Behind These 4 Walls

Architects, we like to believe, shape the world as they please. Reinier de Graaf draws on his own tragicomic experiences to present a candid account of what it is really like to work as an architect. To achieve anything, he notes, architects must serve the powers they strive to critique, finding themselves in a perpetual conflict of interest.

K.D. Hardy is the husband to Tracy Davis Hardy and the Father of one son Kerry Trayvon Hardy. He is a very proud member of the Worship Center Christian Church in Birmingham, Alabama. He is also a Les Brown Platinum Speaker. Before he committed himself to God and became a Platinum Speaker, Kerry lived the life of a "drug dealer". He is an example that change is "POSSIBLE". K.D. Hardy holds an Associates Degree in Early Childhood Education from Ashworth College and a diploma as a Financial Planning Specialist from PCDI. He also has a certification in fitness from the NFPT. He obtained these accomplishments during his incarceration.

A riveting and redemptive family memoir, The Four Walls of My Freedom is Donna Thomson’s account of raising a son with cerebral palsy and a passionate appeal to change the way we think about “the good life.” Donna Thomson’s life was forever changed when her son Nicholas was born with cerebral palsy. A former actor, director, and teacher, Donna became his primary caregiver and embarked on a second career as a disability activist, author, and consultant. Thomson vividly describes her experience in treading delicately through daily care, emergencies, and medical bureaucracy as she and her family cope with her son’s condition while maintaining value and dignity (for Nicholas, too). She brilliantly demonstrates the vital contribution that people with disabilities make to our society and addresses the ethics and economics of giving and receiving care. Featuring an introduction by John Ralston Saul, and two new chapters, The Four Walls of My Freedom is a passionate appeal to change to the way we think about the “good life” that will touch anyone caring for the life of another.

"Every word written in this book was written from within the confines of my home. Spanning over nearly three years this book is a testament to my time being housebound and proof that despite all the suffering, there is always happiness to be created, peace to be unearthed, and a life to be lived. A journey of self-discovery and personal growth, I hope this book may offer you comfort, inspiration, and wisdom, whatever path you find yourself on. And I hope by sharing my story and imparting my thoughts, it may help you in some small way too." - You'll find this book is a collection of "pieces": some longer, some shorter, some reading like letters, others like journal entries, some like poems, and some continuous and broken prose. The book is split into three parts: The Storm, The Aftermath, and The Calm, as well as a bonus chapter called 'A Conversation with Wisdom'. This book will take you on a transformative journey from the bad moments, to the good moments, and everything in between.

Hip-hop is creating an expanding ministerial and spiritual movement that is changing the socio-historical landscape on a national and global level. From the streets of its birthplace in the South Bronx to the barrios of Colombia in South America; Hip-hop is helping to create sacred spaces that are providing purpose to our marginalized youth and young adult street populations. Beyond the Four Walls: The Rising Ministry and Spirituality of Hip-hop serves as both an autobiographical and ethnographical journey of my love and experiences with Hip-hop as a professor, youth minister and artist. I invite the reader to explore my outlook on Hip-hop, which reaches far beyond the scope of its music, commercialization, and hood life. Instead, it takes another look at the unprecedented impact that Hip-hop continues to have in both our secular and spiritual communities. Because of its ongoing commitment to community organizing, activism, social justice and education, Hip-hop is worthy to be called a 21st Century socio-political, theological and spiritual movement, akin to that of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Ghandi, Mohammed, Abraham, Archbishop Oscar Romero, and most notably in this book, Jesus Christ and Paul the Apostle.

Born to a family of "intuitive" women, MaryRose Occhino uses her "celestial whispers" to open the minds and the hearts of everyone who has sought out her remarkable abilities as a link to loved ones who have passed on. But her powers also became her connection to the outside world—both real and spiritual—after she struggled through an isolation that grew out of her diagnosis of multiple sclerosis at the age of thirty-nine. Filled with startling revelations, this fascinating book is also MaryRose's own inspiring true story. Watch the trailers for the new SyFy show, "Mary Knows Best"! Watch a Video Watch a Video

"Everything begins on my return to Rwanda" begins Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza's new book written from her prison cell. Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza's new book written from her prison cell. After 16 years of exile in Holland, Victoire decided to return to her home country. This book recounts her life experience for 3 years, from the moment she announced her candidacy for presidential elections, to her incarceration into the famous "1930" maximum security prison. In this book, she describes her encounter with corrupt Rwandan judicial system from within. Interrogations, continuous threats, fabricated charges, her attempts to register her party, the prohibition of visiting her family in the Netherlands especially not being able to attend her son's 8th birthday. "Those politicians are ruthless. There are reasons to be afraid to live in this country. I have just spent more than twelve hours behind bars having done nothing, whatsoever" "The problem is not that they ignore who I am or that they don't know what is good for our fellow citizens, they just don't want to run the risk of losing power."