The Amazing "Auto" Biography of Peggy Hurst and Her Vintage VW Van.The fifty-year true story of two forceful souls that merged into a single immortal being: GOOD CAR, MA is the tale of a fearless woman who kept driving and never quit; she never doubted, she never took no for an answer. Read this book, and you won't ever look at your car the same way again. You won't ever look at your life the same way either...You'll get off your butt and do what you always wanted to do. No excuses, no fear, no regrets, no brakes - just the open road and your wheels on the ground. She's a good car, Ma!
Honest, humorous, poignant, and raw with emotion...Judy Kowalsky's life is filled with alcoholism, suicide, and tragic loss. As an adult, the author encounters more heartbreaking catastrophes before realizing that she has spent a lifetime meeting the same personalities, experiencing challenging emotional years of learned behaviors and actions that go well beyond childhood. Maybe you will see yourself in her recollections. Maybe you will see someone you know in them, but the author asks: What will you do when you look into the eyes of an innocent child whose potential for abuse is imminent?"The Art of Bristle is a book about one woman's journey to find herself after years of a painful life. A painful life is often found, but never shared. Thankfully, Judy Kowalsky is ready to share. Her book is full of honesty, acceptance of being an adult child of an alcoholic, pain, loss, and grief in her life. However, it is not just about her but includes all who identify with her. I strongly recommend her book. As you read it you will realize that it teaches and touches your heart.Judy's heart is in this book."-Robert J. Ackerman, PhD, Author of Perfect Daughters,Adult Daughters of Alcoholics and Co-founder of theNational Association for Children of Addiction"Many of us spend adulthood processing childhood, developmentally stuck at points of trauma, often feeling isolated and different until we find healing. Through sharing her pain, Judy's path toward regeneration gifts others with the knowledge that we are not alone. The Art of Bristle, like Judy, is authentic, gently written by an empathic, faithful soul who found a way out of darkness, fear and anger borne through cruelty and judgement.Judy's memories, while beautifully penned, send one back to the safety and innocence of childhood and then step repeatedly outside of inviolability. Judy artfully paints pictures of her life, relating struggles of growing up too soon, bearing misplaced blame, becoming an actress portraying normalcy, developing survival skills, establishing boundaries, accepting that sometimes there are no answers and ultimately embracing self-acceptance and forgiveness.Those who practice in any medical or mental health clinic setting should read The Art of Bristle to understand better who sits in the chair across from them. Those who have experienced abuse, and its sequelae will hopefully realize that we are blameless, that we are and always have been more than adequate, and that we are neither too much, nor too little. We are intelligent, we are kind; we are enough; we love, and we are loved.I knew Judy in high school, a sweet, quiet girl with a beautiful smile who hid her pain well, as I did mine. We didn't talk about abuse back then and hid our bruises. Hopefully, this book will contribute to effecting change, beginning dialogues, reducing stigma, and encouraging the acceptance and promotion of people seeking help." ~ Dr. Sherry Lynn Jones, EdD, RN, MS, Author of Confessions of a Trauma Junkie and More Confessions of a Trauma Junkie
The transit of Venus, in which Venus passes between the Earth and the Sun, occurs in couplets eight years apart. These couplets don't return for another century. If you miss them, you miss them forever.In 1760, astronomer Matthew Sangster leaves his family in Dublin to observe the transit of Venus from India. Despite vowing to return within three years, Matthew's journey is perilous. Delayed by events at sea, the deserts of Arabia, and the Seven Years' War, he misses the first transit.To salvage his career, he decides to wait in India until Venus returns. Matthew spends the next eight years attempting to survive in a world beyond his understanding. As empires collide around him, the heavens move slowly above. All the while, he struggles with doubt, temptation, and a vengeful warlord intent on killing him.With Venus drawing closer, Matthew's options are to succeed in his task, or return to his family with nothing.
This is a story about a mother and son, a story about addiction.I Can't Do This Anymore documents a year in the life of Karen Hardy and Bryan Massey. It was written in real-time overthe course of a year while Bryan was in active addiction, in and out of rehabs, jail, and living on the street. Karen startedwriting in July 2016 not knowing how the year would end and committed to documenting whatever happened. The ups anddowns will leave you reeling and not knowing what comes next.
The streetlights were dark. Black-out curtains hung on every window on every home. The buzz of bombers circled above, searching for targets in the night.For a little girl named Norma, this was the only life she knew. This was life in World War II England.A shiny apple for Christmas was all her father could give. Her mother had walked away without saying a word to her children, after young evacuees escaping the Blitz bombing in London flooded their town. Norma's older sister Pat comforted and protected her as they watched the "pretty little lights" that lit the way for bombers above their home. Her mischievous brother Brian entertained them with his antics when he wasn't entertaining himself in his search for adventure. He ran out onto the streets to see where the bombs landed when most ran to shelters instead. But together they found a way to live life.Soon, two American service members on leave would open their eyes to a whole new world filled with new tastes and new dreams for a brighter tomorrow.But what would it take for Norma to make it through? She takes us on an inspirational journey of love, loss, laughter, and hope. Norma reveals life behind the masks she would need to wear to survive.My Mask. My War. Norma's War.The streetlights were dark. Black-out curtains hung on every window on every home. The buzz of bombers circledabove, searching for targets in the night.For a little girl named Norma, this was the only life she knew. This was life in World War II England.A shiny apple for Christmas was all her father could give. Her mother had walked away without saying a word to her children, after young evacuees escaping the Blitz bombing in London flooded their town. Norma's older sister Pat comforted and protected her as they watched the "pretty little lights" that lit the way for bombers above their home. Hermischievous brother Brian entertained them with his antics when he wasn't entertaining himself in his search for adventure. He ran out onto the streets to see where the bombs landed when most ran to shelters instead. Buttogether they found a way to live life.Soon, two American service members on leave would open their eyes to a whole new world filled with new tastes and new dreams for a brighter tomorrow.But what would it take for Norma to make it through? She takes us on an inspirational journey of love, loss, laughter, and hope. Norma reveals life behind the masks she would need to wear to survive.My Mask. My War. Norma's War.*****A portion of the proceeds from this book are being donated to support non-profit veteran's programs.
While I Was Waiting For You is the expanded and revised edition of Joel Weishaus' Collected Poems, Feels Like Home Again, published in 2014. The present volume includes thirty poems since found, and an addendum of six very early poems. In this volume of poems made between 1965-2000, Weishaus addresses his experiences in San Francisco during the 1960s and 70s; a journey to Japan in 1968, building a Japanese-style garden in California, a one-year hermitage in a mountain cabin, and living in northern New Mexico. These poems form the foundation for Weishaus' later work, including his celebrated Digital Literary Art.
ANN IS CONVINCED SHE IS A GOOD MOTHER until her teenage daughter admits to suicidal thoughts. In a desperateattempt to rescue her child, she gathers wisdom from therapy, the 12 Steps, and Buddhist teachings, yet she finds her greatest solace from an unlikely source: the Greek myth of Demeter and Persephone. Connecting this ancient story to her experience as a traumatized mother, Ann is vindicated in her desire to save her child but also learns the secret to returning to herself. A memoir about honesty, compassion, and trust, Craving Spring explores the pain and beauty of mother-daughter bonds and celebrates the universal desire for renewal."A masterful storyteller, Ann Batchelder takes us deep into the heart of a mother's love while demonstrating the power of myth to illuminate a path toward healing. Craving Spring is a gift to anyone trying to navigate the complexities of the mother-daughter relationship."-Anita Johnston, Ph.D., psychologist and author of Eating in the Light of the Moon"Craving Spring is so deeply heartfelt that I felt it in my own heart, often pounding as I read-and yet I could not put it down."-Lynn Melnick, author of I've Had to Think Up a Way to Survive:On Trauma, Persistence, and Dolly Parton"Ann Batchelder has expressed something extraordinary with relevance and profound teachings...Craving Spring is a story of triumph. I highly recommend it."-Tommy Rosen, founder of Recovery 2.0
Nothing comes easy, but if you have the drive and determination, you can do almost anything.In 1975, when he was 16 years old, Stuart Miller's parents decided to move their family from Stuart's childhood roots to retire in Phoenix, Arizona, home of golf company PING. Being at the right place at the right time helped Stuart get a job with PING at their factory in 1978, but it was his hard work and determination that helped him seize this opportunity. Stuart worked for PING when it was in its infancy, experiencing firsthand its unbelievable growth that made it a leader in the golf industry. In the first part of this memoir, Stuart shares his experiences of helping to build this fledgling company, including many highlights like meeting company founder, Karsten Solheim, on several occasions.Nothing lasts forever, and after 28 years at PING that culminated in his position as sales representative, Stuart was let go in 2009. The second part of this memoir shows how Stuart's personal drive and fortitude allowed him to "rise from the ashes" after this setback and assert himself as a successful independent rep selling more than one company's products.Come along with Stuart Miller as he takes you on his 40-year personal wonderful journey in the game of golf.
A woman who works in the beauty field stumbles on an astounding secret: anyone who wrongs her gets a terrible punishment in return. As a diehard Libra, who believes in truth, justice, and everyone getting theirs, she can't thank her lucky stars enough-that is, until she finds out that the person who has crossed her is someone she loves more than anyone else in the world, and that person is about to pay.______________________________________________________________Latest kudos for Libra..."Better than The Devil Wears Dior any day-or whatever that damn thing was called!"-Porter Smith,* Roué magazine"I read a 'story' a night, and by the time I was through, I was totally blown away."-Nicholas N., Faces magazine"She knows whereof she speaks-and heaven help the people she's speaking about."-Charles Brannigan, award-winning fashion designer and contributor to Encore magazine"I defy you to come up with a better ending for the book."-Drew Carpenter, Tween magazine"Someone told me about Libra, and I kept reading it to see if my name had been mentioned anywhere inside. I don't know whether it's better to be in the book-or not!"-Davis Hamilton, Beauty Beat, trade newspaper*All names further identified in the book
Cheryl Dellasega is a professor who's taught hundreds of university students about "Death & Dying," grateful that she had not experienced a significant loss. Then one Tuesday at 6:20 a.m., a horrific accident rendered her suddenly widowed. In the year that followed, there was no solace in the wisdom she shared so freely with her students. As the first anniversary of her husband's death approaches, she thinks about her love of train travel and decides to buy a cross-country trip and get away from all that is familiar. Days before she is scheduled to depart, Cheryl wonders if she is making a mistake by traveling so far away from the comfort of home. Although she gets herself to the train station in plenty of time, it seems as if only minutes have passed before the crowd sweeps onto the train, leaving her alone on the platform. The engine hisses and a last call is shouted by the railroad worker. With a deep breath to summon up courage, Cheryl steps into the waiting car and nods to the conductor, thinking, Let's go before I change my mind. Seconds later, she drops into the nearest available seat and they do, unprepared for the wisdom to come.
In November 2018, Kandi, already struggling with anxiety and chronic fatigue, faces her family's unthinkable losses after the Paradise Camp Fire. Her two sons and two granddaughters are immediately displaced when their homes are demolished, and they come to live with Kandi and her husband in their small cabin. As Kandi's solitude-seeking husband moves out and her energy wanes, she wonders how much of herself she can and should she give up for her family. When her family can finally move into temporary FEMA housing, hope flourishes, but as the months go by that hope comes and goes as Kandi faces illness, more fires, the COVID-19 pandemic, the loss of her parents, housing issues for herself and her family, and the prospect of being torn from her most cherished refuge-the forests and the wild lands she called home. Can Kandi persevere and find her calm snow after the fire?
In the aftermath of a hurricane, Angelique, who lost her father to the sea and was carried to safety by her native Carib mother among the wild ponies of Cumberland Island in post-WWII Georgia, finds Samuel, who lost his mother in childbirth, barely alive on a Cumberland Island beach. The unlikely couple grows together through adolescence on the Barrier Islands off the Georgia coast. Societal pressures of the late 1960s and the turmoil of the Vietnam War force a separation, though a seed has been cast.A story of generations, Gentle Spirits follows Samuel and Angelique through the splendor of nature as they experience the grace of dolphins and ponies on Cumberland Island; birds, dogs, butterflies, brook trout, and grapevines in Northern Michigan; trout-fishing in Spearfish Canyon; dogs and sheep on a Montana ranch; breathtaking duck migrations in the Canadian Provinces; and hawks and a mountain bluebird on Bear Butte while they navigate the challenges of a young adult world in search of meaning, in life and in death."Thomas Conlan's Gentle Spirits pulls the reader into the story from the first page. The characters and settings come alive with description and pacing that's just right as the story banks and turns. "Just one more chapter" quickly turns into a binge-read. Conlan's deft storytelling touch is hard to resist as we follow Samuel and Angelique and the rest of the cast and pull hard for them all to find their way."-Michael K. Brantley, author of Galvanized and Memory Cards
These poems gathered to discuss rhythms as urgent and Earthly as rain, as heartbeat, as ripening fruit. Rhymes of waves within tides within lifetimes. They weave a rope from place, time, and emotion. Because everyone, sooner or later, needssomething to hold on to."Inspired and inspirational verse...Highly recommended!"-Dr. Maja Trochimczyk, President of California State Poetry Society, President of Moonrise Press, and author"With astounding wordcraft and an unceasing sense of wonder, these poems take us on a journey that spans the planet, and the heart...This is a book to put in your backpack, or keep under your pillow. These are poems to devour slowly, on a train heading into new and mysterious lands."-Wess Mongo Jolley, author and editor"The coherent love of synched sounds and related themes ties together the variety of density and light-like walking through forest, into meadow, and back-in ways that can keep contemplation and delight alive as you go."-Don Freas, poet, designer/craftsman, sculptor
For years, readers have delighted in Maxine Rose Schur's award-winning travel essays. Now, all the tales of her unusual honeymoon are gathered in one illustrated volume in a new, revised edition. Whether camping in the center of Paris, dangling off a Panamanian tramp steamer or hitchhiking across Australia, her tales are funny, exciting, and tender. Looking back, she tempers her youthful encounters with midlife wisdom, capturing the spirit of all those she met and evoking memorable places in time. If you're looking for travel writing that blends insight with delicious surprise, fasten the seatbelt on your armchair and come along."Best Travel Book of the Year" ~ North American Travel Journalists Association"Best Travel Narrative (Gold)" ~ Society of American Travel Writers
My Family: A Window into the Secrets, Successes, and Sins of Early New Orleans and Beyond is a collection of complex life stories that interweave and meander through the ever-changing world of eighteenth and nineteenth-century Louisiana. The accounts are populated by real people, some famous and some unsung, whose lives are rife with contradictions. Meet free men and women of color, war heroes, a world-renowned scientist and Egyptologist, an internationally famous artist, a universal suffrage activist, an explorer turned spy, philanthropists, entrepreneurs, sugar barons, cotton factors, and slave traders. The intricate tapestry of early Louisiana is revealed as their lives unfold. As we grow and evolve as humans, it is natural that our sense of justice is offended by practices of the past like slavery, the lack of agency for women, slave holding free people of color, and shifting loyalties. The stories of the Rillieux, Cantrelle, Verret, Jones, Bringier, and Freret families expose a past infused with honor and regret.
Ever since the family reunion in the Adirondack Mountains two years ago, nothing has been the same. Annie, the middle sister is experiencing an acute episode of postpartum depression. The youngest sister, Cade, has moved south to work at a school that resembles a trailer park, determined to succeed on her own adventure. Rye is a former teacher of the year, working in a wealthy, litigious school district who is always put together and organized until her father begins to deteriorate. Winnie's husband, Don, has become suddenly ill, both mentally and physically, and no doctor can explain. The family must watch Don's health decline while dealing with struggles of their own. In a book that exposes the challenges in the education and mental health systems, readers will also find themselves rooting for each character as they search for answers.
Cheryl said many times that "I'm done with that life, I'll never go back to it." But she did. When her Aunt Judy finds her in jail after two years of thinking she may be dead, she hopes and prays this is a second chance for her niece. Her sensitive, funny, bookworm niece. Her big sister's eldest daughter, the sister who has since died. And through writing White Flag, bestselling author Judy L. Mandel finds that it didn't start with Cheryl, but that the tentacles of trauma explored in her first book Replacement Child have grabbed hold of her niece too. She struggles with being powerless to help Cheryl, and she discovers that transgenerational trauma and epigenetics may have started this avalanche of pain. She wonders why some people can recover from addiction, and others cannot. Why some are able to raise their white flag of surrender.White Flag was a category finalist for the Eric Hoffer and a bronze medalist for the psychology/mental health category for the IPPY awards in May 2023.Release date = October 1, 2022
One writer''s search for meaning, one family''s journey to healing...Jane Olmsted''s family didn''t adhere to the characteristics that the media portrays for those struggling with mental illness and addiction. Doctors, attorneys, and social workers repeatedly told Jane and her husband that they weren''t used to working with "families like yours." The Tree You Come Home To tells the story of Jane''s family''s struggle with mental illness, addiction, and the crises that followed the murder of her youngest son. It can provide hope and comfort to those facing similar situations and encourage empathy and compassion in those who haven''t."Jane Olmsted''s meticulously detailed account is a wake-up call for schools, churches, social workers, legislators, psychologists, medical doctors, and all those engaged with the mental and emotional wellness of at-risk youth."-Sena Jeter Naslund, Ph.D., author of Ahab''s Wife and others"Jane Olmsted weaves together life and death, tragedy, and moments of grace in this extraordinary memoir on the murder of her youngest son. In luminous writing, Olmsted plumbs the complex and fluctuating dynamics of family, motherhood, grief, and faith while forging a path towards healing."-Kristin Czarnecki, author of The First Kristin: The Story of a Naming
From the age of four, Eve wandered through a maze of injustice, exploitation, and unthinkable parental betrayal. After escaping home at the age of fifteen, it disheartened Eve to find that her childhood was only the beginning of a road fraught with violent relationships.Come along on her journey of perseverance through intense psychotherapy as she learns it is possible to not only survive the after-effects of deep childhood trauma but break the generational cycle for her own family.
Swimming, Not Drowning is a memoir in verse that takes the reader on the poet's journey through her struggles with an anxiety disorder that often leads to depression. The first part, "Deep Water," explores the author's childhood, family, personality, fears, disappointments, the generalized public unfamiliarity with mental illness, and other factors conducive to the onset of depression. The second part, "Drowning," depicts what it feels like to be trapped in the disabling claws of the depression monster. The last part, "Swimming," is a testament of hope, reassuring the reader that with patience, understanding, and support, everybody can learn how to "swim" the deep waters without drowning.
Are You Gregg's Mother? describes the challenges, obstacles, and grace of raising a son who develops paranoid schizophrenia."I am the mother of an adult son who suffers from paranoid schizophrenia. From Gregg's traumatic birth to his turbulent childhood, through his troubled teens up to the present, I have loved him, though at times that has been in the inscrutable dark. Each mother's story is different. My story, as Gregg's mother, is unique, but in some aspect, all mothers will find in our intertwined lives an aspect of their own. 'Not me,' one might say, 'that could never happen to me and my child'-and in that thought itself we are alike."
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