• Details the author’s time living with the Navajo people as a teacher, sheepherder, and doctor and her profound experiences with the people, animals, and spirits • Shows how she learned the Navajo language to bridge the cultural divide • Reveals the miracles she witnessed, including her own miracle when the elders prayed for healing of a tumor on her neck • Shares her fearsome encounters with a mountain lion and a shape-shifting “skinwalker” and how she fulfilled a prophecy by returning as a doctor In 1971, Erica Elliott arrived on the Navajo reservation as a newly minted schoolteacher, knowing nothing about her students or their culture. After a discouraging first week, she almost leaves in despair, unable to communicate with the children or understand cultural cues. But once she starts learning the language, the people begin to trust her, welcoming her into their homes and their hearts. As she is drawn into the mystical world of Navajo life, she has a series of profound experiences with the people, animals, and spirits of Canyon de Chelly that change her life forever. In this compelling memoir, the author details her time living with the Navajo, the Diné people, and her experiences with their enchanting land, healing ceremonies, and rich traditions. She shares how her love for her students transformed her life as well as the lives of the children. She reveals the miracles she witnessed during this time, including her own miracle when the elders prayed for healing of a tumor on her neck. She survives fearsome encounters with a mountain lion and a shape-shifting “skinwalker.” She learns how to herd sheep, make fry bread, and weave traditional rugs, experiencing for herself the life of a traditional Navajo woman. Fulfilling a Navajo grandmother’s prophecy, the author returns years later to serve the Navajo people as a medical doctor in an underfunded clinic, delivering numerous babies and treating sick people day and night. She also reveals how, when a medicine man offers to thank her with a ceremony, more miracles unfold. Sharing her life-changing deep dive into Navajo culture, Erica Elliott’s inspiring story reveals the transformation possible from immersion in a spiritually rich culture as well as the power of reaching out to others with joy, respect, and an open heart.
Rethinking Disaster Recovery focuses attention on the social inequalities that existed on the Gulf Coast before Hurricane Katrina and how they have been magnified or altered since the storm. With a focus on social axes of power such as gender, sexuality, race, and class, this book tells new and personalized stories of recovery that help to deepen our understanding of the disaster. Specifically, the volume examines ways in which gender and sexuality issues have been largely ignored in the emerging post-Katrina literature. The voices of young racial and ethnic minorities growing up in post-Katrina New Orleans also rise to the surface as they discuss their outlook on future employment. Environmental inequities and the slow pace of recovery for many parts of the city are revealed through narrative accounts from volunteers helping to rebuild. Scholars, who were themselves impacted, tell personal stories of trauma, displacement, and recovery as they connect their biographies to a larger social context. These insights into the day-to-day lives of survivors over the past ten years help illuminate the complex disaster recovery process and provide key lessons for all-too-likely future disasters. How do experiences of recovery vary along several axes of difference? Why are some able to recover quickly while others struggle? What is it like to live in a city recovering from catastrophe and what are the prospects for the future? Through on-the-ground observation and keen sociological analysis, Rethinking Disaster Recovery answers some of these questions and suggests interesting new avenues for research.
Barnett's prose style is brassy and cleareyed, with echoes of Anne Lamott." --Beth Macy, The New York Times Book Review "Emotionally devastating and self-aware, this cautionary tale about substance abuse is a worthy heir to Cat Marnell's How to Murder Your Life." --Publishers Weekly (starred review) A startlingly frank memoir of one woman's struggles with alcoholism and recovery, with essential new insights into addiction and treatment Erica C. Barnett had her first sip of alcohol when she was thirteen, and she quickly developed a taste for drinking to oblivion with her friends. In her late twenties, her addiction became inescapable. Volatile relationships, blackouts, and unsuccessful stints in detox defined her life, with the bottles she hid throughout her apartment and offices acting as both her tormentors and closest friends. By the time she was in her late thirties, Barnett had quit and relapsed again and again, but found herself far from rehabilitated. "Rock bottom," Erica Barnett writes, "is a lie." It is always possible, she learned, to go lower than your lowest point. She found that the terms other alcoholics used to describe the trajectory of their addiction--"rock bottom" and "moment of clarity"--and the mottos touted by Alcoholics Anonymous, such as "let go and let God"--didn't correspond to her experience and could actually be detrimental. With remarkably brave and vulnerable writing, Barnett expands on her personal story to confront the dire state of addiction in America, the rise of alcoholism in American women in the last century, and the lack of rehabilitation options available to addicts. At a time when opioid addiction is a national epidemic and one in twelve Americans suffers from alcohol abuse disorder, Quitter is indispensable reading for our age and an ultimately hopeful story of Barnett's own hard-fought path to sobriety.
Every Heart Has a Gift is a collaborative collection of inspiring stories from incredible women of all backgrounds, ethnicities, and religious affiliations. Hear their journeys of overcoming, rising, becoming, and more. You will be inspired, challenged, encouraged, and uplifted by each powerful story. Creative Collaboration by Janet C. Bernstein, who shares The Gift of Freedom. Lawrencina Mason Oramalu shares The Gift of Encouragement.Kim Peake shares The Gift of Appreciation.Erica Figueroa shares The Gift of Becoming.Christy Simpson shares The Gift of Grief.Jodie West shares The Gift of Growth.Catherine Paour shares The Gift of Happiness.Gina Doerr shares The Gift of Leadership.Melody Self shares The Gift of Healing.Julie D. Burch shares The Gift You Share.Eva Diana Iguaran shares The Gift of Faith.Cassie Pham Adams shares The Gift of Memories.Sherri Elliott-Yeary shares The Gift of the Call to Rise.Ariana C. Scott shares The Gift of Resilience, a thought-provoking poem.This book will give you goosebumps as you read it, and will make an amazing gift for that special girlfriend who loves stories of women who rock!
The Tails of Sonny & Connie is a story of two cats and their human family who learn about wildlife, brotherhood, having fun, losing a pet and being mindful of surroundings. Keeping cats indoors is becoming more and more common. The Tails of Sonny and Connie gets the ball rolling to help change the norm of only dogs getting walks!
This sequel to LOVE & TAXES is yet another hybrid of swashbuckling business tales wrapped in a tender tissue paper of love. Not only is it an unusual tale of two independent souls finding each other through the lonely corridors of corporate America, but it also happens to be a true story. It is written with the purpose to remind others that often the best returns on investment come from the most unusual combinations.
Yes!! Another book by Erica Bentel, author of the much-loved word play book "Has a Book Got a Spine?" With more funny, quirky illustrations by cartoonist/artist Neil Elliott. "Can You Crack Them?" are word games that make the mind think laterally - often with laugh-out-loud consequences. Youngsters and adults alike will strain their brains to solve these unique visual/word puzzles. Highly interactive, hugely fun. Crack them if you can...
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