Remembered Names


Book Description

ELLINGTON The Duke's patrician mother passed in May of nineteen thirty-fi ve. His calling, even then, was cast, but composing took a nosedive. He fi lled her hearse with fl owers, sorrowing in his solitude. He bore a battleground of powers. Then came, "In a Sentimental Mood." Its dancers took the tune from there, and spread its spell from coast to coast, stepping to it with such style, such fl air that many c1ubbers could but toast. My folks did the fox-trot to his band, in Depression-dizzy Dallas, - Deep Ellum,1 where colored folks could stand. Saw his show in Tyler's Palace.2 Ghost trains would trumpet past our home, passing its porch with Pullman cars that carried white folks to and from towns with names like Texarkana. Those evening trains were lit like stars . . . all the way to Corsicana. My dad would play on our piano, plunking out some boogie's bitter bars. A railroad clerk, he ran with woe, drugging that journey with his gin . . . Born for Christ in nineteen thirty-fi ve, I bear a cross of love within, to help somebody's heart survive. Our darkest years saw Duke's comeback. For Duke would joy his band with jive, trumpeting his "A Train" on Love's track. 1Deep Ellum is on Elm Street in Dallas, Texas. 2the only black theater in Tyler, Texas. October 17, 2009 Remembered Names 139 ON ELLINGTONIA If you dig elegance, his music is your mistress. Take the A Train to dance up in Harlem, with fi nesse, - if only in memory; it's in my solitude, in my soul's reverie. In a sentimental mood I'm moving, I'm praying: "Dear Lord, in heaven above, keep us sweetly swaying to Ellington's deep groove." Johnny Hodges is so hip, - when he swings "Warm Valley,"- that he'll take you on a trip to glory, to God's alley; he'll give you a poet's tip: "It don't mean a thing, man, if it ain't got that swing- a fantasy, black and tan!" Such love is everlasting. The Duke would love you madly! For his sound is so haunting, as we glide to it, gladly. November 9, 2009




Remembered Names - Forgotten Faces


Book Description

Historical Fiction, concerning the decline of activity on a southern plantation after the civil war; how freedom affected former slaves, and the concerns of the land owners Author's email address: [email protected].




The Desert Remembers My Name


Book Description

My parents always told me I was Mexican. I was Mexican because they were Mexican. This was sometimes modified to ÒMexican American,Ó since I was born in California, and thus automatically a U.S. citizen. But, my parents said, this, too, was once part of Mexico. My father would say this with a sweeping gesture, taking in the smog, the beautiful mountains, the cars and houses and fast-food franchises. When he made that gesture, all was cleared away in my mindÕs eye to leave the hazy impression of a better place. We were here when the white people came, the Spaniards, then the Americans. And we will be here when they go away, he would say, and it will be part of Mexico again. Thus begins a lyrical and entirely absorbing collection of personal essays by esteemed Chicana writer and gifted storyteller Kathleen Alcal‡. Loosely linked by an exploration of the many meanings of Òfamily,Ó these essays move in a broad arc from the stories and experiences of those close to her to those whom she wonders about, like Andrea Yates, a mother who drowned her children. In the process of digging and sifting, she is frequently surprised by what she unearths. Her family, she discovers, were Jewish refugees from the Spanish Inquisition who took on the trappings of Catholicism in order to survive. Although the essays are in many ways personal, they are also universal. When she examines her family history, she is encouraging us to inspect our own families, too. When she investigates a family secret, she is supporting our own search for meaning. And when she writes that being separated from our indigenous culture is Òa form of illiteracy,Ó we know exactly what she means. After reading these essays, we find that we have discovered not only why Kathleen Alcal‡ is a writer but also why we appreciate her so much. She helps us to find ourselves.




Remember Every Name Every Time


Book Description

From a man whose amazing memory has astonished and entertained America's top CEOs comes a complete illustrated course in mastering the tricky art of memorizing names and faces in business settings, a vital skill for career success. 60 photos.




The Book of Lost Names


Book Description

Eva Traube Abrams, a semiretired librarian in Florida, is at the returns desk one morning when her eyes lock on to a photograph in a newspaper nearby. She freezes; it's an image of a book she hasn't seen in sixty-five years--a book she recognizes as the Book of Lost Names. The accompanying article describes the looting of libraries across Europe by the Nazis during World War II--an experience Eva remembers all too well. As a graduate student in 1942, Eva was forced to flee Paris after the arrest of her father, a Polish Jew. Finding refuge in a small mountain town in the Free Zone, she begins forging identity documents for Jewish children fleeing to neutral Switzerland. But erasing people comes with a price, and along with a mysterious, handsome forger named Rémy, Eva decides she must find a way to preserve the real names of the children who are too young to remember who they really are. The records they keep in the Book of Last Names will become even more vital when the Resistance cell they work with is betrayed and Rémy disappears. As the Germans close in, Eva records a last, vital message in the book. Decades later, does she have the strength to seek out its answer--and help reunite those lost during the war?




A Land Remembered


Book Description

A Land Remembered has become Florida's favorite novel. Now this Student Edition in two volumes makes this rich, rugged story of the American pioneer spirit more accessible to young readers. Patrick Smith tells of three generations of the MacIveys, a Florida family battling the hardships of the frontier. The story opens in 1858, when Tobias and Emma MacIvey arrive in the Florida wilderness with their son, Zech, to start a new life, and ends in 1968 with Solomon MacIvey, who realizes that his wealth has not been worth the cost to the land. Between is a sweeping story rich in Florida history with a cast of memorable characters who battle wild animals, rustlers, Confederate deserters, mosquitoes, starvation, hurricanes, and freezes to carve a kingdom out of the Florida swamp. In this volume, meet young Zech MacIvey, who learns to ride like the wind through the Florida scrub on Ishmael, his marshtackie horse, his dogs, Nip and Tuck, at this side. His parents, Tobias and Emma, scratch a living from the land, gathering wild cows from the swamp and herding them across the state to market. Zech learns the ways of the land from the Seminoles, with whom his life becomes entwined as he grows into manhood. Next in series > > See all of the books in this series




The Memory Book


Book Description

Unleash the hidden power of your mind It’s there in all of us. A mental resource we don’t think much about. Memory. And now there’s a way to master its power. . . . Through Harry Lorayne and Jerry Lucas’s simple, fail-safe memory system, you can become more effective, more imaginative, and more powerful at work, at school, in sports, and at play. • Read with speed and greater understanding. • File phone numbers, data, figures, and appointments right in your head. • Send those birthday and anniversary cards on time. • Learn foreign words and phrases with ease. • Shine in the classroom and shorten study hours. • Dominate social situations: Remember and use important personal details. Begin today. The change in your life will be unforgettable




Things That Matter


Book Description

#1 WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER • Discover practical steps you can take today to live a life focused on things that matter, from the bestselling author of The More of Less and The Minimalist Home. “Things That Matter points the way to free ourselves from the distractions of everyday life so that we can build the lives we seek to create.”—Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project Everywhere around you are distractions: That text you respond to quickly, just to get it out of the way. The newest money-making side hustle to cross your mind. The evening spent organizing your overflowing kitchen cupboards. Disruptions are the enemies of a life well lived—both the new distractions of our generation and timeless ones that have existed for centuries. They all add up to make you feel restless, tired, and unfulfilled. They’re keeping you from living with joy, from accomplishing the good that only you can do. But that can change today. In Things That Matter, Joshua Becker uses practical exercises, questions, insights from a nationwide survey, and success stories to give you the motivation you need to • identify the pursuits that matter most to you • align your dreams with your daily priorities • recognize how money and possessions keep you from happiness • become aware of how others’ opinions of you influence your choices • embrace what you’re truly passionate about instead of planning that next escape • figure out what to do with all those emails, notifications, and pings • let go of past mistakes and debilitating habits Things That Matter is a book about living well. It’s about overcoming the chatter of a world focused on all the wrong things. It’s about rethinking the common assumptions of today to find satisfaction and fulfillment tomorrow. How do we get to the end of our lives with minimal regrets? We set aside lesser pursuits to seek lasting meaning. And we discover the joy of doing it every day.




Remember More


Book Description

The one warning sign to look out for that will lead to the demise of your confidence, and how to stop it. Do you often feel as if there's a brick wall in your brain, barricading the important thoughts you need at that moment for immediate use? You go to the supermarket, for example, prepared with a mental list of all the items you need for the coming week. You walk into the store and... boom. It's gone. Your well-thought-out list vanished into thin air. You stop in your tracks and stare at the fresh produce section, your cart getting in the way of other rushed shoppers, feeling like a fool. You may ask yourself in pity: Why do I have such bad memory? The chances are it's not your memory that's bad, it's just your brain that is in need of training. Just like you would train your body to become more physically fit for running X distance or climbing X mountain, you also need to train your brain to retrieve your thoughts and memories more efficiently. Your brain may just be a bit out of shape, but that's nothing to be alarmed by. Knowing exactly how to train your brain will get you in tip-top form in no time. In Remember More, you will discover: The concealed memory-training strategies experts use to enhance their brain capacity to its fullest How understanding the inner workings of your mind will help you recognize what steps to take in improving your memory Why forgetting information can actually be beneficial for your memory What memory techniques work best for your brain's preferred way of grasping information 3 memory tests to help you check your brain performance and steer you in the right direction for improvement The biggest threat to your memory retention and how you can overcome it Why there isn't a "one size fits all" solution when it comes to training your brain for efficiency And much more. These exercises and techniques are nothing like the study skills you've been taught in school. These are used by professional memory recollectors to remember even the smallest of details. If 5-year-old Edith Fuller can become the youngest contestant in the history of national spelling bees by practicing and learning from her mistakes, then it's also possible for you to take on the same mindset and improve your memory skills. Even if you think trying is hopeless and that you're terrible at remembering solely because you were not "blessed with the right genes," that is simply not true. With guidance through these fool-proof exercises, anyone will be able to benefit from them and experience the confidence it can bring you. In fact, after just 2 weeks, you will begin to notice a significant difference in the way you recall memories, allowing you to see yourself as a memory whiz rather than feeling like someone who's "lesser than." Experience what your brilliant brain is capable of and bulldoze that brick wall down, stepping over the debris and into the world that is your mind's boundless abilities.




Keep Saying Their Names


Book Description

An extraordinary work of fiction, inspired by historical events--an exquisitely crafted double portrait of a Nazi war criminal and a family savaged by World War II, conjoined by an actual house of horrors they both called home On a street in modern-day Norway, a writer kneels with his son and tells him that according to Jewish tradition, a person dies twice: first when their heart stops beating, and then again the last time their name is read or thought or said. Before them is a stone engraved with the name Hirsch Komissar, the boy's great-great-grandfather who was murdered by Nazis. The man who sent Komissar to his death was one of Norway's vilest traitors, Henry Oliver Rinnan, a Nazi double agent who set up headquarters in an unspectacular suburban house and transformed the cellar into a torture chamber for resisters, a place to be avoided and feared. That is until Komissar's own son, Gerson, and his young wife, Ellen, take up residence in the house after the war. While their daughters spend a happy childhood playing in the same rooms where some of the most heinous acts of the occupation occurred, the weight of history threatens to pull the couple apart. In Keep Saying Their Names, Simon Stranger uses this unusual twist of fate to probe five generations of intimate and global history, seamlessly melding fact and fiction, creating a brilliant lexicon of light and dark. The resulting novel reveals how evil is born in some and courage in others--and seeks to keep alive the names of those lost.