Deeply Superficial

“Michael Menzies has led the picaresque life many of us only dream of, and he sets it down with such wit and grace it's hard to know which to envy more, his wealth of once-in-a-lifetime experiences or his skill with a pen.”—Christopher Lloyd, Emmy Award-winning executive producer/writer of Modern Family and Frasier In this dazzling memoir that also serves as a dual biography of stage and film legends Noël Coward and Marlene Dietrich, film and music executive Michael Menzies chronicles in hilarious detail his life-long obsession with the theater in general and these two international superstars in particular. At age twelve, Menzies discovered the autobiography of actor/writer/composer Noël Coward and was consumed by it. Although still only a youth, Menzies identified hugely with Coward—so much so that he came to believe that he must be the star’s love child. But with whom? In a burst of inspiration Menzies worked out that his mother could only be Marlene Dietrich. The author then decides that as soon as he can he will voyage around the world to confront Coward and Dietrich in person and announce himself as their son. Yet even after he finally abandons his plan, Menzies continues his search for them—and their pasts—spending the rest of his life following in their footsteps, traveling to London, Paris, New York, Berlin, Switzerland, and Jamaica. Deeply Superficial is at once a warm and witty homage to these two legends and the lasting impact their spectacular careers left on the world—and on a twelve-year-old dreaming of fame in a faraway place. Michael Menzies has lived all over the world, and has worked with rock ’n’ roll promoter Bill Graham, impresario Sol Hurok, choreographer Agnes de Mille, Broadway producer Saint-Subber, and in film with the de Laurentiis family. He lives in Los Angeles.

Why we may be forgiven--but are not yet free In January 2009, Dr. Mark Stibbe left his role as the senior leader of a highly successful Anglican congregation. Taking a big step of faith, he founded a ministry called The Father's House, dedicated to taking the Father's love to the fatherless and bringing an end to the global pandemic of fatherlessness. Mark took this risk because he is convinced that our society has been deeply damaged by absent or brutal fathers. The churches can offer a solution--a healing relationship with our Heavenly Father--but many Christians have been poorly fathered and are bound by the legacy of this wound. As long as believers are restricted by the chains of their past, their churches will not be a part of the solution to fatherlessness; they will be a part of the problem. "The whole planet is waiting for Christian believers to rise up as the adopted sons and daughters of Abba, Father." I Am Your Father is designed to help free Christians from their father wounds, so that they are then capable of playing their part in healing our fatherless world. In part 1, Mark takes a detailed look at fatherlessness. He describes the different ways in which fathers can hurt their children and the ensuing toxic results. In part 2, he goes deeper, defining the wound as "the orphan heart" and describing the main symptoms of this condition in peoples' lives. In part 3, he shows how Christians can find true healing through experiencing the spirit of adoption and by using seven keys to freedom. Mark uses his own story of being orphaned and adopted as the backdrop to this teaching.

Text is a translation of 'Diseases of the Skin' which formed a part of Virchow's 'Handbuche der speciellen Pathologie und Therapie'. Cf. Author's preface to the English ed., p. [iv], vol. 1.