Dreams Bigger Than Texas

Dreams Bigger Than Texas: A Story of Faith, Purpose, Perseverance, and Growth into Womanhood, will leave you daring to DREAM, reimagining your own story, and passionately pursuing purpose. Born to a 19-year-old heroin and cocaine addict on the rough South Side of Chicago and raised in abject poverty amid the perils of drugs and violence, Dee uncovers some of life's most challenging lessons at an early age. Miraculously, she survives, becoming the first in the family to graduate high school and attend college. The rich cultural and life-changing atmosphere of a Historical Black University is where Dee's true self-discovery begins. Outwardly, she thrives, a poster child for resilience. But privately, her life is in shambles as she wrestles with depression and demons from her past. Embarking on a desperate quest to find self-worth and purpose, as well as love from her absentee father, she turns up short, allowing her "daddy issues" to lead her down a bleak path of poor decision making, promiscuity, and defeat. But unbeknownst to her, she is divinely guided, protected, and powered by a seemingly invisible and everlasting presence that she later acknowledges as her "help." This "help" energizes a vivacious raw seed, eventually revealing her purpose and developing her into a force to be reckoned with. She identifies this "help" after an epiphany following a breakup with an ex. A rose-from-concrete, hood, hope, and love story, Dreams Bigger Than Texas infuses comedy, insight, and faith. Dee's life story is raw, revealing, relatable, and flat-out inspiring. The transparency and authenticity of her personal triumphs, along with her discovery of her help's identity will leave you empowered to: 1. Reconcile your own traumas and self-sabotaging cycles 2. Understand that your past doesn't dictate your future 3. Believe that you, too, are divinely guided and protected

ARE YOU A FAN OF:"The Wood," "Crooklyn," "The Coldest Winter Ever," "Love and Basketball," "College Hill," HBCUs, "The Best Man" or "Being Mary Jane"? If the answer is no, you've never heard of those titles, maybe you're a fan of "The Pursuit of Happiness," "Remember the Titans" or the "Rocky" series.These titles are not necessarily related. However, they all possess similar elements of "Dreams Bigger Than Texas." "Dreams Bigger Than Texas: A Story of Purpose, Persistence and Growth Into Womanhood" is an incredible autobiographical story of a young woman coming of age, overcoming adversities, her strive towards success, faith, purpose and growth into womanhood. It's revealing, relatable, flat out juicy and inspiring. "Dreams Bigger Than Texas" is a hood story, a love story, a story of hope, tenacity and strength.

The Years of Lyndon Johnson is the political biography of our time. No president—no era of American politics—has been so intensively and sharply examined at a time when so many prime witnesses to hitherto untold or misinterpreted facets of a life, a career, and a period of history could still be persuaded to speak. The Path to Power, Book One, reveals in extraordinary detail the genesis of the almost superhuman drive, energy, and urge to power that set LBJ apart. Chronicling the startling early emergence of Johnson’s political genius, it follows him from his Texas boyhood through the years of the Depression in the Texas hill Country to the triumph of his congressional debut in New Deal Washington, to his heartbreaking defeat in his first race for the Senate, and his attainment, nonetheless, of the national power for which he hungered. We see in him, from earliest childhood, a fierce, unquenchable necessity to be first, to win, to dominate—coupled with a limitless capacity for hard, unceasing labor in the service of his own ambition. Caro shows us the big, gangling, awkward young Lyndon—raised in one of the country’s most desperately poor and isolated areas, his education mediocre at best, his pride stung by his father’s slide into failure and financial ruin—lunging for success, moving inexorably toward that ultimate “impossible” goal that he sets for himself years before any friend or enemy suspects what it may be. We watch him, while still at college, instinctively (and ruthlessly) creating the beginnings of the political machine that was to serve him for three decades. We see him employing his extraordinary ability to mesmerize and manipulate powerful older men, to mesmerize (and sometimes almost enslave) useful subordinates. We see him carrying out, before his thirtieth year, his first great political inspiration: tapping-and becoming the political conduit for-the money and influence of the new oil men and contractors who were to grow with him to immense power. We follow, close up, the radical fluctuations of his relationships with the formidable “Mr. Sam” Raybum (who loved him like a son and whom he betrayed) and with FDR himself. And we follow the dramas of his emotional life-the intensities and complications of his relationships with his family, his contemporaries, his girls; his wooing and winning of the shy Lady Bird; his secret love affair, over many years, with the mistress of one of his most ardent and generous supporters . . . Johnson driving his people to the point of exhausted tears, equally merciless with himself . . . Johnson bullying, cajoling, lying, yet inspiring an amazing loyalty . . . Johnson maneuvering to dethrone the unassailable old Jack Garner (then Vice President of the United States) as the New Deal’s “connection” in Texas, and seize the power himself . . . Johnson raging . . . Johnson hugging . . . Johnson bringing light and, indeed, life to the worn Hill Country farmers and their old-at-thirty wives via the district’s first electric lines. We see him at once unscrupulous, admirable, treacherous, devoted. And we see the country that bred him: the harshness and “nauseating loneliness” of the rural life; the tragic panorama of the Depression; the sudden glow of hope at the dawn of the Age of Roosevelt. And always, in the foreground, on the move, LBJ. Here is Lyndon Johnson—his Texas, his Washington, his America—in a book that brings us as close as we have ever been to a true perception of political genius and the American political process.

No, it's not just you, and you're not tripping! Let's be honest; the majority of the corporations we’re working for weren’t founded with us in mind. It is no secret how stressful, challenging, and difficult working in corporate America can be, especially for women of color. But guess what, Sis? You made it, and most of us had to fight really hard to get here. We’ve worked long hours, continued our education, moved across the country, and made countless sacrifices. Now, wouldn’t it be nice to feel respected, valued, and be equally compensated? Wouldn’t it be nice to create more significant contributions toward our careers while navigating workplace stress more effectively? Look no further; help is in your hand. But, first, let’s take a deep breath and wooooosah. Woosah: A Survival Guide for Women of Color Working In Corporate is guaranteed to help you better navigate the workplace while keeping your confidence, cool, and peace of mind. Packed with down-to-earth commentary, unfiltered and relatable stories, exercises, and practical tools in it, Rahkal provides invaluable advice for tackling thorny topics like discrimination, wage gaps, microaggressions, toxic environments, self-worth, boundary setting, and community building. This humorous and energetic guide is for the woman who's ready to thrive. ------------Featured in Forbes and HuffPost, Rahkal C. D. Shelton is a multitalented author, workplace peace advocate, college & career readiness coach, and career strategist. She is the author of Woosah Workplace Peace: A Workbook & Journal for Women of Color, Dreams Bigger Than Texas: A Story of Faith, Perseverance, and Growth Into Womanhood, and Blackbird: The Story of a SistaMom. Rahkal is passionate about helping women of color cultivate smart and strategic career-planning moves. Learn more at www.rahkalshelton.com

"Dan Lovett was an important part of Eyewitness News history." -Al Primo, founder of the original Eyewitness News at WABC-TV in 1968 in New York "Dan has always had a great passion for sports, and his knowledge comes crystal clear in this book. Plus, anybody with hair that good has to have something going just below it." -Ron Franklin, former lead college football broadcaster on ESPN "A man's man in the true sense of the word. He has the unmatched ability to put your mind into his story. A legendary storyteller; plus, he is a great friend and gentleman." -Dan Pastorini, former Houston Oilers quarterback "I tossed him out of my garage in gasoline alley at Indy, but felt bad about it because he was from my hometown. Dan came around and showed me he wanted to learn about racing. He is a great broadcaster and cares about my sport." -A. J. Foyt, first four-time winner of the Indianapolis 500 "I knew when I first hired him he would be a great broadcaster on the radio. He could talk about the farm report and make it the most important story of the day." -Curt Brown, member of the Missouri Broadcasters Hall of Fame "Dan knows how to tell the story in this book. If you like sports, you'll Lovett." -Sam Huff, hall of fame linebacker of the Giants and Redskins

This is the story of the rise to national power of a desperately poor young man from Texas Hill Country. And, thanks to the narrative gifts of Robert Caro, we are beside Lyndon Johnson every step of the way - as he works on a road gang as a teenager; as he stands, gangling, awkward, terribly nervous on a wagon bed, begging Hill Country farmers to send him to Congress; as he suffers a heartbreaking defeat in his first race for the Senate and, nonetheless, maneuvers himself into a position of power in Washington by the age of 31. In this riveting book, the first of three projected volumes on Johnson's life, we are brought as close as we have ever been to a true perception of political genius and of the workings of the American political process.

"The Girl Who Fell from the Sky can actually fly." —The New York Times Book Review Rachel, the daughter of a Danish mother and a black G.I., becomes the sole survivor of a family tragedy after a fateful morning on their Chicago rooftop. Forced to move to a new city, with her strict African American grandmother as her guardian, Rachel is thrust for the first time into a mostly black community, where her light brown skin, blue eyes, and beauty bring a constant stream of attention her way. It’s there, as she grows up and tries to swallow her grief, that she comes to understand how the mystery and tragedy of her mother might be connected to her own uncertain identity. This searing and heart-wrenching portrait of a young biracial girl dealing with society’s ideas of race and class is the winner of the Bellwether Prize for best fiction manuscript addressing issues of social justice.