Can We Rise Again

Having a child with severe autism is one of the most transformative things you can ever experience. We love our son and want to give him the best life possible. And with the knowledge there was back then, there was a possibility his condition could improve, perhaps he could even start talking. We gave it everything. But 30 years later we have to acknowledge that he is exactly the same as he was then. He is still autistic with all that entails, he still has no speech. Was our fight in vain? Now looking back on 30 years of living with severe autism, we can share a story of a family that never gave up. We took all the fights that were necessary, and that we believed could help our son to have as good a life as possible, as a child and a youth, but also the hardest of them all, in adulthood. We achieved what was considered impossible, yes unimaginable. Our lives were not isolated from all the things we wanted to achieve together with our children. Autism was not allowed to prevail, that would be our clear goal, our life task. Autism would not be our son, but only a part of him. Behind his eyes, we found a happy, loving, and absolutely wonderful guy, we found our son. But that also came with a price. Were we able to live two such different lives? And what happened when his life wouldn't change? Could we change and give up our hopes and dreams? The story of autism contains so many different angles, and somehow, they all came together in our life. Science moved forward, and many answers were elaborated. It turned out that we had done so many things right. Still, there were so many losses. The story begins on a spring day in 1993. A normal day it may seem, but this Saturday our lives would change forever. The life we had hoped for would now forever be gone. We just didn't know it at the time.

Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, this big, brilliant, profoundly observed novel by National Book Award Finalist Joshua Ferris explores the absurdities of modern life and one man's search for meaning. Paul O'Rourke is a man made of contradictions: he loves the world, but doesn't know how to live in it. He's a Luddite addicted to his iPhone, a dentist with a nicotine habit, a rabid Red Sox fan devastated by their victories, and an atheist not quite willing to let go of God. Then someone begins to impersonate Paul online, and he watches in horror as a website, a Facebook page, and a Twitter account are created in his name. What begins as an outrageous violation of his privacy soon becomes something more soul-frightening: the possibility that the online "Paul" might be a better version of the real thing. As Paul's quest to learn why his identity has been stolen deepens, he is forced to confront his troubled past and his uncertain future in a life disturbingly split between the real and the virtual. At once laugh-out-loud funny about the absurdities of the modern world, and indelibly profound about the eternal questions of the meaning of life, love and truth, To Rise Again at a Decent Hour is a deeply moving and constantly surprising tour de force.

Robert J. Morgan has been Senior Historian at the Fortress of Louisbourg and Professor of History at Cape Breton University.

Rise Again marks a vivid and powerful fiction debut from an author who “balances kinetically choreographed scenes of zombie carnage with studies of well-drawn characters and enough political intrigue to give his tale more gravity and grounding than most zombie gorefests” (Publishers Weekly). A mysterious contagion. Mass hysteria. Sudden death. And a warning that would come all too late... Forest Peak, California. Fourth of July. Sheriff Danielle Adelman, a troubled war veteran, thinks she has all the problems she can handle in this all-American town after her kid sister runs away from home. But when a disease-stricken horde of panicked refugees fleeing the fall of Los Angeles swarms her small mountain community, Danny realizes her problems have only just begun—starting with what might very well be the end of the world. Danny thought she had seen humanity at its worst in war-torn Iraq, but nothing could prepare her for the remorseless struggle to survive in a dying world being overrun by the reanimated dead and men turned monster. Obsessed with finding her missing sister against all odds, Danny’s epic and dangerous journey across the California desert will challenge her spirit . . . and bring her to the precipice of sanity itself. . . .

Lyrics and guitar chords for traditional and modern folk songs.

Follow-up to national bestseller Stay the Blazes Home featuring inspiring photos and stories of Nova Scotians during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic

Vols. 1-26 include a supplement: The University pulpit, vols. [1]-26, no. 1-661, which has separate pagination but is indexed in the main vol.