On June 8th 2004, a very unique little girl was born. By the age of two, she was already spouting inspirational quotes and questions that would trigger a combination of laughter, creative ideas, and profound thoughts. Presented here is a record of these musings and anecdotes, documented by the author and father of this sparkling individual.
Bluesman is the story of Skinny Pete Johnson, who never achieved the notoriety of his peers. Resigned to the idea that his life has amounted to nothing, Pete decides to end it all, yet learns that death is not as easily attainable as he once thought. Before he can enter the afterlife, Pete must locate Big Mama Nell, a Chicago blues singer who is the key to his salvation. Can he convince her to do what she must in order for him to depart the world of the living? Skin & Bones is the story of Jason Rose, high school student and drummer, who is under suspicion for murder. All evidence points to him, yet Jason clings to his innocence. The only way to clear his name is to solve the mystery himself. As the story unfolds, Jason undergoes a powerful change-the manifestation of an African god who endows him with a unique ability. Taking full advantage of his newfound power, Jason must either track down the real killer or confront the possibility that the police had the right man all along. * For mature readers
A collection of early writings, The Abyss Stares Back explores the dark and ambitious side of an aspiring young author. The year is 1990, and Anthony Paolucci is struggling to find his literary voice, while developing what would later become his diverse and provocative style. Join him as he embarks upon a journey fraught with love, sex, and death, deep into the morbid recesses of his imagination, wherein lies the true face of his passion and fears.
A child is born who fails to take his first breaths. Overcome with anguish, Ethan, the village physician and constable, who is also knowledgeable in the ways of magic, transfers his son's newborn soul into the body of his daughter's beloved cat, Ghost. There, the child is safely kept until Ethan is able to find a suitable body for his son to inhabit. The harrowing predicament soon becomes a moral dilemma, for both Ethan and his wife Abigail, who only have until the aging cat departs this world. All the while, the family is plagued by gossip and suspicion at the hands of their superstitious neighbors. Will Ethan cave beneath the weight of his confliction and allow his son to pass into the afterlife, as nature intended? Or will an unexpected opportunity allow him to give the child the long and happy life that fate cruelly denied him?
Eighth grader Sally Salamander Squibly is the unfortunate progeny of a Vampiress and a Werewolf. Why unfortunate you ask? Because Sally was born completely normal. Life at Creatureton Elementary is a daily trial, a result of the physical and profound differences that separate poor Sally from her monster peers. Relentlessly taunted and bullied, she perseveres while seeking solace in her friendship with a human boy named Logan. Then one day, she is offered a chance to be like the other children, only on a much grander scale. The temptation of power is great, and Sally must choose between her sad but dignified life, and an opportunity to rise above the torment. Will the results be everything that she had hoped for and anticipated? Then there is the matter of her parents' dark and troubled past, and the mysterious villain who may or may not be after young Sally...just waiting for her to embrace her true monster nature, and assume her powerful role by his side.
The Corn Maid, an evil witch who has plagued the quiet valley settlement for hundreds of years, has bequeathed her wicked methods for transcending mortality to her loyal henchman. Now, endowed with the ability to overcome his vulnerable existence, this foul servant of the witch has put into motion his own otherworldly transformation by continuing her savage crusade against the innocent lives of the villagers. Young David, a victim of the henchman's cruel misdeeds, awakes to find himself in a strange prison, on the outskirts of the forest. Will he find a way to escape his unusual confines? If so, can he survive the treacherous journey necessary to put an end to the Corn Maid and her terrible servant forever?
Daydreamer Winter Mitchell struggles to find balance in her life, torn between the need to maintain her grades and appease the budding artist within. Escaping the rigors of adolescence by way of her art, music, and books, Winter copes with the pressures of being the daughter of two working artists, and the heartache of a younger brother with a life-threatening ailment. Her best friend, Taliba Jones, accompanies Winter on this never-ending quest for personal acceptance and understanding, yet there are times when Winter feels as if she's destined to be alone, and a failure in her endeavors. Then comes the day Winter's mother presents her with a curious heirloom-an ancient bracelet that is bequeathed to the women in her family at the age of thirteen. Winter's dreams soon become a doorway to the past, as she bears witness to the magical awakening of bracelet owners past. Forever changed by their newfound abilities, will Winter be next in this long line of girls whose lives are touched by the bracelet's power?
Burdened by the tediousness of their immortal existence, an angel and a demon agree to a wager that entails the influencing of a single conflicted human down a particular moral path. Using all the power of their individual realms, each must pit their cunning and ingenuity against the other in this friendly game of strategy and persuasion. (See back cover for full description)
St. Valentine, beloved poet, suffers the unexpected demise of his romantic involvement with beautiful Pristina. Reunited with the elderly woman with whom he had once been friends, until forsaking her in favor of his former lover, Valentine is moved by the woman's compassion after finding him near death as a result of his shattered heart. Inspired by her forgiveness in the wake of his shameful treatment of her, Valentine vows to be a crusader of love, reuniting ill-fated hearts by rekindling smoldering passions. His methods, both unethical and unconventional, incorporate the use of violence, placing these lovers in mortal peril with his bow in hopes that the threat of tragedy will awaken slumbering hearts. Among the many whose hearts are targeted by Valentine's bow, will Pristina's one day fall into his line of sight? Will Valentine be rewarded for his noble efforts, or is there more at risk than originally believed?
The Corn Maid, an evil witch who has plagued the quiet valley settlement for hundreds of years, has bequeathed her wicked methods for transcending mortality to her loyal henchman. Now, endowed with the ability to overcome his vulnerable existence, this foul servant of the witch has put into motion his own otherworldly transformation by continuing her savage crusade against the innocent lives of the villagers. Young David, a victim of the henchman's cruel misdeeds, awakes to find himself in a strange prison, on the outskirts of the forest. Will he find a way to escape his unusual confines? If so, can he survive the treacherous journey necessary to put an end to the Corn Maid and her terrible servant forever?
Daydreamer Winter Mitchell struggles to find balance in her life, torn between the need to maintain her grades and appease the budding artist within. Escaping the rigors of adolescence by way of her art, music, and books, Winter copes with the pressures of being the daughter of two working artists, and the heartache of a younger brother with a life-threatening ailment. Her best friend, Taliba Jones, accompanies Winter on this never-ending quest for personal acceptance and understanding, yet there are times when Winter feels as if she's destined to be alone, and a failure in her endeavors. Then comes the day Winter's mother presents her with a curious heirloom-an ancient bracelet that is bequeathed to the women in her family at the age of thirteen. Winter's dreams soon become a doorway to the past, as she bears witness to the magical awakening of bracelet owners past. Forever changed by their newfound abilities, will Winter be next in this long line of girls whose lives are touched by the bracelet's power?
In a tale of forbidden love and redemption, an Elf named Gabriel Thorn is destined to rescue his race from the grips of an evil curse cast down by a jealous god. As Gabriel struggles to embrace his mission and the inner turmoil that threatens his resolve, humanity-the result of this curse-strives to prevent Gabriel from fulfilling the prophecy and restoring the Elven race to its former glory. Meanwhile, Gabriel's greatest opponent and leader of the crusade against him and the seven remaining Elves, Liam Rourke grooms his daughter Brianna to be his successor. It soon becomes clear, however, that Brianna must choose between the needs of her heart and the salvation of her own kind.
A collection of early writings, The Abyss Stares Back explores the dark and ambitious side of an aspiring young author. The year is 1990, and Anthony Paolucci is struggling to find his literary voice, while developing what would later become his diverse and provocative style. Join him as he embarks upon a journey fraught with love, sex, and death, deep into the morbid recesses of his imagination, wherein lies the true face of his passion and fears.
St. Valentine, beloved poet, suffers the unexpected demise of his romantic involvement with beautiful Pristina. Reunited with the elderly woman with whom he had once been friends, until forsaking her in favor of his former lover, Valentine is moved by the woman's compassion after finding him near death as a result of his shattered heart. Inspired by her forgiveness in the wake of his shameful treatment of her, Valentine vows to be a crusader of love, reuniting ill-fated hearts by rekindling smoldering passions. His methods, both unethical and unconventional, incorporate the use of violence, placing these lovers in mortal peril with his bow in hopes that the threat of tragedy will awaken slumbering hearts. Among the many whose hearts are targeted by Valentine's bow, will Pristina's one day fall into his line of sight? Will Valentine be rewarded for his noble efforts, or is there more at risk than originally believed?
Eighth grader Sally Salamander Squibly is the unfortunate progeny of a Vampiress and a Werewolf. Why unfortunate you ask? Because Sally was born completely normal. Life at Creatureton Elementary is a daily trial, a result of the physical and profound differences that separate poor Sally from her monster peers. Relentlessly taunted and bullied, she perseveres while seeking solace in her friendship with a human boy named Logan. Then one day, she is offered a chance to be like the other children, only on a much grander scale. The temptation of power is great, and Sally must choose between her sad but dignified life, and an opportunity to rise above the torment. Will the results be everything that she had hoped for and anticipated? Then there is the matter of her parents' dark and troubled past, and the mysterious villain who may or may not be after young Sally...just waiting for her to embrace her true monster nature, and assume her powerful role by his side.
Bluesman is the story of Skinny Pete Johnson, who never achieved the notoriety of his peers. Resigned to the idea that his life has amounted to nothing, Pete decides to end it all, yet learns that death is not as easily attainable as he once thought. Before he can enter the afterlife, Pete must locate Big Mama Nell, a Chicago blues singer who is the key to his salvation. Can he convince her to do what she must in order for him to depart the world of the living? Skin & Bones is the story of Jason Rose, high school student and drummer, who is under suspicion for murder. All evidence points to him, yet Jason clings to his innocence. The only way to clear his name is to solve the mystery himself. As the story unfolds, Jason undergoes a powerful change-the manifestation of an African god who endows him with a unique ability. Taking full advantage of his newfound power, Jason must either track down the real killer or confront the possibility that the police had the right man all along. * For mature readers
Providing a comprehensive history of the City University of New York, this book chronicles the evolution of the country’s largest urban university from its inception in 1961 through the tumultuous events and policies that have shaped it character and community over the past fifty years. On April 11, 1961, New York State Governor Nelson Rockefeller signed the law creating the City University of New York (CUNY). This legislation consolidated the operations of seven municipal colleges—four senior colleges (Brooklyn College, City College, Hunter College and Queens College) and three community colleges (Bronx Community College, Queensborough Community College, and Staten Island Community College)—under a common Board of Higher Education. Enrolling at the time approximately 91,000 students, CUNY would evolve over the next fifty years into the largest urban university in the country, serving more than 500,000 students. Reflecting on its uniqueness and broader place in U.S. higher education, Picciano and Jordan examine in depth the development of the CUNY system and all of its constituent colleges, with emphasis on its rapid expansion in the 1960s, and the end of its free tuition in the 1970s, and open admissions policies in the 1990s. While much of CUNY’s history is marked by twists and turns unique to its locale, many of the issues and experiences at CUNY over the past fifty years shed light on the larger nationwide developments in higher education.
In 1462 Pope Pius II performed the only reverse canonization in history, publicly damning a living man. The target was Sigismondo Malatesta, Lord of Rimini and a patron of the arts with ties to the Florentine Renaissance. Condemned to an afterlife of torment, he was burned in effigy in several places in Rome. What had this cultivated nobleman done to merit such a fate? Pagan Virtue in a Christian World examines anew the contributions and contradictions of the Italian Renaissance, and in particular how the recovery of Greek and Roman literature and art led to a revival of pagan culture and morality in fifteenth-century Italy. The court of Sigismondo Malatesta (1417–1468), Anthony D’Elia shows, provides a case study in the Renaissance clash of pagan and Christian values, for Sigismondo was nothing if not flagrant in his embrace of the classical past. Poets likened him to Odysseus, hailed him as a new Jupiter, and proclaimed his immortal destiny. Sigismondo incorporated into a Christian church an unprecedented number of zodiac symbols and images of the Olympian gods and goddesses and had the body of the Greek pagan theologian Plethon buried there. In the literature and art that Sigismondo commissioned, pagan virtues conflicted directly with Christian doctrine. Ambition was celebrated over humility, sexual pleasure over chastity, muscular athleticism over saintly asceticism, and astrological fortune over providence. In the pagan themes so prominent in Sigismondo’s court, D’Elia reveals new fault lines in the domains of culture, life, and religion in Renaissance Italy.
The legacy of ancient Greece and Rome has been imitated, resisted, misunderstood, and reworked by every culture that followed. In this volume, some five hundred articles by a wide range of scholars investigate the afterlife of this rich heritage in the fields of literature, philosophy, art, architecture, history, politics, religion, and science.
A child is born who fails to take his first breaths. Overcome with anguish, Ethan, the village physician and constable, who is also knowledgeable in the ways of magic, transfers his son's newborn soul into the body of his daughter's beloved cat, Ghost. There, the child is safely kept until Ethan is able to find a suitable body for his son to inhabit. The harrowing predicament soon becomes a moral dilemma, for both Ethan and his wife Abigail, who only have until the aging cat departs this world. All the while, the family is plagued by gossip and suspicion at the hands of their superstitious neighbors. Will Ethan cave beneath the weight of his confliction and allow his son to pass into the afterlife, as nature intended? Or will an unexpected opportunity allow him to give the child the long and happy life that fate cruelly denied him?
Musicologists are increasingly focusing upon less formal private "institutions" and traditions of patronage: informal acad. and soc, the activities of individuals, and convivial aristocratic co. Early 16th-cent. Florence was characterized by the practices of a series of these vital institutions. Such informal institutions had considerable virtues as agents of patronage; their less routinized practices freed them to engage in experimentation that the more formal institutions would not support. This study reconstructs the memberships, cultural activities, and musical exper. of these informal Florentine institutions and relates them to the emergence of the madrigal, the foremost musical genre of early-modern Europe. Richly illus. with visual materials and musical examples.
Based upon global data and following on from Lockdown: Social Harm in the COVID-19 Era, this book discusses the rise of surveillance capitalism and new forms of control and exclusion throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. It particularly addresses the use of vaccine passports, mandates and the new forms of capital extraction and political control that emerged throughout the pandemic. The book also explicates how the ‘vaccine hesitant’ became marginalized in both mainstream discourse and through regulatory interventions. Whilst the book addresses the wider political economy within which so-called ‘anti-vaxxers’ were ostracized, it also explores the complex nature of their sentiments. The book closes by considering The New Futures of Exclusion, outlining the forms of surveillance and control that may be implemented in the future particularly in light of the challenges brought by global warming and the energy transition. It is a broadly accessible text, particularly appealing to policymakers, general readers and academics in sociology, political sociology, politics, human geography, political economy, criminology, social policy, psychology, history, and infectious diseases and medicine.
Anthony Ruff, O.S.B., has written a brilliant, comprehensive, well-researched book about the treasures of the Church's musical tradition, and about the transformations brought about by liturgical reform. The liturgy constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium stated many revolutionary principles of liturgical reform. Regarding liturgical music, the Council's decrees mandated, on the one hand, the preservation of the inherited treasury of sacred music, and on the other hand, advocated adaptation and expansion of this treasury to meet the changed requirements of the reformed liturgy. In clear, precise language, he retrieves the Council's neglected teachings on the preservation of the inherited music treasury. He clearly shows that this task is not at odds with good pastoral practice, but is rather an integral part of it. The book proposes an alternate hermeneutic for understanding the Second Vatican Council's teachings on worship music.
Titian, Colonna and the Renaissance Science of Procreation demonstrates that two major monuments of Italian Renaissance culture - Bellini's and Titian's famous series of mytho-poetical paintings for the camerino of Duke Alfonso d'Este of Ferrara, and Francesco Colonna's Hypnerotomachia Poliphili - were conceived as mnemonic or pedagogical devices aimed at educating the reader/beholder in the medical science of reproductive physiology and the maintenance of sexual health. It is further argued that the learned courtier Mario Equicola, who conceived the pictorial program of Duke Alfonso's camerino, had read Colonna's text and was extensively inspired by its prior literary argument. The study is organized in two parts, intimately interrelated. The first part is a study of Alfonso d'Este's camerino, with a general introduction, individual chapters on each of Bellini's and Titian's four pictorial "bacchanals," and a conclusion proposing a new and more accurate reconstruction of the layout of the room, also including a completely new way of interpreting the ensemble. The second part of the study concerns Colonna's Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, again beginning with its own introductory essay and advancing a completely new interpretation of the text. The brief conclusion brings the insights of the two sections together, clarifying the historical relationship between the pictorial and literary works and explaining their larger cultural significance. Emphasizing Equicola's use of the Hypnerotomachia as a model for pictorial invention, the author reveals how Titian's remarkably sensuous paintings and Colonna's erotically-charged romance are related by their common reference to the neo-Aristotelian medical theory of the "libidinal seasons," and by corollary themes of marriage and sexual consummation. This peculiar intersection of cultural themes came to prominence in the context of a courtly world in which medical science was increasingly brought to bear on the problem of dy
In recent years, much work has been done in formulating and clarifying the concept of sustainable development and related theoretical and research issues. Now, the challenge has shifted to designing and stimulating processes of effective planning and decision-making, at all levels of human activity, in such a way as to achieve local and global sustainable development. Information technology can help a great deal in achieving sustainable development by providing well-designed and useful tools for decision makers. One such tool is the decision support system, or DSS. This book explores the area of DSS in the context of sustainable development. As DSS is a very new technique, especially in the developing world, this book will serve as a reference text, primarily for managers, government officials, and information professionals in developing countries. It covers the concept of sustainable development, defines DSS and how it can be used in the planning and management of sustainable development, and examines the state of the art in DSS use. Other interested readers will include students, teachers, and analysts in information sciences; DSS designers, developers, and implementors; and international development agencies.
This book assesses how governance has evolved in six nations – England, Australia, Canada, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands – between 1970 and 2018. More specifically, it examines how the governance approaches and the sets of policy tools used to govern have altered with respect to four public policy sectors that represent core responsibilities of the modern OECD state: education, energy, environment and health. To structure this analytical approach, the book harnesses sociological institutionalism in the area of ‘policy sequencing’ to trace both the motivations and the consequences of policy-makers’ altering governance approaches and the resulting policy tools. Combining a comparative and international focus, this book will appeal to scholars and students of public policy and governance.
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