The earliest known prison memoir by an African American writer—recently discovered and authenticated by a team of Yale scholars—sheds light on the longstanding connection between race and incarceration in America. “[A] harrowing [portrait] of life behind bars . . . part confession, part jeremiad, part lamentation, part picaresque novel (reminiscent, at times, of Dickens and Defoe).”—Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE In 2009, scholars at Yale University came across a startling manuscript: the memoir of Austin Reed, a free black man born in the 1820s who spent most of his early life ricocheting between forced labor in prison and forced labor as an indentured servant. Lost for more than one hundred and fifty years, the handwritten document is the first known prison memoir written by an African American. Corroborated by prison records and other documentary sources, Reed’s text gives a gripping first-person account of an antebellum Northern life lived outside slavery that nonetheless bore, in its day-to-day details, unsettling resemblances to that very institution. Now, for the first time, we can hear Austin Reed’s story as he meant to tell it. He was born to a middle-class black family in the boomtown of Rochester, New York, but when his father died, his mother struggled to make ends meet. Still a child, Reed was placed as an indentured servant to a nearby family of white farmers near Rochester. He was caught attempting to set fire to a building and sentenced to ten years at Manhattan’s brutal House of Refuge, an early juvenile reformatory that would soon become known for beatings and forced labor. Seven years later, Reed found himself at New York’s infamous Auburn State Prison. It was there that he finished writing this memoir, which explores America’s first reformatory and first industrial prison from an inmate’s point of view, recalling the great cruelties and kindnesses he experienced in those places and excavating patterns of racial segregation, exploitation, and bondage that extended beyond the boundaries of the slaveholding South, into free New York. Accompanied by fascinating historical documents (including a series of poignant letters written by Reed near the end of his life), The Life and the Adventures of a Haunted Convict is a work of uncommon beauty that tells a story of nineteenth-century racism, violence, labor, and captivity in a proud, defiant voice. Reed’s memoir illuminates his own life and times—as well as ours today. Praise for The Life and the Adventures of a Haunted Convict “One of the most fascinating and important memoirs ever produced in the United States.”—Annette Gordon-Reed, The Washington Post “Remarkable . . . triumphantly defiant . . . The book’s greatest value lies in the gap it fills.”—O: The Oprah Magazine “Reed displays virtuosic gifts for narrative that, a century and a half later, earn and hold the reader’s ear.”—Thomas Chatterton Williams, San Francisco Chronicle “[The book’s] urgency and relevance remain undiminished. . . . This exemplary edition recovers history without permanently trapping it in one interpretation.”—The Guardian “A sensational, novelistic telling of an eventful life.”—The Paris Review “Vivid and painful.”—NPR “Lyrical and graceful in one sentence, burning with fury and hellfire in the next.”—Columbus Free Press
Unleash your creative gene with positive thinking.Everyone has some form of creativity in my opinion. Whether it be a famous Artist, or a Musician, or whether it be a mother of 4 who tends to a garden in her back yard, creativity has no boundaries or set rules as to who gets declared to be called creative. “I never made one of my discoveries through the process of rational thinking” Albert Einstein Creative people often tend to be a bit scatter brained, or they may seem as if they are off kilter from what the rest of the world perceives to be normal. Most creativity seems to rear it's head during the most inopportune times, such as in the middle of the night when you are in a nice deep sleep, dreaming of counting sheep who are hopping along over a picket fence. Or smack dab in the middle of an important meeting at your hectic 9 to 5 job that you have in order to put food on the table and pay the bills. Do not let this frustrate you though, as this is all part of the natural progression that most creative people have to learn to deal with in order for that empty canvas to one day become a brilliant masterpiece. Does life side track you, and slow you down from expressing your creative side?Sure it does! We are busy people, with real lives to lead, and many of us have also got real mouths to feed. Priorities definitely change through time, and most people do not have the luxury of endless free time, to go along with an endless flow of money, in order to spend their every waking moment dedicated to their creative side. But this however should not stop you from unleashing your creative side to it's fullest potential."There is no agony like bearing an untold story inside of you." -Maya Angelou We want to invite you to join us in our little world of Creative Thinking.We consider ourselves to be fairly creative minded people, all while still being able to balance out businesses, family, social life, and just the everyday speed bumps and hurdles that life seems to throw at us each day. We are about motivation! We motivate each other each and every single day to be a better person, and also strive to accomplish more than we did the previous day. Within reason of course, but without my wife motivating me every single day to strive to be a better me, and visa - versa, then I can't imagine where I would be today. I would not be typing out this description here, I can tell you that much. “Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art.” -Andy Warhol We hope you can join us, we are about motivating, and helping others find what makes them tick. Those are simple words I know, but they are exactly what we are about. If you are ready to be motivated and uplifted in a slightly different way than usual, we invite you inside of our hearts for a bit while we do our best to explain how to unleash your creativity. Creative Thinking Boxed set volumes 1 and 2 By Mary - Kate Reed and Austin Reed Other interesting related topics: uplifting, uplifting books, uplifting stories, uplifting kindle books, uplifting fiction, uplifting quotes, uplifting books for women, encouragement encouragement for women, encouraging the heart, encouragement for today, encouraging words, encouraging words for kids, encouraging one another, mental efficiency, positive thinking, positive thinking books, power of positive thinking positive thinking secret, positive thinking quotes, positive thinking free books, positive thinking and be happy, positive thinking techniques, success, success principles, successful women think differently, success through a positive mental attitude success is not an accident,successful people
#Wibbroka is back with another swoony YA--this time tackling long-distance relationships, in a novel based on their own romantic history. If high school seniors Siena and Patrick were a superlative, they'd be Couple Most Likely to Marry. Three solid years of dating, and everyone agrees they're perfect for each other. But with college on the horizon, Siena begins to wonder whether staying together is the best idea. Does she really want to be tied down during the most transformative years of her life? So she makes a decision to break up with Patrick, convincing herself it's for the best. Though, before she can get the words out, he beats her to the punch: his family is moving. He’ll be spending senior year in Austin. A thousand miles away. Caught off guard by the news, Siena agrees to stay with Patrick, believing their relationship will naturally fizzle out with time and distance. But over a series of visits throughout the school year, Siena begins to see a different side of Patrick--one that has her falling in love with him all over again.
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