Bleachers In The Bedroom

Shibe Park was demolished in 1976, and today its site is surrounded by the devastation of North Philadelphia. Kuklick, however, vividly evokes the feelings people had about the home of the Philadelphia Athletics and later the Phillies.

Al Simmons, at top form in the Roaring Twenties, sparked one of baseball's greatest dynasties, the Philadelphia Athletics, to multiple championships, before becoming just another ballplayer. While his achievements demonstrated greatness, he was not an easy man to like--for those competing against him or with him--and he seemed to play to the level of team expectation. Contemporary accounts and other recollections give us a sense of Al Simmons the person and the ballplayer, his connections to people, his teams and his ability to capture the fans' imagination in his halcyon days.

Building is a system of energy and environment, which needs to accommodate diverse needs and demands at individual and societal levels. Nearly 40% of global energy use derives from construction. In fact, a house consumes a significant amount of energy before and after occupancy, and the associated CO2 emissions are contributing to climate change. Prefabrication is a means to mass-produce buildings or parts and components. Thus, in theory, production costs can be reduced through economies of scale. In the 1920s, the significance of mass-produced houses was widely propagated by Le Corbusier who saw standardization as fundamental to mass production. Nonetheless, today, in response to growing global warming issues and the constant increase in energy prices, the construction industry is becoming more responsive to the delivery of sustainable architecture than ever. Within this context, sustainability may embrace not only building economy but also the adequacy beyond the legitimacy in which the quality barely coincides with individuals’ various dynamic needs, desires, and expectations today. In this respect, mass-produced prefabs alone fail to realize total sustainability. In 1987, a paradoxical concept of mass customization was introduced by Stanley Davis. Nonetheless, the idea applied to housing dates back to the 1950s. The essence of mass customizable architecture was speculated by Walter Gropius, as he emphasized the need for standardizing and mass-producing not only entire buildings but also their components. The combination of standard building components, which can be prefabricated, results in mass producing various types of constructions through economies of scope, where the quality can be defined by user choices of the components given in consideration of economic constraints and needs and demands. This book is an initial attempt to integrate the two notions of sustainability and mass customization by reviewing the potential capacities of prefabricated construction.

Before you can force yourself to put SKIN DEEP down, you will meet: -a preacher’s wife and tele-evangelist’s daughter who can cuss like a sailor and punch like Ali, -The Blue Lady, the Jelly Man, and the Atchafalaya Swamp Monster and her kid, -A junior psychopath who kills cats and collects their eyes, -A self-centered Jewish boy who grows up to be an anti-Semitic asshole, eschewing his heritage, his religion, and his people. A white singer/television personality, dubbed “America’s Sweetheart” by the Press, who gives birth to a black baby in 1950’s Hollywood. - Princess Margaret, a gorgeous silver Persian cat who must run for her life, -America’s wealthiest black family whose billions put Oprah’s billions and Trump’s “millions” to shame. -A mule named Caliste who saw Satan once and never wants to see him again! And: -Two teenaged boys, one black and one white, who meet, fall in love, lose touch, and reconnect years later to solve a cop’s murder. You will also take a trip on an unpiloted wooden sailing ship on a rough sea and witness the stench, the rats, and the degradation of the Middle Passage from Africa. SKIN DEEP introduces the reader to a coterie of characters: Pirates andPilgrims, satyrs and centaurs, handack trees, space colonists, and much, much more. SKIN DEEP is a novel you will want to go on and on forever.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • High school all-American Neely Crenshaw was probably the best quarterback ever to play for the legendary Messina Spartans. Fifteen years have gone by since those glory days, and Neely has come home to Messina to bury Coach Eddie Rake, the man who molded the Spartans into an unbeatable football dynasty. Now, as Coach Rake’s “boys” sit in the bleachers waiting for the dimming field lights to signal his passing, they replay the old games, relive the old glories, and try to decide once and for all whether they love Eddie Rake – or hate him. For Neely Crenshaw, a man who must finally forgive his coach – and himself – before he can get on with his life, the stakes are especially high. Don’t miss John Grisham’s new book, THE EXCHANGE: AFTER THE FIRM!

In Bleachers, the debut short fiction collection by award-winning poet Joseph Mills, fifty-four stories take place during two youth soccer games, capturing the thoughts, concerns, realizations, and perspectives of the parents on the sidelines and in the stands. As these spectators watch (or don't watch) the players on the field, their narratives interweave to form a portrait of community and of parenting--always unpredictable, often complicated, and rarely what it seems. From A to Z ("Aging" to "Zidane"), Bleachers can be read as a primer on parenting and family, as well as a paean to sports. If, as Dr. King said, Sunday morning is the most segregated hour in America, then Saturday morning may be the most integrated as families gather to experience the victories and losses, both great and small, of the game that brings them together, "forming, then breaking apart, then reforming . . . . temporarily cohering" as a team.