While Bill Brown's adult world is often unsettling, riddled with mortality, useless prayers and logic gone wild, we sense a safety in each despair, as if the poet is right there with us, looking out for us, guiding us toward the awful truth that he learned long ago, in the wisdom of childhood. —Cathie Pelletier
The News Inside by Bill Brown is a book of poetry. Many of the poems deal with the natural world in the Southeastern United States, as well as, the poet's memories of growing up in Western Tennessee.
In May 1906, the Atlantic Monthly commented that Americans live not merely in an age of things, but under the tyranny of them, and that in our relentless effort to sell, purchase, and accumulate things, we do not possess them as much as they possess us. For Bill Brown, the tale of that possession is something stranger than the history of a culture of consumption. It is the story of Americans using things to think about themselves. Brown's captivating new study explores the roots of modern America's fascination with things and the problem that objects posed for American literature at the turn of the century. This was an era when the invention, production, distribution, and consumption of things suddenly came to define a national culture. Brown shows how crucial novels of the time made things not a solution to problems, but problems in their own right. Writers such as Mark Twain, Frank Norris, Sarah Orne Jewett, and Henry James ask why and how we use objects to make meaning, to make or remake ourselves, to organize our anxieties and affections, to sublimate our fears, and to shape our wildest dreams. Offering a remarkably new way to think about materialism, A Sense of Things will be essential reading for anyone interested in American literature and culture.
A riveting and hugely entertaining memoir of post-war London told through the eyes of a hilariously opportunistic little boy. 'This warm and witty autobiography lovingly evokes the community spirit of a Britain emerging from war and will have you hankering after simpler times' CANDIS By the time he was ten years old, Billy Brown was running a successful little business on the black market: whatever you needed, from bricks and firewood to dress material or machetes, Billy Brown could get it - or knew a man who could. And, for the right price, he would deliver it direct to your door in an old carriage pram. With energy and insight, Billy Brown paints a vivid and lively picture of Britain emerging from the ruins of the war, the hunger for opportunity, the growing pace of modernisation and the pride and optimism that held communities together. Londoners were intent on getting themselves back on their feet, and it provided the perfect opportunity for a boy with ambition and a lively imagination. Born in Brixton, south London, in 1942, Billy Brown was a lovable scamp with a nose for mischief. Left to his own devices while both his parents went out to work, if there was trouble to be had Billy would be in the thick of it. Ignoring the shaking of fists from his neighbours, his mother's scoldings and the regular thwack of the cane on his bottom at school, Billy wheeled and dealed, charmed Woolies' Girls, planned coronation celebrations, ran circles around circus performers and persuaded villains to work on his terms.
An illustrated guide to DIY movie-making. Have you ever wanted to make your own movies, documentaries, music videos, or vlogs? In this easy-to-read and magnificently illustrated volume, you will learn why movies move; how film and video cameras work; how to light and expose your shots to get the best results; how to create eye-pleasing compositions; and how to record crystal clear sounds. It's a do-it-yourself guidebook for film and video makers of all ages and experience levels. Whether you've got a phone and a YouTube account, an old Super-8 handheld camera, or a fancy, state of the art motion picture studio, you still need a good idea and a good knowledge of the basics. Bill Brown, aka "Professor Know-It-All," with his cast of helpful animal assistants, give you all the technical knowledge you need so that you can stop worrying about your gear and your settings and let your ideas come to life.
From the pencil to the puppet to the drone—the humanities and the social sciences continue to ride a wave of interest in material culture and the world of things. How should we understand the force and figure of that wave as it shapes different disciplines? Other Things explores this question by considering a wide assortment of objects—from beach glass to cell phones, sneakers to skyscrapers—that have fascinated a range of writers and artists, including Virginia Woolf, Man Ray, Spike Lee, and Don DeLillo. The book ranges across the literary, visual, and plastic arts to depict the curious lives of things. Beginning with Achilles’s Shield, then tracking the object/thing distinction as it appears in the work of Martin Heidegger and Jacques Lacan, Bill Brown ultimately focuses on the thingness disclosed by specific literary and artistic works. Combining history and literature, criticism and theory, Other Things provides a new way of understanding the inanimate object world and the place of the human within it, encouraging us to think anew about what we mean by materiality itself.
Many of these poems render the darkness in today's world and the personal loss all of us must face in life. Yet, tomorrow morning will come and a window will open another day to light. The natural world, the goodness of others, and the holiness of language give us the courage to face the truth and continue to find meaning in the gift of the creative spirit and the simple moments of wakefulness. The last poem ends with this scene: On a beautiful morning when my / wife and I share an apple / with cheese and bread, our ears / glued to the towhee's song, / our eyes askance for wonder, / the neighbor's sorrel prances / down the fence-line, shaking / its mane in the sun.
Within the ephemera of the everyday--old photographs, circus posters, iron toys--lies a challenge to America's dominant cultural memory. What this memory has left behind, Bill Brown recovers in the "material unconscious" of Stephen Crane's work, the textual residues of daily sensations that add up to a new history of the American 1890s. As revealed in Crane's disavowing appropriation of an emerging mass culture--from football games and freak shows to roller coasters and early cinema--the decade reappears as an underexposed moment in the genealogy of modernism and modernity. Brown's story begins on the Jersey Shore, in Asbury Park, where Crane became a writer in the shadow of his father, a grimly serious Methodist minister who vilified the popular amusements his son adored. The coastal resorts became the stage for debates about technology, about the body's visibility, about a black service class and the new mass access to leisure. From this snapshot of a recreational scene that would continue to inspire Crane's sensational modernism, Brown takes us to New York's Bowery. There, in the visual culture established by dime museums, minstrel shows, and the Kodak craze, he exhibits Crane dramatically obscuring the typology of race. Along the way, Brown demonstrates how attitudes toward play transformed the image of war, the idea of childhood and nationhood, and the concept of culture itself. And by developing a new conceptual apparatus (with such notions as "recreational time," "abstract leisure," and the "amusement/knowledge system"), he provides the groundwork for a new politics of pleasure. A crucial theorization of how cultural studies can and should proceed, The Material Unconscious insists that in the very conjuncture of canonical literature and mass culture, we can best understand how proliferating and competing economies of play disrupt the so-called "logic" and "work" of culture.
Just like the perpetual digital counting of a clock, everything occurs like the repeating cycle of nature. From the time my day starts, to the time I go to bed, I can set my watch according to the events that unfold. My name is Selah Richards and I am a typical teen aged girl living in a typical statehood community, or at least I so thought until my entire world was hurled upside down. People I've known for years suddenly vanish without a trace; but luckily not Brad Nelson, a great-looking, charismatic friend of mine with whom any girl would jump at the chance to date. Teamed together, we discover a hidden world, shrouded by mystery and intrigue, and find ourselves trapped in a situation we would have never imagined.
Spanning the years 1994 through 1999, this anthology collects issues one through 10 of the long-running Dream Whip zine. Inside, Bill Brown hits the road and finds adventure far and wide: tornadoes and pet cemeteries, Alaskan highways and the lonely ruins of government missile sites. Each page is lovingly handwritten or typed and illustrations and photographs abound, showing America with the big, dreaming heart of a romantic; everything is recorded in sweet, smart, funny, beautifully simple prose.
This book chronicles the story of my life. From the two foster homes in which I lived to the family I would one day call my own. It is written with complete understanding that faith and belief in God cannot be ignored. I am living proof of this fact. Through my written work He guides every stroke of my pen. Through these words I give him the Glory and the Praise. I therefore thank Him for the ability to deliver this message of hope through me to all of you. It is my wish that you understand he lives in each and every one of us. Let us not forget that nothing given to us by mankind or bestowed upon us by mankind can ever begin to equal or eclipse that which God has blessed us with. Let us not forget that at one point in time none of us even existed. In life we are on a limited journey, and one day we will cease to exist. Mortal death is not the end, but the transition to the beginning of the rest of our spiritual lives. Stop for a moment and excise all external factors in your life and just be still and calm. Let the peace you feel regenerate your spirit. In other words, be still and know that God is God through whom all things are possible, if you truly believe
“Intense . . . anyone familiar with the Band of Brothers story will want to read this book” (Military Review). Easy Company of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division has become one of the most famous small units in US history. But fewer people are aware of Fox Company of that same regiment—the men who fought alongside Easy Company through every step of the war in Europe, and who had their own stories to tell. WWII vet Bill Brown decided to research the fate of a childhood friend who had served in Fox Company. Along the way, he met Terry Poyser, who was on a similar mission to research the combat death of a Fox Company man from his hometown. Together, the two authors proceeded to locate and interview every surviving Fox Company vet they could find. The ultimate result was this book, a decade in the making, offering a wealth of fascinating firsthand accounts of WWII combat as well as new perspectives on Dick Winters and others of the “Band.” Told primarily through the words of participants, Fighting Fox Company takes us through some of the most horrific close-in fighting of the war, beginning with the chaotic nocturnal paratrooper drop on D-Day. After fighting through Normandy, the drop into Holland saw prolonged, ferocious combat and even more casualties; and then during the Battle of the Bulge, Fox Company took its place in line at Bastogne during one of the most heroic against-all-odds stands in US history. As always in combat, each man’s experience is different, and the nature of the German enemy is seen here in its equally various aspects. From ruthless SS fighters to meek Volkssturm to simply expert modern fighters, the Screaming Eagles encountered the full gamut of the Wehrmacht. The work is also accompanied by rare photos and useful appendices, including rosters and lists of casualties, to give the full look at Fox Company that has long been overdue.
More than anything, dream whip #12 feels like a collection of things. Dumpy motels in the middle of nowhere and the people that haunt them. Sleepless thoughts. "...the night keeps tabs on its air. You can borrow it, but you have to give it back."As Bill wanders the country in his car, he seems to collect these tiny, seemingly-insignificant things. Train whistles in the night. Diners with egg salad sandwiches and full pie cases. Museums full of pieces of what once was the city around it. "I wish it could always be this easy: a little light switch that sends out a rescue signal. You just flip a switch for salvation."Bus stations. Cups of coffee. Strangers. Smiles. "...she gives me a smile that's so completely counterfeit that it casts a shadow across the last four states of smiles, at every convenience store and gas station and coffee shop I've stopped at since St. Louis. I see all those smiles in my head all at once, and they all seem cheap and bogus, like a collection of chintzy souvenirs."Each description of a person, place, thing or moment is intricate and fully described, making you want to get out and drive, walk, camp, and meet everything and everyone you possibly can.
While a parent guide on a field trip for my daughter’s fifth grade class I had a few moments to chat and daydream with Tiffany, my daughter and two of her friends, J.J. and Kelley. The idea for a story came from that time of imagination. They spoke of the possible mystery in the old ghost town which was the seed to the story combining both current and historical Calico. The need for a little Si-Fi was to connect the two moments across time. The dedication for this book belongs to those three, who gave me a most memorable day at Calico Ghost Town and the following thirteen years of putting it all together.
Survival Tips for Living the Adventurous Life contains true-life accounts of an individual growing up through adventure after adventure, shortly after birth to retirement age. Whether from an airplane crash, a different aircraft almost losing an engine, and being upside down in various automobiles, the author lived through each adventure, learning more and more from his experiences. All provided here! The tips are the culmination of a lifetime of adventures and how the author got through it all. From the "never agains" to the "yes, sign me up agains," you see the what, where, how, and why an individual makes the choices we all face. While none of the adventures are recommended, each one contains a life lesson, perhaps a life lesson all can learn from. Example by example, starting from being a baby through forty-plus years of marriage, you get to almost live each adventure with the author. Whether hanging from the seat belt upside down in an overturned vehicle to surviving a small airplane crash at night in the Tahoe area, all the areas that impacted the author's life and how he made it through are detailed in a thrillingly fun read! Circumstances that make you laugh out loud and some that may remind you of your childhood and adolescent times! The author winds you through life lessons learned from over sixty-five years of adventures. Whether willingly jumped into or dragged into by his peers, each adventure is documented, good or bad. Enjoy the read!
A big happy frog, a plump purple cat, a handsome blue horse, and a soft yellow duck-- all parade across the pages of this delightful bilingual edition of Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See? (Oso pardo, oso parado, que ves ¿qué ves ahí?). Children will immediately respond to Eric Carle's flat, boldly colored collages. Combined with Bill Martin's singsong text, they create unforgettable images of these endearing animals.
Veteran baseball broadcaster Bill Brown recounts his journey through decades of baseball, with trials and tribulations and stories of players and inspirational people.
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