First Timers And Old Timers

"The Texas Folklore Society has been alive and kicking for over one hundred years now, and I don't really think there's any mystery as to what keeps the organization going strong. The secret to our longevity is simply the constant replenishment of our body of contributors. We are especially fortunate in recent years to have had papers given at our annual meetings by new members--young members, many of whom are college or even high school students. "These presentations are oftentimes given during sessions right alongside some of our oldest members. We've also had long-time members who've been around for years but had never yet given papers; thankfully, they finally took the opportunity to present their research, fulfilling the mission of the TFS: to collect, preserve, and present the lore of Texas and the Southwest. "You'll find in this book some of the best articles from those presentations. The first fruits of our youngest or newest members include Acayla Haile on the folklore of plants. Familiar and well-respected names like J. Rhett Rushing and Kenneth W. Davis discuss folklore about monsters and the classic 'widow's revenge' tale. These works--and the people who produced them--represent the secret behind the history of the Texas Folklore Society, as well as its future."--Kenneth L. Untiedt

A classic of historical anthropology, First-Time traces the shape of historical thought among peoples who had previously been denied any history at all. The top half of each page presents a direct transcript of oral histories told by living Saramakas about their eighteenth-century ancestors, "Maroons" who had escaped slavery and settled in the rain forests of Suriname. Below these transcripts, Richard Price provides commentaries placing the Saramaka accounts into broader social, intellectual, and historical contexts. First-Time's unique style of presentation preserves the integrity of both its oral and documentary sources, uniting them in a profound meditation on the roles of history and memory. This second edition includes a new preface by the author, discussing First-Time's impact and recounting the continuing struggles of the Saramaka people.

Chronicles baseball history from the first regulated game in 1846 to the first World Series in 1903, including the development of the Major Leagues, and profiles noteworthy players, owners, and parks.

An earthy, entertaining collection of yarns about twenty larger-than-life outback characters.

A seed was dropped by a man that did not know he was sowing seeds. A certain seed sprouted a philosophy plant which was noticed by a passerby. The passerby, a lost soul, picked and consumed the plant which awakened a decade’s old and long forgotten planned quest. That quest was locked away in the mind of the lost soul in a closet of things once planned but long since forgotten. In that closet on a bookshelf was a book the lost soul had once thought to read, “The Holy Bible.” Covered in scarlet webs this book now stood out as a quest that must be taken. The lost soul removed the book from the forgotten things in the closet of his mind and moved it from the mind to his hands. The Book was consumed. The old man would start “thinking” differently. This “thinking” it seemed to the “old man” would be useless unless this “thinking” might be shared. No experience in writing, but nevertheless compelled to go fishing for men with words.

Breezy Marston is almost 30 and doing her best to re-rail her derailed life plan. After losing the job she thought she would hold until she was old and decrepit, her best friend, Ammyleigh, throws out an idea for them to start their own business making homemade crochet items. As they are working on getting that off the ground, Breezy gets a phone call that she has to go pick up her youngest sibling, Oona, who is 15 and getting released early from juvie. Now, she is expected to be responsible for Oona in all areas of work, school, and home life. Then she also ends up with Juniper, Oona’s friend from juvie. More expectations. After they find Juniper’s ex-boyfriend and his older brother dead, Russian bad guys start chasing them, Breezy finds out she is some kind of “sleeper agent” for a government experiment, and, oh, she can talk with ghosts. Can she and her group figure out who killed the two boys before an angry Russian or ghost gets to her first?

They say that life is what you make it, and this saying is truly applicable to prison as well as life. Not to put anyone down, most of us go throughout our lives not caring about anything or anyone. The only thing that can awaken someone who has taken everything and everyone for granted is for that someone to lose what it was that someone had. Then, and only then, can that someone learn to appreciate the blessings they had been given. Thus, when first contemplating the drafting of this book, the question that arose in my mind was not, who would be my intended audience, but what is it that I could possibly give to the audience that this book is intended for? That question was quickly answered after reflecting on the past maybe ten years or beyond, as well as recently, through the media watching how many public figures and celebrities are coming to prison for the first time. It is a good read not just for young people but of all ages. Each person that reads this book will come away with a different outlook on life, values and what being free means.