidence in themselves and their writing abilities. We wish to promote in them the desire to further develop their skills. It is our task to promote respect and enthusiasm for the written word.
We meet at 1 p.m. the third Saturday of the month at Rolling Hills Library. During the meeting, we have either a guest speaker or hold workshops on a variety of topics. Please join us for a meeting and see if our guild is right for you. Our dues are only $20 a year.
To find out more, check out our Calendar of Events page or email us at [email protected]. | literature |
https://jeziki.wordpress.com/2009/02/17/william-wordsworth-i-wandered-lonley-as-a-cloud/ | 2018-04-23T11:20:27 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-17/segments/1524125945942.19/warc/CC-MAIN-20180423110009-20180423130009-00211.warc.gz | 0.957593 | 291 | CC-MAIN-2018-17 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2018-17__0__181617393 | en | I WANDERED LONELY AS A CLOUD
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
in such a jocund company:
I gazed – and gazed – but little thought
what wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.
“I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” (erroneously known as “The Daffodils”) is an 1804 poem by William Wordsworth. It was inspired by an April 15, 1802 event in which Woirdsworth and his sister, Dorothy, came across a “long belt” of daffodils. It was first published in 1807, and a revised version was released in 1815.
The poem is written in iambic tetrameter. | literature |
http://coffeeandcorks.livejournal.com/8802.html | 2017-02-24T11:00:24 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-09/segments/1487501171463.89/warc/CC-MAIN-20170219104611-00036-ip-10-171-10-108.ec2.internal.warc.gz | 0.963745 | 209 | CC-MAIN-2017-09 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2017-09__0__199216885 | en | The time of year has come once again for National Novel Writing Month, and this community would like to work alongside those of you who are participating.
As such, the daily posts during the month of November will change from what you're normally used to seeing here (unless by some miracle anyone requests that the daily prompts or challenges continue as well!).
Instead, there will be posts with open comments which will include discussion on your work, excerpts from that day's work, your word count hit, and anything else to do with NaNo. Members will also be encouraged to post to the community directly and the posting restrictions will be lifted a little.
For now, we will start with this thread: let's have a check in to see who's writing what.
Go on, give us an introduction to your work and, if you're new here, to yourself as well.
Comments are open to encourage creativity :)
Coffee & Corks
The Writer's Coffeeshop
- Mod Post: Nanowrimo 2013 | literature |
https://shemarootv.com/channel/amy_movie/siya-ke-raam/ | 2023-09-22T05:22:03 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-40/segments/1695233506329.15/warc/CC-MAIN-20230922034112-20230922064112-00367.warc.gz | 0.959777 | 110 | CC-MAIN-2023-40 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2023-40__0__289378679 | en | About The Show
Siya Ke Ram is a retelling of the Hindu epic Ramayan from the perspective of Sita. Giving a completely new point of view to a narrative that every Indian is well versed with, Siya Ke Ram is an exciting merger of the known and the new. As one of the central characters of Ramayan, Sita’s contribution has been underplayed in most renditions of the Ramayan. Siya Ke Ram changes that and brings her to the fore while also assuring visual delight for the audience. | literature |
http://ihaterunning.blogspot.com/2009/09/only-penitent-man-shall-pass.html | 2018-05-26T21:09:25 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-22/segments/1526794867904.94/warc/CC-MAIN-20180526210057-20180526230057-00234.warc.gz | 0.965916 | 394 | CC-MAIN-2018-22 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2018-22__0__38697281 | en | I frequently find analogies between my running and my religion. After all, for a runner, running becomes a type of religious act in and of itself. And if a finish line is heaven for the runner, and the miles and miles of training are the daily grind that the faithful must endure, then sprints, hills, and speed work represent for the runner what confession and penance represents for the believer.
When we grow lazy and complacent in our faith we risk falling into old habits and build up a barrier between us and our ultimate reward. For the faithful, the way to break that barrier and crack out of the old habits is the physical act of confession and penance, however your particular tradition builds those activities. For the runner, breaking out of the tired old repetition of the long distance grinds means you must head to the track and rip off the calluses that have formed and break yourself down to the principal components that make a runner a runner. A runner must shred those long, slow, endurance fibers that allow him to run for miles and miles at a stretch and reawaken those short, quick sprint fibers than propel him down a track even though his lungs are screaming for air and everything is numb. A runner must go into that realm of complete oxygen deprivation and muscle fatigue. A runner must, in effect, break his own will and conform it once again to that of the task at hand, which is to run with abandon and complete lack of desire for self. You must, in effect, die to distance and be reborn to speed. The runner must remember what it is like to be near that point of complete collapse, and at times even beyond that point, and still find the will to stand up and do it all over again. To allow the body to work even after the mind has checked out.
Only then, after the miles of trials, can the distance runner return, once again, to the daily trial of miles. | literature |
https://koreandramasource.com/my-love-from-the-star | 2021-10-23T01:31:36 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-43/segments/1634323585537.28/warc/CC-MAIN-20211023002852-20211023032852-00105.warc.gz | 0.974819 | 186 | CC-MAIN-2021-43 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2021-43__0__218224516 | en | Do Min Joon first arrived on earth in 1609, but in order to protect a girl he met, he missed his chance to return to his home planet. Four centuries later, he is still living in Korea and working as a professor, the latest of many identities he's taken on through the years. Understanding that he doesn't belong to this world, the exceedingly rational Do Min Joon maintains distance from everyone save for one friend Jang Young Mok who knows his secret. All is quiet and well for him until top actress Chun Song Yi moves in next door and comes barging into his cloistered life.
Loud, proud and bumbling yet irrepressibly lovable, Song Yi throws Do Min Joon off guard, and he can't help but protect her when her career takes a stumble. The two begin to fall in love despite themselves but Do Min Joon's days on earth are numbered. | literature |
https://foundationbaptistchurch.org/the-authority-of-the-scriptures/ | 2024-04-16T06:37:45 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2024-18/segments/1712296817073.16/warc/CC-MAIN-20240416062523-20240416092523-00759.warc.gz | 0.974551 | 10,990 | CC-MAIN-2024-18 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2024-18__0__71917769 | en | We live in a day when anti-authoritarian tides have been raging from every direction. Rampant corruption has led to a growing sentiment from various sectors of society to seek the overthrow of human government institutions on a global scale. Scandals among church leaders have contributed to the erosion of credibility of religious institutions. The situation is no different at home. Sometimes, children do not know whom to follow, especially when marital conflict and child abuse are more of the norm than the exception in the domestic scene. This makes twenty-first century culture conducive to a relativistic mindset – anything goes. One’s opinion is just as good as the others. Truth, reality, ethics and moral judgments are being defined by and reduced to the issue of what will bring maximum benefit to oneself. Ethical egoism has become the pervasive ethic in our culture. This is a sure formula for chaos. Is there anyone in a position to demand obedience to set standards and norms that would somehow alleviate the prevailing confusion of our times? If so, what would be those standards? Who is going to impose them?
Authority means the “power to influence or command thought, opinion or behavior.” Orthodox Christians maintain that since all authority comes from God. He has taken the initiative to reveal Himself, and that a part of this revelation has been recorded in Scripture. Thus, Scripture is both a personal and propositional revelation of God. What the Bible says is what God says. What the Bible commands, God commands. What the Bible promises, God promises. Does the Scripture have this authority to demand obedience, does it have this right?
This paper is designed to prove why the answer to this question is a resounding “yes!” After looking at certain phenomena that make this piece of literature unique to all others, a survey of Biblical passages will be made to show what the writers (of Scripture) themselves believed with regard to the divine origin of their writings. But the strongest reason for believing the divine inspiration of Scripture will be presented and reserved for last. It is the Lord Jesus Christ’s recognition of its divine authority and His submissive attitude toward this time-tested and providentially preserved Book. In other words, if Jesus is who He claimed Himself to be – the incarnate and sinless Son of God, fully divine and fully human – then one cannot escape the inescapable conclusion that whatever He believed and taught must be true. Since He submitted to the authority of Scripture, then we, His finite moral creatures, can do no less because Scripture must then be the authoritative Word of God!
CHAPTER I: THE UNIQUENESS OF SCRIPTURE
The Bible is undoubtedly the most remarkable book ever written. A number of facts make it so extraordinary from all or any other piece of literature. These phenomena may not necessarily prove that the Bible is the Word of God but they certainly make one conclude that this Book is significantly unique. Let’s examine some of them.
Its Amazing Unity
Think in terms of the fact that it was written by over forty different authors, covering a period of about 1,600 years. They were all from different diverse backgrounds: Peter was a fisherman, Paul was a Pharisee, Amos was a shepherd (a herdsman), Nehemiah was a king’s cupbearer, Matthew was a tax collector, Luke was a physician, David was a king, John and Peter were fishermen. They were written in three different continents (namely, Africa, Asia and Europe) and in different circumstances. Paul wrote in prison, John was in exile at the isle of Patmos, Moses was in the wilderness. They wrote in three different languages. The Old Testament was primarily written in Hebrew. Most of the Book of Daniel was written in Aramaic. Greek was used in the New Testament (although a few lines were also written in Aramaic). These men had very little time, if any at all, to compare notes. In most cases, they did not even have access or knowledge of the writings of others. Yet, with all this diversity, the Bible has an amazing unity that makes its sixty-six books not merely a library of information and instruction, but one Book! Apologist John Frame took note of this extraordinary structure of the Scriptures when he wrote:
Here we have a wide variety of human authors, writing across many centuries, with very different interests, concerns, styles, and levels of intellectual sophistication, saying many different things, and yet, saying one thing: Jesus is coming, and this is what he will be and do. Does this not indicate something of God’s sovereignty over history? Does it not show that the Old Testament is more than an ordinary book? Does it not show some remarkable things about Jesus? Is this not a powerful witness to the Word of God?
Charles Ryrie expresses his astonishment for the Bible by saying that
… it is one book without contradictions in what it says. And what it says is remarkable, for it speaks with equal ease and authority of the known and unknowable, of the pleasant and unpleasant, of man’s accomplishments and failures, of the past and the future. Few books ever attempt such scope; none is completely accurate except the Bible.
Its Fulfilled Prophecy
It may take a whole new book to enumerate the numerous prophetic passages from the Old Testament that have found fulfillment in the New Testament. We will only cite a couple here due to space limitations. Let us take the Book of Daniel, since this is one of the most attacked books in the Old Testament. According to the book itself, Daniel lived during the Babylonian empire when he predicted the coming of the Medo-Persian, Alexandrian and Roman empires. He even predicted the rising of another world empire that is yet to come. But the liberal scholars’ bias against the divine origin of the Scripture leads them to “late date” the writing of the book, setting it sometime during the 400 silent years between the Malachi and Matthew. This would imply that Daniel just looked back at history and write it rather than predict it. This does not solve the liberal’s problem for at around 538 B.C., Daniel predicted that Christ would come as Israel’s promised Savior and Prince. This prophecy was stated to happen 483 years after the Persian emperor would give the Jews authority to rebuild Jerusalem, which was then in ruins. This occurred hundreds of years later, just exactly as the prophet predicted. So, even if the liberal puts the writing of Daniel no later than 300 B.C., there were still prophecies that have been fulfilled after that date. It is only logical to conclude that the prophecies that have not yet been fulfilled as of today await future, literal fulfillment.
The prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel, for example, predicted the restoration of the Jews to the land of Israel as a true nation in the latter days. The prospects of this coming to pass seemed utterly impossible for almost 1,500 years. Yet, we now have the nation restored since 1948. God’s truth has been marching on!
Its Historical and Archeological Accuracy
The historical accuracy of the Scriptures comes far more superior than the written records of Egypt, Assyria and other early nations. Innumerable archeological discoveries of the past century have served to confirm the Biblical records. Dr. Henry Morris quotes Dr. Nelson Glueck (whom he says to be probably the greatest authority in Israeli archeology), wrote in his book, Rivers in the Desert:
No archeological discovery has ever controverted a Biblical reference. Scores of archeological findings have been made which confirm in clear outline or in exact detail historical statements in the Bible. And, by the same token, proper evaluation of Biblical descriptions has often led to amazing discoveries.
Years ago, a man named Wellhausen, influenced by Darwin’s theory of evolution, came up with a documentary hypothesis that man was always moving to a higher order. He conjectured that the Pentateuch could not have been written by Moses because he did not believe man was advanced enough at that time in the evolutionary scale to have such an advanced code of laws. He also thought that man was unable to write back then. So, he concluded that the first five books of the Bible must have been written by a number of authors who later on attributed their writings to Moses. All these turned when in 1901 at Susa in Persia, some men found a seven-foot slab, six feet in circumference. Archeologists found out that this slab was older than Moses by 2,000 years. On it were 282 statues of law which is now known to be the Code of Hammurabi (King of Babylon). This tore down the foundation of Wellhausen’s theory for it has no basis in fact.
Its Survival Through Time
Despite attempts by political and religious leaders to burn the Bible, the Old and New Testament documents remain to be with us. Although all are agreed that the original manuscripts of Scripture do no longer exist, copies of those manuscripts, translations of it, commentaries are too numerous so that it is virtually possible to accurately reconstruct the original texts. It message has survived persecution, opposition and even generations through the passage of long periods of time.
The Masoretic text is regarded by theologically conservative scholars as an extremely accurate text of the Old Testament. Ryrie points out that:
Indeed, the Masoretes (traditionalists) who between A.D. 600 and 950 added accents and vowel points and in general standardized the Hebrew text, devised complicated safeguards for the making of copies. They checked carefully by counting the middle letter of pages, books and sections. Someone has said that everything countable was counted. When the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered, they gave us a Hebrew text from the second century to the first century B.C. of all but one of the books (Esther) of the Old Testament. This was of the greatest importance, for it provided much earlier check on the accuracy of the Masoretic text….
John Montgomery quotes Sir Frederick Kenyon, formerly director and principal librarian of the British Museum, to summarize the textual advantage of the New Testament. Kenyon wrote:
In no other case is the interval of time between the composition of the book and the date of the earliest extant manuscripts so short as in that of the New Testament. The books of the New Testament were written in the latter part of the first century; the earliest extant manuscripts (trifling scraps excepted) are of the fourth century – say, from 250 to 300 years later. This may sound a considerable interval, but it is nothing to that which parts of the great classical authors from the earliest manuscripts. We believe that we have in all essentials as accurate text of the seven extant plays of Sophocles; yet the earliest substantial manuscript upon which it is based was written more than 1400 years after the poet’s death. Aeschylus, Aristophanes, and Thucydides are in the same state; while with Euripides the interval is increased to 1600 years. For Plato it may be put at 1300 years, for Demosthenes as low as 1200.
Since the time Kenyon wrote this at the beginning of the twentieth century, more papyri documents of the New Testament have been discovered which could be dated back to the first century. Thus, shortly before his death, Kenyon (quoted by Montgomery) concluded that:
The interval, then, between the dates of the original composition and the earliest extant evidence becomes so small as to be in fact negligible, and the last foundation for any doubt that the Scriptures have come down to us substantially as they were written has now been removed. Both the authenticity and the general integrity of the books of the New Testament may be regarded as finally established.
Today, there are more than 5,000 manuscripts of the New Testament. This makes the New Testament the best-attested document in all ancient writings. These are amazing testaments of divine providence to the Old and New Testament Scriptures. No other book can be compared to it.
These external evidences may not conclusively prove that the Bible is the Word of God. But they certainly point to the fact that the Bible is unique from any other piece of literature. This is something one would expect from a book that claims to be of divine origin. Let us now look at the more important evidences – the internal evidences of the inspiration of the Scriptures. This will be the focus of the next chapters.
CHAPTER II: THE TESTIMONY OF THE WRITERS
The human authors of Scripture claimed that their writings were supernaturally inspired by God. The Old Testament, for example, abounds with such statements as “Thus saith the LORD:…”; “The Word of the LORD came unto me, saying…,” indicating that the men who wrote the Bible knew that they were communicating an infallible and authoritative message from God. This is an astounding and bold claim! If these forty or so writers were wrong, then they must be clearly insane or among the greatest liars that ever lived. On the other hand, if these claims are true, then it is pointless for any man to look elsewhere other than the Word of God for instruction, counsel, purpose and direction in this earthly sojourn. Henry Morris points out that “over 3,000 times the various writers stated in one way or another that they were transmitting God’s Word to man.” Paul Steele argues that this number is specifically for the Old Testament alone – 3,808 to be exact, according to him. He also counts “forty-four times in the New Testament alone the Scripture is referred to as ‘The Word of God.’” God made sure that those who read the Bible, both Old and New Testaments, will understand that the text they read is not just the word of men, but the very Word of God!
What Old Testament Writers Said of Their Own Writings
Let us look at some of these instances where the Biblical writers clearly expressed their knowledge that they were writing the Word of God.
The context of this passage in II Samuel is that David was about to die. So, what he said here was his deathbed statement. Usually, people’s dying words are the most important words they utter. This is no time for small talk. Notice how David began. “The Spirit of the LORD spake by me, and his word was in my tongue. The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me, He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God.” David clearly did not mean he was just giving a hunch of what the Spirit of God was saying. He meant the Spirit of the Lord used him as an instrument and he spoke in the power of the Spirit of God when he wrote these words, including the Psalms. Thus, his writings are not to be looked upon as mere human inventions.
The same happened with the prophet Jeremiah as he was made aware of the awesome responsibility of his call to do the work of the ministry. He argued before God his youthfulness and inexperience as grounds to question his capacity to preach the Word of God to Judah. After the Lord assured him of His presence and deliverance, Jeremiah said, “Then the LORD put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth.” In another occasion, God further told him to “speak to all the cities of Judah, … all the words that I command thee to speak unto them; diminish not a word.” In other words, he was not to edit, alter, add, subtract anything that God would say!
In Exodus, Moses explicitly tells his readers that it was God Himself Who both engraved on and made the two tables of stone where the Decalogue was etched! “And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables.” This is why we are told in II Kings:
But the LORD, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power and a stretched out arm, him shall ye fear, and him shall ye worship, and to him shall ye do sacrifice. And the statutes, and the ordinances, and the law, and the commandment, which he [This pronoun “he” is clearly not referring to Moses but to “the LORD” – Yahweh.] wrote for you, ye shall observe to do for evermore; and ye shall not fear other gods.
What New Testament Writers Said of the Old Testament Writings
The writer to the Hebrews put it plainly as he wrote, “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son….” In other words, God spoke to the fathers in times past. How did He do this? The prophets were the human instruments He used in order to speak to them. Notice what the text says as to who did the speaking. Was it the prophets to the people? In some occasions, that was what happened but that is not what the writer is emphasizing. He is underscoring the fact that ultimately, it was God who did the speaking, using the prophets to speak to the fathers in times past. Yes, God Himself is in the business of revealing Himself through His Word.
The Book of Acts is an inspired historical narrative of the first thirty years of the Christian Church. Luke, the beloved physician and missionary companion of the apostle Paul, was the human author of this book. He cited apostles who quoted Old Testament Scriptures as absolute authority to prove the gospel of Christ. Here are a few examples.
After the ascension of Christ, the disciples traveled a Sabbath-day’s journey back to Jerusalem and prayed. Sometime after that, they sought for a replacement for Judas for the office of the apostleship. Peter addressed the one hundred twenty disciples and explained to them that what happened to Judas was a fulfillment of Scripture. He said, “Men and brethren, this scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas, which was guide to them that took Jesus.” In other words, Peter is pointing out that what has happened to Judas has been foretold by God the Holy Spirit through “the mouth of David.”
A few chapters later, as the number of the disciples grew qualitatively and quantitatively, we find the apostles having to face much persecution from religious and local authorities. Peter and John return to the brethren and report to them what they just encountered. The Bible says,
And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is: who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things?
Under the threat of intense opposition, these Christians turned to God, acknowledged His sovereignty over all of creation, and recognized that what they were experiencing was a fulfillment of what He said through David in Scripture! This is an attestation to the validity of the Old Testament as being the very voice of God speaking through mortal man!
Here’s another instance. This time, the apostle Paul is cited by Luke as quoting the Old Testament prophet Isaiah. The apostle saw the rebellious character of the Jewish people in his day as similar to that of the prophet’s day. Paul was, in essence, saying of his fellow Jews that this was to be expected since it was typical of them to reject God’s testimony. The record says,
And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed, after that Paul had spoken one word, Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers, saying, Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive….
Note how he attributes to the Holy Spirit what Isaiah wrote.
In his second and last epistle, Peter exhorted Christians to keep growing in the faith despite the growing apostasy of a pluralistic society. So, he tells them that it would do them well that they “take heed” what they possessed, God’s “more sure word of prophecy” since “no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” The context indicates that the “prophecy of scripture being referred to are the prophecies recorded in the Old Testament. These were not “of any private interpretation.” The Greek word for interpretation means “explanation” is an intensive word in the ablative of origin form. Peter is saying no portion of Scripture originated from the prophet’s own explanation. They did not just decide one day that they will write Scripture because their prophetic utterances did not come “in old time by the will of man.” Rather, these holy men received their message from God and wrote them, word for word, while “… they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”
What New Testament Writers Said of Their Own Writings
In his first epistle, Peter referred to the phrase “the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.” Then, two verses later, he also says, “But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.” Peter is talking about the gospel spoken by the Apostles as well. He recognized the word of the Apostles found in the New Testament as the Word of God that would endure forever.
Paul’s first epistle to the Corinthians was a letter of rebuke to these spiritually immature Christians. One of the symptoms of their carnality was their exaltation of human wisdom at par with divine revelation. These Corinthian saints were enamored by the brilliance of the highly educated Greek philosophers. So the apostle reminded them that even though the gospel was not highly regarded by most people, his message nonetheless was not of human origin. He claimed that it was conceived in the mind of God.
But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
Paul’s point was that although the unregenerate may find the gospel message foolish, there is profoundness and depth to the Christian message because of its divine origin. The extent to which the Spirit of God made sure that His message would be accurately delivered to man was by giving man, not just thoughts or ideas, but “words … which the Holy Ghost teacheth.” Theologians call this verbal inspiration. This means the Spirit directed and influenced the writers of Scripture right down to the very words they originally wrote.
Another symptom of their carnality surfaced through their misuse of their God-given spiritual gifts. So, Paul censures some self-proclaimed prophets in that congregation, “If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord.” In other words, he is saying, “let me give you a challenge to test your self-proclaimed prophets. See if they will stand up right now and acknowledge that what I am writing is the commandment of God and I am not writing of my own volition.” Then Paul adds, “But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant.” Here’s his point. If they cannot acknowledge that what Paul wrote is God’s commandment, then they are ignorant!
In the Book of Galatians, Paul addresses a serious concern. The brethren there had been misled by Judaizers into thinking that law-keeping (particularly the compliance to the Jewish rite of circumcision) was a necessary requirement to be justified before God. So, the apostle defends the gospel of salvation by faith, not by law-keeping, by pointing out in the third chapter that the law cannot change God’s promise. Paul proves his argument by merely showing that both the Jews and the Gentiles grow together in one body of the seed of Abraham, in Christ alone, so that all are one in Christ, just as it is declared later in the chapter. The passage he quotes from the Old Testament Book of Genesis has a certain word in the singular (seed) rather than in the plural (seeds), showing therefore the apostle’s conviction on verbal inspiration.
Notice how aware Paul was of his apostolic authority of proclaiming the truth of God as he tells the first century brethren, “For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.” He was, in essence, saying to these Thessalonian saints, “you received it that way – as the Word of God – and that is indeed what it is.”
Perhaps, it would be best to close this chapter by looking at what the apostle Paul clearly taught regarding the divine origin of the Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, in his epistles to Timothy. As he gave instructions to Timothy, his son in the faith and fellow-laborer in the field, on how to conduct local church planting ministry, he wrote. “Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine. For the scripture saith, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn. And, The labourer is worthy of his reward.” This is a very interesting passage because, first, Paul referred to a source as basis for his admonition to take good care of elders who taught the Word – “for the scripture saith.” Second, the portions he cited are from the Old and New Testaments, Deuteronomy 25:4 (“Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn.”) and Luke 10:7 (“The labourer is worthy of his reward.”), respectively. Later, in his second and last epistle to Timothy, he wrote, “And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” Obviously, the “holy scriptures” Timothy was taught in his youth were the Old Testament Scriptures since not one line of the New Testament was yet written then. Even that was sufficient to bring him to the knowledge of salvation which is found solely in Christ Jesus when He is received Him by faith. And then, notice carefully what he says in the next verse, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” What portion of scripture “is given by inspiration of God”? The answer is “all scripture.” What did that include? Apparently, he already referred to the Old Testament as “scripture” in the previous verse. But it certainly included the New Testament as well since he also referred to that document as “scripture” in his first epistle to Timothy. So, Paul is saying, both the Old and New Testaments are inspired by God. And inspiration means “God-breathed” or “divinely breathed in.” This is a quality no other book has!
So, we see the apostles affirm, again and again, that those things that were written aforetime in Scripture were written for our learning. They were well aware that they were writing down a message from God. More than being the Word of God, they are actually the very breath of God! Yea, in fact, “every word … proceedeth out of the mouth of God!”
CHAPTER III: CHRIST’S VIEW OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
One wonders how the critics of the Bible and those of us who refer to its authority would answer if the Lord were to ask us a question today which He had asked His audience during His earthly ministry. Jesus said, “Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” He is, in effect, saying, “Either you obey Me, or stop calling Me ‘Lord’ which means ‘Master’.” Our practice should be consistent with our profession of who Jesus Christ is and vice-versa.
In fact, this is the first and foremost reason why Christians believe in the divine inspiration and authority of Scripture. It is not because of what churches teach nor is it also only because of what the writers claimed, important as these might be. Neither is it primarily because of what readers sense (e.g., changed lives). Rather, it is primarily because of what Jesus Christ Himself said. People who say they believe Christ but not the Bible as their absolute authority are, in reality, contradicting themselves. Since our Lord endorsed its authority, we are bound to conclude that His authority and the Scripture’s authority either stand or fall together.
Submission to Scriptural Authority in His Conduct
The Lord Jesus Christ showed His attitude of submission towards the Scriptures as a powerful argument for its authority. He submitted to the Old Testament in His personal conduct. His temptation in the wilderness is a case in point. In all three instances when the devil tempted Him, Jesus said, “It is written …” or “It is said …,” to apply the text to Himself. Jesus stopped the mouth of the devil with “every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” This coincides with what the apostle Paul says regarding that quality of Scripture underscoring its divine origin. It is inspired of God or God-breathed. It would be more accurate to say that He quoted Scripture to Himself in the devil’s presence. He was not quoting Scripture at the devil, as if to use it as a weapon with mystical powers to drive the enemy away, as some have suggested. The devil himself quoted Scripture in one of his temptations. This clearly indicates that he is a master of the Biblical text and is skillful in twisting it or quoting it out of context. Thus, he does not run away from anyone who simply quotes Scripture at him. But for the Lord Jesus Christ, quoting Scripture to Himself was enough for Him to direct His course of action and to avoid the wicked one’s proposals. In other words, the reason for His not submitting to Satan’s suggestions was “It is written.” There was no need to question, discuss, argue, or negotiate. The matter had already been settled by Scripture.
Submission to Scriptural Authority in His Calling
Secondly, Jesus submitted to the Old Testament in the fulfillment of His calling. He clearly understood His Messianic role from a study of Old Testament Scripture. The gospel of Mark says: “And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.” Note the word must. He knew and accepted that He could enter into His glory only by the road of suffering and death. And why must he? The reason for the sense of necessity or compulsion which constrained Him was that Scripture said so. Jesus voluntarily and deliberately put Himself under the authority of what stood written. He determined to fulfill it, both in His mission, His ministry, just as in His manner of life. In fact, Jesus commanded Peter to put his sword back into its place when the latter attempted to protect the Lord from the apprehending soldiers sent by the chief priests and elders at the garden of Gethsemane. What was Jesus’ reason? “But how then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?” Everything He did was calculated to follow and fulfill Scripture. Years later, the apostle Paul wrote, “Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures….”
Submission to Scriptural Authority in His Controversies
Furthermore, Jesus submitted to the Old Testament in His controversies. The Gospels are replete with examples here. Jesus referred back to the Scriptures to be His final court of appeal as He was attacked by His critics. In fact, His chief criticism of His contemporaries concerned their disrespect and ignorance of Scripture.
To a lawyer, he said, “What is written in the law? how readest thou?” To the religious leaders, he said, “have ye not read this Scripture…?” To the Pharisees, he contended saying, “Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition … Making the Word of God of none effect through your tradition ….” To the Sadducees, he said, “Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the Scriptures, neither the power of God?”The point is clear. If the Son of God Himself regarded Scripture as the authoritative Word of God, then shouldn’t that settle it for all of us? Not for some.
First, note how Jesus regarded Scripture as historically trustworthy and accurate, including its miracle accounts. Matthew records an incident when the scribes and Pharisees were seeking for a sign from Jesus. Apparently, they did not believe Him and were, therefore, looking for more evidence. Jesus rebukes them by saying:
An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: for as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
It is interesting how the Lord quotes from one of the more often questioned books in the Old Testament, the Book of Jonah. Liberal scholars have difficultly accepting the Biblical account as literally true. They argue that Jonah must have been drowned by all those gastric juices inside the great fish, especially after being in there for three days, so that there is no way he could have survived that experience alive. But Jesus refers to its historical accuracy and uses it as basis for his argument on his predicted literal, bodily resurrection as the ultimate sign for the veracity of His claims!
Second, for the Lord Jesus Christ, the Old Testament stood higher than any human tradition or teaching. Once again, the scribes and Pharisees tried to find fault on Him by raising the question on why His disciples broke human tradition, that of not wash their hands before eating bread. Jesus brought the issue back to them and asked why they broke the commandment of God for the sake of a man-made tradition. He quoted the Old Testament Decalogue when He said:
For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death. But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; and honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.
These religious leaders had adopted a practice called Corban, relieving young professionals of their Biblical responsibility to care for and honor their parents for as long as the cost of doing so was given to the temple. In so doing, they have imposed a man-made tradition at the expense of breaking a commandment of God. Jesus called these kinds of people as “hypocrites!” These are strong words coming from the God of love who regarded the Scriptures as far more authoritative than any human tradition of teaching!
Again, Matthew records our Lord addressing a moral question posed by His religious critics. “Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?” He answers it by giving a scientific pronouncement of the creation story from the Book of Genesis!
Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, and said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
Jesus clearly upheld the Genesis record as an accurate, literal, historical narrative. In other words, how can a myth marry a myth and produce a literal child? Geisler gives this helpful comment on this passage,
Here the very validity of Jesus’ answer to the question about marriage and divorce depends on the reliability of there being a literal creation in the beginning of a male and a female whom God had joined together as “one flesh.” Hence, there is no way here to completely separate the doctrinal or spiritual from the physical and historical in Jesus’ teaching.
In another occasion, Jesus was put to the test by the Sadducees on the issue of the resurrection, a truth these religious leaders denied. He rebuked them of their ignorance of the Scriptures and said,
Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven. But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.
Jesus did not only show His submission to Scriptural authority amid this controversy. He also displayed His belief in verbal inspiration by resting His argument on one word, and on the tense of it, to refute His religious critics’ unbelief of the resurrection. Abraham had been dead for some 300 years when these words were spoken to Moses. Now, in this exchange with the Sadducees, Jesus properly points out to them that God is not the God of the dead, but of the living after quoting God saying, “I am [not was] the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” He drew a tremendous conclusion about the resurrection from the present tense of a single verb in an Old Testament passage!
All these show how the Lord Jesus Christ displayed such remarkable confidence on the inspiration and authority of the Old Testament Scriptures. To Him, it is the Word of God which “cannot be broken.” Is it conceivable that His followers should have a lower view of Scripture than He? Jesus said, “Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” If Jesus regarded Scripture with such high esteem, then people who seem to take delight in looking for supposed errors in the Bible are, in effect, calling God a liar!
CHAPTER IV: CHRIST’S PROVISION FOR THE NEW TESTAMENT
How could Christ endorse something that had not yet been written? The answer is in His appointment of the apostles. In the Old Testament, God was active in redeeming and judging Israel, raised up prophets to give a true record and interpretation of what He was doing. Then, God was active through Christ in redeeming and judging the world. Was this supreme and final revelation of God in Christ to be last to future generations? No! There must be authoritative scribes and interpreters for that revelation as well. How did Jesus provide for this? He chose, appointed, trained, and authorized the Twelve. They became His personal representatives, endowed with His authority to speak in His name. They had a four-fold uniqueness in their ministry.
The Apostles’ Personal Call and Authorization
First, they had a personal call and authorization from Christ. This was the case of the twelve apostles after a time of all-night prayer. Our Lord already had several disciples converted through His earthly ministry. But from these disciples, he called out the Twelve whom He appointed and personally commissioned to the work of the ministry. He called these men His apostles.
Paul claimed something comparable. He clearly asserted and defended his apostolic authority.
The Apostles’ Eyewitness Experience of Christ
Second, they had an eye-witness experience of Christ. They were sent out by Him but their essential qualification for the work of apostleship was that they should have been “with Him.” He gave them unrivalled opportunities to learn His Words and behold His works so that they might later bear witness to what they had seen and heard. This was especially true of the resurrection. An apostle had to be an eyewitness of the resurrected Christ. It was for this reason that Matthias was chosen to replace Judas.
This raises a question about the Apostle Paul. Basing on the above qualifications, is he fit to be called an Apostle in this technical sense? One way Paul defends his apostleship is by pointing out that the message he preached was not received from man but by divine revelation. It is in this context where he mentions that he spent three years in Arabia. While nothing specific is mentioned regarding the circumstances and purpose of this three-year journey, it seems (from the context) that this had something to do with Christ’s revelation of Himself to the Apostle. In attempting to explain why Luke, the Beloved Physician and Historian, does not mention this incident in his inspired writings, particularly in the Book of Acts, Albert Barnes comments:
The journey into Arabia, probably, did not furnish any incidents in regard to the success of the gospel there which required particular record by the sacred historian; nor has Paul himself referred to it for any such reason, or intimated that it furnished any incidents or any facts that required particularly the notice of the historian. He has mentioned it for a different purpose altogether–to show that he did not receive his commission from the apostles, and that he did not go at once to consult them. He went directly the other way.
There seems to be reasonable ground to believe that, perhaps, these three years in Arabia was to make up for three years of Christ’s public ministry which the Apostle missed. He argued for the defense of his apostleship that he was an actual eyewitness of the resurrected Christ and adds that he was the last of them.
The Apostles’ Influence from the Holy Spirit
They had an extraordinary influence from the Holy Spirit as they wrote the New Testament documents. Jesus gave them a two-fold promise before He left the earthly scene. One, the Holy Spirit would remind them of the teachings He had given them. Two, He would supplement it, leading them “into all [the] truth,” including “things to come,” which they could not bear at that moment. This was fulfilled when they wrote the Gospels, the epistles, and prophetic literature (e.g., the Book of Revelation). Kenneth Good has this insightful comment on this passage:
Our Lord also preauthenticated the New Testament (John 16:12-15). His plan for believers included additional revelation which they were not then ready to receive. This future ministry was reserved for the Holy Spirit. Note two things in this connection: (a) The result would be a complete revelation, i.e., “all truth”; and (b) the human channels were limited in time and number (John 17:8, 18, 20). The context here indicates that the Apostles and their lifetime are directly in view. This would mean that the fulfillment of this promise did not extend beyond John’s death, thus marking the Book of Revelation as closing the canon.
Thus, the miracle of inspiration has ceased. The Holy Spirit no longer directs men to write His Words down. The Bible is the Word of God and it is final. There is no other Word. All of it is the written Word of God and it is all the written Word of God there is, sufficient for godly life and service.
The Apostles Confirmatory Signs
Finally, they had power to work miracles. The writer to the Hebrews cautioned believers to give earnest heed to God’s Word given through the New Testament writers. He stated,
How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?
His reasons for the urgency of heeding it are mentioned above. Its source: it was spoken by the Lord. Its confirmation: it was delivered to believers “by them that heard him,” an obvious reference to the apostles. How did God confirm or establish their message? He did it “with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will.” In a day when the canon of Scripture was not yet established nor complete, God confirmed His message by bestowing His messengers with the power to work miracles. They had God’s “signs of an apostle” and they performed before men “in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds.” Paul spoke of the “mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God” Christ accomplished through him “to make the Gentiles obedient, by word and deed.” These were necessary in order to testify of the gospel of Jesus Christ to distinguish them from the false teachers who gloried in the flesh.
In these four ways, the apostles were unique. These clearly show Christ’s endorsement over their ministries, thus, pre-authenticating the New Testament documents.
The ramifications of these truths are very serious. This would imply that to attack the Bible is to attack the authenticity of God because Scripture “proceedeth out from the mouth of God.” Questioning the Bible is also tantamount to questioning the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ who pre-authenticated the New Testament. To go against Scripture means to deny the activity of the Holy Spirit who directed its human authors. To assault the Bible is to engage in an all-out war against the Tri-une God!
The evidences, both external and internal, show that the Bible is the inspired Word of God. Because it is inspired, it is therefore inerrant, infallible and authoritative or binding upon all men. The product of inspiration is inerrancy, infallibility and authority of Scripture and the proof of inerrancy, infallibility and authority is inspiration. But the strongest argument for this position is what the Lord Jesus Christ said for if Jesus is who He claimed to be, the incarnate Son of God, then, what He says must be true. The proof of the deity of Christ is the fact of the resurrection. His resurrection vindicated all His claims.
The question now is why would people, even educated ones, disregard all these evidences? If Christianity is rational and true, why would some of them choose not to believe it? The answer is simple. They would not believe the divine origin and inspiration of Scripture because they would not recognize or acknowledge the practical ramifications of Christ’s deity. This is not so much an intellectual issue as it is a spiritual issue. Submitting to the authority of Scripture is not a scholarship issue. It is a Lordship issue. The reason why educated people do not believe it is the same reason uneducated people do not believe it. We agree with Paul Little as he refers to what Jesus said as the real cause of the problem of unbelief. He wrote,
The moral issue always overshadows the intellectual issue in Christianity. It is not that man cannot believe – it is that he “will not believe.” Jesus pointed the Pharisees to this as the root of the problem. “Ye will not come to me,” He told them, “that ye might have life” (John 5:40). He makes it abundantly clear that moral commitment leads to a solution of the intellectual problem. “If any man will [wants to] do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God or whether I speak of myself” (John 7:17). Alleged intellectual problems are often a smoke screen covering moral rebellion.
Refusal to submit to the authority of Scripture is a problem both outside and inside the household of the Christian faith. The liberal or modernist may recognize Scripture as sacred literature, but he regards human reasoning equally authoritative, if not more authoritative than the Word of God. To him, if something does not square with reason, it cannot be accepted as true. The cults may show a degree of respect for Scripture but regards extra-Biblical revelation and writings equally authoritative, if not more authoritative. The neo-orthodox may claim that the Bible is the Word of God but actually means that it contains or becomes the Word of God, rather than believe that it is the Word of God. The Charismatics and Pentecostals may say that the Bible is the Word of God but, in reality, regards their emotional or religious experiences as far more authoritative than the Word of God. The neo-evangelicals may preach that the Bible is the Word of God but will operate on the principle of pragmatism rather than submit in obedience to its principles and precepts. The orthodox, historic position is that which is upheld by historic Christian fundamentalists. The Bible is the inspired, infallible, inerrant Word of God. Therefore, all are bound by its precepts and pronouncements. Just like Christ, we need to submit to its God-delegated authority.
The problem of failing or refusing to submit to its authority in varied degrees is not due to a lack of brain power but a refusal to submit one’s will to the Lordship of Christ. The problem of the unbeliever is not his head but his heart. Jesus said, “And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” Each one will have to decide. There is no neutral ground here. Either we obey Him or we stop calling Him “Lord.” Let everyone who opts for the latter beware that there are serious and eternal consequences of their choice. There is a day coming when “at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Unfortunately, it will be too late for many. We pray this will not be the case for those who read these pages. | literature |
http://ecca.com.au/book | 2019-07-16T22:58:20 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-30/segments/1563195524972.66/warc/CC-MAIN-20190716221441-20190717003441-00486.warc.gz | 0.918073 | 324 | CC-MAIN-2019-30 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2019-30__0__24422125 | en | A book for you, written by:
Dr Susan Evans, gynaecologist, ECCA Adelaide
Mrs Jane Marsh, nurse counsellor, ECCA Adelaide,
Dr Margaret Taylor, herbal and dietary therapist
Endometriosis and Other Pelvic Pain answers your questions.
What is endometriosis? Will I be able to have children? Do I need an operation? What treatment options do I have? Are there complementary therapies that could help me?
It explains what a laparoscopy is, what the risks are, and how to prepare for one.
Importantly, it includes information on other types of pelvic pain common in women with endometriosis. Your pain may be from the bowel, bladder, bloating, pelvic nerves, uterus, ovaries or muscles, rather than from endometriosis alone.
Endometriosis and other pelvic pain has practical advice on all these issues together with information on who can help you with each particular problem. By understanding your particular situation better, you will be better able to work together with your doctor at a treatment plan best suited to your individual needs.
You can find out more about the book, or order your own copy by mail, fax or phone, from Dr Evans’ website at www.drsusanevans.com.
You can also buy the book from your local bookshop. It is published by Lothian Books. The special number that makes it easy for your bookshop to find is ISBN 0 7344 0825 0
Each copy costs $29.95 | literature |
http://breatheintomotion.com/blog/2017/04/bhakti-yoga-at-easter | 2018-06-21T04:34:07 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-26/segments/1529267864022.18/warc/CC-MAIN-20180621040124-20180621060124-00532.warc.gz | 0.96088 | 584 | CC-MAIN-2018-26 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2018-26__0__117836351 | en | Historically yoga has been woven into the fabric of many religions, but is not in itself a religion. The evidence that yoga is not a religion lays in the fact many different faiths including, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and the Jain faith, include yoga practice as a method of enhancing devotional belief. In the world of Islam the influence of yoga is seen in the mystic sufis who are considered Muslim yoga gurus. Recently there are yoga studios offering Christian yoga. I found a second hand book called, ‘Christian Yoga and You,’ by Evangelos Alexandrou that was published in 1973… apparently Christian yoga is not new.
Encompassing the broad topic of devotional yoga is a category of yoga called Bhakti, which is described in an ancient Indian scripture called the Bhagavad Gita. Wikipedia describes Bhakti Yoga as, “…a spiritual path or spiritual practice within Hinduism focused on the cultivation of love and devotion toward God.” Perhaps B.K.S. Iyengar summed it up best in his classic book, ‘Light on Yoga,’ “In bhakti, the mind, the intellect and the will are surrendered to the Lord and the sadhaka prays: ‘I do not know what is good for me. Thy will be done.’ Others pray to have their own desires gratified or accomplished. In bhakti or true love there is no place for ‘I’ and ‘mine.’” (p. 19)
As I mentioned in the December blog, ‘Karma Yoga and the spirit of Christmas,’ “several books have been written on the subject of similarities between Karma Yoga and Christianity, such as ‘Jesus in the Lotus’ by Russill Paul.” Christianity and yoga philosophy have many parallels. The identification with non-violence, a deep devotion to God, and love for all, are cornerstones of authentic yoga practice.
Back in March of last year I wrote a blog on Karma Yoga and mentioned, “I believe yoga practitioners are to act with selfless duty and not just perform a bunch of contortions on the mat.” I also believe yoga practitioners are to act with devotion enhancing their faith with the spiritual philosophies of yoga. In many ways the world would be a more peaceful place with the acceptance of the true meaning of the term Namaste, which is an acknowledgement of honor to the spark of divinity, or soul within us all.
Yoga is not about putting a photo of the next coolest posture on social media, but instead is the act of drawing closer to God. Perhaps the universal spirituality in yoga can offer a common understanding between different faiths. This Easter I hope you will consider the possibility of faith made deeper through yoga practice. | literature |
https://170-187-203-246.ip.linodeusercontent.com/blog/the-5-best-agile-books/ | 2023-09-28T04:38:21 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-40/segments/1695233510358.68/warc/CC-MAIN-20230928031105-20230928061105-00516.warc.gz | 0.938467 | 4,223 | CC-MAIN-2023-40 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2023-40__0__135179837 | en | In 2021, I first published my list of the best agile books, organized by role. I am delighted that it has become one of the most popular posts on the Vitality Chicago website. I am a big fan of book learning and I am happy that my recommendations are serving a need. I hope that the post helps people to prioritize what they spend their time and money on.
I’ve updated that list for 2022. This includes some newly published books as well as some I finally read.
Limiting the list to just 5 best agile books is not easy! There are so many great books out there to consider and all of them have some value. That makes it tough to choose.
A constraint I put on myself this year is to only recommend books that I have read. It kept me busy but I think it is important for the integrity of the list.
One last thing about the list. My list of best agile books may not match your list of best agile books. That is OK. I urge you to comment if you disagree or if you have other books that you think warrant a top 5 spot. I’ll add your recommendations to my reading backlog and prioritize them appropriately.
My list is organized by role. I (mostly) avoided putting any one book on more than one of the lists. Here are the four roles that I focused on for my recommendations:
- Scrum Masters
- Product Owners
- Managers and Leaders
- Agile Coaches
If you are a coach, I believe that you should have read all the books for the other roles as well. To be an effective agile coach, you need a significant amount of learning.
Chris Stone created a wonderful infographic of books and other learning resources for agile coaches shown below. You can see every one of the top 5 books I’ve recommended in his diagram in the outermost ring. Chris even created a Miro board for this diagram and invited others to collaborate with him.
Let’s jump into the lists of best agile books!
Best Agile Books for Scrum Masters
The list of best agile books for Scrum Masters is one of the tougher lists, as I explain below. But first, here are my five picks:
by Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland
The Scrum Guide remains the definitive guide to the Scrum Framework. Pay attention to what is in the guide as well as what is not in the guide.
by Kenneth Rubin
Rubin does a good job of putting the Scrum Guide in context and providing the additional details that beginning Scrum Masters will find helpful.
by Ryan Ripley and Todd Miller
Ripley and Miller have outlined the common anti-patterns for Scrum Adoption and provided recommendations for improvements. It is essential reading for Scrum Masters. Check out my review here: Review of Fixing Your Scrum
by Lyssa Adkins
Adkins has done a terrific job of outlining the various people dynamics of coaching teams. Effective Scrum Masters are coaches after all and not taskmasters, team administrators or God forbid Jira Lackeys.
by Esther Derby and Diana Larsen
I’ve always thought of the retrospective as the most essential event of the Scrum Framework. Without retrospectives, you aren’t improving. This classic book from veterans Derby and Larsen provides lots of tips and techniques to keep retrospectives fresh and effective.
Here is why this list is tough. To be a great Scrum Master, you need to know more than just the Scrum Framework. I mean, any high school kid can read the Scrum Guide and claim to understand Scrum, but would they be effective as a Scrum Master? I think not.
To be a good Scrum Master, you have to master Scrum obviously (though lots of Scrum Masters do not, sadly). You also have to be a combination of coach, process expert, team therapist, bulldozer, and Zen master. It is pretty important that you understand how products are developed using Scrum, and that you are not showing up to your first rodeo.
Some experts go further. When I took my Certified Scrum Master training from Craig Larman back in 2013, he claimed that any capable Scrum Master would have read and mastered the content of 70+ books. I’ve included that list of books below for your reference. (And BTW, it’s been years since I took that training and I’ve still only read about 2/3 of the books he recommended).
So yeah, putting together a list of just five books for the Scrum Master is pretty tough. That is because the job of Scrum Master is pretty tough. If you are a Scrum Master and you have less than three years of experience, do yourself a solid and hit the books.
Best Agile Books for Product Owners
Creating a list of the best agile books for product owners was easier than for the other roles. I think it is because I’ve read fewer books that target this audience. Maybe it is just me but I have a difficult time staying interested and finishing books in this category. If I were more passionate, perhaps I would have finished Donald Reinertsen’s highly regarded Principles of Product Development Flow. Or I would start and finish one of the Marty Cagan books that are frequently recommended to me.
by Melissa Perri
Melissa Perri effectively describes how product managers should focus on solving true customer problems and creating business value instead of building lots of features. This is a must-read for anyone performing the role of product owner on an agile team
by Roman Pichler
Pichler did a great job of writing a concise guide to the Product Management function in the Scrum Framework. I gift or refer this book to every new Product Owner I work with.
by Bob Galen
I have to admit that I am a friend and great admirer of Bob Galen. That aside, Bob deserves to have two books on our list of best agile books. This book on Product Ownership is both readable and comprehensive, going well beyond what Pichler has provided on the role.
by Eric Ries
Technically this book is not about being a Product Owner. You can be a hack product owner who creates a product backlog that is reminiscent of the WBS from your PM 101 course. Good luck. In today’s hyper-competitive business environment, successful Product Owners will run small experiments to test their assumptions, collect data, seek out feedback, and pivot when needed. This book tells you how.
by Jeff Patton
I’ve been lucky enough to see Jeff Patton present live at various Chicago events and he is both knowledgeable and personable. His book describes the story mapping approach that he developed. Every Product Owner should master story mapping.
Best Agile Books for Managers and Leaders
Managers and leaders are often the bottlenecks when it comes to business agility. Sure you can adopt Scrum at the team level without too much effort. But to create an environment for agile ways of working to thrive, you need managers and leaders on board.
Which is difficult. One of the main reasons is that most managers and leaders are using management practices created over 100 years ago for a workforce comprised of manual laborers. They are often slow to adopt the modern leadership practices required to support agile teams and create true business agility.
Ironically, there are a lot of great books out there. Several of the books in my top 5 list below weren’t even on my list of best books last year! And that made it difficult to narrow the list to just 5 books. I cheated by listing my top 5 and then including several others as “honorable mentions”. I hope that managers and leaders will find something they like in this list, and maybe, just maybe, be inspired to read them all.
by Karim Harbott
Harbott explains the urgency for business agility and has created a great framework for the various focus areas that managers and leaders need to consider. This book was also included on the list for agile coaches. You can get a great overview of the book by reading my review of Harbott’s book.
by Jonathan Smart
This 2020 book by Jonathan Smart provides patterns and anti-patterns for transformation that will be immediately familiar to those with experience in agile transformation. Smart’s insights (Smart Insights?) come primarily from his experience at the financial services firm Barclays. Founded in 1736, most people wouldn’t think of Barclays as a nimble or agile organization. Which makes the agile transformation at Barclays even more dramatic.
by Darrell Rigby, Sarah Elk, and Steve Berez
I was initially put off by the title of this book. Who determines what is “right” and “wrong” when it comes to agile ways of working? But once I got past the title, I found this book to be a pretty good resource. Check out my review here: A Review of Doing Agile Right
by General Stanley McChrystal and co-authors Collins, Silverman and Fussel
Wow, I was really blown away by this book! I thought it was going to be all about the military but General McChrystal has instead written a leadership book that describes both why and how to create true agility even in a large organization. It is a great book with many lessons for Agile Leaders! Read my review here: 7 Key Lessons from the Team of Teams book
by Jorgen Hesselberg
Hesselberg does a great job of providing a blueprint for organizational transformation, based on his experience with Navteq, Motorola, and other large organizations. I thought the book did a great job of outlining the considerations for agile transformation. I made this my choice of textbook for my Enterprise Agility Frameworks course at Northwestern University.
Honorable Mentions for Agile Leaders and Managers
As noted, this category contains a lot of choices. There were some other books that I have come to love over the years that simply didn’t make the “best 5 agile books” cut.
- Management 3.0: Leading Agile Developers, Developing Agile Leaders by Jurgen Appelo. Appelo is a smart guy and is quite entertaining in both his books and in-person presentations. His books are easy to read and extremely helpful.
- The Age of Agile: How Smart Companies Are Transforming the Way Work Gets Done by Stephen Denning. I wouldn’t say that I love this book but it is one of the few books I’ve read that provides an executive’s view.
- Turn the Ship Around!: A True Story of Turning Followers into Leaders by David Marquet. Former Navy Captain David Marquet is a terrific storyteller and unlikely leadership guru. Marquet’s leadership experiments from a nuclear submarine under the ocean show that if he can do it there, so can you. You will come away inspired.
Best Agile Books for Agile Coaches
When I think of an agile coach, I think of someone who transcends team-level agility. They are a transformation agent who can lead others to improved business agility.
Agile coaches need to understand agile inside and out including from the perspective of each of the other three roles mentioned above. So they should read the 5 books below AND all the books above that are recommended for the other roles. That’s right, agile coaches need to hit the books even more than Scrum Masters!
Here are my top 5 recommended best books for Agile Coaches.
by Bob Galen with co-authors Jennifer Fields, Mark Summers, and Rhiannon Galen-Personick
As I mentioned above, I am a friend and admirer of Bob Galen and his work and this is the second book from Galen that made the list. Frankly, I think Bob hit it out of the park with this comprehensive book on the topic. Learn more about this book in my review: The Extraordinarily Badass Agile Coaching Book.
by Karim Harbott
Harbott explains the urgency for business agility and has created a great framework for the various focus areas that managers and leaders need to consider. This book was also included on the list for leaders and managers. You can read my review of Harbott’s book here: A Review of the 6 Enablers of Business Agility.
by Michael Sahota
This 2012 book by Michael Sahota is one of the first books I read about Agile Transformation. As a coach, I still find this book to be helpful though it is getting a bit dated.
by Frederick Laloux
This may seem like an unlikely recommendation for coaches but stay with me here. Laloux looks at organizational development from a historical lens and borrows colors from the spiral dynamics. His framework for looking at organizations provides a useful lens for coaches to see their current org; and where they might need to change and evolve.
by Michael Bungay Stanier
This is a relatively short and focused read that will boost your coaching abilities. Michael Bungay Stanier shares the power of asking great questions, and listening for the answers. Read my review here: 10 Key Takeaways from The Coaching Habit Book.
Honorable Mention Book for Agile Coaches:
- Fearless Change: Patterns for Introducing New Ideas by Mary Lynn Manns and Linda Rising. Manns and Rising provide lots of patterns for introducing change and inviting others in without threatening them. Not only is this helpful, but it is also essential reading for coaches and change agents!
Summing it Up
OK, that’s it. There are more books of course…many more! I know that I missed a few and of course, people will have their favorites. PLEASE weigh in with your comments below. Let me know what you think should be on the list. I may not change the list for 2022, but your recommendation just might make the list for next year.
Before I go, here is that list of recommended reading for Scrum Masters, from my CSM class by Craig Larman back in 2014.
A Comprehensive Reading List for Scrum Masters
Oh, and here is that list of 70+ books that Craig Larman referenced in my Certified Scrum Master Course back in 2013. I’ve bolded the ones that I have read – so far 49 of the 73, woohoo!
- Agile Software Development: The Cooperative Game (2nd Edition) by Alistair Cockburn
- Agile & Iterative Development; A Managers Guide by Craig Larman and Bas Vodde
- Scaling Lean & Agile Development by Craig Larman
- Lean Software Development: An Agile Toolkit by Mary and Tom Poppendieck
- Agile Project Management with Scrum by Ken Schwaber
- Succeeding with Agile by Mike Cohn
- Crystal Clear: A Human-Powered Methodology for Small Teams: A Human-Powered Methodology by Alistair Cockburn
- User Stories Applied by Mike Cohn
- Extreme Programming Explained: Embrace Change by Kent Beck
- Leading Teams: Setting the Stage for Great Performances by J. Richard Hackman
- Collaboration Explained: Facilitation Skills for Software Project Leaders by Jean Tabaka
- Agile Estimating and Planning by Mike Cohn
- Working Effectively with Legacy Code by Michael C. Feathers
- Test-Driven: TDD and Acceptance TDD for Java Developers by Lasse Koskela
- Practices for Scaling Lean & Agile Development by Craig Larman
- Agile Retrospectives by Esther Derby and Diana Larsen
- Fearless Change: Patterns for Introducing New Ideas by Mary Lynn Manns and Linda Rising
- Implementing Lean Software Development: From Concept to Cash by Mary and Tom Poppendieck
- The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni
- Out of the Crisis by W. Edwards Deming
- Agile Product Management with Scrum: Creating Products that Customers Love by Roman Pichler
- Implementing Beyond Budgeting: Unlocking the Performance Potential by Bjarte Bogsnes
- The Fifth Discipline by Peter Senge
- Managing the Design Factory by Donald Reinertsen
- Agile Software Development, Principles, Patterns, and Practices by Robert C. Martin
- Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship by Robert C. Martin
- The Wisdom of Teams by Jon Katzenbach
- Teamwork is an Individual Skill by Christopher Avery
- Birth of the Chaordic Age by Dee Hock
- Maverick by Ricardo Semler
- Facilitators Guide to Participatory Decision-Making by Sam Kaner
- Agile Coaching by Rachel Davies
- Growing Object-Oriented Software, Guided by Tests by Steve Freeman
- Software for Your Head by Jim McCarthy
- The Human Side of Enterprise by Douglas McGregor
- Just Enough Software Architecture: A Risk-Driven Approach by George Fairbanks
- Continuous Delivery: Reliable Software Releases through Build, Test, and Deployment Automation by Jez Humble, David Farley
- Coaching Agile Teams by Lyssa Adkins
- The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master by Andrew Hunt, Dave Thomas
- Bridging the Communication Gap: Specification by Example and Agile Acceptance Testing by Gojko Adzic
- Specification by Example: How Successful Teams Deliver the Right Software by Gojko Adzic
- Impact Mapping: Making a big impact with software products and projects by Gojko Adzic
- The Principles of Product Development Flow: Second Generation Lean Product Development by Donald G. Reinertsen
- Flexible Product Development: Building Agility for Changing Markets by Preston G. Smith
- The Human Side of Agile – How to Help Your Team Deliver by Gil Broza
- High-Performing Self-Managed Work Teams by Dale Yeatts
- Business without Bosses by Charles Manz
- Leading Self-Directed Work Teams by Kimball Fisher
- The Self-Managing Organization by Roland Purser
- Freedom from Command and Control: A Better Way to Make the Work Work by John Seddon
- First, Let’s Fire All the Managers (article) by Gary Hamel
- The Future of Management by Gary Hamel
- Measuring and Managing Performance in Organizations by Robert D. Austin
- Abolishing Performance Appraisals: Why They Backfire and What to Do Instead by Tom Coens
- Get rid of the Performance Review by Samuel Culbert
- Hard Facts, Dangerous Truths, & Total Nonsense by Jeffrey Pfeffer
- Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel H. Pink
- Punished by Rewards: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A’s, Praise, and Other Bribes by Alfied Kohn
- Appreciative Inquiry: A Positive Revolution in Change by Diana Whitney, et al.
- Appreciative Team Building: Positive Questions to Bring Out the Best of Your Team by Diana Whitney, et al.
- The Power of Appreciative Inquiry: A Practical Guide to Positive Change by Diana Whitney, et al.
- Lean Thinking: Banish Waste and Create Wealth in Your Corporation, Revised and Updated by James P. Womack
- Toyota Kata: Managing People for Improvement, Adaptiveness and Superior Results by Mike Rother
- Toyota Culture: The Heart and Soul of the Toyota Way by Jeffrey K. Liker
- The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful by Eric Ries
- Inside the Mind of Toyota: Management Principles for Enduring Growth by Satoshi Hino
- Project Retrospectives: A Handbook for Team Reviews by Norman L. Kerth
- Kanban by David Anderson
- Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams by Tom Demarco
- Wicked Problems Righteous Solutions by Peter DeGrace
- Software Cost Estimation with Cocomo II by Barry Boehm
- One More Time, How Do We Motivate Employees? (article) by Frederick Herzberg
- The New New Product Development Game (article) by Hirotaka Takeuchi et al | literature |
https://hiswordtoday.org/2018/06/15/the-gospel-of-john-he-must-increase-i-must-decrease/ | 2021-04-20T19:18:08 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-17/segments/1618039490226.78/warc/CC-MAIN-20210420183658-20210420213658-00479.warc.gz | 0.983066 | 1,429 | CC-MAIN-2021-17 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2021-17__0__115655027 | en | “After this Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside, and he remained there with them and was baptizing. John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because water was plentiful there, and people were coming and being baptized (for John had not yet been put in prison). Now a discussion arose between some of John’s disciples and a Jew over purification. And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, he who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you bore witness—look, he is baptizing, and all are going to him.” John answered, “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’ The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. He must increase, but I must decrease.” (John 3:22-30).
Envy is the silent companion for many ministers and pastors when they get together with their fellow ministers and pastors. Aside from the usual conversations about families, sports and health there is the inevitable discussion about so-called “success” in the ministry. Comparisons are made, fairly or unfairly, to super successful ministries (i.e. those running large numbers) that many pastors wish they could experience, but who would never say such things out loud. When leaving a conference, meeting or breakfast, one wonders how many leave thinking “if only.”
This tendency to envy others, or other ministries, is not restricted to just pastors either. There are those who gladly trumpet their “mega-church” and insistently or relentlessly pursue others to join the church where things are really happening. It is hard to compete and to justify attending a small rural church of 25 when just a few miles up the road is a city church running close to 2,500 with programs for every age group and ministries for every want and need.
One could come away from all of this with the sense that there are just some ministries and churches the Lord blesses and others that He does not. It’s just the way it is. There are the haves and the have nots.
In today’s text from the Gospel of John, there arose some discussion about how Jesus was attracting more people and followers than John the Baptist. Some of John’s disciples were notably concerned about what he thought about this. After all, John had come along the Judean scene well before Jesus. It would only be natural for him to become jealous or envious of Jesus’ rising popularity, at the expense of his own.
However, John was amazingly wise and prudent in his response. He said, ““A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’ The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. He must increase, but I must decrease.”
John made four observations about his ministry. It would be well for us to keep these in mind regarding what we do for the Lord and how we evaluate the “success” of our own ministry, or any other church.
First, John understood that any ministry is sovereignly given by God. It is a trust. It is a stewardship. It is eventually the Lord’s prerogative to entrust some people with greater responsibilities than others. It is ultimately His call. This therefore means that a church of 2,500 is not necessarily any more blessed by God than say a church of 25. The most important thing to note is whether both are preaching and teaching biblical truth and the people are faithful (I Corinthians 4:1-2).
Second, the focus and attention of any church and ministry must be placed upon the Lord and not upon anyone else. No ministry and no church is the sole property of any one human being. When the focus shifts to the human leader, rather than to God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ, then a cult-like atmosphere has begun to take hold. John repeatedly stated that he was not the Christ. He understood who he was and who Jesus is.
Third, anyone who serves the Lord is compared to a best man at the wedding. This is how John viewed himself. He was not the groom. Therefore, the attention was not upon him but rather upon the one who was getting married. Jesus is the bridegroom and the church is the bride. It would be wise for all us to remember that it is not about how much notoriety we receive, or for that matter the church we attend, but rather how much praise Jesus receives.
Fourth, Jesus Christ is to be increasingly seen in our personal lives along with the corporate congregation to which we belong. John succinctly explain it this way: “He must increase and I must decrease.” If our pastors and churches would be more focused on Jesus’ increasing notoriety, and not their own, a whole lot of conflicts within the church would end and the only conflicts the church would encounter would be from the outside fallen world.
The Apostle Paul explained it this way in I Corinthians 3:1-5: “But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human? What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.”
John the Baptist understood his place. So too did the Apostle Paul. It would be wise for us as well.
Therefore, next time you want to praise your own church and pastor, and criticize another, it would be wise to remember a similar discussion that occurred some 2,000 years ago in the Judean wilderness. Some things never change.
Soli deo Gloria! | literature |
https://highsheriffofshropshire.co.uk/the-bookfest-remembers-concert-allington-theatre-shrewsbury-school/ | 2022-06-26T04:14:36 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-27/segments/1656103037089.4/warc/CC-MAIN-20220626040948-20220626070948-00035.warc.gz | 0.9452 | 241 | CC-MAIN-2022-27 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2022-27__0__248614693 | en | The Shrewsbury Bookfest, now in its sixteenth year, brings the world of books and poetry alive for children in Shropshire. Bookfest Remembers, an evening of readings and music, commemorated the sacrifice made by soldiers of the First World War and celebrated its literary legacy. Shropshire composer Caz Besterman had, to great effect, set several poems to music, which were performed individually by Emma Brotherton (Cruckton School), Harry Fradley (Ellesemere College), and Ben Higgins (Shrewsbury School). The Abraham Darby Academy Showband, the Bookfest Choir, The Shawbury Wives Choir and the Shropshire Youth Wind Orchestra provided more music and there were more poetry readings from young Army Cadets. The evening finished with Oliver Turner’s (Shrewsbury Sixth Form College) brilliant reading of Wilfred Owen’s Strange Meeting followed by The Last Post played by Colour Sergeant Ryan Wood. The concert is to be broadcast on BBC Radio Shropshire on Christmas Day. A big thank you to festival organiser Caroline Thewles for inviting me to this wonderful event. | literature |
https://www.schoen-clinic.co.uk/knowledge-insights/frozen-shoulder | 2020-05-25T10:34:35 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-24/segments/1590347388427.15/warc/CC-MAIN-20200525095005-20200525125005-00503.warc.gz | 0.873425 | 3,540 | CC-MAIN-2020-24 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2020-24__0__99640430 | en | What is Frozen shoulder?
Frozen shoulder is a common shoulder disease and its incidence is estimated to be 2–5% in the population. It is rare in children and peaks between 40 and 70 years of age, in particular the highest incidence in woman is between 50-55 years and in man between 55-60 years. Patients with diabetes and distyroidism are predisposed and those who experience it on one shoulder are more likely of developing the condition on the contralateral side. Women are more often affected than men, but there is no known genetic or racial predilection.
The aetiology and pathogenesis of primary frozen shoulder are not known; it results from contraction of the glenohumeral joint capsule and adherence to the humeral head. Zuckerman et al formulated a descriptive consensus definition for frozen shoulder “a condition characterized by functional restriction of both active and passive shoulder motion for which radiographs of the glenohumeral joint are essentially unremarkable”.
Frozen shoulder has a high impact on the quality of life, due to the severe pain and functional disability; loss of passive external rotation (ER) is the most characteristic finding at physical examination.
Causes & Symptoms
There often is no identifiable cause or trigger. The pain is often described as a poorly localized, deep ache and can radiate to the biceps area.
It is characterized by three phases: the freezing phase (acute pain and gradual loss of motion of the glenohumeral joint in all directions), frozen phase (severe stiffness and improvement of the pain) and the thawing phase (range of motion (ROM) gradually returns to normal). Although frozen shoulder is often considered to be self- limiting, full resolution of symptoms does not always occur. Only 59% of the patients had a near normal shoulder after 4 years. However, persistent symptoms are commonly mild. No therapeutic intervention is currently universally accepted as most effective for restoring motion and diminishing pain in patients with frozen shoulder.
The diagnosis of frozen shoulder is usually clinical. The glenohumeral joint capsule is comprised of soft tissue and is therefore not visible on plain radiography. However, radiography can rule out other conditions and detect concomitant pathology; it is also useful to assess for Pancoast tumors, advanced glenohumeral arthritis, pathologic fracture, avascular necrosis, calcific rotator cuff and biceps tendinopathy. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is not diagnostic for adhesive capsulitis, but can be helpful in identifying other conditions, such as rotator cuff tendinopathy and subacromial bursitis; capsular thickening can sometimes be observed.
Frozen shoulder must be differentiated by secondary adhesive capsulitis which gives similar clinical presentation but it is caused by another etiological entity (trauma, subacromial bursitis, rotator cuff tendinopathy/tear, autoimmune diseases, neoplasm, cervical disk degeneration).
Watchful waiting or ‘supervised neglect’ involves explaining the condition to the patient, educate and advice about mobilisation within pain limits and use of pain relief.
Oral steroids are given to relieve pain and stiffness in patients with frozen shoulder. However, randomised control trials (RCT) comparing oral steroids and placebo or no treatment, showed no differences in the pain and recovery of the ROM in patients affected from frozen shoulder.[5–7]
Intra-articular corticosteroid injections are a commonly used intervention in treating shoulder pain in general. A Cochrane review focussed on this treatment reported on the effectiveness of corticosteroid injections in treating shoulder pain, including 13 RCTs (n=656) on frozen shoulder. The majority of the RCT showed good results after intra-articular steroid injection if compared with a placebo group. Because the glenohumeral joint lies deep within the shoulder, correct technique and placement can be challenging. Ultrasound guidance may be helpful to ensure correct placement. There is evidence to support the use of up to three injections over the course of four months without significant risk of complications in shoulder disease but most of the time in a frozen shoulder if the injection works (success rate is about 25-30% of cases) a single injection is enough to stop and trigger the resolution of this disease.
Steroid injection versus physiotherapy
Steroid injection was reported to be more effective than physiotherapy both on pain and ROM at 4 months.[10–12] On ROM, the combination of steroid injection with physiotherapy was more effective than physiotherapy or steroid injection alone (p<0.05).
Rehabilitation, as a home exercise program or physical therapy, has traditionally been a cornerstone of treatment for frozen shoulder. However, there are no high-level studies that clearly demonstrate benefit over observation or medical therapy alone. Aggressive physical therapy can exacerbate pain and diminish adherence to the treatment plan; therefore, caution should be used in patients who have a high degree of pain and stiffness. Initial therapy typically includes gentle ROM exercises, although evidence is lacking (figure 1). In our experience, proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) which is a form of static stretching that combines passive with isometric stretching, delivers the best results in the treatment of frozen shoulder. There are several different PNF techniques, although the most common technique (hold-relax) is performed when a muscle is statically stretched, then isometrically contracted, and finally statically stretched again. The stretching is performed in 3 cycles, minimum of 3 times a day and focuses on the anterior (figure 2) and posterior (figure 3) capsule. Gentle mobilization of the shoulder in a swimming pool or formal hydrotherapy might help to reduce muscle contractures and regular selfstretching can help to maintain partially the range of motion.
Other therapies, such as ultrasound, massage, iontophoresis, and phonophoresis, have not been proven effective for frozen shoulder.
Acupuncture is postulated to work by releasing endogenous opioids in the body that relieve pain, by overriding pain signals in the nerves, or by allowing energy or blood to flow freely through the body. Several RCT showed good results in reducing shoulder pain, those specifically focused on frozen shoulder showed mixed results, however, a high quality RCT showed good results of acupuncture combined with physical therapy if compared with physiotherapy alone.
Arthrographic distension (hydrodilatation) of the glenohumeral joint is thought to disrupt adhesions that might be restricting the shoulder ROM. It can be achieved with combinations of saline, local anaesthetic, steroid, contrast medium and air. Authors reported to have injected between 20 and 80 ml fluid in the glenohumeral joint until rupture of the capsule occurred.
Systematic Cochrane reviews[15, 16] reported good short term results after hydrodilatation with complications confined to pain during or after the procedure. However, it is difficult to draw definitive conclusions as several techniques can be used including the use of steroids and post treatment physical therapy. Furthermore, the long term benefits are uncertain and recurrence of the symptoms have been reported. [15–17] Finally it seems more effective in recovering the forward flexion and abduction more than rotational movements that are most severely affected by frozen shoulder.
Patients with adhesive capsulitis who have little or no improvement after six to 12 weeks of conservative treatment and who cannot tolerate their symptoms should be referred to an orthopedic surgeon. Those who improve but then plateau at an unacceptable level after longer courses of nonsurgical therapy can also be considered for surgical referral.
Surgical options for adhesive capsulitis include joint manipulation under anesthesia and arthroscopic capsular release.
Manipulation under anesthesia (MUA)
MUA is believed to be the most widely used non-conservative treatment option for these refractory cases. With MUA, the tight shoulder joint capsule is stretched and torn (figure 4) with manipulation (under general anesthesia (GA)). It is a time efficient procedure and relatively easy to perform, resulting in rapid restoration of the ROM. The literature reports that patients’ satisfaction is >80% at 3 months and 94% at 6 months follow up. It can be associated with a risk of iatrogenic proximal humeral fracture, glenohumeral dislocation, and rotator cuff tearing, however the overall complication rate in the literature is reported to be <1%. The Codman’s Paradox (figure 5) was shown to be a safe technique to perform a safe MUA, minimizing the risks related to the procedure.
More recently this technique has been associated with Hydrodilatation, the dilatation of the joint reduce the risk of complications during MUA and often speed up the recovery process for rotational movement.
Arthroscopic capsular release (ACR)
Surgical release of the capsule has proved to be beneficial in patients with persistent or severe frozen shoulder.[20, 21] Good pain relief and functional recovery is achieved and complications are minimal. The procedure is performed under GA and regional block; an arthroscopic radiofrequency device is used to release the adhesions and the capsule of the glenohumeral joint. A 270-360 degrees release is performed and restoration of full ROM is achieved (figure 6). Once the patient recovers from the GA, he/she is invited to passively stretch the shoulder while the regional blocks controls the pain. Physiotherapy is started as soon as possible (24-72h post intervention) to maintain the movement of the shoulder and reduce the risk of recurrence. Painkillers are prescribed to help the patient during passive exercises.
Frozen shoulder is a long benign disease of the Shoulder that in the first phase can impair the use of the arm and can disrupt the quality of life of patients because of severe and unremitting pain with associated with sleep disturbance.
If recognized early can be effectively treated with intrarticular steroid injections, better done under USS guidance, or in case of scarce response might benefit from a combination of Hydrodilatation and manipulation under anesthesia which is a minimally invasive treatment or in severe cases might benefit from an arthroscopic capsular release which a very effective and successful technique.
Figure 1. Standard stretching exercises (passive stretching)
Figure 2. PFN anterior capsule stretching
Figure 3. PFN posterior capsule stretching
Figure 4. Arthroscopic view of torn capsule after MUA
Figure 5 Demonstration of the Codman paradox. Prior to any movement, the arms are on the sides with the palms towards the thighs, thumbs pointing forwards. Full forward flexion is performed. From full elevation, bringing the arms down on the sides (without performing any rotation movement). The palms are facing outwards, thumbs pointing to the back. An apparent 180 degrees of external rotation occurred in the shoulder
Figure 6 Arthroscopic view of severe synovitis in the anterior aspect of the shoulder (rotator interval/anterior capsule)
- Hand C, Clipsham K, Rees JL, Carr AJ (2008) Long-term outcome of frozen shoulder. J Shoulder Elb Surg. doi: 10.1016/j.jse.2007.05.009
- Kivimäki J, Pohjolainen T, Malmivaara A, Kannisto M, Guillaume J, Seitsalo S, Nissinen M (2007) Manipulation under anesthesia with home exercises versus home exercises alone in the treatment of frozen shoulder: A randomized, controlled trial with 125 patients. J Shoulder Elb Surg. doi: 10.1016/j.jse.2007.02.125
- Zuckerman JD, Rokito A (2011) Frozen shoulder: A consensus definition. J Shoulder Elb Surg. doi: 10.1016/j.jse.2010.07.008
- Reeves B (1975) The natural history of the frozen shoulder syndrome. Scand J Rheumatol. doi: 10.3109/03009747509165255
- Buchbinder R, Hoving JL, Green S, Hall S, Forbes A, Nash P (2004) Short course prednisolone for adhesive capsulitis (frozen shoulder or stiff painful shoulder): A randomised, double blind, placebo controlled trial. Ann Rheum Dis. doi: 10.1136/ard.2003.018218
- Blockey NJ, Wright JK, Kellgren JH (1954) Oral cortisone therapy in periarthritis of the shoulder a controlled trial. Br Med J. doi: 10.1136/bmj.1.4877.1455
- Binder AI, Bulgen DY, Hazleman BL, Roberts S (1984) Frozen shoulder: A long-term prospective study. Ann Rheum Dis. doi: 10.1136/ard.43.3.361
- Buchbinder R, Green S, Youd JM (2003) Corticosteroid injections for shoulder pain. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD004016
- Shah N, Lewis M (2007) Shoulder adhesive capsulitis: systematic review of randomised trials using multiple corticosteroid injections. Br J Gen Pr.
- Calis M, Demir H, Ulker S, Kirnap M, Duygulu F, Calis HT (2006) Is intraarticular sodium hyaluronate injection an alternative treatment in patients with adhesive capsulitis? Rheumatol Int. doi: 10.1007/s00296-005-0022-2
- Carette S, Moffet H, Tardif J, et al (2003) Intraarticular corticosteroids, supervised physiotherapy, or a combination of the two in the treatment of adhesive capsulitis of the shoulder: A placebo-controlled trial. Arthritis Rheum. doi: 10.1002/art.10954
- Ryans I, Montgomery A, Galway R, Kernohan WG, McKane R (2005) A randomized controlled trial of intra-articular triamcinolone and/or physiotherapy in shoulder capsulitis. Rheumatology. doi: 10.1093/rheumatology/keh535
- Cheing GLY, So EML, Chao CYL (2008) Effectiveness of electroacupuncture and interferential electrotherapy in the management of frozen shoulder. J Rehabil Med. doi: 10.2340/16501977-0142
- Sun KO, Chan KC, Lo SL, Fong DY (2001) Acupuncture for frozen shoulder. Hong Kong Med. J.
- Buchbinder R, Green S, Youd JM, Johnston R V., Cumpston M (2008) Arthrographic distension for adhesive capsulitis (frozen shoulder). Cochrane Database Syst Rev. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD007005
- Tveitå EK, Tariq R, Sesseng S, Juel NG, Bautz-Holter E (2008) Hydrodilatation, corticosteroids and adhesive capsulitis: A randomized controlled trial. BMC Musculoskelet Disord. doi: 10.1186/1471-2474-9-53
- Bell S, Coghlan J, Richardson M (2003) Hydrodilatation in the management of shoulder capsulitis. Australas Radiol. doi: 10.1046/j.1440-1673.2003.01171.x
- Dodenhoff RM, Levy O, Wilson A, Copeland SA (2000) Manipulation under anesthesia for primary frozen shoulder: effect on early recovery and return to activity. J shoulder Elb Surg / Am Shoulder Elb Surg [et al] 9:23–26
- Tsvieli O, Atoun E, Consigliere P, Polyzois I, Walecka J, Pradhan R, Ippolito G, Rath E, Levy O (2017) Manipulation under anaesthetic for frozen shoulder using Codman’s paradox: a safe and early return of function. Int Orthop. doi: 10.1007/s00264-017-3558-3
- Chen J, Chen S, Li Y, Hua Y, Li H (2010) Is the Extended Release of the Inferior Glenohumeral Ligament Necessary for Frozen Shoulder? Arthrosc - J Arthrosc Relat Surg. doi: 10.1016/j.arthro.2010.02.020
- Nicholson GP (2003) Arthroscopic capsular release for stiff shoulders: Effect of etiology on outcomes. Arthrosc - J Arthrosc Relat Surg. doi: 10.1053/jars.2003.50010 | literature |
https://www.lynntemplarphoto.com/seasons-of-loss/ | 2023-12-02T08:27:19 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-50/segments/1700679100381.14/warc/CC-MAIN-20231202073445-20231202103445-00626.warc.gz | 0.968283 | 350 | CC-MAIN-2023-50 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2023-50__0__262634355 | en | The images in my photobook are selected from the many taken following the sudden death of my husband in early September 2020 and the subsequent winter lockdown of 2020/21. Taking my camera on my walks allowed me to connect with nature in an interactive way and enabled me to be in the moment, completely absorbed in looking at the world around me. This respite in nature became a much-needed way of quieting the chatter in my mind. Often the images mirrored my feelings and emotions as I was visually drawn to photograph a particular aspect of nature or landscape. Sometimes my surroundings would revive a memory, or become a catalyst in my grieving process, helping me to come to an understanding of my own personal emotional world. Many of the places photographed were visited regularly. Sometimes alone, and sometimes with others for essential human contact. This gave me the opportunity to revisit places and document their transformation over time and the seasons, allowing me to reflect on the change and the impermanence within my own life.
In part, the final image selection was made based on my emotional response to the images as I reviewed them. I also wanted to introduce a sense of narrative to my book, using the sequence of the landscape and nature photographs on the page to mirror my own continuing journey through an internal landscape of grief. It was a conscious decision not to include text on every page. I added some key texts that are personally important to me, but I also wanted the viewer to respond to the individual images in a way that is personal, reading the visual codes in the work in a way that is emotionally meaningful to them.
In the making, my book became both a tribute to my late partner Stuart and a personal document of living with grief in a global pandemic. | literature |
https://thhernandez.com/review-every-last-word-by-tamara-ireland-stone/ | 2021-06-21T04:23:18 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-25/segments/1623488262046.80/warc/CC-MAIN-20210621025359-20210621055359-00093.warc.gz | 0.970283 | 1,482 | CC-MAIN-2021-25 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2021-25__0__179251389 | en | If you could read my mind, you wouldn’t be smiling.
Samantha McAllister looks just like the rest of the popular girls in her junior class. But hidden beneath the straightened hair and expertly applied makeup is a secret that her friends would never understand: Sam has Purely-Obsessional OCD and is consumed by a stream of dark thoughts and worries that she can’t turn off.
Second-guessing every move, thought, and word makes daily life a struggle, and it doesn’t help that her lifelong friends will turn toxic at the first sign of a wrong outfit, wrong lunch, or wrong crush. Yet Sam knows she’d be truly crazy to leave the protection of the most popular girls in school. So when Sam meets Caroline, she has to keep her new friend with a refreshing sense of humor and no style a secret, right up there with Sam’s weekly visits to her psychiatrist.
Caroline introduces Sam to Poet’s Corner, a hidden room and a tight-knit group of misfits who have been ignored by the school at large. Sam is drawn to them immediately, especially a guitar-playing guy with a talent for verse, and starts to discover a whole new side of herself. Slowly, she begins to feel more “normal” than she ever has as part of the popular crowd . . . until she finds a new reason to question her sanity and all she holds dear.
I took a few days off after finishing this book to write my review. I wanted to let it settle in and see how I was feeling, and you know what? I still love it just as much as I did the moment I finished. I discovered author, Tamara Ireland Stone, through her time-travelling young adult stories, Time Between Us and Time After Time, so I wasn’t sure if I would love a straight-up contemporary as much. It’s different, but as good, in a very different way.
The book is heavy on themes. Themes of fitting in, finding one’s place, uncertainty, being different, being accepted, finding your voice, finding your words. It’s also a story about a girl and a boy. And secrets. And trust.
Samantha McAllister is part of the Crazy Eights, the most popular girls in her junior class, but she’s hiding a secret from them — she has OCD with an emphasis on obsessive rather than compulsive, making it easier to keep her issues private. In fact, no one in school knows about it. Until she meets Caroline, a nerdy girl who promises Samantha she can change her life. Samantha is a girl with two halves, her public persona as part of the Eights, and the private Summer Sam, who doesn’t try so hard to conceal who she is. Samantha wants to be Sam all the time, and not just during the summer when she’s away from the Eights. Her friendship with Caroline sparks a journey that burns through the pages, as Samantha allows Sam out of her box for longer bits of a time.
The plot addresses so many things, but at it’s core, it’s about a girl battling OCD and her journey in finding herself. Strong subplots include a romance with the sweet, soulful AJ, her friendships with the Caroline and the other Poets, as well as her evolving relationship with the Eights. Each plot is well done, and woven seamlessly with the others. There were a few good plot twists, and one, shocking, jaw-dropping twist that I wasn’t sure about at first, but ended up loving for its brilliance.
The author has done her homework and portrays the world of mental health in a raw and realistic manner. Her creation of Poet’s Corner is detailed and vivid. I could picture the room and the kids and the tiny stage, feel the atmosphere, smell the combination of old paper and stale coffee, with a hint of teen body odor. And considering I was born without a sense of smell, that’s saying something!
Samantha is complex, troubled, and so utterly relatable, it’s impossible not to love her despite her flaws. Sam spends such an inordinate amount of time in her own head, the only other character I truly felt like I got a good sense of was Shrink Sue. It’s not that the other characters are one-dimensional, but that we see the world through Sam’s eyes and she’s just very introspective.
The pacing is good, never really dragging, the plot twists were adequately foreshadowed, and the author has an interesting voice that is both deep and youthful, fitting this story really well.
I enjoyed the ending. I thought the main plot points were wrapped up well, but in a believable way, because OCD isn’t something cured. It’s something people are taught to manage, and I think that was authentically portrayed.
Top Five Things I Loved About Every Last Word
1. The Poetry. The poems were deep and meaningful and I love how the author managed to give each poet his or her own voice in their creations.
2. Sam. She’s just so incredibly well developed, and while I have never suffered like she has, I could understand her thought spirals, and relate to how she felt out of control. I think everyone has something about themselves that feels a little beyond their ability to control at times.
3. AJ. He is sweet, thoughtful, and yet not perfect, which made him perfectly believable.
4. Shrink Sue. The way she helps Sam, maintains boundaries, and yet clearly loves her patient is heartwarming.
5. Caroline. She was exactly the friend Sam needed at the time Sam needed her.
I’m glad I gave this book a try. It surprised me in the very best of ways.
I was provided with a copy of this book by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Title: Every Last Word
Author: Tamara Ireland Stone
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Release Date: September 16, 2014
Category: Teen and Young Adult, Romance
Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars
Links to Purchase: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iBooks
About the Author
TAMARA IRELAND STONE is the author of Time After Time and Time Between Us, which has been published in over twenty countries to widespread acclaim, and hailed as “an exciting debut novel” by Booklist and “a warm, time bending romance” by Publishers Weekly. It has been optioned for film by CBS Films.
Her next novel, Every Last Word, is about a teen girl with OCD who’s hiding part of herself from the world, until she discovers a secret poetry club that changes her in unexpected ways. Every Last Word releases on June 16, 2015.
A former Silicon Valley marketing executive, Tamara enjoys skiing, hiking, and spending time with her husband and two children. She lives just outside of San Francisco | literature |
https://www.lavidabaseball.com/la-vida-voices-clemente-biographer-david-maraniss/ | 2021-06-17T16:37:32 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-25/segments/1623487630518.38/warc/CC-MAIN-20210617162149-20210617192149-00217.warc.gz | 0.980062 | 1,876 | CC-MAIN-2021-25 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2021-25__0__72913390 | en | As an author of five books at Latino baseball and history’s intersection, I have a profound respect for other authors. I’m admittedly particularly critical when another author writes on a subject matter in my sweet spot. This was the case when I read David Maraniss’ Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball’s Last Hero, the best Roberto Clemente biography I’ve ever read. It inspired me to reach out and tip my cap as a fan who was simply blown away about a subject matter, I felt I knew best.
Hollywood felt similarly and Legendary Pictures (“42”) acquired the story rights from Maraniss and has attached director, Ezra Edelman (“O.J.: Made in America”), to the feature film project.
Maraniss owns a Pulitzer Prize (’93) for his renowned work at The Washington Post where today he serves as the associate editor. He’s no stranger to biographies having inked books on everyone from Barack Obama (Barack Obama: The Story) and Bill Clinton (First in His Class) to Vince Lombardi (When Pride Still Mattered) to name a few. The Madison, Wisconsin native and D.C. journalism fixture has a byline history that parallels his Midwestern roots to his current presence in the epicenter of U.S. politics.
I was intrigued about David’s attraction to writing Clemente, since I considered it an outlier of sorts from his other subjects, and I wanted to know more about the back story of a white, Midwestern kid’s fascination with the Puerto Rican and Pittsburgh Pirates legend. As a Puerto Rican baseball historian and academic, I should’ve known the transcendent impact of #21 knows no boundaries. Maraniss’ book is a gift to all baseball fans and I’m thrilled I had a chance to connect with David recently to dig in more on his book, the film and his personal backstory. Let’s dig in…
Adrian Burgos, Jr: Tell us about what sparked your love of baseball and your career journey as a journalist and biographer?
David Maraniss: Baseball was always the favorite sport in my family, starting with my dad, who grew up in Brooklyn as a fan of the Brooklyn Dodgers and hater of the New York Yankees. When the Dodgers moved to LA, he changed allegiances to a series of underdogs in the Midwest, including the Tigers, Indians, Cubs, Braves, and finally Brewers. I’ve been a Brewers fan since they came to Milwaukee in 1970. The first day of their first spring training was the day our son Andrew was born, passing along the tradition.
My love of writing has also been a family tradition.
My grandfather was a printer on Coney Island, my dad a lifelong newspaper man, and my mom a book editor, so it was in my blood. Luckily, I say, since I’m pretty incompetent at everything else! My siblings have all been scholars, professors, researchers, or musicians. I was the dumb one in the family who followed my father into newspapers. I’ve been affiliated with The Washington Post for more than 40 years, but in the last two decades I’ve mostly written books.
My interests are wide-ranging, but I only write books about things that obsess me, mostly political and sociological issues and biographies of people whose lives tell us something more about American life than just sports.
AB: I can see that thread in your work, but what inspired you to write on Clemente as a biographical subject? Additionally, how did time with the Clemente family provide further insight into who Roberto was and what he meant to them, Puerto Rico, and baseball?
DM: Clemente was a book I always wanted to write. He was my favorite player when I was growing up. I loved everything about him, the way he walked, the way he looked in his short sleeve Pirates uniform with the black shirt beneath, the way he threw the ball, hit the ball, and that he seemed so passionate and cool at the same time. But I only decided to write about him when I realized I could add something more.
Clemente was that rare athlete who was growing as a human being as he aged, and that he represented all Latinos in his love of his homeland and his pride of place and race, all of which he carried with dignity.
The tragic way that he died added to the drama of the story.
AB: I’m fascinated by your attraction to Clemente as someone with no Pittsburgh affiliation, but thankful! At La Vida Baseball, we aim to share the Latino passion for baseball. How did/has your travels to Puerto Rico, Nicaragua, and perhaps elsewhere in Latin America while researching for your book (and thereafter) impact your understanding of both Clemente and what baseball means to Latinos?
DM: From the beginning I wanted to make it a story about Puerto Rico, about a migrant worker, in a sense, who came to the mainland for work and over the course of two decades won over so many people with his skills and his heart. My visits to Puerto Rico during the research for the book were crucial. Not only meeting and interviewing his widow Vera and the boys but also so many Latino players who considered him their leader – including Vic Power, Juan Pizarro, Orlando Cepeda, and many others.
My way of reporting biography is to go there, wherever “there” is, to understand the culture and geography that shape the life I’m writing about. Pittsburgh was important, but Puerto Rico was crucial. It became clear to me from my many visits that Roberto Clemente was much more than a baseball player; he was no saint, yet he earned saint-like status in his homeland and all of baseball-loving Latin America.
AB: How did writing the definitive biography on Clemente perhaps alter or deepen your appreciation of the experience of Latinos and baseball, whether as players or as fans? What stories or anecdotes from the reception to your book over the years further reveal how passionate fans are about Clemente?
DM: No subject I’ve written about generated more love and respect than Clemente. For so many reasons, wherever I went to talk about the book, I would encounter people who either had surprising interactions with Clemente or had watched him play – and in either case they conveyed a certain awe. Two or three times in various cities people came up to me and said they worked at concessions, selling Cokes or beer or peanuts, at Forbes Field or Three Rivers Stadium and that Clemente always stopped to talk to them and ask how they were doing. Others said variations of, “I was at Wrigley Field”, or “I was at Chavez Ravine”, or “I was at County Stadium”, or “I was at Crosley Field”, and I saw Clemente go deep into the right field corner, field the ball, and fire a rope to third base, and it was the most thrilling throw I’d ever seen. What an arm!
There were always stories about Clemente, and all told with equal amazement.
AB: We are excited that your book was optioned as the basis for the forthcoming Clemente film directed by Ezra Edelman, director of the award-winning “O.J. Made in America” series. What might we (and perhaps you) look forward to in the film on Clemente?
DM: My joke is that all of my books are in various stages of not being made into movies. Meaning Hollywood has bought options for them but none so far have made it to the finish line. When Pride Still Mattered, my biography of Vince Lombardi, did become a Broadway play, but none have become feature films. I’m hoping that Clemente will be the first.
Ezra Edelman has signed on to direct it, and a good friend of his, a Nuyorican, is writing the screenplay. I think of myself as the grandfather of the story, but it will be their movie, and I have complete confidence that – if and when it happens – it will be done right. A previous incarnation of a movie script bothered me because it was too centered on Pittsburgh and white players and announcers and did not do what I wanted a movie to do, which is to center the movie on the feeling of Clemente being Puerto Rican.
AB: Man, I feel like we’re just getting started. I could go on for hours on this. Please keep us posted on the film’s progress and we’d love to check back with you from time to time to dive in deeper on all things Roberto. Also, if you have any in person book events, please let us know and we’ll share with the La Vida Baseball community. I feel a La Vida Baseball book club coming soon!
Be sure to follow DAVID on Twitter!
Featured Image: University of Wisconsin | literature |
http://jonharris.com/bookreviews.html | 2023-12-06T01:57:37 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-50/segments/1700679100575.30/warc/CC-MAIN-20231206000253-20231206030253-00844.warc.gz | 0.976105 | 3,679 | CC-MAIN-2023-50 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2023-50__0__209697430 | en | 'Pro Natural' Book reviews
"This is a great book for someone wanting to lose weight, a bodybuilding enthusiast or just someone who wants to change his or her workouts. This is the book for getting inspired to start a new healthy lifestyle with almost 200 pages to read. I myself am a natural competitive athlete in bodybuilding and I have tried different diets, different training programs, etc. Jon is a top World natural athlete and keeps it very simple without confusing you. Reading different books & forums out there can be very confusing & I just sensed that this book would help me go in the right direction. It has a nice easy reading style and is full of personal stories and photos. It is partly a chronicle of Jon�s career, and partly a fitness book.
One of the greatest strengths of this book is that it is written in an understandable easy read, a straightforward routine with his recommended exercises. Good suggestions on food choices/portions to get you into better shape (low body fat and keep the hard earned muscle). He recognizes that fitness for men and for women is done through hard work. He also points out that to make change takes real work and effort.
Locked inside each of us is the person we want to be. Others might not recognize it yet, but I'm telling you, it's in there. Even against ridiculous odds, what propels you forward and separates you from the rest? P.R.I.D.E., which stands for Perseverance, Responsibility, Integrity, Determination, and Excitement. If you have these five elements in your life, Jon proves you can accomplish almost anything. With effort and time, results will be visible. His beginnings were inspirational. His determination paid in the end after the setbacks.
It's very Important to understand the difference between dreams and goals. Dreams are things we wish for, things you enjoy thinking about but don't really know when they will happen. Goals, on the other hand, are specific things you have decided you need to accomplish within a clearly defined period of time. Jon�s techniques will help you to make your dreams become goals and the goals to become reality. He also shows his daily food journal (contest/off season) on what he does for the day.
Once you think you know it all, that�s where you can get to a stand still in any part of your life. Knowledge is power."
- Tony Montalbano, NPA Pro-Am Champion, Musclemania World Champion
"I bought Jon�s book at the BNBF Manchester show and can�t recommend it enough to anyone thinking of getting it. No matter how much you think you know, there is always something new to learn and the book covers every aspect of BB in a very natural and honest style. Although there is plenty on information out there now on the web, it is still great to have a reference book to pick up at any time that isn�t filled with all the hype and nonsense that covers the magazines nowadays. Just think, if you learn even one thing from the book that makes a difference to you physique (and you will) then it surely justifies the price. Great job Jon."
- Campbell Brogan, BNBF Scottish Champion
"Right you guys and dolls out there, buy Jon's book! I bought one at Edinburgh and I recommend it to any natural bodybuilder, as a bible to have at hand, be it for training, diet, contest preparation etc. Prior to the Sunday Show I was getting all kinds of mixed messages to what I should do or not do, and if I had had Jon's book it would have answered any doubts I had about the advice been given to me. If you wonder what I am jabbering on about, natural and non-natural contest diet preparation is similar but not exactly the same, what works for one might not work for another. On Sunday I think I got it about 90 % right and with Jon�s book I hope to go an extra 10/20 % for the Finals in October. Best wishes to you all, keep pumping a-whey."
- Eric Morris, BNBF British Champion and Natural Powerlifting Champion
"PRO NATURAL was an excellent read and an essential reference that covers every aspect of Bodybuilding from training to offseason and precontest dieting. A bio on Jon and a comprehensive guide to posing. With Jon�s coaching on posing I was able to hit he stage as a first timer and present myself in a more confident manner! DON�T UNDERESTIMATE WHAT POSING COACHING CAN ADD TO YOUR CONTEST PREP!"
"I have just received the book today from Jon. First impressions are the photo of Jon on the front cover - speechless! I have been glued to the book all day. It is very easy to read and understand and VERY informative. The binder style is a great idea and I am sure many other training manuals will adopt this style, it�s a simple but effective idea. Already I have began to change my training plans and re-look ay my year round diet. The chapter on posing is where the book is most valuable to me. I have never seen all of the mandatory poses, or really understood what the judges are actually looking for. I am sure everyone will benefit from this! Thanks Jon, it�s a book that I have been waiting for and it has answered many burning questions!"
- Andy Mac
"Book received yesterday and I have already devoured large chunks of the text. Great stuff, I have enjoyed what I have read so far. For your own sake not sure about the ring binder as it makes it all a little too easy for folks to photocopy, although for the posing section it�s good to lift out the pages and put them on the wall next to a mirror to practise. Only formative comment so far was being a little frustrated by some missing info on your meal plan description. No weight shown next to the food items, so unable to calculate your intake of grams of: PRO, CHO, FAT and daily calories. [Jon: Thanks for the tip Martin much appreciated. I have since added all nutritional breakdowns for the 2006 release of the book.] I�ll keep reading though to see if I haven�t yet reached the part that let�s me identify this. So far the best bodybuilding publication I�ve read that provides clear guidance in an easy to follow no-nonsense fashion. My youngest boy (15) has already shown some signs of being interested in weight training, so at last I have what appears to be the definitive guide. I have to admit to looking back at all the training mistakes and poor guidance I have received over the years and I do regret that information of this standard wasn�t available when I first started pumping iron. Many Congrats."
- Martin Magee
"I received the book you sent me, and can I say I�m REALLY impressed with it! It must have taken you ages to write. It contains all the advice that�s been seriously lacking in all the other books I�ve bought over the years. This genuinely is the ONLY book a natural will ever need � you�ve done a fantastic job, and it deserves to be a sell-out. Many thanks."
- Mark Elliott
"Many thanks for the prompt delivery of your book which I received yesterday. I have read it cover to cover and find it to be one of the most useful books I have ever read. It is nice to read a book which is relevant to the natural bodybuilder and I believe it is a must-have for any bodybuilder who is thinking of competing. Good job."
- Jon Bibb, NPA British Champion
"What a cracking book! I have read a few BB books over the past year, gaining different knowledge and tips from each. I think you can never stop learning about the sport, but in each case I began to wonder if they were aimed at the natural bodybuilders. Your book is simple to digest and you know that the principals are primarily aimed at people naturally building. It was good to read about your past too, giving the book a personal touch and showing that it takes dedication and hard work to get into peak shape, it doesn�t happen overnight! Excellent read and a must have for any natural bodybuilder. Cheers Jon."
- Lee Jerwood
"I received Jon�s book as I was the winner of the quiz posted on the forum a few weeks back. I was at the time saving up to buy the book anyway, and winning it was a bonus! Well there is only really one word to describe Pro Natural and that is - Inspiring! The book is jam packed with information from the novice bodybuilder to I believe professional level. The book contains every piece of information a natural gym rat needs to get ripped for the stage, or even just to reach their goals of sculpting a better body. The section on Jon�s background I feel was the best part of the book, as it highlighted the ups and downs of a bodybuilder, and the feelings he explains I know every bodybuilder out there can relate to! His attitude to never give up shines through. The training and nutrition principles were an enthralling read, and Jon clearly points out that more is not always better. Jon�s weights used are also listed which gives you and indication of how freaky strong the guy is! The nutrition section is also very well written and explains the main differences between off season and competition prep, and I believe if you follow the wise words of the man, you will get shredded for your next competition! To all us newbies out there and people who are looking to compete in there first competition, the posing section will be like a bible to us, as it shows clearly through the use of pictures and words how to hit every mandatory pose in the book and powerful poses that could be used in the evening show. The mental strength section will keep everyone out there suffering with contest prep the enthusiasm and drive to keep on going through those difficult weeks ahead! Overall this book is awesome and I guarantee when you get it you wont put it down! Also I would like to thank Jon for the kind message he wrote in the book to me! This will keep me going over the next year and make all the negative comments and put you downs made by people seem ever-so pathetic! Thanks Jon, you are the real deal."
- Ryan Broomhall
"I received my copy of Pro Natural a few days ago and have completed my first read through. I think it is an excellent piece of work and that Jon has just hit the right balance in terms of the information he provides the reader with. I am particularly impressed with Jon�s openness and how he has been prepared to provide an insight into how bodybuilding has impacted on his personal life. It�s also reassuring to know that someone like Jon breaks his diet and takes time out every so often. I would certainly recommend the book. I�m now going to read it again."
- Chris Cetty
"Being a total novice to bodybuilding up until about a year ago, I needed quality information. This seemed very difficult to obtain apart from the local lads giving advice in the gyms, which was all well and good, but it all conflicted and made me very confused. Aches and pains followed, and it was time to get to the bottom of all this. I never had any interest in taking drugs to help my training, unlike most of the lads training alongside me. I was beginning to think that maybe I was the odd one out. Weeks and months passed. I must have quizzed everybody I came into contact with. I was really getting myself in a rut, then Bingo! I found this web site and things suddenly started to make sense. I had been doing everything wrong, so it was time to correct my errors and get down to business. With the help of this web site and Jon�s book I now have a better perspective on my training. I now know how to train, when to train, what to eat, when to eat, what to take and what not to take etc. My training has never been better. I feel totally confident in all aspects of my new fitness and training schedule. A VERY BIG THANKYOU TO JON AND ALL YOU GUYS ON THIS FORUM FOR SHOWING ME THE RIGHT WAY TO DO THINGS! Keep up the good work."
"Thoroughly recommend this book. Whether beginner, intermediate or with years of competing behind you, there will be something in there. I�ve just started training seriously and I only wish I had something like this when I was younger. So many wasted years not knowing about nutrition and effective training etc! I�m only on my first week using the advanced training programme and whilst it�s hard going, I reckon if I don�t keel over trying it will get me in shape for sure!"
- Darren Cairns
"Jon, the book is awesome. As expected I was totally inspired and went straight out to train legs. I trained with fire in my belly but that fire is now in my bloody legs!!! To anybody who is interested in bodybuilding I would recommend this book. Speaking as a novice, I have read a million articles on training and a million and 1 articles on nutrition. The problem is you never really know how to construct them into a programme, which will give results. With Jon�s book the off-season and pre-contest diets are spelled out, and the training programme is given in detail. I am convinced that if I follow Jon�s diet and training to the letter, then I will achieve my potential. Forget Joe Weider� Jon Harris, trainer of champions!!!"
- John Foy
"Read it cover to cover twice the day I got it, My dads on his second reading and he only plays at training. Jon has pitched it at just the right level. What comes across best is his approach to sensibly enjoy the off-season and then �nose to the grindstone� come pre-contest time, whilst keeping your life balanced work ethic. Glad I spent my money on this rather than putting it towards a PS2! It�s going to live at the side of my sofa, as it�s nice and easy to read a few pages whilst the adverts are on."
- Jamie Allonby
"I received Jon�s book for my birthday a few weeks ago. Have read it all of course, but it�s great for dipping into every-now-and-then. I like the way that Jon comes over as being human. He shows his frailties and self-doubts and this gives comfort to those of us that are mere mortals. As I enter my third week of pre-contest dieting I know I shall be returning to Jon�s book again, and again. I can heartily recommend it."
- Andy Smith
"In my experience training books can often be good to read but hard to translate into natural bodybuilding. However I found Jon�s approach is very down to earth and reader-friendly. I keep going back to it and find as my training progresses I can apply more and more of the information contained in the book. After reading and applying the information to areas of my training and nutrition I can say with confidence that it was money well spent and recommend it to anyone who wants to know more about bodybuilding, or simply how to get into better shape."
- Thor Ahmed
"I received your book Pro Natural a few days ago and have read it cover to cover in one sitting. It is great!!! I wanted you to know how much I appreciated the balanced, no bullshit, unbiased and realistic approach and style. I don�t know if I read anything I was totally unfamiliar with, (I am a Personal Trainer so read avidly on the subjects of health, fitness, nutrition and bodybuilding), but as you are somewhat of a role model to me (I think you are the best Natural Bodybuilder there is!) it was good to read your views and to learn about how you achieved what looks to me the perfect body. Your comments on training and supplementation are a joy to read in an age where we are constantly seduced by the quick fix and the easy options promising fantastic results for little effort. I always knew deep down there was no substitute for determination, commitment and sheer hard work, and that the claims of the supplement companies are largely outrageous, so it was great to read your clear and concise opinions, which are obviously backed up by the proof of your success. The section on competitions, posing, etc., is the best I have seen, though I am a long way from needing it yet. I am 50 and have been seriously training for about a year with good results, but want so much more and it is a slower process at my age, I think, though not, of course, impossible! I train with weights 5 days, a different muscle group each day - the four day split is too exhausting and I find I do better not having the rest day mid-week and spreading the load over the five days - and this is working well for me. With your help I feel I am about to launch off to a new level and looking forward to even better results. I look forward to meeting you in person one day when I come to one of the competitions. Yours with renewed enthusiasm!"
"What a great book. Since being injured I have not been able to train upper body at all for nearly 8 weeks and have watched all my previous years gains vanish ... Reading Pro Natural has given me the passion which had almost gone through frustration. When my shoulder is fully fit I will return to training with more mental energy and drive! I am now determined to get the physique I want rather than hope one day I get it."
- Gary Dyke | literature |
https://cmu-delphi.github.io/delphi-epidata/symptom-survey/publications.html | 2023-12-08T06:10:08 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-50/segments/1700679100724.48/warc/CC-MAIN-20231208045320-20231208075320-00047.warc.gz | 0.700688 | 3,768 | CC-MAIN-2023-50 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2023-50__0__222954011 | en | Since 2020, academic and nonprofit researchers have used data from the US COVID-19 Trends and Impact Survey in peer-reviewed research publications.
Our primary description of the survey and its results over the first year of operation was published as part of the special feature “Beyond Cases and Deaths: The Benefits of Auxiliary Data Streams in Tracking the COVID-19 Pandemic” in PNAS:
- J. Salomon, A. Reinhart, A. Bilinski, E. J. Chua, W. La Motte-Kerr, M. M. Rönn, M. B. Reitsma, K. A. Morris, S. LaRocca, T. H. Farag, F. Kreuter, R. Rosenfeld, and R. J. Tibshirani (2021). The US COVID-19 Trends and Impact Survey: Continuous real-time measurement of COVID-19 symptoms, risks, protective behaviors, testing, and vaccination. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 118 (51) e2111454118.
Research publications using the survey data include:
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Rural–Urban Differences in Vaccination and Hesitancy Rates and Trust: US
COVID-19 Trends and Impact Survey on a Social Media Platform, May 2021–April
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- Rebeiro, P., Aronoff, D, and Smith, M.K. (2021). The Impact of State Mask-Wearing Requirements on the Growth of COVID-19 Cases, Hospitalizations, and Deaths in the United States. Clinical Infectious Diseases 73 (9), 1703–1706.
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- Leanna Morinishi, Kris Barkume, Esther Kim, and Alex Reinhart, February 2, 2021. Home for the Holidays? The Impact of US Holidays on Social Behaviors and Preventative Measures. Delphi blog.
- Alex Reinhart, Esther Kim, Andy Garcia, and Sarah LaRocca, January 28, 2021. Using the COVID-19 Symptom Survey to Track Vaccination Uptake and Sentiment in the United States. Delphi blog.
- Alex Reinhart, October 12, 2020. New and Improved COVID Symptom Survey Tracks Testing and Mask-Wearing. Delphi blog.
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- Alex Reinhart and Ryan Tibshirani, August 26, 2020. COVID-19 Symptom Surveys through Facebook. Delphi blog.
If you have used the survey data, or the aggregate data available in the COVIDcast API, to publish research results, please contact us at [email protected] so we can include your work here. | literature |
http://archives.williams.edu/manuscriptguides/bell/biography.php | 2017-03-29T03:17:32 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-13/segments/1490218190181.34/warc/CC-MAIN-20170322212950-00022-ip-10-233-31-227.ec2.internal.warc.gz | 0.970359 | 628 | CC-MAIN-2017-13 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2017-13__0__274138378 | en | Michael D. Bell was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1941. He grew up in Pittsburgh, attending first Shadyside Academy in Pittsburgh before graduating from the Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. He received his B.A. from Yale University in 1963 and went on to earn his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1969.
He was a teaching fellow in English at Harvard from 1964 to 1968, taught English at Princeton from 1968 to 1975, when he came to Williams College, where he taught English and American Civilization (which became American Studies), chairing the American Studies Program from 1985 to 86, and the English department from 1987 to 1994. From 1981 until his death, he was the J. Leland Miller Professor of American History, Literature, and Eloquence. He also held visiting positions at Middlebury College’s Breadloaf School of English, Williams College’s Telluride Association Summer Program, and Columbia University.
He authored numerous articles and reviews, edited three books, and contributed to such landmark volumes as The Columbia Literary History of the United States and The Cambridge History of American Literature , was a member of the editorial boards of major journals in his field, and was an influential scholar of American literature. He also published three books: Hawthorne and the Historical Romance of New England (1971), The Development of American Romance (1980), and The Problem of American Realism (1993). In each, through subtle and attentive reading, he explored the evolution of literary genres and their relation to literary vocation in American culture and society.
Bell was committed to the goals of a liberal arts college and was a member of the advisory committees for the American and Afro-American Studies programs, served on numerous College committees, and chaired the Committees on Undergraduate Life and Academic Computing. Among his various fellowships and awards, he was a Fellow of the American Council of Learned Societies, received a fellowship and a Summer Stipend from the National Endowment for the Humanities, and a fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.
Bell was diagnosed with cancer in 1992, and his essay, “Magic Time – Observations of a cancer casualty,” which was published in the December 1996 issue of The Atlantic Monthly, describes how he came to accept his approaching death with grace and humor. The latter is demonstrated in the tombstone he had erected in the College cemetery, which has tiny letters at the bottom saying – “If you can read this, you’re standing on me.” It was, as he put it, his last joke.Sources for the biographical note:
Williams College – Memorial Minute (meeting of the Williams College Faculty), speech by Steve Fix, 14 May 1997.
“Michael D. Bell,” Echo, Ligonier, PA, 16 April 1997.
“Area native, literary scholar Bell dead at 56,” Tribune Review, Greensburg, PA, 11 April 1997.
“Magic Time – Observations of a cancer casualty,” Atlantic Monthly, December 1996. | literature |
http://justjuliec.blogspot.com/2012/11/100-posts.html | 2018-05-26T15:34:40 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-22/segments/1526794867559.54/warc/CC-MAIN-20180526151207-20180526171207-00398.warc.gz | 0.9573 | 279 | CC-MAIN-2018-22 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2018-22__0__90306023 | en | This is my 100th blog post!
When I started it during my senior year of college, it was mainly to share some of the work from my Creative Writing class and to document my thoughts on the last semester of what I was told were "the best four years of your life."
I've shared ideas and inspiration, posted about my travels and adventures, talked about my faith journey, and used this to just record my thoughts and hopes for the future. I love blogging and have been feeling more inspired than ever lately!
A few favorite Just Julie posts:
"Blue": My poetry; I loved my Creative Writing teacher because he truly inspired me to continue writing for fun!
"U.S. Travels": I love to travel and have multiple potential trips in my head. Time for a little getaway!
"Adult Truths": Not my own writing, but good stuff, and funny!
"The Art of Contentment": On one of the best sermons I have ever heard. I need to always remember "better than I deserve."
"Windblown in the Windy City: Chicago 2012": My adventures in a fun city with a great friend- hopefully the beginning of an annual tradition!
"A Little Spice": Life should never be boring!
Thanks for following along-- here's to much more writing, reading, and sharing! : ) | literature |
https://pioeblog.blogspot.com/2016_07_01_archive.html | 2018-06-24T03:21:44 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-26/segments/1529267866191.78/warc/CC-MAIN-20180624024705-20180624044705-00110.warc.gz | 0.951337 | 167 | CC-MAIN-2018-26 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2018-26__0__7424469 | en | A review of the effectiveness of strategies and programmes to prevent bullying suggests that in order to substantially reduce bullying in schools a systemic approach needs to be adopted with interventions organized at various levels. Therefore, an ecological model for bullying prevention is presented in the accompanying article that suggests strategies and interventions at the levels of teachers, schools, communities, and society. Examples of interventions that have been found to have evidence supporting their effectiveness have been outlined at each of these levels. Guidelines are presented for schools adopting such an ecological model for addressing bullying and for bringing about the changes needed to implement it successfully.
You can read the entire paper below:
Bullying: An ecological approach by Garry Hornby
Photo from Pixabay
Standing up to bullying is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. | literature |
http://joelesko.com/blog/favorite-books | 2021-11-28T12:31:48 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-49/segments/1637964358520.50/warc/CC-MAIN-20211128103924-20211128133924-00633.warc.gz | 0.954194 | 1,269 | CC-MAIN-2021-49 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2021-49__0__60609220 | en | My Favorite Books
I read a lot, especially non-fiction. Nowadays I read exclusively on my Kindle app, which has about 300 books in it right now.
Here is a list of books that, in one way or another, changed my life or how I view the world.
In no particular order:
Your Money or Your Life, by Robin & Dominguez
An antidote to the spend-everything mindset of modern consumer life, with very achievable ways for average people to reach financial independance.
This book was the key for me in becoming debt-free early in my career.
It is especially relevant nowadays when so many people have massive student loan debt and very little savings.
Getting Things Done, by David Allen
This book helped me get on top of all my tasks — in work and life — in a stress-free way.
My biggest takeaway is to get your task lists out of your brain and recorded in a system that you trust. By doing this, you are letting your mind let go of things that you don’t need to keep stressing about.
My own system is very simple: Just a few lists in a basic text file on my computer.
Growing a Business, by Paul Hawken
The author, drawing on his experience of building two major successful businesses from scratch, offers insights on how to grow a small business organically.
Success doesn’t come from expensive college degrees, or taking big risks, but by providing real value in a way that stems from your own personality and first-hand experience.
A refreshing counterpoint to the amoral approach of business that involves “growth hacking”, “killing it”, and “extracting value” from customers.
The Artist’s Way, by Julia Cameron
A thoughtful book on the creative journey that goes beyond platitudes and provides practical creativity techniques that actually work.
I have found her concept of Morning Pages, a kind of free associative journaling, to be extremely valuable.
All of Julia Cameron’s other books are worth reading, but if you only read one, this is it.
Cerebus Guide to Self-Publishing, by Dave Sim
An all-text comic book by the controversial creator of the long-running Cerebus comic book.
Written before the internet era of blogs and YouTube videos, this was a rare and raw look into the world of a successful solo creator, with tips on productivity, writing and drawing, running an “indie” business, and developing a creative vision.
Flow, by M. Csikszentmihalyi
I read this when it first came out, and it has since become a mainstream theory of well-being.
The author finds that people are often most happy when they are fully engaged in tasks that present the right amount of challenge.
Think rock climbing, reading an immersive novel, or playing a closely-matched chess game.
Over the years, this had led me to chose more positive, creative ways to spend my time, rather than chasing hedonism (though I like some hedonism).
Punished By Rewards, by Alfie Kohn
A controversial book that provides evidence that external awards (prizes, praise, etc.) might be effetive at motivating people in the short-term, but they do so at the cost of our long-term motivation, happiness, and moral grounding.
These external influences actually erode our intrinsic (internal, self-driven) desire to do things because we enjoy them or believe they are important.
This is important for teachers and parents, but is especially relevant today, as so much online content is driven by the desire for Likes, Upvotes, and Followers.
Supported by the evidence provided in Flow.
Feeling Good, by Dr. David Burns
The seminal book by the creator of CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy).
I have found the “rational response” technique to be extremely effective in being able to control excessive negative thoughts.
One of the only books clinically proven to be as effective as anti-depressant medication.
Code Complete, by Steve McConnell
The bible on programming, agnostic of programming language.
I believe reading this book immediately upgraded my ability level from novice to professional.
It’s a huge book, but each chapter is self-contained and easy to read.
Positioning, by Ries & Trout
The classic book on the psychology behind branding and marketing, and why there is usually a clear winner in any given category (Coke, Google, etc.)
Easy to read, but broad in its scope, especially if you’re curious about how companies compete with each other, and what mistakes they have made.
Cosmos, by Carl Sagan
Based on the PBS mini-series by the same name, this is an accessible and inspiring book that covers all of the key topics of science (from evolution to astronomy) with such clarity and humanity that I wish everyone in the world would read it at least once.
A good follow up is The Demon Haunted World, which addresses the importance of critical thinking in a world filled with conflicting ideas and spurious claims. Especially relevant today.
The Selfish Gene, by Richard Dawkins
Evolution is still one of the most controversial and important ideas in all of science, and the perspective in this book is an exciting way to look at it.
The author proposes that genes are the primary vehicles of evolution — not organisms (us!), which can be thought of as just gene carriers.
This book also coined the term “meme”, which has since been diluted by internet culture, but in its original form was a ground-breaking idea — that ideas take on a life of their own.
Metamagical Themas, by Douglas Hofstadter
A fascinating series of articles by the author of the Pulitzer prize-winning Godel, Escher, Bach.
Crammed with challenging ideas ranging from artificial intelligence, music, creativity, word play, and personal identity.
This book was a big influence on how I think about creativity. | literature |
http://www.theportablephoto.com/about/ | 2021-04-18T20:22:34 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-17/segments/1618038860318.63/warc/CC-MAIN-20210418194009-20210418224009-00304.warc.gz | 0.923138 | 348 | CC-MAIN-2021-17 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2021-17__0__273235076 | en | Portable Web is a monthly book review book distributed to 250,000 enthusiastic readers via subscribing bookstores and public libraries. Launched in 2010 and situated in the US, Portable Web functions as a broad-based choice guide to the best new novels published each month. Each of the content in the print edition is submitted on ThePortablePhoto.com monthly.
There’s a story out there for everybody. Even if we meet we’re connected by the tales we tell. We could share worlds, think in figures, and fantasy about tales that just exist within our own minds. The Portable Web offers unbiased, informative, and engaging book reviews which assist writers and readers create that link.
The Portable Web is a group of professional editors, authors, and professors with a passion for the written word. We examine fiction and non-fiction publications in several distinct genres, in addition to conduct writer interviews, and comprehend gifted writers with our Portable Web Award. We’re blessed to work with a lot of creative writers. Thanks for visiting our site.
All material on ThePortablePhoto.com is copyright © 2010-2021 by Portable Web, Inc.
We intend to connect every book buff with their next read. Portable Web addresses all sorts of publications –from literary fiction, biography, and history to favorite genres such as mystery and romance –our book reviews, author interviews, and exclusive features are accessible and informative.
Our Editorial Policy
Portable Web is a choice guide for new novels. Our editors evaluate and choose for inspection the very best books in many different classes. Portable Web is editorially independent; just books we highly recommend are showcased. Any publisher-sponsored content is clearly labeled as such. | literature |
http://www.battlefieldsandbeyond.com/2016/06/somme-remembrance-1st-july-1916.html | 2024-04-15T13:53:19 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2024-18/segments/1712296816977.38/warc/CC-MAIN-20240415111434-20240415141434-00746.warc.gz | 0.975974 | 800 | CC-MAIN-2024-18 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2024-18__0__129508066 | en | As we remember those who fought on the 1st July 1916, many of whom died on the battlefield in hopelessness, I would like to share an extract from a publication in which I have written a fictional tale, based on the diaries of a nurse and a stretcher-bearer, who experienced the horror that was The Battle of the Somme.
Extract from At the Going Down of the Sun in Summer Tales published by Ruler's Wit, July 2016.
© Karen Ette
At the Going Down of the Sun
Friday, 30th June 1916
“No, Sister, leave me be, I’m just about fed up with this splinter on me arm, and this leg – me leg’s very painful!’
Paige smiled at the man with splints on his right arm and leg that he insisted on calling splinters. “Come on, Joe, let me change your dressing,” she urged, “you’re going home today.”
“All right, Sister,” Joe submitted, “but make sure you do it right, I’ll be watching you.”
“I promise I shall.” Paige liked Joe. “But I’m not a sister,” she told him.
Above the continuous roar from the guns a tremendous bang rocked the ground and the roof of the tent beat its gigantic wings above them.
“Be careful, will ya,” Joe scolded, “I don’t want to lose my arm like he has.” He pointed to the man in the next bed with nothing but a blood-stained stump where his arm should have been.
“It’s only Grandmother sending another big one over,” a second-lieutenant with a head wound and lying in a bed opposite called over the racket.
“It sounds awfully close,” Paige said, trying to concentrate on Joe’s splinted dressing when she would really rather have been covering her ears.
“It’s a fifteen-inch Howitzer beside the railway line just behind us,” the junior officer told her. After much cursing from Joe, Paige was able to finish his dressings and move on to the next man in need of attention. Her back ached with all the bending and lifting and the tight collar of her uniform irritated her neck. Eventually Sister signalled to the stretcher-bearers, who had been sitting smoking by the tent’s entrance, to come onto the ward and begin taking these wounded soldiers to the hospital trains. As beds became empty, Paige removed soiled sheets and replaced them with cleaner ones. She was leaning over a bed at the end of the ward when she felt strong arms encircle her waist.
“Hello gorgeous,” Wesley whispered in her ear as he nuzzled her neck. “Ooh, you smell of..” He hesitated.
“Yes?” Paige answered, turning to face him.
“Antiseptic and smoke.”
“I wonder why that is! What in God’s name were you thinking, bringing us here?”
“I thought we could make a difference. You look very fetching in your nurse’s uniform.” He raised his eyebrows and kissed her cheek.
“VAD,” Paige corrected him. “You’ll be laughing on the other side of your face if Sister catches us,” she warned.
Another blast shook the Casualty Clearing Station and Paige fell against Wesley.
“Come on, mate,” a young man dressed in khaki with a red cross on his arm, the same as Wesley had, was calling to him. | literature |
https://animerank.net/anime-poem/ | 2023-09-25T06:18:24 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-40/segments/1695233506686.80/warc/CC-MAIN-20230925051501-20230925081501-00627.warc.gz | 0.918546 | 4,330 | CC-MAIN-2023-40 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2023-40__0__101387794 | en | Anime, a form of Japanese animation, has captivated audiences around the world with its unique storytelling, vibrant visuals, and engaging characters. However, one aspect of anime that often goes unnoticed is its connection to poetry. Anime poetry, a genre that blends the beauty of Japanese poetry with the visual splendor of anime, has emerged as a significant form of artistic expression within the medium. This article will delve into the concept of anime poetry, its cultural significance, and how it enhances the overall anime experience for both creators and viewers.
Looking for more information about anime poems? Explore our extensive anime collection here!
What is Anime Poetry?
Anime poetry is a unique and captivating form of artistic expression that combines the power of visual storytelling with the evocative nature of poetry. It infuses traditional poetic elements such as metaphors, symbolism, and intense emotions into anime narratives. This fusion creates a mesmerizing and emotionally charged experience for viewers.
With its origins deeply rooted in traditional Japanese poetry forms like haiku and tanka, anime poetry draws inspiration from these concise and evocative verses. However, it expands beyond the confines of traditional poetry to incorporate various other styles and genres, giving it a distinct and modern flair.
One of the key aspects that distinguishes anime poetry is its ability to convey complex emotions and evoke powerful imagery through visual and auditory elements. By employing vivid animation, stunning visuals, and captivating soundtracks, anime poetry immerses the audience in an audio-visual feast that amplifies the impact of the poetic themes and motifs.
Metaphors and symbolism play a vital role in anime poetry. They are used to convey abstract or intangible concepts, transforming them into tangible and relatable imagery. By utilizing these literary devices, anime poets allow viewers to explore profound and often philosophical ideas in a visually stimulating and accessible manner.
Moreover, anime poetry delves deep into the realm of emotions. It masterfully captures and portrays intense feelings, ranging from love and joy to grief and despair. By evoking empathy and connecting with the audience on a profound emotional level, anime poetry creates a powerful and lasting impact.
Furthermore, anime poetry embraces a wide range of genres, enabling the exploration of diverse themes and subject matters. Whether it’s a poignant romance, a thrilling action-adventure, or a thought-provoking sci-fi tale, anime poetry can breathe life into any genre, making it versatile and appealing to a wide range of viewers.
The beauty of anime poetry lies in its ability to transcend language barriers. While it is primarily created in Japanese, its universal themes and powerful visuals can reach audiences around the world. Through subtitles and dubbing, anime poetry can be appreciated by a global audience, fostering cross-cultural connections and appreciation.
As an art form, anime poetry continues to push boundaries and challenge conventional storytelling norms. It continuously evolves and adapts to suit the ever-changing tastes and preferences of its audience. With its visually stunning animation, gripping narratives, and profound poetic elements, anime poetry has established itself as a unique and highly revered genre within the realm of anime.
In conclusion, anime poetry is a captivating fusion of traditional poetic elements and anime storytelling. It utilizes metaphors, symbolism, and intense emotions to create a visually and emotionally compelling experience. With its ability to convey profound ideas and emotions, anime poetry has become an incredibly influential and cherished form of artistic expression.
Features of Anime Poems
Anime poems are a unique form of expression that combines the visual art of anime with the written art of poetry. This fusion allows for a rich and multi-dimensional experience that captivates the audience and leaves a lasting impression. Here, we will explore the key features that make anime poems so special.
Vivid Imagery: Painting Emotions with Words
One of the defining characteristics of anime poems is their use of vivid imagery. Just like in anime itself, these poems transport the reader to a world filled with vibrant colors, fantastical landscapes, and unique characters. The words chosen by the poet paint a vivid picture in the reader’s mind, bringing the emotions and actions of the characters to life.
The use of descriptive language allows anime poems to create a sensory experience for the audience. From the taste of a strawberry to the sound of raindrops falling on a rooftop, every detail is meticulously crafted to immerse the reader in the world of the poem. This attention to detail enhances the emotional impact of the poem, making it a truly immersive experience.
Rhythmic Language: Dancing to the Beat
Anime poems often utilize rhythmic language to capture the essence of the anime’s soundtrack. Just like the beats and melodies that accompany anime scenes, the words in these poems flow together in a harmonious dance.
Through the use of poetic devices such as repetition, alliteration, and onomatopoeia, the poet creates a musical quality in the words. This allows the reader to experience the emotions and energy of the anime through the rhythm and cadence of the poem.
The rhythmic language in anime poems creates a sense of movement and fluidity, drawing the reader into the poem’s emotional journey. Whether it’s a fast-paced action sequence or a serene moment of contemplation, the rhythm enhances the overall impact and evokes a stronger connection between the audience and the poem.
Introspective Themes: Reflecting on the Human Condition
Anime poems often delve into deep and introspective themes that explore the human condition. They tackle complex topics such as love, loss, identity, and existentialism, offering viewers a profound insight into their own lives and emotions.
By using the medium of poetry, anime can explore these themes in a more abstract and symbolic manner. Metaphors, allegories, and other literary devices are employed to convey complex ideas and emotions beyond the literal level.
Anime poems encourage self-reflection and contemplation, prompting viewers to question their own beliefs and values. They provide a space for introspection and personal growth as the audience connects with the characters and their experiences.
This introspective aspect of anime poems is what makes them so relatable and thought-provoking. It allows viewers to explore universal themes of the human experience and gain a deeper understanding of themselves and the world around them.
In conclusion, anime poems offer a unique and captivating form of artistic expression. Through vivid imagery, rhythmic language, and introspective themes, these poems evoke emotions and resonate with viewers on a profound level. The fusion of anime and poetry creates a powerful medium that allows for both visual and literary storytelling. Anime poems are a testament to the creative potential of combining different art forms and they continue to inspire and engage audiences around the world.
Check out our top anime recommendations here!
Significance in Anime
Anime poetry is a unique aspect of the medium that adds another layer of artistic expression to the storytelling. With its ability to convey complex themes and emotions in a condensed form, it enhances the overall impact of the anime narrative. Through carefully crafted verses and vivid imagery, anime poems serve as powerful tools for character development, world-building, and the exploration of profound ideas.
One of the primary roles of anime poetry is to deepen the audience’s understanding of the characters and their inner worlds. By showcasing their internal struggles, fears, and dreams through poetic verses, viewers can connect with the characters on a deeper level. This connection fosters empathy and emotional investment in their journeys, making their stories more relatable and impactful.
Moreover, anime poetry serves as a means to explore complex themes and ideas within the narrative. The concise nature of poems allows for the exploration of intricate concepts in a condensed manner, making it easier for the audience to grasp and reflect upon them. Whether it’s exploring existential questions, societal issues, or the complexities of human relationships, anime poetry provides a platform to address these themes in a unique and thought-provoking way.
The visual element of anime enhances the impact of poetry even further. As the verses are recited or displayed on-screen, they are often accompanied by visually stunning scenes or symbolic imagery that complement the emotions conveyed in the poem. This synchronization between visual and poetic elements creates a powerful synergy, intensifying the overall impact of the storytelling and leaving a lasting impression on the audience.
Another significant aspect of anime poetry is its contribution to world-building. Through poetic descriptions of landscapes, seasons, and cultural aspects, anime poems help create a vivid and immersive environment for the story. These poetic reflections on the world within the anime serve as windows into the characters’ perspectives, allowing the audience to better understand their experiences and the influence of their surroundings on their journey.
In conclusion, anime poetry plays a crucial role in the medium by adding depth to the storytelling process. Its ability to convey complex themes, explore emotions, develop characters, and contribute to world-building makes it an invaluable tool for anime creators. Through the combination of vivid imagery, thought-provoking verses, and visual synchronization, anime poetry elevates the overall artistic expression and impact of the medium, creating a unique and captivating viewer experience.
Examples of Anime Poems
Anime has the ability to evoke emotions and convey profound ideas through various storytelling techniques. One such technique is the incorporation of poetry into the narrative. In this section, we will explore five examples of anime series or episodes that showcase impactful anime poetry, highlighting their power in conveying deep feelings and ideas.
1. Whisper of the Heart
Whisper of the Heart is a beautiful coming-of-age anime film directed by Yoshifumi Kondō. The movie follows the journey of a young girl named Shizuku, who discovers her passion for writing after encountering a mysterious cat figurine. Throughout the film, Shizuku expresses her emotions and aspirations through heartfelt poems. The poems not only reveal her inner struggles and desires but also serve as a catalyst for self-discovery and personal growth.
2. Haiku in The Eccentric Family
The Eccentric Family is an anime series that skillfully incorporates haiku, a traditional form of Japanese poetry, into its narrative. Set in Kyoto, the story revolves around magical creatures known as tanuki and their interactions with humans and the Tengu, a mythical creature. The show utilizes haiku to capture the beauty of nature, the ephemeral essence of life, and the profound connections between characters. Through poignant haikus, The Eccentric Family delves into themes of identity, family, and the delicate balance between the supernatural and human worlds.
3. Revolutionary Girl Utena
Revolutionary Girl Utena is a groundbreaking anime series that explores themes of adolescence, identity, and societal expectations. It incorporates poetic elements through the recurring “Rose Bride” poems, which add an ethereal and mystical dimension to the story. These poems, recited by a chorus of voices, foreshadow events, mirror characters’ emotional journeys, and provide thought-provoking commentary on the nature of power, love, and revolution. Revolutionary Girl Utena effectively uses poetry to deepen its narrative and captivate viewers with its symbolism and allegory.
4. Violet Evergarden
Violet Evergarden is a visually stunning anime series that revolves around the titular character, Violet, a former soldier who takes on the role of an “Auto Memory Doll,” writing heartfelt letters on behalf of others. Throughout the series, Violet’s own journey of self-discovery is portrayed through emotionally charged poems and letters. These poetic expressions serve as a powerful tool for Violet to comprehend and convey her own emotions, as well as those of her clients. Violet Evergarden beautifully showcases the transformative power of words and the profound impact they can have on both the writer and the recipient.
5. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is a beloved anime series that features a thought-provoking poem titled “Lost My Music.” In this episode, the eccentric protagonist Haruhi Suzumiya presents the poem in a powerful and captivating performance. The poem reflects Haruhi’s longing to break free from the monotony of everyday life, as well as her desire to find meaning and excitement. “Lost My Music” is not only a captivating piece of poetry but also serves as a representation of Haruhi’s complex character and her yearning for extraordinary experiences.
These examples of anime poems highlight the ability of this art form to convey deep emotions, explore complex themes, and provide viewers with a unique and profound storytelling experience. By incorporating poetry into their narratives, these anime series and episodes successfully capture the beauty of language and its ability to evoke powerful emotions within the audience.
Anime Poems and Character Development
Anime poetry plays a significant role in character development within the realm of storytelling. It offers a unique and poetic way to delve into the inner thoughts, struggles, and personal growth of characters, allowing audiences to connect with them on a deeper level.
One of the primary functions of anime poems is to provide insight into a character’s thoughts and emotions. Through poetic language and imagery, anime poems can effectively communicate the intricate complexities of a character’s mindset. These poems often act as windows into their deepest desires, fears, and conflicts, giving the audience a glimpse into their psyche.
Moreover, anime poems serve as a powerful tool for conveying a character’s struggles. These struggles can range from internal conflicts to external obstacles that they must overcome. Through carefully crafted verses, anime poems capture the essence of these challenges, allowing viewers to empathize with the character’s journey. Each line of poetry paints a vivid picture of the character’s trials and tribulations, making their growth and development all the more profound.
Furthermore, anime poems can contribute to a character’s personal growth and transformation throughout the story. Just as poetry often reflects a poet’s personal growth, anime poems reflect the growth of the characters who create or resonate with them. As characters evolve, their poems evolve alongside them, mirroring changes in their mindset, perspective, and emotional state. This growth can be depicted through shifts in poetic themes, styles, or even the poems’ tone and language.
The impact of anime poems on character development goes beyond mere storytelling. It allows the audience to form a deeper bond with the characters, fostering a sense of empathy and connection. By delving into the inner workings of a character’s mind through poetry, viewers gain a better understanding of their motivations, fears, and aspirations.
Not only does anime poetry enhance character development, but it also adds another layer of artistic expression to the overall aesthetic of the anime. The juxtaposition of visual animation and poetic language creates a harmonious blend of mediums, heightening the emotional impact of both the poem and the character it represents.
Appreciating anime poems as a tool for character development requires a keen eye for detail and an appreciation for the power of language. The infusion of poetic verses into the narrative showcases the artistry involved in crafting multidimensional characters and allows viewers to fully immerse themselves in the anime’s world.
In conclusion, anime poems play a crucial role in character development within the anime realm. They offer a unique and creative medium through which audiences can gain deeper insights into a character’s thoughts, struggles, and personal growth. Anime poetry not only adds depth to the storytelling process but also allows viewers to form a stronger connection with the characters, fostering empathy and appreciation for their journeys.
Discover the beauty of Japanese poetry through our enchanting anime poems here!
Influence on Viewers
Anime poems have a profound impact on viewers, transcending the boundaries of conventional storytelling. Through the combination of beautiful visuals, poignant words, and captivating music, these poetic moments evoke a wide range of emotions within the audience. They possess the ability to stir emotions and provoke introspection, creating a lasting impact on the viewers.
One of the remarkable aspects of anime poems is their ability to express complex sentiments and ideas in a concise and profound manner. Through carefully chosen words, imagery, and metaphors, these verses convey deep emotions and intricate concepts, offering viewers a unique and introspective experience. By combining the power of poetry with the visual storytelling of anime, these poems resonate with the audience on a deeper level.
Moreover, anime poems often serve as a reflection of the characters’ inner thoughts and feelings. They provide a glimpse into their complex personalities, their struggles, and their hopes. These poetic moments allow viewers to develop a deeper connection with the characters, understanding their motivations, and empathizing with their experiences. This connection fosters a sense of intimacy and investment in the story, making it more impactful and memorable.
The emotional impact of anime poems goes beyond the immediate response they elicit. They have the potential to linger in the hearts and minds of viewers long after the episode or movie has concluded. The poignant words and captivating imagery stay with the audience, prompting further contemplation and reflection. These moments of introspection can lead to personal growth and a deeper understanding of oneself and others.
Another significant influence of anime poems lies in their ability to address universal themes and evoke empathy in viewers from different cultural backgrounds. These verses touch upon topics such as love, loss, friendship, and self-discovery, which resonate with people worldwide. The emotional resonance created through anime poems transcends language barriers, allowing people from various cultures and backgrounds to connect and relate to the story and its characters.
Furthermore, anime poems often serve as a source of comfort and solace for viewers. In times of distress or when facing challenging situations, the words of these poems can provide a sense of refuge and understanding. They offer a space for emotional release, validation, and support, reminding viewers that they are not alone in their struggles. Through the power of poetry, anime provides an emotional sanctuary for its audience.
In conclusion, anime poems have a profound influence on viewers, stirring emotions, provoking introspection, and fostering a deeper connection to the story and characters. Their ability to convey complex emotions in a concise and profound manner, reflect the characters’ inner thoughts, and evoke lasting impact make them a powerful tool of storytelling. Anime poems resonate with viewers on a universal level, transcending cultural barriers and providing comfort and solace in times of need. These poetic moments not only entertain but also inspire personal growth and empathy, making anime a truly transformative art form.
Anime poetry is a captivating aspect of the anime medium that enhances storytelling, character development, and viewer engagement through its artistic and emotional qualities. Throughout this article, we have explored the various subtopics that demonstrate the significance of anime poetry.
Firstly, we discussed the origins and history of anime poetry, tracing its roots back to ancient Japanese forms of poetry such as haiku and tanka. These traditional poetry styles have influenced the way anime creators incorporate poetry into their works, allowing for a seamless integration of the medium’s rich cultural heritage and artistic expression.
Secondly, we delved into the impact of anime poetry on storytelling. The use of poetic elements, such as metaphors, similes, and expressive language, adds depth and nuance to the narrative. It allows for the exploration of complex themes and emotions that might be challenging to convey through traditional dialogue alone. By incorporating poetry, anime can evoke a range of feelings, creating a more immersive and emotionally resonant storytelling experience for the viewers.
Furthermore, we examined how anime poetry contributes to the development of compelling characters. Poetic expressions allow for introspection and introspective monologues that provide insight into a character’s thoughts, motivations, and inner struggles. These moments not only deepen our understanding of the characters but also establish a stronger connection between them and the audience. The vulnerable and intimate nature of poetry often allows viewers to empathize with characters on a deeper level, fostering a sense of emotional investment in their journeys.
Additionally, we explored how anime poetry enhances viewer engagement. The aesthetic beauty of visually appealing scenes combined with profound poetic verses creates a mesmerizing experience for the viewers. The synergy between the animation, music, and poetic language stimulates the senses and captivates the audience, making the anime more visually and emotionally compelling.
Moreover, we discussed the significance of poetry in the anime fan community. Poems from popular anime series often become a symbol of fandom and evoke nostalgia among fans. Anime conventions and fan gatherings often feature poetry contests, where enthusiasts showcase their love for the medium through creative writings. The existence of online communities devoted to the analysis and appreciation of anime poetry further exemplifies its impact on fans and the broader anime culture.
In conclusion, anime poetry is a multifaceted aspect of the anime medium that enriches storytelling, character development, and viewer engagement. Its artistic and emotional qualities elevate the anime experience, provoking deep emotions, fostering connections, and leaving a lasting impression on the audience. Whether in moments of introspection, lyrical battle sequences, or nostalgic reflections, anime poetry continues to be a powerful tool in evoking a spectrum of emotions and enhancing the overall impact of anime. | literature |
http://www.lifeguardproductions.co.uk/louys/ | 2013-05-19T20:51:02 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698080772/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095440-00099-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | 0.955889 | 2,008 | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2013-20__0__147522717 | en | The Louys Project, The New Diorama Theatre, Camden Fringe Festival: 17th- 19th August 2011
Devised around Pierre Louys’ Les Chansons de Bilitis and the collected stories of the artists themselves, The Louys Project explores the journey into womanhood and the stories we associate with it. From Classical Greek Myth to contemporary coming-of-age tales, an all-female cast will take the audience on a lyrical, touching, and twisted adventure through a woman’s path to self-discovery.
- Contact: Farah Merani [email protected]
- No public Twitter messages.
Thank you to everyone who came to the New Diorama to see The Louys Project part one last week…it was great fun and has already generated a heap of ideas for the next step…
We want your feedback!
The Lifeguard Ladies
One more day to go until we open at the New Diorama – and I’m still catching up with uploading stuff from rehearsals two weeks!
Here are a few selected videos from the devising process in early August, where we turned the cast’s first kisses into mini dances. (Apologies for my dodgy camera-phone work….)
These all came about through one of our very first rehearsals in early July, when we were looking at Bilitis’ poems about adolescence. There were flutes, and streams, and clay being softly kneaded about her ‘exposed’ breast…..and singing songs together sitting on her would-be lover’s knee.
But we just couldn’t get into it…so we kept the feeling, the innocence about to be transformed, and put some more familiar actions in there instead. As each performer told her story, I asked her to be more and more physically specific about what she did. So we had a series of really concrete actions – which actually became more and more concrete and detailed as we focused more on our memories. Then two performers (who she couldn’t see behind her) acted out what they heard. Then we got the whole group involved, and started re-arranging. Like with Kiss 5 . And that’s the stories of the first kisses.
It’s been a really busy few weeks here in Lifeguard Productions. We’ve been following our question Who Speaks for Women, by building our ‘school of woman’, made up of different ‘classes’, inspired by the Bilitis poems and other media versions which purport to instruct the ‘young women’ of this ‘future society’ in which we live.
I thought I’d share some images and videos from the explorations of the last few weeks.
Below are images from one of the most gruelling episodes, where we explore the political attitudes towards female power.
Taking inspiration from this image – ‘We Can Do It’ – and the Bilitis poems from the central section, in which Bilitis’ ardent desire seems to bully her lover into submission, we played around with ideas of self-assertion, possession and coaching. Farah, who works as a personal trainer, led this class.
When it comes to figuring out your identity, do you need someone else to tell you who you are? And what is the power struggle within this trainer/trainee relationships? We focused in on this dynamic, and found that Farah’s encouragement and love of her group at the beginning, that desire to nourish and nurture them to fulfil their potential, quickly picked up a more incendiary rhetoric.
This turn from earth mother and gentle fascination to emotional tyrant comes from the attitude of Bilitis-as-lover. She begins, when she first falls for Mnasidika, her lover of ten years, completely in awe of her innocence, her wonder at the other’s body. Then, a desire for power and control takes hold – see The Mad Embrace
Moan! Moan! Moan, oh woman!…You’ll suffer less upon this bed in bringing forth a child than you will agonize in bringing forth your love.
Rehearsals for this section have been intense, as the ‘trainer”s increasingly cruel efforts to control and master the rest of the group’s bodies and emotions came from a place of good intention and self- celebration.
Thanks to Nigel Gosling for the bangin’ poster…
For us, Bilitis’s poems boil womanhood down to a series of emotional outbursts. Only when Bilitis loses her looks and becomes ‘useless’ to the young men and courtesans around does she become a poet. And her poems are well-honed punctuations – exclamations! – that always place her development in relation to men and her body.
She seems permanently isolated from the people around her, especially other women. (Is it because these were written by a man, imagining Bilitis’ life rather than sharing in her experiences, that there are no moments where she talks to her friends? Chats with her mum?) By the end though, it’s as if she has decided that she’s ‘complete’, she’s won, she’s done everything a woman should do and now she can give ‘Advice to a Lover’ (one of the poems) and advice to other women – rather wryly, Louys’ translation is prefaced with this:
“This little book of antique love is respectfully dedicated to the young women of a future society.”
As Farah posted in the article last week, Bilitis has been championed as a queer icon, not only because of her open lesbianism, but also perhaps because of the complex authorship of her story and her sexuality. But what we’re focusing on – and this is something that might challenge the relevance, the verity, of Bilitis’s queer authority – is what message Bilitis really presents about being a woman.
If we take a step back from simply identifying with the character, and stand on the frame of the narrative, looking in at the recurring images of the poems, the key moments which have been crafted (by Louys, NOT Bilitis), the construction of Bilitis’ life, her story, and the message of her life, is no different from the most historically stereotyped depictions of female self-discovery. Desire, sex and the body is at the centre of everything. Nature seems to be an uncontrollable aphrodisiac.
When she falls in love, she becomes a possessive, and eventually needy stay at home ‘wife’ (to another woman), and the two eventually drive each other apart. Then, with some finger-snapping single ladies attitude, she decides it’s time to focus on Me, Myself and I…and becomes a courtesan?! And only when she loses her looks does she decide to become a poet – effectively telling us that she’s ‘dead’ as a woman, and only now can write verses in the sand.
There’s a reason that I suddenly segued into Beyonce videos there…it’s because, when you step back and view Bilitis in this way, suddenly the connection with contemporary life is very clear. Her ‘lessons’ in womanhood are not so different from magazines and self-help books – and even those go-get-em put-your-hands-up songs performed by Ms Knowles (or should that be Mrs Shawn Carter?) – that we read now. These kind of images of your ‘first kiss’ – or your 10 steps to getting there with the boy of your dreams – that populate teen magazines. Or the ‘Irresistible Clothes-On Sex Moves’ that Cosmo tell you will definitely keep your man happy.
And how are we going to tie this together? These ‘lessons’ in womanhood?
We’re going back to school. The Louys Project has found its binding structure: ‘school of woman’, as taught by Bilitis, Beyonce and a few other figures of ‘authority’ whose messages and stories have been absorbed by many.
We’ll keep you posted, and upload our homework soon.
On Friday, Ashleigh, Farah, Ari and myself spent a day behind these big aortic doors in the inner chambers of one of Rag Factory’s external units figuring out how the story of Bilitis connects to contemporary representations of a woman’s ‘rites of passage’ and to personal experiences of those rites.
For the past week we’ve been drawing together the information from the poems, personal stories and anecdotes and media images and articles which all relate to the experiences depicted in Bilitis. I somehow felt, on seeing this door, that it was a lovely metaphor for what we’re trying to get into…the big cavernous spaces and real nuts-and-bolts architecture behind those twee images of love and hearts and experiences of desire.
As I was doing some background research for The Louys Project the other day, I came across this article.. a thorough synopsis of the poems from “The Songs of Bilitis” that we’re dealing with and their relevance to contemporary queer identity… not necessarily the focus of our piece, but an interesting perspective nonetheless. | literature |
https://webshop.dutchlightfilms.com/winkel/silence-of-the-tides/ | 2023-05-29T19:29:27 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-23/segments/1685224644907.31/warc/CC-MAIN-20230529173312-20230529203312-00366.warc.gz | 0.899622 | 439 | CC-MAIN-2023-23 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2023-23__0__164571944 | en | Silence of the Tides
€ 39,50 incl. BTW
A LUXURY CINEMATIC GIFT
“One of the 5 best travel books of the season”
Silence of the Tides is the book about the film of the same name and presents a stunning selection of images that take you to the magical realm of the Wadden Sea, a World Heritage Site.
It is the world’s largest, and most varied, uninterrupted intertidal area, extending along the coasts of the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark. It’s all seen through the eyes of an internationally acclaimed filmmaker with a strong cinematographic insight.
Silence of the Tides is a mesmerizing impression of the fragile relationship between humankind and nature, in which the ‘living breathing’ Wadden region takes centre stage. It’s about its tides, its recurring cycles and its contrasts. All set against a stunning backdrop of mist, wind, water, the ever-present horizon and the constantly changing light.
Director Pieter-Rim de Kroon, with his observational style and eye for detail, presents the Wadden region as one massive, living breathing organism, where all the elements interlock, influenced by the position of the Moon and Sun, and the magical energy from the Cosmos.
The images were sourced from the 146,880 frames that make up the 102-minute long film. These Cinemascope ‘film frames’, which are the basis for the book, were personally selected by Pieter-Rim. So, the concept of the director’s cut takes on a special dimension.
Introduction in English, Dutch, German and Danish
Hardback, 192 pages. Publisher: Terra
Author: Pieter-Rim de Kroon
Graphic design: Erik Rikkelman
Language: Engels, Dutch, German, Danish
Dimensions: 314 x 254 x 27 mm (12.99 x 9.45 inches) | literature |
http://www.hippowebsolutions.com/book-review-problogger-secrets-for-blogging-your-way-to-a-six-figure-income/ | 2017-04-27T20:43:15 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-17/segments/1492917122621.35/warc/CC-MAIN-20170423031202-00614-ip-10-145-167-34.ec2.internal.warc.gz | 0.966129 | 973 | CC-MAIN-2017-17 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2017-17__0__298940253 | en | OK, so the sub-title – Secrets for Blogging your way to a Six-figure Income – is a little cheesy, but I guess it’s perfectly in keeping with writing a “good” title for a blog post, so I’ll be generous and say it fits the style.
Yes, authors – although the branding is all ProBlogger, the book is actually a collaboration between Darren and Chris Garrett. Although I’ve been reading ProBlogger for a couple of years, I must confess I’d never heard of Chris before this book. Anyhow, here’s the author blurb on the two of them:
Darren Rowse is the guy behind ProBlogger.net, which has become one of the leading places on the Web for information about making money from blogs. He is a full-time blogger himself, making a six-figure income from blogging since 2005. In addition to his blogging at ProBlogger, Darren also edits the popular Digital Photography School as well as numerous other blogs.
Chris Garrett is a writer, Internet Marketing Consultant, and of course, professional blogger. As well as his own blog, chrisg.com, he writes for many sites including the Blog Herald, FreelanceSwitch, CopyBlogger, and even occasionally ProBlogger.
If you’ve ever read any of Darren’s content on ProBlogger, then you’ll know what to expect. The book’s content is in a similar vein, in fact it’s clear that a lot of the book is a re-packaging of posts that have appeared on ProBlogger in the past. You could see that as a negative, but in fact I see it as a very good thing. How many other authors have been in the position of having their work extensively proof-read and tested by their market before publication, resulting in increased relevance for the reader? Not many, I think.
In my opinion the heart of the book is three chapters:
- Chapter 4 – Blog writing which talks about the nuts and bolts of writing compelling content.
- Chapter 5 – Blog income and earning strategies which provides an overview of the various direct and indirect ways of making money by blogging.
- Chapter 8 – Blog promotion and marketing which outlines ways to grow your readership.
There are also helpful chapters on choosing a topic, setting up your blog (the nitty gritty of domain registration, hosting, which platform to use, etc), buying and selling blogs, and the pros and cons of joining a blog network.
One minor gripe I had when reading through the book the first time is that both authors write in the first person (I, me, mine), but it’s not always clear which author has written a particular section. Perhaps it shouldn’t matter, but it bugged me because the information has much more meaning when read in a particular context. However, each chapter seems to have one main author, so it’s OK once you figure out who’s talking.
The authors talk about writing scannable content on your blog, and have largely heeded their own advice in the book: there are lots of lists, sub-headings, images and asides to break up the text and make it easier to absorb.
Will it make you rich?
Both authors are at pains at various points in the book to point out that blogging is not a way to get rich quickly (or even at all, for many):
Having said that, there are increasing numbers of people making money blogging as their primary income source, and even more earning a supplementary income. It certainly can be done, and reading this book will give you a very good idea of what’s involved to make it happen. In one sense, it’s very easy: just follow in the footsteps of the pioneers. Of course things are never that easy in practice – it takes perseverance, a lot of hard work, and perhaps a little luck to become successful.
This is a good book, both for beginner and established bloggers. It could perhaps have done with a little more editing – there are a few awkward turns of phrase here and there. But this doesn’t detract from the content, which is dense and authoritative. Since I read it the first time, I’ve found myself coming back to refer to different sections again; the book can be read cover to cover, or just dip in and out of the chapters that interest you. Either way, you will be a better blogger if you put the advice into action.
I give Problogger: Secrets for Blogging your way to a Six-figure Income 4 stars. | literature |
http://www.yushinkato.com/no-heaven-up-in-the-sky | 2017-08-20T09:57:49 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-34/segments/1502886106367.1/warc/CC-MAIN-20170820092918-20170820112918-00316.warc.gz | 0.969307 | 190 | CC-MAIN-2017-34 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2017-34__0__212255315 | en | "But this wasn't their God. It's my God. This is a God I have found through sacrificing my own life, through my flesh being cut, my skin ripped off, my blood sucked away, my nails torn, all my time and hopes and memories being stolen from me. This is not a God with a form. No white clothes, no long beard. This God has no doctrine, no scripture, no precepts. No reward, no punishment. This God doesn't give, and doesn't take away. There is no heaven up in the sky, no hell down below. When it's hot, and when it's cold, God is simply there."
-Haruki Murakami, 1Q84
This illustration was inspired by this quote from Haruki Murakami's 1Q84 and the idea of a faceless, nameless "God" existing within each person through their own trials and human experiences. | literature |
http://tracesofglitter.blogspot.com/2009/06/ | 2018-07-16T00:29:19 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-30/segments/1531676589029.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20180716002413-20180716022413-00582.warc.gz | 0.988837 | 317 | CC-MAIN-2018-30 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2018-30__0__195368180 | en | Tuesday, June 2, 2009
I received devastating news when i was notified that my friend Keon was shot and killed in front of his home by a 14 year old. When the words, "Keon's dead" came out of my neighbors mouth, my heart sank from disbelief and hurt. I could not believe that he was gone by the hands of another person. He was about to graduate, which is something a lot of young men do not accomplish.
I know all things happen for a reason, but it still doesn't take away the agony, torment, and heartache. My tears fall constantly leaving streams of pain on my face. As I try to wipe them away, they find a way to creep out of my eyes again. No matter how much Kleenex I use, there will never be enough to make this all go away. I can try to sleep it off and stay busy, but the thoughts of Keon bothering me and trying to hug me slide across my mind like slideshows, leaving me with a smile through the tears I face at night.
It makes no since how someone can take another man's life. Everyone deserves to live. God only has the right to take someone's life. As other people are going on with their lives, I will sit here and continuously think about my little friend, who will not be walking across the stage to receive his diploma. Keon, you will be greatly missed and never forgotten. May God be with your family as well as me during this trying time. Rest in Peace, hun!!! | literature |
https://glen.redmark.dev/no-hassle-secrets-for-ap-lit-free-response-sample-essays-revealed/ | 2023-01-28T22:23:34 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-06/segments/1674764499695.59/warc/CC-MAIN-20230128220716-20230129010716-00855.warc.gz | 0.955947 | 1,424 | CC-MAIN-2023-06 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2023-06__0__287323660 | en | Firstly to know What a Literary Evaluation Essay means, it is a strategy to decide and perceive the work of an writer, even if it’s a single work or a complete physique of labor. The principle half is, for essentially the most half, your personal reasoning about what worries you in the whole story. Show here the evolution of your thought, the moment when your impression and concepts originated, how it developed and what conclusion you finally came to.
In case you have been questioning how one can write a literary analysis essay step-by-step, then look no additional. This text has been designed to help college students face any tutorial problem at all levels. Your thesis in a literary analysis essay is the purpose you wish to make concerning the textual content. It’s the core argument that provides your essay course and prevents it from just being a set of random observations about a text.
As soon as the intro part is finished, proceed to put in writing the physique part. The principle half is an evaluation of a literary work within the side provided by the theme. Do not forget that you should not retell the piece of literary work you’re analyzing. Right here it’s best to spotlight all your ideas, emotions caused by the work.
What did you notice concerning the issues that have been repeated? What behavior does the character often display? Understanding the significance and the usage of repetition will aid you construct up the essay. In a literary evaluation essay instance of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein” discover the habits of the doctor that led him to make his creation.
One of the things that makes The Lord of the Rings so compelling is the way in which the setting and characters work collectively to supply the ultimate affect. The characters make the setting much more potent. As the external setting influences each character the reader sees how the wrestle turns into inside. We are led to believe that the characters are closely related to the earth. The variety of the setting and characters simply propels us to see the individuality of each place. The place a group of caves would possibly give us one thought, listening to Gimli discuss the majesty of his cave expertise helps us to appreciate the variety of the group and to see it by means of a cave dwellers eyes. “These aren’t holes,” said Gimli. “This is the great realm and metropolis of the Dwarrowdelf. And of old it was not darksome, but full of light and splendour, as is still remembered in our songs”(307).
Academic writing is difficult. There is no doubt about it. If you happen to thought you had been the only student discovering essays difficult to write, you were unsuitable. Virtually every single student across the globe faces difficulties with these assignments. The stress is big. It’s important to complete every bit of content by a strict deadline, and it’s a must to make it good in order for you a high grade. It’s no wonder why students decide to rely on the very best on-line essay writing service. The pressure is just too heavy to deal with with out assistance from the surface. So we make it simple for college students to get such help. They’ll work with skilled writers at our web site.
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Major Factors For literature essay – An Intro
The style specificity of the work, which reveals a mess of its meanings, is set not solely by the combination of steady and individual beginnings but in addition by the truth that the work belongs to a sure literary movement. The identical genre in several literary directions acquires new features. For instance, a romantic poem with its agony to the exclusivity of characters and conditions is very completely different from a realistic one, with its historical and psychological accuracy in the growth of characters, even within the creative approach of 1 writer. The sentimental novel with its entertaining plot and the usage of options of the epistolary model is a totally completely different entire compared to the practical novel, which is distinguished by broad socio-historic generalizations, the richness and number of motivations and associations, and the typological depth of generalization.
This immersion, whereas an distinctive accomplishment, is only one a part of what brings readers into Tolkien’s world. The characterization makes readers really feel as if they really know the creatures in the story, while the setting makes readers really feel as if they chickamauga short story are walking alongside these characters on their journey via Middle Earth. When these two are combined, readers really feel as if they change into an integral part of the story.
Collecting material to answer or help your question is often a time-consuming stage, as a result of many of the close reading will occur here. It’s essential for students to know that they are allowed to research the topic or textual content before starting to write. Many college students feel that they shouldn’t be utilizing Google or Wikipedia to analysis their texts. Here is where the instructor can have an sincere dialogue about digital citizenship, and the best way to tell credible academic sources from non-credible ones.
You need to make a brief description of the characters to understand easy methods to do a literary evaluation correctly. In any interpretation, there must be a attribute of the narrator, the main characters and their relationships. The principle personages most of all reveal the theme of the work, affecting the plot. The events occur and the composition develops around them. Therefore, it is vitally essential to research the characters and their influence on the exterior setting. After all, you should also discover the narrator’s position. There are a number of varieties of narrators, comparable to a raconteur (an impassive observer, distanced from what is going on, acting as a creator), a primary-person narrator (who provides information about events neither clearly nor not directly and who doesn’t reflect on what is going on).
It is the last section of your literary evaluation that provides you along with your final probability to convince readers of your stance and give them a way of closure. Summarize and lengthen your major argument. Your sophisticated literary analysis conclusion mustn’t solely restate a thesis or sum up the logic of all paragraphs, however it additionally suggests a broader position of your total dialogue. Why does it matter? And not using a logical conclusion, your literary evaluation won’t achieve success. | literature |
http://rositacortez.com/marketing/the-dragonfly-effect-4-principles-of-engagement/ | 2013-12-08T17:01:22 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-48/segments/1386163069032/warc/CC-MAIN-20131204131749-00085-ip-10-33-133-15.ec2.internal.warc.gz | 0.950596 | 1,714 | CC-MAIN-2013-48 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2013-48__0__35021039 | en | I recently read the book The Dragonfly Effect by Jennifer Aaker (@aaker) and Andy Smith (@kabbenbock). The book is packed with case studies from nonprofits and how they are leveraging the power of social media to do something good. From Charity: Water and Alex’s Lemonade to Kiva and Tom’s Shoes, the authors tell the stories of how these organizations are using social technologies to engage and inspire people to participate in movements for change.
It’s true that a dizzying number of people have written about the mechanics of using social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter or YouTube. But only a few are writing about how to use social media to do something that really matters. The authors of The Dragonfly Effect fall into the latter category. Like you, I wanted to know more about how nonprofits can harness the power of social media to deliver positive change, so I contacted Jennifer Aaker. She graciously agreed to an interview and now I am passing it along to you.
Design Principles of Engagement
RC: Can you expand a bit more on how to make people connect with a nonprofit’s goals? How do nonprofits engage people through social media so that they really connect with the mission of the organizations?
JA: Chapter 3 of the book explores how to create a personal connection, accessing higher emotions, compassion, empathy and happiness. It’s about empowering the audience to care enough to want to do something themselves…and actually do it. Think of it as forging a connection, deep and real.
The engagement strategy has 4 main components: tell a story, empathize, be authentic and match the media. Let’s explore these four principles with the case study from Charity: Water.
Charity: Water: Using Social Media to Engage Supporters
Scott Harrison was at the top of his world. The New York-based nightclub and fashion promoter, who excelled at bringing models and hedge-fund kings together and selling them $500 bottles of vodka, had money, power, and beautiful girlfriends. Yet his lifestyle brought something else: misery. Harrison felt spiritually bankrupt.
So he walked away and [instead] volunteered for a floating hospital offering free medical care in the world‘s poorest nations. Serving as the ship’s photojournalist, Harrison was quickly immersed in a very different world. Thousands would flock to the ship looking for solutions to debilitating problems—enormous tumors, cleft lips and palates, flesh eaten by bacteria from water-borne diseases. Harrison‘s camera lens brought astonishing poverty and pain into focus, and he began documenting people‘s struggles, and their courage.
After eight months, he moved back to New York—but not to his former life. Aware that many of the diseases and medical problems he witnessed stemmed from inadequate access to clean drinking water, he founded Charity: Water, a nonprofit to bring clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations.
Harrison launched the organization on his 31st birthday by asking friends to donate $31 instead of giving him a gift. It worked: the birthday generated $15,000 and helped build Charity: Water‘s first few wells in Uganda. In the three years that followed, Harrison‘s simple birthday wish snowballed into donations totaling $13 million, which translated into 1,548 water projects assisting more than 800,000 people.
The reasons for Charity: Water‘s success can be explained through four design principles for generating engagement with your brand through social media. First, tell a story. Find simple, compelling stories to convey critical information. Second, empathize with your audience: let it engage with your brand to learn what’s important to them and how it relates to your campaign. Third, emphasize authenticity. True passion is contagious, and the more authentic you appear, the easier it is for others to connect with you and your cause. Finally, match the media with the message. How and where you say something can be as important as what you say.
Harrison’s personal story—evoking themes of redemption, change, and hope—engaged others on an emotional level. By candidly discussing why and how he started Charity: Water in media interviews and YouTube videos, the thoughtful and accessible thirty-something Harrison helped viewers fall in love with him and his cause by showcasing what was possible.
Charity: Water also found a way to evoke empathy through the use of photographs and videos that revealed the urgency of the water situation in the developing world. Instead of relying on statistics, the organization promoted compelling stories to its audience: the 15-year-old boy in Murinja, Rwanda, who no longer walked five times a day with a 20-pound Jerry Can on his head to get necessary water; a mother in Uganda who now had water to grow vegetables, clean her children‘s uniforms, and bathe; the people of Rio Platano, Honduras, who no longer get sick from contaminated water. The approach forced people to think about what it would be like to live without access to clean water.
Charity: Water’s campaign evoked the third principle of engaging with people—authenticity—through its commitment to transparency. Donors not only understood the history that gave rise to the organization but knew exactly where their money went. Reports and updates on the organization’s website connected them directly to the results of their generosity.
Finally, Charity: Water excelled at matching the media to its message. The group had a staff member dedicated to regularly updating various social media platforms and creating distinctive messages for Twitter and Facebook fan pages. It also relied heavily on video. One of Charity: Water’s most effective video projects involved convincing Terry George, the director of the film Hotel Rwanda, to make a sixty-second public service announcement in which movie star Jennifer Connelly took a forty-pound gasoline can to Central Park, filled it with dirty water from the lagoon, and brought it home to serve to her two children. The producers of American Idol agreed to broadcast the spot during the show, ensuring that more than 25 million viewers saw it.
RC: This is the kind of example that nonprofits need to know about. The nebulous concept of “engagement” is now translated in actionable steps that anyone can do. I particularly like how stories can inspire others. Any closing thoughts on this topic?
JA: Empathize. Listen to others. That allows you to feel what they are feeling, and understand what is meaningful to them. Emotions are contagious. Meaningful purpose garners extraordinary support. The right idea—seated in emotion—grows exponentially. Take how Jessica Jackley, while earning her MBA, raised money online to bootstrap entrepreneurs in the developing world. Now Kiva.org has made over $120M in micro-finance loans with the assistance of individuals who have made loans.
And tell stories. Stories are sticky: they bring facts to life and infuse them with passion. Physiologically, our brains are hardwired for stories to organize and orient information. And psychologically, we need patterns to understand. Stories also increase the chance that your audience will remember your message (humans remember only 1%-10% of what they hear). Salient, meaningful messages, however brief, mobilize communities.
RC: Thanks, Jennifer.
Want to win a copy of The Dragonfly Effect?
I am giving away 1 copy of the book. If you want to win this copy, leave a comment or like this post. The winner will be announced a week from today’s post.
Unlike my other posts, I am featuring a book– a book I encourage you to buy. Why? I learned from Jennifer that the net proceeds of this book are going to seed social good businesses and toward building a bone marrow registry in India. Check out the video below featuring Jennifer (great presentation, as usual) and The Dragonfly Effect website.
And check back soon as I will be sharing more insights from Jennifer Aaker, co-author of The Dragonfly Effect.
Below are other great posts exploring how nonprofit and corporations are using social media tools to increase their brand profile, manage their reputation, empower supporters and connect with new constituents.
1- The Dark Side of Social Networking. Fast Company.
Where did JPMorgan Chase & Company go wrong? | literature |
http://left-shop.com/product/the-exercise-of-freedom/ | 2020-10-29T02:13:43 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-45/segments/1603107902683.56/warc/CC-MAIN-20201029010437-20201029040437-00487.warc.gz | 0.942206 | 483 | CC-MAIN-2020-45 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2020-45__0__213672631 | en | The Exercise of Freedom
‘Editors K. Satyanarayana and Susie Tharu have drawn from their previous experience editing anthologies of Dalit writing from south India to collate poetry, essays, memoir and fiction into an immersive experience of Dalit literature as both aesthetic and socio-political identity.’— LiveMint
Read an excerpt published in the Hindustan Times.
This anthology, for the first time, showcases the best of dalit writing from across India: B.R. Ambedkar to Devanoora Mahadeva, Chentharassery to M.M. Vinodini. The editors argue that dalit literature is not merely a literary practice or a trend but a social movement invested in the battle against injustice; it is the exercise of freedom. This literature encompasses diverse forms of intellectual and creative work by those who, as untouchables, are victims of economic, social and cultural inequality. Dalits bring points of view, interests, insights and directions that grow out of their experience and their aspirations. Over the past few decades dalit literature has transformed the understanding of untouchability, caste and the nature of Indian society and politics.
Susie Tharu is professor in the Department of Cultural Studies, EFLU, and a founder member of Anveshi, Research Centre for Women’s Studies, Hyderabad. She is the author of several influential papers on literary and cultural theory and history. She has been active in the Indian women’s movement and is a member of the Subaltern Studies Collective. Tharu is co-editor of the two-volume anthology Women Writing in India, as well as No Alphabet in Sight and Steel Nibs are Sprouting.
K. Satyanarayana is Associate Professor in the Department of Cultural Studies, English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU), Hyderabad. Active in the student movement during the 1990s, he was founder-general secretary of Kula Nirmoolana Porata Samiti (Forum for Caste Annihilation). He also edited the little magazine Kulanirmoolana. His research interests are in the field of dalit studies and literary history. He is co-editor of No Alphabet in Sight and Steel Nibs are Sprouting, two comprehensive anthologies of dalit writing from South India. | literature |
http://www.thegnominglibrarian.com/2013/06/i-kill-giants-graphic-novel-review.html | 2019-04-26T02:25:50 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-18/segments/1555578747424.89/warc/CC-MAIN-20190426013652-20190426035652-00517.warc.gz | 0.952485 | 284 | CC-MAIN-2019-18 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2019-18__0__142126567 | en | Wednesday, June 5, 2013
I Kill Giants: a graphic novel review
Publisher: Image Comics, Inc.
Info: 2010, 184 pages
A review in 10 words (or thereabouts): Dungeon master, giant slayer, and young girl learning about life and death.
Barbara Thorson, a girl battling monsters both real and imagined, kicks butt, takes names, and faces her greatest fear in this bittersweet, coming-of-age story.
I Kill Giants is a graphic novel with heart. Young Barbara Thorson fights giants. She carries around her magical sword (nicknamed Coveleski), secreted away in a small bag, sets traps near the beach, and keeps watch for the return of the fiercest giants of all, the titans. She's an outcast at school who has trouble making friends, and the school therapist keeps wanting to make her talk about the real giants affecting her life. There are giants that she will never defeat and friendship that she must learn to accept.
I don't want to give too much away, but this is a heartbreaking story of a young girl accepting death. She's independent, stubborn, and so much stronger than she gives herself credit for. This is a must read, and it's a quick read, so check out I Kill Giants by Joe Kelly and illustrated by J.M. Ken Miimura. | literature |
https://documentairenet.nl/andrew-solomon-depressie-het-geheim-dat-allemaal-delen/ | 2022-07-07T04:24:43 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-27/segments/1656104683683.99/warc/CC-MAIN-20220707033101-20220707063101-00236.warc.gz | 0.696743 | 516 | CC-MAIN-2022-27 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2022-27__0__238181778 | en | “Het tegendeel van depressie is niet geluk, maar vitaliteit, en het was vitaliteit die me op dat moment leek te ontglippen.” In een talk die zowel welsprekend als ontredderend is, neemt schrijver Andrew Solomon je mee naar de donkerste hoeken van zijn geest tijdens de jaren dat hij tegen depressie vocht.
Dat leidde hem naar een verhelderende reis over de hele wereld voor interviews met anderen met depressie — om tot zijn verbazing te ontdekken dat, hoe meer hij erover sprak, hoe meer mensen hun eigen verhalen kwijt wilden. (Gefilmd op TEDxMet.)
[tab:Ted Versie met Ned. ondertiteling]
“The opposite of depression is not happiness, but vitality, and it was vitality that seemed to seep away from me in that moment.” In a talk equal parts eloquent and devastating, writer Andrew Solomon takes you to the darkest corners of his mind during the years he battled depression. That led him to an eye-opening journey across the world to interview others with depression — only to discover that, to his surprise, the more he talked, the more people wanted to tell their own stories.
Andrew Solomon’s newest book, Far From the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity, tells the stories of parents who not only learn to deal with their exceptional children, but also find profound meaning in doing so. Solomon’s startling proposition is that diversity is what unites us. He writes about families coping with deafness, dwarfism, Down syndrome, autism, schizophrenia, multiple severe disabilities, with children who are prodigies, who are conceived in rape, who become criminals, who are transgender.
While each of these characteristics is potentially isolating, the experience of difference within families is universal, as are the struggles toward compassion and the triumphs of love Solomon documents in every chapter. Woven into these courageous and affirming stories is Solomon’s journey to accepting his own identity, which culminated in his midlife decision, influenced by this research, to become a parent. | literature |
http://www.catherinewphotography.com/milwuakee-newborn-photography-wisconsin/ | 2024-04-23T19:35:54 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2024-18/segments/1712296818740.13/warc/CC-MAIN-20240423192952-20240423222952-00642.warc.gz | 0.994863 | 550 | CC-MAIN-2024-18 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2024-18__0__10183907 | en | It’s odd how such a painful day can end up being so close to your heart. I knew when I found out I was pregnant that I wanted pictures of this day. The questions I had were “who’s going to take them?” and “how’s this going to work?” I decided I would take pictures, and I would teach my husband how to use my camera so he could take some as well (funny enough I was a little busy during this time). As many many people will tell you, it was an incredibly…intense time. My daughter was born at 10:47 am on a Thursday morning. That moment was so incredibly surreal. I had a daughter. My nephew (who is three) used to ask me if he could see the baby when I was pregnant. Of course that wasn’t possible. But all of a sudden here she was. She was no longer this unseeable thing in my stomach that kicked me at inconvenient times. It was real. SHE was real. My daughter. As odd as this may be, the thing that threw me off the most was that she had hair; for some reason I didn’t expect that. She came into the world screaming at the top of her lungs, ready to take on the world! One of the most precious memories for me was seeing my husband interact with her for the first time. The nurses had taken her to get cleaned up under the heat lamps. She was screaming and crying, so Jeff went and put his face close to hers. She instantly stopped crying and stared into his eyes. They locked eyes for a few moments, and when he pulled away, he had tears in his eyes. In that beautiful, emotional, exhausted moment, he fell in love. And then he held his daughter.
I watched all of this from my hospital bed. I watched him fall in love, I watched my parents hold her and also fall in love. I watched her join this world and alter our family forever. And in the midst of it, we took pictures. Jeff took pictures of me, I took pictures of him, and we both took pictures of her. And now my daughter is 4 months old. She smiles, rolls over, plays with her feet, poops a lot, and loves her mum and dad. But I will forever cherish that day. Despite the pain (and I could tell some funny stories about that part of it as well), I will forever remember that day as a beautiful day.
And for those curious about the headline on the day she was born- November 3rd, 2016: “The Chicago Cubs Win the World Series” | literature |
https://wpmu2.azurewebsites.net/nlt/2018/07/12/the-peoples-perspective-expectation/ | 2024-02-27T23:22:27 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2024-10/segments/1707947474688.78/warc/CC-MAIN-20240227220707-20240228010707-00226.warc.gz | 0.961272 | 517 | CC-MAIN-2024-10 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2024-10__0__67415004 | en | “Moses continued, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him. For this is what you yourselves requested of the Lord your God when you were assembled at Mount Sinai. You said, ‘Don’t let us hear the voice of the Lord our God anymore or see this blazing fire, for we will die.’
Then the Lord said to me, ‘What they have said is right. I will raise up a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites. I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell the people everything I command him. I will personally deal with anyone who will not listen to the messages the prophet proclaims on my behalf. But any prophet who falsely claims to speak in my name or who speaks in the name of another god must die.’
But you may wonder, ‘How will we know whether or not a prophecy is from the Lord?’ If the prophet speaks in the Lord’s name but his prediction does not happen or come true, you will know that the Lord did not give that message. That prophet has spoken without my authority and need not be feared.” Deuteronomy 18:15-22, NLT .
At times throughout Israel’s history, the people looked expectantly for the “prophet like Moses” who was prophesied in these verses. Such was the case during Jesus’ ministry when people wondered if he could be that prophet (John 1:21; 6:14, for example). And when God spoke from heaven to endorse his Son, he echoed the words of Deuteronomy 18:15: “Listen to him”
(Matthew 17:5; Mark 9:7; Luke 9:35). Like Moses, Jesus would deliver God’s people from captivity and institute a new covenant.
This expectation for a Messiah seems to be a universal need. We see it throughout history, in literature and film, across numerous cultures, and in our own lives. Ancient Israel looked ahead for “the one”; we look back to Jesus’ first coming and also ahead, knowing he is coming again. God has embedded expectation into us as an instinct designed to draw us toward him. Cultivate it and let it pull you into his promises. He doesn’t provoke expectations without fulfilling them.
Devotional Taken from the Dancing in the Desert Devotional Bible | literature |
https://jeffpolingjr.com/2013/11/02/november-2-im-not-a-wanderer/ | 2018-08-20T22:22:06 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-34/segments/1534221217354.65/warc/CC-MAIN-20180820215248-20180820235248-00515.warc.gz | 0.978794 | 537 | CC-MAIN-2018-34 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2018-34__0__45377316 | en | When graduation was upon me, I tired of being asked what my plan was. I didn’t know what I was going to do, and I felt the pressure of expectations, namely getting a job (as if I didn’t already have one) and instantly taking off in your career. So I decided that I was going to start answering that question in this fashion (and I probably did in a blog at one point or another:)
I’m just going to keep going in the same direction I’ve been going.
Now, to a point that was a good answer, because I was referring to where I was in ministry. I intended to keep teaching kid’s ministry, being on the worship team, etc.
But what I failed to take into consideration was the process of becoming a leader. See, I had good intentions, but I default to following, and when you’re called into leadership (which is the premise on which I was operating,) God has to readjust that default setting towards leading and not following. I’ve found that this happens by God transforming my thinking, and I mean several things by that.
First, I’m learning that sometimes leadership is go, go, go. Get ready for your life group. Do your homework. Prepare a sermon. Spend time in prayer and in the Bible. Go work at your job. Love your friends and family. Be a friend and family member. Work overtime sometimes. Be there when someone needs you – that is, don’t deny your service just because you’re lazy and want a little bit of “me” time.
Second, I’m learning that leadership is not a private matter. That is, leaders live their lives in the open, and as much as I want to go about my business quietly and silently, that’s not necessarily an option. What I mean by that is that – for one small example – if one wants to lead by example, then one must let the example be seen. A leader’s life must be shared and can’t be hoarded anymore.
Third, leadership is a constant direction. That is to say this:
I can’t be a wanderer anymore.
I can’t just drift through life without a plan any longer, I can’t pretend that my own life doesn’t have consequences for others anymore.
Leadership is a weight, but leadership is not a burden, and that burden demands direction and deliberate thinking.
That’s all for today. | literature |
https://www.cloudentrepreneur.biz/love-quotes-for-wife/ | 2021-01-25T12:46:19 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-04/segments/1610703581888.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20210125123120-20210125153120-00572.warc.gz | 0.94471 | 4,993 | CC-MAIN-2021-04 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2021-04__0__47575104 | en | When love quotes for wife are used, they are like flowers which bloom at least once in everybody’s life. Using these love quotes on your wife is the time when she feels on the seventh heaven and ninth cloud. In order words, when you fall in love it is very obvious you would like to pour your heart to the one who rules it.
The love quotes for wife from husband expresses the deepest feelings which mere words can’t. These romantic love messages for wife can be added in your love letters, and also sent as text messages.
At a touch of love, everyone becomes a poet is a famous quote about love by Plato. This is very true as and when the person falls in love. All his feelings come out in the form of a poem. Love quotes for wife can be in any language but the feeling remains the same. It is not easy to define love but these famous quotes on love describe every mood of it. It is very true when Henry Ward Beecher says, I never knew how to worship until I knew how to love.Heart touching love quotes to build an unbreakable love life #lovelife #lovequotes #love Click To Tweet
Above all, It doesn’t matter if you are newly fallen in love or bask in the glory and passion of love. You can include these deep love messages for a wife either in your e-card or valentine cards and cherish your love. There are some quotes with the tinge of humour, which allows both the lover and the beloved to smile. As a result, bringing joy and fun in the relationship.
Below are some famous in love quotes for wife from husband to help build and strengthen your love lives.
Table of Content
- Love quotes for wife
- Love quotes for wife from husband
- Romantic love quotes for wife
- Heart touching love quotes for wife
- Deep love messages for wife
- Love messages for wife from husband
- Love messages for wife
- Short love quotes for wife
- Famous in love quotes for wife
- Best love quotes for wife
- Emotional love quotes for wife
FAMOUS LOVE QUOTES FOR WIFE
A hardworking wife that supports and stands by you during good times and hard times, is a wife that should be treasured every day. Showering her with these famous in love quotes will bring a smile to her face and loving feelings to her heart. This also shows how much of a world she means to you.Famous love quotes for your better half. #lovequotes #love #quotes Click To Tweet
1. Your smile is the reason why I have a twinkle in my eye and love in my heart.
2. You rang the bell to my heart, and it echoes “I love you.”
3. You may not hold my hand for long, but you hold my heart forever.
4. I promise to handle your heart with care and treasure it with love.
5. The power of your smile should never be underestimated. It melts my heart and touches my soul.
6. You are the winner and the sole owner of my heart.
7. Loving and romancing you is my hobby.
8. My heart skips and sings whenever you are near.
9. Your flaws are perfect for the heart that is meant to love you.
10. Your smile is intoxicating. It lingers, it captivates my heart.
11. You’re gonna have to stop being so gorgeous because my heart is about to beat completely out of my chest.
12. Thank you for stealing my eyes from the crowd and stealing my heart from me.
13. I surrendered my heart to you the day we met.
14. I’ll forever carry you and hold you in my heart.
15. My heart is guaranteed 100% yours.
16. You are the icing on my cake, the A to my OK and the heart to my soul.
17. I promise to handle your heart with care and treasure it with love.
LOVE QUOTES FOR WIFE FROM HUSBANDlove quotes for wife from husband #lovequotes #relationship Click To Tweet
18. The power of your smile should never be underestimated. It melts my heart and touches my soul.
19. I crown you the Queen of my heart.
20. You are the winner and the sole owner of my heart.
21. You have captivated my heart and soul forever.
22. In all the world, there is no heart for me like yours. In all the world, there is no love for you like mine
23. You are the rainbow in my sky, you are the sun in my life, you are the half that makes me whole, you are my heart, and you are my soul.
24. You are the light that guides my life, you are the road that leads me home, you are the keeper of my heart.
25. You are sorta, kinda, pretty much always, 24/7 in my mind and my heart.
26. I love you and will love you forever, I love you with all my heart. And will always love you.
27. With every beat of my heart, my love for you grows stronger. You’re the rhythm that keeps me steady on the march through life.
28. You have the key to my heart, and it’s eternally yours. My heart belongs solely to you.
29. I promise to hold you forever in my heart as long as I live, and I promise to love you until my last breath.
30. You gave your smile to me; you gave your heart to me, you gave me everything that I will ever need.
31. Home is where my heart is, home is with you.
32. There is never a time or place for true love. It happens accidentally, in a heartbeat, in a single flashing, throbbing moment.
ROMANTIC LOVE QUOTES FOR WIFERomantic love quotes for wife #lovequotes #marriage Click To Tweet
33. It’s going to be one of such great nights again. So great because you made my day, my dear. Thanks for being there all the time. Good night.
34. No one else loves me the way you do. No one else makes me feel the way you do. I am loving you all my life for this.
35. I wake in the morning thinking about you and lay down at night with the same beautiful thought on my mind.
36. You have no idea of the amount of happiness you brought into my life.
37. There is no other woman in the world like you. I am the luckiest man alive to be able to call you mine.
38. You are, and always have been, my dream girl. Even before I met you, your vision was in my mind just as you are.
39. Everything you do is a source of joy for me. I can never be sad when I’m around you.
40. I sit here all day waiting for the moment I’ll see your face, and maybe I’ll get a hug. So disappointing that it all ended a daydream.
41. When I think of how lovely my heart always comes, I wish I climb the highest of mountains to tell how it has ever been having my life around yours. Good night my heart.
42. Just when I thought of giving up to the fate that true love doesn’t exist, you came and showed me the best of it. Thanks for being you for me.
43. If my love is a vehicle, you are sure the fuel that ever has been giving it all it takes to move. You are my very best, forevermore.
HEART TOUCHING AFFECTION SAYINGS FOR WIFE
Loving your wife with all your heart, without any uneasiness or doubt is a sure guarantee formula for a successful marriage. Use these heart touching love quotes for wife to make her feel loved daily.Heart touching affection sayings for wife #lovequotes #marriage Click To Tweet
44. For you, I may be just one person, but for me, you are the world.
45. I promise to always treat you like a queen. You reign over my heart, and your wish is my command.
46. Two hearts ran to the end of the world. They recognized each other’s eyes at the final border of the end and infinity. At that particular moment, they hugged each other. No one dares to separate them.
47. Everything you do is a source of joy for me. I can never be sad when I’m around you.
48. If there was a card which said the right words, I would have bought it, but there wasn’t, that’s why I’m writing this… I Love You!
49. I don’t have much to give you. I’m not a rich man. What I can promise is that everything I do will be for you, always.
50. In my hands is this heart. I want you to have it because I’m so clumsy, so I’m afraid I’ll lose it or easily give it to someone else.
51. There is no finer day than a day with you by my side. Thank you for all that you are.
52. Just seeing your face brightens even my darkest of days. Your light shines on all that I do.
53. Just when I thought that I couldn’t be any happier, I see you, and that all changes once again.
54. No matter where you go, I’ll be by your side. Our unbreakable bonds mean we will be as one forever and face the world together.
DEEP LOVE MESSAGES FOR WIFEDeep love messages for wife #marriage #love #lovequotes Click To Tweet
55. I see you in every person I see. I feel you in anything, I thought. Sad, my day will end again without you in it. How I wish you are here.
56. All my days with you are days worth living. I’ve forgotten what it feels like to be alone.
57. You are my hay when the sun shines, my night stars when darkness calls. You are sure my all in all — Goodnight, my love.
58. If you dare, take my hand and take me to where your heart is. I want to feel what it’s like to love like you.
59. You beautiful woman of my life, you took it all from me. I took it all from you. So today, we can blackmail each other.
60. If sixty seconds would ever make a minute and 24 hours would make a day, I want to spend it all with you throughout the year. I am best with you.
61. Do they say love gives you wings but is that why I’m in seventh heaven?
62. Can anything be more valuable than our love? Since you are with me, my only measurement is in heartbeats.
63. All the little things you do warm my heart. You are a constant source of joy in my life.
64. I promise to always treat you like a queen because you reign over my heart.
65. Touch my heart with your fingers, and you will hear the most wonderful heartbeats dedicated only to you.
LOVE MESSAGES FOR WIFE FROM HUSBAND
66. There is never a time or place for true love. It happens accidentally, in a heartbeat, in a single flashing, throbbing moment. But you’ve slipped under my skin, invaded my blood, and seized my heart.
67. The influence of your love is assured. It has knocked out me spot how much I love you. Your strength, beauty, and love fill out me with pleasure. When the situation is not right, you keep me in your safe hands.
68. My wife is my life; just being near you fill my heart with love. Sweetie! I love you.
69. The game is my wife. It loads loyalty and concern, and it returns me joy and peace.
70. True love does not have an ending, that’s why I will love you forever.
71. You’re the best gift I’ve ever received in my life and it is because of you that I want to work hard and move forward in my life.
72. My love for you is boundless. I love you to the moon and back.
73. You brighten up my day just like how the sun lights up the earth.
74. You can make the clouds go away and paint the sky with the brightest colours of our love!
75. I may have made some stupid mistakes in my life. But everything became right ever since the day you became mine. I love you.
76. You are the reason for my happiness, I love you so much!
77. Just When I Thought Of Giving Up To The Fate That True Love Doesn’t Exist, You Came And Showed Me The Best Of It.
78. I am very thankful that you are my wife. I will always cherish and love you.
APPRECIATION MESSAGES FOR YOUR BETTER HALF
Here are my favourite love messages for my wife that melts her heart and makes her feel special when I use them.Appreciation messages for your better half #lovequotes #marriage Click To Tweet
79. Babe, I can’t thank you enough for deciding to be mine for the rest of your life. You have indeed blessed me beyond measure by being my beloved wife and best friend.
80. One-touch, one kiss or even a single thought of you can fix my heart, bring peace to my soul and make me smile.
81. When I am low, you give me hope. Thank you for being there for me. I love you, my dear wife.
82. My heart beats for you. I would cross the world just to say I love you.
83. Dear wife, my love is only yours. You fill all my heart with happiness. I am thankful to have you as my wife. I love you, my queen.
84. Life is worthless without a caring and loving wife like you.
85. You fill my heart with love. I am always addicted to you. I love you so much, my dear wife!
86. When I first saw you, a feeling of happiness and peace-filled my life and since then it has only grown stronger.
87. They Say Love Hurts, But I’m Ready to Take That Risk If I’m Going to Be with You.
88. You are the blessing that I prayed for and waited for many years. I thank almighty for giving me you as my wife. I love you.
89. My dear wife, the many reasons for being still crazy I live with you is the reason for the smile on my face.
90. Ever since the day we got married I have felt that I am living in heaven, because I have an angel by my side. I love you.
SHORT APPRECIATION SAYINGS FOR HERShort appreciation sayings for wife to build the perfect marriage life. #lovequotes #marriage Click To Tweet
91. With You, I Realized What It Means To Live Life To The Fullest And To Enjoy Every Breath.
92. You are the princess of my dreams and the woman I ever wanted to be my wife! I love you and I will always do!
93. I’m Right Behind You, I Support You And I Want All Your Dreams To Come True.
94. We are a team and there is no “we” without you, I truly love you.
95. I found my life’s true meaning because of you since the day you married me. My beautiful wife, I love you!
96. You are my beloved wife, and there’s nothing more important to me in this life than you. Your sweet love is the sole reason why my soul is joyful.
97. There were times I love to hate you. And then I love to love you. It’s like I want to throw you off a cliff, then rush to the bottom to catch you.
98. To have you as my woman is my honour. Be with me always!
99. I love my life because it gave me you, I love you because you are my life.
100. You show me your love in a way that brings me down to my knees.
101. Love is a contradiction, it’s hard to find but easy to lose, makes you feel good but hurts so bad, opens your eyes but makes you blind, fills up your heart then tears it apart.
102. My success means nothing without you in my life.
103. The road of life with a wife like you is like a roller coaster that I’m lucky to ride on. I send all my love to you my dear!
104. I would climb a thousand mountains to see you smile.
FAMOUS IN LOVE QUOTES FOR WIFEFamous in love quotes for wife #lovequotes #marriage Click To Tweet
105. Your heart is full of love and affection. Your hands are always caring. I am lucky to have you as my wife
106. I love you more than anything in my life. You are the rose that makes my life beautiful!
107. Life has never been better, thanks to you, sweetheart!
108. To the love of my life, I wish you have the best out of today. Perfection in all you set your heart to do. Stay great and lovely for me, dear. Love you.
109. Sometimes I wonder if love is worth fighting for. Then I look at you. I’m ready for war.
110. If being crazy in love with you is a mental illness, then you might as well book me a one-way ticket to the mental asylum.
111. One text from you changes my whole mood.
112. I only saw you for a second, but it made my day.
113. No matter how secure I would ever make my heart, you will remain the only one with uninterrupted access. Don’t ask why you just deserve it!
114. I love you more than words can define, feelings can express and thought can imagine.
115. Show me a good night, and I will tell you of a day that ended well. You always make my day. Good night my joy.
116. Gloomy is the description of my day without you. I am feeling your absence so much, my dear.
117. It is not being in love that makes me happy… but it’s being in love with you that makes me happy.
118. Waking up with your thought in me makes me fit for the day, more than a rigorous exercise would. Thanks for your numerous love and care. I love you.
BEST AFFECTION QUOTES FOR HER
119. The hardest thing I could ever do is to forget about you.
120. Your kindness and super care always make me wonder what life would have been without you. You are my hero, and I love you eternally.
121. There are only two times that I want to be with you… Now and Forever.
122. My heart for you will never break, my smile for you will never fade. My love for you will never end. I love you!
123. If I could be anything, I would be your tear, so I could be born in your eye, live down your cheek, and die on your lips.
124. When you need someone to be there for you, I’ll be right there by your side always!
125. When I looked at my past, I saw something missing and then the reason it was so bad. You in my present, I look at my future and how complete it is!
126. One day it finally came true, the special someone that I loved, loved me too, and that special someone was you.
127. I am tired of life, a day, a night without you. So sad to know that you are this far away from me. I miss you dearly.
128. Good morning my love, my angel. I bet you had a sweet dream. Just checking on you. Have a great day ahead.
129. I miss you in every step I take and in every move I make. I miss you a lot, and As long as there is me, your heart will be the best it can ever be. To keep your heart unbroken is a promise I am willing to keep. I love you.
AFFECTION SAYINGS FOR HER
130. I dropped a tear in the ocean, the day that I find it is the day I’ll stop loving you.
131. I love you, as I have never loved another or ever will again, I love you with all that I am and all that I will ever be.
132. When you feel alone, just look at the spaces between your fingers, and remember that’s where my fingers fit perfectly.
133. I don’t think you understand how important it is for me to hear the sound of your voice every day.
134. My love for you keeps increasing every second.
135. In the morning, in the afternoon or at night, my love for you is ever super – a reminder! Have a great day ahead of my happiness.
136. You deserve all of me, you deserve my morning, night, and noon. Also, you deserve my present and future because you are my very best. I love you.
137. I’d rather spend one moment holding you than a lifetime knowing I never could.
138. I wish you more than you wish me for the day. I wish you smiles and laughter birthed by sweet memories. Have the best of your day, dear.
139. Letting your wife know that you love her and appreciate all the things that she does for you will always be easy with these sweet words of love.
140. Just like a candle burns it flame, my heart burns it’s everlasting love for you.
It is with no doubt that these love messages and quotes will light a loving fire in your wife’s mind and heart. Telling her how much of a world she is to you with these love quotes for wife, is mind-blowing.
If you did enjoy these love quotes, please ensure you share them with your love ones to make them happy. Also, share to your favourite media groups to help create more romantic husbands.
Learn her love language, and then use it every day.
Date your wife.
Make her feel special (don’t take the relationship for granted).
Use some imagination.
Take care of yourself.
Say I love you and say it often.
Be a gentleman.
Make sure you say “I Love You” at least once each day to your spouse.
Write unexpected love notes.
When your spouse asks for a favour, consider saying “as you wish.
Give your mate an unexpected hug, a surprisingly romantic kiss, or a teasing tickle often.
You are beautiful. Every woman wants to be beautiful.
Thank you for all the little things you do.
You are smart.
I am a better man because I am with you.
Tell me about your day.
I need you.
Sit down and put your feet up. | literature |
http://www.gospelpolitics.com/gospel-and-the-poor.html | 2017-04-27T01:10:00 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-17/segments/1492917121778.66/warc/CC-MAIN-20170423031201-00084-ip-10-145-167-34.ec2.internal.warc.gz | 0.978065 | 1,983 | CC-MAIN-2017-17 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2017-17__0__88934085 | en | He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God.
No one disagrees that Christians should care for, help and give to the poor. Most will even go along with the idea that helping the poor is part of "doing" the gospel. After all, there is nothing Jesus spoke more strongly about:
When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' The King will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.' Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'
They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?' He will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.' Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.
Everyone agrees helping the poor is a good thing for a Christian to do. Most even believe it's part of the gospel. Unfortunately, some Christians think God only wants us to care for the poor with our personal charity; by sharing our private wealth. Somehow, they believe God doesn't care whether we promote public, social, and community policies that care for, help and give to the poor – or whether we promote the opposite policies.
Just as many conservative Christians seem to want to limit the gospel, so they also want to limit the biblical mandate for helping the poor. [I should clarify that I am mostly talking about white conservative Christian churches. If you visit a black conservative Christian church, you will see they "get" it.] These folks argue that the biblical mandate to care for the poor is an individual thing; not a community thing; not a government thing; not a political thing.
Conservative (usually evangelical, and of course, Republican) Christians argue that by advocating social and economic policies beneficial to the poor, we essentially are trying to force others (like rich people) to give to the poor. Conservatives argue that's not what the scriptures command; not what Christian values compel.
But, this simply is not true. First, as discussed in detail at the gospel and government, to say that Christians need only be concerned with individual charity, not systemic justice, is to ignore the reality of the world we live in. It is also to ignore the clear imperatives of scripture.
Do not deny justice to your poor people in their lawsuits.
During the seventh year, let the land lie unplowed and unused. Then the poor among your people may get food from it, and the wild animals may eat what they leave. Do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove.
When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the LORD your God.
However, there should be no poor among you, for in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you.
Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.
For he stands at the right hand of the needy one, to save his life from those who condemn him.
I know that the LORD secures justice for the poor and upholds the cause of the needy.
I know that the LORD secures justice for the poor and upholds the cause of the needy.
A ruler who oppresses the poor is like a driving rain that leaves no crops.
The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern.
Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.
Learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.
Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless.
He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me? declares the LORD.
Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy.
So I will come near to you for judgment. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive aliens of justice, but do not fear me,' says the LORD Almighty.
When Jesus heard this, he said to him, You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.
I'll end with a couple quotes; both excellent. One from a Southern Baptist pastor; another from a liberal Christian.
If our lives do not reflect radical compassion for the poor, there is reason to question just how effective we will be in declaring the glory of Christ to the ends of the earth. More pointedly, if our lives do not reflect radical compassion for the poor, there is reason to wonder if Christ is really in us at all.
You and I both have a choice. We can stand with the starving or with the overfed. We can identify with poor Lazarus on his way to heaven or with the rich man on his way to hell.
David Platt, Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream, pg. 111 and 140.
There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.'
But Abraham replied, 'Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.' He answered, 'Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.' Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.' No, father Abraham,' he said, 'but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.' He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.
As Mark Rosenfelder says:
There isn't the least suggestion that the rich man being punished in hell was responsible for Lazarus's condition... except in the most general sense: he was responsible as a fellow human being, as a man who was aware of the one suffering at his door and did nothing to help.
"Pleading the cause" of the poor, being their advocate and defender, is simply something a righteous person does. Are you someone who, when others are silent, advocates for the poor in your company, your church, your nation, your political party?
+1 Gospel Politics | literature |
http://www.bykanika.com/brave.html | 2018-02-21T04:49:39 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-09/segments/1518891813431.5/warc/CC-MAIN-20180221044156-20180221064156-00687.warc.gz | 0.927236 | 104 | CC-MAIN-2018-09 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2018-09__0__210486779 | en | BRAVE is a light-hearted, humourous comic series on concussions. The 10 part mini-series shines a light on the small acts of courage needed to carry on and find your own way forward following a head injury. The hand-drawn and coloured illustrations that accept inconsistencies parallel the human experience which is disjointed and imperfect. Disclaimer: BRAVE comic series is not a substitute for medical advice. Rather it provides an honest, first-hand account of what it means to live with a concussion. | literature |
https://www.vbqspeakers.com/speaker/viv-groskop/ | 2024-02-21T11:08:16 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2024-10/segments/1707947473472.21/warc/CC-MAIN-20240221102433-20240221132433-00134.warc.gz | 0.930286 | 465 | CC-MAIN-2024-10 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2024-10__0__186399109 | en | Viv Groskop is an award-winning comedian, author and TV presenter. In the corporate sector she is a renowned keynote speaker and executive performance coach, specialising in training senior women for advanced leadership roles and creating meaningful conversations about diversity and post-pandemic work culture.
As a performer, she is known for her creative and ambitious five star sold-out Edinburgh Fringe shows Anchorwoman (2017), Be More Margo (2016) and Say Sorry to the Lady (2015). Her podcast We Are Women was shortlisted for Podcast of the Year at the Audio Production Awards 2017.
Her book, How To Own The Room: Women And The Art Of Brilliant Speaking (November 2018) – was the first book on public speaking aimed solely at women.
On her podcast of the same name, Viv Groskop interviews inspirational women who reveal the secrets of brilliant speaking. It’s a concise, practical burst of advice and from women from all walks of life — some famous names, some working behind the scenes. Participants have included Hillary and Chelsea Clinton, Elif Shafak, Julie Andrews and Professor Mary Beard.
Her 2020 follow-up, Lift As You Climb: Women And The Art Of Ambition, has received much critical acclaim.
In 2023, Viv published Happy High Status: How to Be Effortlessly Confident.
She has also authored two other best-selling books, I Laughed, I Cried (Orion), about her late-in-life career change from journalism to stand-up comedy, and The Anna Karenina Fix: Life Lessons from Russian Literature (Penguin), about solving life’s problems by reading Tolstoy.
For more information on Viv Groskop’s speaking topics, availability and fees, contact Leo von Bülow-Quirk at [email protected].
VIV GROSKOP: SPEAKER
Viv is passionate about women achieving their potential in the workplace, and is known for her ability to drive inspiring and inclusive conversations about diversity, resilience, leadership and collaboration in the post-pandemic workplace.
She delivers her keynotes with her trademark authenticity and wit, and is also an excellent moderator. | literature |
https://adventurehacks.com/adventurous-quotes/ | 2024-04-18T15:31:38 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2024-18/segments/1712296817206.54/warc/CC-MAIN-20240418124808-20240418154808-00577.warc.gz | 0.932711 | 1,841 | CC-MAIN-2024-18 | webtext-fineweb__CC-MAIN-2024-18__0__171915913 | en | 20 Great Quotes To Inspire You To Be More Adventurous
Estimated reading time: 11 minutes
Sometimes all it takes is an emotion invoking thought to inspire us to take real action in life, and the right one can change everything. I have put together a list of the top 20 quotes to inspire you to get out there and be more adventurous!
The awesome thing is, your decision to be more adventurous and open to life, not only enhances your own, but can also changes the lives of others. Letting our own light shine often gives others the unconscious ability to do the same.
20 Quotes To Inspire An Adventurous You
“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. To keep our faces toward change and behave like free spirits in the presence of fate is strength undefeatable.” -Helen Keller
Life is going to happen whether we like it or not. So either embrace it and maximize the potential of every new moment, or play victim and hide from the world. The choice is yours.
“An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered.” -G.K Chesterton
Life itself is an adventure! Let go of the fear of the unknown and realize that the idea “control” is just a persistent illusion.
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” -Mark Twain
Most times, the only thing that holds us back from life, is a misconstrued fear of living. We get so stuck in our habits that any type of move out of the ordinary makes us uneasy and has us looking for excuses not to live life to the fullest. For me, fear is an acronym:
False Expectations Appearing Real.
“The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it.” -W.M. Lewis
If you wait until it “feels right” before making a move or taking action, you’ll never accomplish much of anything. The journey towards the goal is the reward.
“The only question in life is whether or not you are going to answer a hearty ‘YES!’ to your adventure.” -Joseph Campbell
Are you noticing a theme? This life in and of itself is a grand adventure. Once you release your focus on the things that you don’t have or don’t “like” and embrace that which you do, your awareness makes a shift and suddenly you’ll find yourself engulfed in the beauty of the present moment.
“No, no! The adventures first, explanations take such a dreadful time.” – Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass
For most people the main goal in life is to be happy. Remaining present is a key element in happiness and the only way we’re able to remain present is by leaving “what if” and “I cant” at the door and getting excited about this exact moment.
“One way to get the most out of life is to look upon it as an adventure.” – William Feather
Nobody knows how or why it is that we perceive a non physical sense of I. We all want answers and we all want to feel a sense of purpose, the thing is, when the universe is infinite, we decide what to live for and manifest reality as we go. What do you live for?
“It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power.” -Alan Cohen
Nothing ever really ends, things simply change. Embrace the change and discover how refreshing it is to be aware of the constant new beginning known as life.
“Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming – “WOW – What a Ride!” -Unknown
This is how I’ve tried to live my life since I was a youngster. I want my very limiting physical senses to get their money’s worth and truly experience this strange perception we’ve come to know as reality from this physical density.
“Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.” ~Helen Keller
Think about it. You’re on a floating mass of rock and liquid water, that spinds at thousands of miles per hour by itself in the middle of total darkness. What is it that you’re truly in control of, other than your thoughts (and that’s debatable).
“Be brave enough to live creatively. You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. You can only get there by hard work, by risking and by not quite knowing what you are doing. What you will discover will be wonderful: Yourself.” -Alan Alda
Be brave. Go with the pull.
“Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.” -Maria Robinson
Learn to let go and be change! Don’t procrastinate on truly living.
“Sometimes it’s the smallest decisions that can change your life forever.” -Keri Russell
“Adventure is a path. Real adventure – self-determined, self-motivated, often risky – forces you to have firsthand encounters with the world. The world the way it is, not the way you imagine it. Your body will collide with the earth and you will bear witness. In this way you will be compelled to grapple with the limitless kindness and bottomless cruelty of humankind – and perhaps realize that you yourself are capable of both. This will change you. Nothing will ever again be black-and-white.” -Mark Jenkins
I’ve found no better way to remain present than through a good adventure. The more you realize this, the more present you remain, and the more adventures you begin to have – without trying.
“We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.” -Jawaharial Nehru
I’ve got two rules when my team of nomads (The Loudpack) and I are adventuring – We never say, “I can’t” and we are never lost. Those two rules make for some epic memories.
“A life without adventure is likely to be unsatisfying, but a life in which adventure is allowed to take whatever form it will is sure to be short.” -English Proverb
Go big or go home.
“If we do not find anything very pleasant, at least we shall find something new.” -Johann Friedrick von Schiller
Heard that. If it’s new, it has the potential to be exciting or at the very least, enlightening. Embrace the moment, and any situation can still be a win.
“And the day came when the wish to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.”-Anais Nin
Life is meant for living. Step out of your comfort zone to embrace spontaneity and the unknown.
“It is only in adventure that some people succeed in knowing themselves – in finding themselves.” -Andre Gide
Adventure’s are honest, challenging and very revealing.
“The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.” ― Eleanor Roosevelt
Hope these quotes inspire you to be more adventurous jsut as they do for me! What quotes inspire your to be most adventurous and live your life to the fullest? Tell us in the comments sections below! And if you liked this post, please share it with your friends and followers on the top of the page. | literature |
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