Home Signs

An intimate account of an anthropologist’s relationship with his non-verbal son and how it has shaped and transformed his understanding of closeness and communication. Home Signs grew out of the anthropologist Joshua Reno’s experience of caring for and trying to communicate with his teenage son, Charlie, who cannot speak. To manage interactions with others, Charlie uses what are known as “home signs,” gestures developed to meet his need for expression, ranging from the wiggle of a finger to a subtle sideways glance. Though he is nonverbal, he is far from silent: in fact, he is in constant communication with others. In this intimate reflection on language, disability, and togetherness, the author invites us into his and Charlie’s shared world. Combining portraits of family life and interviews with other caregivers, Reno upends several assumptions, especially the idea that people who seem not to be able to speak for themselves need others to speak on their behalf. With its broad exploration of nonverbal communication in both human and nonhuman contexts, Home Signs challenges us to think harder about what it means to lead a “normal” life and to connect with another person.

A New York Times Editors' Choice and an Oprah's Book Club Summer Reading Pick In this brilliant new collection, Scotiabank Giller Prize and Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize nominee Alix Ohlin skillfully displays the full range of human emotions through the subtly powerful dramas of everyday life. In "You Are What You Like" a young couple finds their life derailed by the arrival of a hard-partying old friend. In "Robbing the Cradle" Lisette does everything she can to give her husband a baby, committing an act of desperation. In "The Idea Man" Beth, a divorcee, falls in love with a man who lies for fun. And in the incredible title story, Kathleen finds herself sitting at the hospital bedside of a man she had planned to divorce, comforted by the woman she went out of her way to hurt. These characters are divorced and beginning to date again, childless and longing for children, married and aching for more. Often unexpected and unsettling, always fascinating, Signs and Wonders showcases a young writer of remarkable range and emotional depth.

This is an intriguing and inspiring collection of devotionals based on messages gleaned from signs along the roads we travel. It can be meaningful to adults, fascinating to children, and even helpful to youth learning to drive. Each message is supported by words of wisdom from the ancient Book of Proverbs. If we will just slow down and observe, even something as seemingly mundane as a road sign can convey a powerful lesson. "Mr. Brown, in the future, I would appreciate it if you would pay attention to them (road signs) and act accordingly." As he handed me the ticket, he said, 'Have a good day.'" -North Carolina State Trooper "My goodness, Bernie, this is amazing. Never thought of this ... but it is simple and profound. We can see road signs differently after reading your devotionals. The pictures are wonderful, too ... and Proverbs come alive in a new way." -Lucy Adams, Author and Cofounder of the Western NC Christian Writers Fellowship "Our city, like others, devotes a tremendous amount of resources toward placing directional and informational signs along its streets for guidance and to insure the public's safety. It is amazing how Bernie Brown has extracted additional meaning from many of these road signs to assist each of us on our individual life's journey. This fascinating little book will not only inspire you but will assist you in passing your 'spiritual driver's license' test." -Steve "Thunder" Tumlin, Jr., Mayor, city of Marietta, GA (Bernie's home since 1971; he was named Marietta Citizen of the Year in 1990)

Examines the wartime diary and paintings of Japanese American artist Kamekichi Tokita, who was imprisoned in a Japanese-American internment camp, but never failed to record the events, fear, rumor, rules and internal struggles he experienced, in a book that includes 80 full-color and black-and-white illustrations.

The Tex-Mex restaurant's famous marquee sign, whose black letters tell a new joke to passing motorists each day, is featured in "El Arroyo's Big Book of Signs: Volume One." 158 signs to enjoy8"x8" Hardback

You can create your own lettering art to personalize your wall decor and add modern farmhouse style to every area of your home. Even if you’re new to hand lettering, you’ll find it easier than you ever imagined with Caroline Bryan's Hand-Lettered Home. -Learn the art of hand lettering with 20 beautiful projects. -Get expert tips on the best lettering tools and techniques. -Practice pages make it simple to learn a variety of lettering styles. -Step-by-step instructions guide you to create gorgeous signs. -Nurture your creativity with design variations for every project. -Craft one-of-a-kind gifts for loved ones. You’ll treasure the meaning and memories hand-lettered signs capture for you and your family!

Learn how to master the medium—and how to go with the watercolor flow—to create one-of-a-kind lettered art and calligraphy that reflect your personal style. In this stunning follow-up to her highly praised and influential first book, The Art of Brush Lettering, lettering expert and workshop instructor Kelly Klapstein (popular on Instagram as @kellycreates) shares her secrets for mastering the essential techniques for creating lovely modern lettering and calligraphy with watercolor. Start with the basics, from choosing paints, brushes, and other supplies to preparing your paper for painting. Learn to handle watercolor paints with essential strokes and warm-ups. Explore painting letterforms in a variety of styles, from traditional to modern. Try a range of creative techniques, including blending ombrés and rainbows, creating pictorial letterforms, and combining watercolor with other mediums. Enhance your lettering with special touches by complementing it with handpainted backgrounds and simple illustrations. “Plenty of beautiful examples are included and they are really easy to re-create just by following the instructions which are always clear and concise. The letters with the beautiful colour transitions look so good. This is a very hands-on and practical book that I can easily recommend to beginners.” —Parka Blogs

The purpose of this volume is to present a snapshot of the state of the art of research on the languages of the Maltese islands, which include spoken Maltese, Maltese English and Maltese Sign Language. Malta is a tiny, but densely populated country, with over 422,000 inhabitants spread over only 316 square kilometers. It is a bilingual country, with Maltese and English enjoying the status of official languages. Maltese is a descendant of Arabic, but due to the history of the island, it has borrowed extensively from Sicilian, Italian and English. Furthermore, local dialects still coexist alongside the official standard language. The status of English as a second language dates back to British colonial rule, and just as in other former British colonies, a characteristic Maltese variety of English has developed. To these languages must be added Maltese Sign Language, which is the language of the Maltese Deaf community. This was recently recognised as Malta’s third official language by an act of Parliament in 2016. While a volume such as the present one can hardly do justice to all aspects of a diverse and complex linguistic situation, even in a small community like that of Malta, our aim in editing this book was to shed light on the main strands of research being undertaken in the Maltese linguistic context. Six of the contributions in this book focus on Maltese and explore a broad range of topics including: historical changes in the Maltese sound system; syllabification strategies; the interaction of prosody and gesture; the constraints regulating /t/-insertion; the productivity of derivational suffixes; and raising phenomena. The study of Maltese English, especially with the purpose of establishing the defining characteristics of this variety of English, is a relatively new area of research. Three of the papers in this volume deal with Maltese English, which is explored from the different perspectives of rhythm, the syntax of nominal phrases, and lexical choice. The last contribution discusses the way in which Maltese Sign Language (LSM) has evolved alongside developments in LSM research. In summary, we believe the present volume has the potential to present a unique snapshot of a complex linguistic situation in a geographically restricted area. Given the nature and range of topics proposed, the volume will likely be of interest to researchers in both theoretical and comparative linguistics, as well as those working with experimental and corpus-based methodologies. Our hope is that the studies presented here will also serve to pave the way for further research on the languages of Malta, encouraging researchers to also take new directions, including the exploration of variation and sociolinguistic factors which, while often raised as explanatory constructs in the papers presented here, remain under-researched.