The first full-career survey of the idiosyncratic life and work of Ray Johnson, a collagist, performance artist, and pioneer of mail art. Ray Johnson (1927-1995), a.k.a. “New York’s most famous unknown artist,” was notorious for the elaborate games he played with the institutions of the art world, soliciting their attention even as he rejected their invitations. In A Book about Ray, Ellen Levy offers a comprehensive study of the artist who turned the business of career-making into a tongue-in-cheek performance, tracing his artistic development from his arrival at Black Mountain College in 1945 to his death in 1995. Levy describes Johnson’s practice as one that was constantly shifting—whether in tone, in its address to potential audiences, or among three primary artistic modes: collage, performance, and correspondence art. A Book about Ray takes an elliptical path, circling around rather than trying to arrest in flight the elusive artist and his purposefully ephemeral art. By crafting the book in this way, Levy evokes Ray Johnson’s art in the moment of its making and draws readers into the artist’s world, while making them feel, from the beginning, that they somehow already know their way around that world. In exploring Johnson’s scene, readers will also encounter the artists who influenced him, like Joseph Cornell and Marcel Duchamp, and his friends and peers like Jasper Johns, Allan Kaprow, Robert Rauschenberg, and Andy Warhol. The work of such figures will look forever different in light of Johnson’s subversive take on their shared aesthetic. Suitable for readers both new to Ray Johnson and those already familiar with his work, A Book about Ray is a complete and vital portrait of an American original.
Learning a First Language is a complex and beautifully crafted collection of skillfully interwoven poetry and prose that explores the themes of memory, regret, hope and the relationship between art and passion. It begins with "love", a reactionary "stream of consciousness" poem written in response to an unexpected and unsolicited marriage proposal, and ends with the final chapter of the author's meandering narrative account of a character known only as "The Artist". His story twists and turns its way through the text, shedding light on both the inspirations and contrary emotions that shape Ray's poetry. Blending elements of fiction and memoir, this collection provides readers not only with a glimpse into the author's personal experiences with love and loss, but also with a universal love story that reminds us of the importance and necessity of loving with abandon.
Work, so fundamental to well-being, has its darker and more costly side. Work can adversely affect our health, well beyond the usual counts of injuries that we think of as 'occupational health'. The ways in which work is organized - its pace and intensity, degree of control over the work process, sense of justice, and employment security, among other things - can be as toxic to the health of workers as the chemicals in the air. These work characteristics can be detrimental not only to mental well-being but to physical health. Scientists refer to these features of work as 'hazards' of the 'psychosocial' work environment. One key pathway from the work environment to illness is through the mechanism of stress; thus we speak of 'stressors' in the work environment, or 'work stress'. This is in contrast to the popular psychological understandings of 'stress', which locate many of the problems with the individual rather than the environment. In this book we advance a social environmental understanding of the workplace and health. The book addresses this topic in three parts: the important changes taking place in the world of work in the context of the global economy (Part I); scientific findings on the effects of particular forms of work organization and work stressors on employees' health, 'unhealthy work' as a major public health problem, and estimates of costs to employers and society (Part II); and, case studies and various approaches to improve working conditions, prevent disease, and improve health (Part III).
Based on groundbreaking research on the working conditions of airport check-in workers in two countries, a previously unstudied category of predominantly women workers, Ellen Rosskam describes a form of work characterized as modern-day Taylorism. An occupation greatly affected by new forms of work organization and management practices-caught in the throes of rapid change due to international competition, alliances, mergers, and the application of cost-efficiency strategies-check-in work has been undermined in recent years by the adverse effects of liberalization and technological change.By peeling away the veneer of glamour associated with airport check-in work, Rosskam reveals how changes in work organization in this sector have de-skilled, disempowered, and ultimately demoralized workers. In "Excess Baggage", weaving through the psychological distress, physical pain from musculoskeletal disorders, strain, and violence that check-in workers experience and describe in their own words, a picture emerges of a job perceived to be "safe," "clean," "glamour girl" work, but which is comparable to industrial workplaces that require heavy manual lifting, obligingly performed in skirts, dresses, and pretty little shoes.
Few people escape dark days or mind-boggling distress. Fewer yet are prepared when crushing blows leave them staggering with grief and pain. Knowing God's tried and proven mind-science principles will mean the difference between developing a growing positive experience rather than a trip into debilitating depression. Some might classify When You Walk a Dark Valley as a self-help book. It is more than that; it is how to turn disaster, overwhelming grief and paint into wells of water springing up like artesian springs for exuberant, thriving in Christ. It is turning bitter experiences produced even by supposed dear friends and loved ones, into victorious Christian living beyond your wildest expectations. It is taking every negative of life and finding incredible joy in Jesus and growth in His grace to become what He intended you to be. It is realizing that the way God has led was right for you and was really from His hand. Beyond all this, it will make the reader an instrument in God's hands to win the very souls who sought to wound him, making him the carrier and administrator of God's ultimate agape love. Realizing more of His selfless love, you will know more of His grace to not merely survive unbearable pain, but then to thrive in His more abundant life. You will find His peace in trusting Him with every inch of your innermost soul. If you personally take these few brief lessons to heart, you will never be the same again. This will be your reward for reading When You Walk a Dark Valley!
Hidden Los Angeles is perfect for readers interested in quintessential L.A. activities, from shopping at upscale boutiques to sitting on a sun-drenched beach watching surfers. The guide recommends a wide range of lodging choices from affordable retro motels to historic Beverly Hills resorts. The guide also features a special driving tour of movie stars' former mansions, including Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio's Elizabethan cottage, Marlene Dietrich's 1930s art-deco home and Jimmy Stewart's Tudor house. A dining guide with over 200 opinionated reviews, spanning the entire range of cuisine, is also included.
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A preacher's daughter sets out to become a career girl, marries a farmer and struggles through winters in Minnesota to raise seven children. Her husband had entered the Navy at age 17 and, after getting temporarily deafened by an explosion, discovered the amusements of the ship's mess before his discharge to live the quiet life running a chicken farm.
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