Born Ready

Jodie Patterson, activist and Chair of the Human Rights Campaign Foundation Board, shares her transgender son's experience in this important picture book about identity and acceptance. Penelope knows that he's a boy. (And a ninja.) The problem is getting everyone else to realize it. In this exuberant companion to Jodie Patterson's adult memoir, The Bold World, Patterson shares her son Penelope's frustrations and triumphs on his journey to share himself with the world. Penelope's experiences show children that it always makes you stronger when you are true to yourself and who you really are.

After the Boston Celtics made University of Maryland basketball star Len Bias the second pick in the 1986 NBA draft on June 17, the player's future lay in front of him like a golden, red carpet leading to a life of good-fortuned fame. The Celtics and others considered him to be the next great basketball star, following Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, at a time when the team returned to league supremacy and Michael Jordan had yet to establish his ultimate greatness. Bias played with a rare mix of athleticism, grace and controlled rage. Off the court, he was humble and personable, shy and at times socially adventurous and daring. But Bias' death from cocaine intoxication two days after the draft altered the state of sports and drugs in a way that lingers today. The player's death was one of the cruelest tragedies in sports in the last quarter century. It still strikes the hearts and minds of many in a generation that witnessed the uncomfortable and developing synergy of big time sports and drug abuse. I tried to humanize the story by focusing on how lives have been affected by his death and the compelling issues that have arisen from the tragedy. The book provides an underlying message of overcoming tragedy to thrive and, in some cases, just to survive, in life. Bias's death forced American lawmakers to make tough choices about how to best deal with a developing drug crisis, with dubious consequences. It reinforced efforts by those in charge of administering college athletics to alter the way they guided student athletes. And Bias' death drastically changed the destinies of many who were closely connected to the athlete. The book includes interviews with Bias's teammates and close friends; former University of Maryland athletics officials who reflect on the challenging years that followed his death; people who were greatly affected by federal drugs laws; and even a young man who claims to be his son. I talked with his mother as well. As a former University of Maryland athlete (track and field and soccer) and a long-time Washington, D.C.-based journalist, I approached this project with passion and a unique perspective. I reported on Bias' death in 1986 as a community broadcaster while also working at the Washington Post. This is my third book on athletics history at the University of Maryland, where i was a two sport athlete in track and field in soccer. I was captain of the track team in 1979-80. Go to daveungrady.com for more information.

Subject: Coast Guard Lieutenant Commander Scott Everly. Current Status: On vacation. Mostly. Mission: Keeping a sexy, smart-mouthed biologist out of trouble. Obstacle: Keeping himself out of trouble...and out of her bed Semper Paratus. Always Prepared. It's the Coast Guard motto. But Lieutenant Commander Scott Everly sure wasn't prepared for the sight of red-hot marine biologist Jackie Birchard in her red-hot bikini. She's wading in dangerous waters, and even if he's off duty, Scott isn't about to let this sassy little mermaid out of his sight.... With a major research project on the line, and a chance to prove herself, Jackie isn't interested in anything resembling a romantic complication. Then again, isn't raw, lusty sex--especially with a tasty specimen such as Scott--a basic human necessity? After all, the U.S. Coast Guard is always prepared...and ready for action, too

Jodie Patterson, activist and Chair of the Human Rights Campaign Foundation Board, shares her transgender son's experience in this important picture book about identity and acceptance. Penelope knows that he's a boy. (And a ninja.) The problem is getting everyone else to realize it. In this exuberant companion to Jodie Patterson's adult memoir, The Bold World, Patterson shares her son Penelope's frustrations and triumphs on his journey to share himself with the world. Penelope's experiences show children that it always makes you stronger when you are true to yourself and who you really are.

This book talks about battles. Battles that help exemplify and teach us about the strategies needed to succeed in life. Battles that clearly show how chasing everything we want is no easy task. But we must never kneel before destiny because that is, according to José Luiz Tejon, "the essence of a soul forged with the strength and resolve of great warriors." In Warriors are not born ready, Tejon, with his inimitable and inspirational words, demonstrates how the path to success is nothing short of stacked with obstacles. Tejon will awaken your warrior spirit within, and guide you towards making smart choices, those truly aligned with your own values in life. Among other aspects of the warrior ethos, here you will learn to: Build your sense of identity – Define what you stand for – Avoid letting others define you – Embrace your personal challenges – Never fear being the first This book will revolutionize both your professional and personal life. José Luiz Tejon Megido is one of the greatest living examples of human resilience. Adopted as a young boy, his face was left heavily scarred by third degree burns at the age of four. He spent his childhood and teenage years in and out of public hospitals, often for long periods at a time. He studied at a school for children with special needs, Santa Casa de Santos, but quickly shrugged off any "ugly duckling" stigma and began to dedicate his undivided attention to the arts and his professional endeavors. He holds a Master's degree from Mackenzie University and has completed postgraduate courses at Harvard, MIT and Insead. He is PhD in Education and holds teaching posts at FGV University in São Paulo and on Audencia University's MBA program in Nantes, France. He is the president of TCA International and manages the agribusiness hub at Brazil's ESPM University. Previously, he held director roles at the Estado de S. Paulo newsgroup, Agroceres and Jacto S/A. He is also a regular guest commentator for the Jovem Pan Radio Network. Among his professional accolades, he was named as Brazil's "Top of Mind" speaker by the Estadão RH Awards and "Great Key Speaker" by the Olmix Trophy, in Paris. He is a keynote speaker at events staged in various countries. He has authored and co-authored 33 books in total, including the renowned bestsellers The Flight of the Swan, The Kiss of Reality, The Great Comeback, Leadership to Make Things Happen and The Resilience Code, all published by Editora Gente. Today, Tejon dedicates his life to helping those that pursue victory in the face of adversity.

"The book opens with a poem by SHERMAN ALEXIE. A new commission by SEAN THOMAS finds him back in his hometown of Omaha, Nebraska, documenting the teen rites of passage that pile up at the end of high school: senior prom, first romances, lazy summer jobs. Then Bruce Weber’s first story in the book: a profile of FATHER GREGORY BOYLE, founder of Homeboy Industries, the pioneering Los Angeles based gang intervention and rehabilitation program. From there All-American travels to Harlem with LISA EISNER, whose commissioned story about Amateur Night at the Apollo becomes a love poem to the vibrant neighborhood. Weber’s second story is a profile of the charming and eccentric MICKY WOLFSON, whose extraordinary collection of furniture, paintings, books, prints, and decorative objects became the Wolfsonian Museum in Miami, Florida. A portfolio of paintings by the Palm Beach society fixture RALPH WOLFE COWAN presents everyone from Doris Duke to Johnny Mathis to Princess Grace in the most ethereal and unexpected light. All-American traces one woman’s personal struggle for justice through exclusive images from the personal archive of EDITH WINDSOR, whose Supreme Court case resulted in the overturning of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) earlier this year. This story also features portraits by Bruce Weber and photographs by POPPY DE VILLENEUVE. All-American Volume Thirteen closes with an in-depth look at the world of professional motocross racing. Bruce Weber traveled this summer to Southwick, Massachusetts together with photographers JOHN SCOTT and MICHAEL JOHN MURPHY to capture stars like Ryan Dungey and James Stewart racing against a host of up-an-comers"--

Inspired by her transgender son, activist Jodie Patterson explores identity, gender, race, and authenticity to tell the real-life story of a family’s history and transformation. “A courageous and poetic testimony on family and the self, and the learning and unlearning we must do for those we love.”—Janet Mock In 2009, Jodie Patterson, mother of five and beauty entrepreneur, has her world turned upside down when her determined toddler, Penelope, reveals, “Mama, I’m not a girl. I am a boy.” The Pattersons are a tribe of unapologetic Black matriarchs, scholars, financiers, Southern activists, artists, musicians, and disruptors, but with Penelope’s revelation, Jodie realizes her existing definition of family isn’t wide enough for her child’s needs. In The Bold World, we witness Patterson reshaping her own attitudes, beliefs, and biases, learning from her children, and a whole new community, how to meet the needs of her transgender son. In doing so, she opens the minds of those who raised and fortified her, all the while challenging cultural norms and gender expectations. Patterson finds that the fight for racial equality in which her ancestors were so prominent helped pave the way for the current gender revolution. From Georgia to South Carolina, Ghana to Brooklyn, Patterson learns to remove the division between me and you, us and them, straight and queer—and she reminds us to celebrate her uncle Gil Scott Heron’s prophecy that the revolution will not be televised. It will happen deeply, unequivocally, inside each and every one of us. Transition, we learn, doesn’t just belong to the transgender person. Transition, for the sake of knowing more and becoming more, is the responsibility of and gift to all. The Bold World is the result, an intimate and exquisite story of authenticity, courage, and love. Praise for The Bold World “In The Bold World, Jodie Patterson makes a case for respecting everyone’s gender identity by way of showing how she came to accept her son, Penelope. In tying that struggle to the struggle for race rights in this country during her own childhood, she paints a vivid picture of the permanent work of social justice.”—Andrew Solomon, bestselling author of The Noonday Demon and Far from the Tree

Louise Belinda Bellflower lives in Rochester, New York, in 1896. She spends her days playing with her brother, Joe. But Joe gets to ride a bicycle, and Louise Belinda doesn’t. In fact, Joe issues a solemn warning: If girls ride bikes, their faces will get so scrunched up, eyes bulging from the effort of balancing, that they’ll get stuck that way FOREVER! Louise Belinda is appalled by this nonsense, so she strikes out to discover the truth about this so-called “bicycle face.” Set against the backdrop of the women’s suffrage movement, Born to Ride is the story of one girl’s courageous quest to prove that she can do everything the boys can do, while capturing the universal freedom and accomplishment children experience when riding a bike.