A Bigfoot Bestiary and Other Wonders


Book Description

A Bigfoot Bestiary and Other Wonders is a compendium of natural and unnatural astonishment, anatomizing all those big, hairy monsters that haunt the human condition. Follow their footprints through these pages, and Martin Achatz may just make you a believer in the greatest mystery of all: Love with a capital "L". "Martin Achatz knows what it is to be big and hairy and to express the animal inside us. To paraphrase the Zen koan, live as if you were already Bigfoot. If Iowa Poet Laureate Marvin Bell has his Dead Man poems, Michigan's Achatz has rendered poetical the great ape of the Northwoods, and he eloquently and determinedly immerses us in the dream, meanwhile paying homage to Robert Frost, Pablo Neruda, Wallace Stevens, Flannery O'Connor, and all the other wonderful monsters." -Bonnie Jo Campbell, author of The Waters and American Salvage "Martin Achatz reimagines the legendary Bigfoot in his newest book, a funny and moving collection of poems that is playfully serious. Achatz melds cryptozoologic wonder with the heartrending stuff of the everyday world ... a fierce Sasquatch howl that illuminates and reveals the fragile state of our collective humanity." -W. Todd Kaneko, author of This Is How the Bone Sings "Newsflash! Bigfoot has been found! He resides in the mind of Martin Achatz who rides with 'love as big as Kong' this doppelgänger of a beast straight into the mystery that is his own life. And with abundant humor as well-Bigfoot has late fees at the Carnegie Library, goes trick-or-treating, auditions for Picasso to replace the Minotaur." -Dennis Hinrichsen, author of Dominion + Selected Poems Author of The Mysteries of the Rosary and a former U.P. Poet Laureate, Martin Achatz lives in Ishpeming, Michigan with his family. In his spare time, he chases comets and Bigfoot. From Modern History Press www.ModernHistoryPress.com




Up, Not Down Syndrome


Book Description

Up, Not Down Syndrome is a love letter and a map. Experience how it feels to think your life is over after having an unlovable baby. At first the loss seems impossible to overcome. Alex becomes the author's greatest teacher. Love is stronger than fear. Everyone has gifts. The book consists of three parts: the story, the lessons Alex taught the writer and Alex's perspective. Up, Not Down Syndrome is a promise to stay positive, no matter what: up, not down. Nancy's journey gets to the core of what it is to be human: * Explore what it feels like to think life, as you know it, is over. * Discover the fierce love, joy and peace a baby diagnosed with Trisomy 21 (Down syndrome) brings. * Learn the lessons this child taught his mom. * Understand the gift this baby brings to our world. * Realize the depth of the love this family has for the child. "A beautiful, honest account of not just accepting--but embracing--the unknown. Nancy shows us the blessing of an unexpected gift and the enormity of love." --Sara Byala, Ph.D. "This is a wonderful book to remind you that the joy of love is possible in unexpected places when you open your heart to it." --Barbara Taylor Bowman, Irving B. Harris Professor of Child Development "A moving and wise story of how a family navigates through hope, loss, learning and, most of all, love." --Rabbi David Wolpe, author of David: The Divided Heart "The truth and beauty of Nancy Schwartz's words tell an ongoing story of love, learning and the power of acceptance. All can learn from this family's boundless hope and from their source of joy and strength: Alex." --April Beard, Music Educator and Cellist Learn more at www.UpNotDownBook.com From Modern History Press www.ModernHistoryPress.com




Gichigami Hearts


Book Description

Award-winning author Linda LeGarde Grover interweaves family and Ojibwe history with stories from Misaabekong (the place of the giants) on Lake Superior Long before there was a Duluth, Minnesota, the massive outcropping that divides the city emerged from the ridge of gabbro rock running along the westward shore of Lake Superior. A great westward migration carried the Ojibwe people to this place, the Point of Rocks. Against this backdrop—Misaabekong, the place of the giants—the lives chronicled in Linda LeGarde Grover’s book unfold, some in myth, some in long-ago times, some in an imagined present, and some in the author’s family history, all with a deep and tenacious bond to the land, one another, and the Ojibwe culture. Within the larger history, Grover tells the story of her ancestors’ arrival at the American Fur Post in far western Duluth more than two hundred years ago. Their fortunes and the family’s future are inextricably entwined with tales of marriages to voyageurs, relocations to reservation lands, encounters with the spirits of the lake and wood creatures, the renewal of life—in myth and in art, the search for meaning in the transformations of our day is always vital. Finally, in one man’s struggles, age-old tribulations, the intergenerational traumas of extended families and communities, and a uniquely Ojibwe appreciation for the natural and spiritual worlds converge, forging the Ojibwe worldview and will to survive as his legacy to his descendants. Blending the seen and unseen, the old and the new, the amusing and the tragic and the hauntingly familiar, this lyrical work encapsulates a way of life forever vibrant at the Point of Rocks.




Yoopernatural Haunts


Book Description

Eerie. Exotic. Haunted. Michigan’s Upper Peninsula boasts a wild and mysterious landscape that teems with ghosts from its rugged and colorful history. In earlier times this remote and often inaccessible terrain spawned a world of its own that still lives on in the haunted mists and shadows. Join Michigan’s premier investigators, the Upper Peninsula Paranormal Research Society, as they open their case files to some of the best haunted locales. Most of the team are U.P. natives, fondly known as “Yoopers.” Their stories are packed with history, lore, and detailed descriptions of investigations, plus ample helpings of charm and humor.




Homeless Outreach & Housing First


Book Description

From the author of Homeless Narratives & Pretreatment Pathways Jay S. Levy brings us a new educationalresource entitled "Homeless Outreach & Housing First: LessonsLearned." This monograph features three written works onhomelessness inclusive of an article on moral, fiscal, andquality of life considerations, a new story entitled "Ronald'sNarrative: The Original Housing First," and an interview thatwas originally featured in "Recovering The Self: A Journal ofHope and Healing." These three documents provide a rich andfertile resource for learning, reflecting, and informing neededaction that promotes high quality outreach services andhousing stabilization for the most vulnerable among us.The Reader will... Learn about the positive measurable impact of a HousingFirst approach and its moral, fiscal, and quality of lifeimplications.Explore the relationship between Homeless Outreach andHousing First, as well as understand the five basic pretreatmentprinciples that can be applied to both.Learn how to utilize a Pretreatment Approach with individualsexperiencing major mental illness and addiction.Understand how to better integrate Housing First andHomeless Outreach initiatives with homelessness policy. Praise for Jay S. Levy "This is one of the best guides I have read about workingwith the underserved and homeless. I wonder why all citiesdon't put it into place? How we approach our homelesscan defi nitely make a diff erence. Sometimes it's not in thetechniques, but in the attitude of the case manager."--Carol S. Hoyer, PhD, for Reader Views Learn more at www.JaySLevy.comFrom Loving Healing Press www.LHPress.com




Bestiary


Book Description

NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS’ CHOICE • Three generations of Taiwanese American women are haunted by the myths of their homeland in this spellbinding, visceral debut about one family’s queer desires, violent impulses, and buried secrets. “Gorgeous and gorgeously grotesque . . . Every line of this sensuous, magical-realist marvel is utterly alive.”—O: The Oprah Magazine FINALIST FOR THE LAMBDA LITERARY AWARD • LONGLISTED FOR THE VCU CABELL FIRST NOVELIST AWARD • LONGLISTED FOR THE CENTER FOR FICTION FIRST NOVEL PRIZE • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY O: The Oprah Magazine • NPR • The New York Public Library • Kirkus Reviews One evening, Mother tells Daughter a story about a tiger spirit who lived in a woman’s body. She was called Hu Gu Po, and she hungered to eat children, especially their toes. Soon afterward, Daughter awakes with a tiger tail. And more mysterious events follow: Holes in the backyard spit up letters penned by her grandmother; a visiting aunt arrives with snakes in her belly; a brother tests the possibility of flight. All the while, Daughter is falling for Ben, a neighborhood girl with strange powers of her own. As the two young lovers translate the grandmother’s letters, Daughter begins to understand that each woman in her family embodies a myth—and that she will have to bring her family’s secrets to light in order to change their destiny. With a poetic voice of crackling electricity, K-Ming Chang is an explosive young writer who combines the wit and fabulism of Helen Oyeyemi with the subversive storytelling of Maxine Hong Kingston. Tracing one family’s history from Taiwan to America, from Arkansas to California, Bestiary is a novel of migration, queer lineages, and girlhood. Praise for Bestiary “[A] vivid, fabulist debut . . . the prose is full of imagery. Chang’s wild story of a family’s tenuous grasp on belonging in the U.S. stands out with a deep commitment to exploring discomfort with the body and its transformations.”—Publishers Weekly




Pretreatment Guide for Homeless Outreach & Housing First


Book Description

This book provides social workers, outreach clinicians, case managers, and concerned community members with a pretreatment guide for assisting homeless couples, youth, and single adults. The inter-relationship between Homeless Outreach and Housing First is examined in detail to inform program development and hands on practice. "Pretreatment Guide for Homeless Outreach & Housing First" shares five detailed case studies from the field to elucidate effective ways of helping and to demonstrate how the most vulnerable among us can overcome trauma and homelessness. Readers will:ÿ ÿ * Expand their assessment skills and discover new interventions for helping people who have experienced long-term or chronic homelessness.ÿ ÿ *ÿUnderstand and be able to integrate the stages of common language construction with their own practice.ÿ ÿ *ÿLearn about the positive measurable impact of a Housing First approach and its moral, fiscal, and quality of life implications.ÿ ÿ *ÿUnderstand how to better integrate program policy and supervision with Homeless Outreach & Housing First initiatives.ÿ ÿ *ÿLearn how to utilize a Pretreatment Approach with couples, youth, and unaccompanied adults experiencing untreated major mental illness and addiction.ÿ "Jay S. Levy's book is essential reading to both people new to the movement to end homelessness and folks who have been in the trenches for many years. Learn how to do effective outreach with the chronic homeless population, and the ins and outs of the Housing First model. The personal stories and the success cases will give inspiration to work even harder to help both individuals and for ending homelessness in your community." Michael Stoops, Director of Community Organizing National Coalition for the Homeless, Washington, DC Learn more at www.JaySLevy.com Another empowering book from Loving Healing Press www.LovingHealing.com




Pretreatment In Action


Book Description

Jay Levy's Pretreatment In Action: Interactive Exploration from Homelessness to Housing Stabilization provides the reader with a wonderfully crafted, detailed step-by-step manual with real-world scenarios on how Pretreatment and the Stages of Engagement play out in the actual work. The vignettes are rich with descriptions that clearly come from a deep repertoire of experience working in the field that gives the reader confidence they are being guided by someone who has been in their shoes. The thoughtful questions and space to reflect add a helpful workbook touch to the feel of the text, and matches the grittiness of the material being covered. The reader will... ❇︎ Understand the 5 principles of a Pretreatment Model through their application to real-life scenarios that depict the world of homelessness, trauma and loss. ❇︎ Learn how to utilize Pretreatment Assessment and interventions to promote the engagement process and safety with highly vulnerable people. ❇︎ Effectively integrate the stages of Common Language Development with one's own practice of outreach and engagement with under-served persons. ❇︎ Experience through interactive exercises and reflecting on case illustrations the importance of facilitating the meaning making process with both staff and clients. ❇︎ Discover an innovative approach to staff supervision based on the integration of Pretreatment principles with Psychologically Informed Environments (PIE) and Open Dialogue approaches to helping "Pretreatment In Action by Jay S. Levy, MSW is a landmark accomplishment. For those who do street outreach and street medicine, Jay has provided a much-needed framework for navigating the largely undefined terrain of therapeutic relationships with those experiencing unsheltered homelessness." --Dr. Jim Withers- Medical Director and Founder of the Street Medicine Institute, Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh "By using case studies and reflective exercises, Jay Levy has created a highly readable and accessible guide to working with people who are street homeless. Levy's enthusiasm for the work shines through on each page; he does not shy away from complexity, and the stories and situations he describes are as relevant in the UK as in his native USA.", --Dr. Jenny Drife- START Homeless Outreach Team, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, Advisor to the Royal College of Psychiatrists on homelessness and mental health "Levy draws on respected approaches including Motivational Interviewing, Narrative Therapy and Solution Focused Therapy. He integrates these into a clearly articulated practical approach that will also work with other significantly disadvantaged people living with trauma and marginalization." --Rohena Duncombe, BA, BSW, MSWAP, Social work academic & researcher, Charles Sturt University, Australia Learn more at www.JaySLevy.com From Loving Healing Press www.LHPress.com







A Short History of the Short Story


Book Description

Worldwide Appreciation of the Short Story Form Spans Cultures and Centuries! In this concise volume, Gulnaz Fatma traces the short story from its origins in fables, ancient poetry, and tales such as "The Arabian Nights," to its modern form in the early American stories of Irving, Poe, and Hawthorne, and then through the twentieth century and throughout the world. The elements of what makes a short story are presented along with a discussion of the difficulties in defining the genre. The short story's relation to the novel as well as its uniqueness as its own form are deftly presented. While the American and European traditions of the short story take up much of this book, the final chapter is a thorough presentation of the short story's development in India. Anyone interested in the short story--teachers, students, writers, and readers--will find this volume informative, thoughtful, and a welcome addition to our understanding of one of literature's most dynamic forms. Gulnaz Fatma is an Indian writer and author. She is a research scholar in the Department of English at Aligarh Muslim University in Aligarh, India. "As a fiction writer who has also taught the short story form, I was impressed by the thoroughness and insight presented in this concise book. Fatma's broad exploration of the short story form is backed by numerous supporting examples and her chapter on the short story in India will introduce many readers to that country's own literary gems." --Tyler R. Tichelaar, Ph.D. and author of the award-winning "Narrow Lives" From the World Voices Series www.ModernHistoryPress.com Literary Criticism: Short Stories Literary Criticism: Asian - General