Hometown Human

"Occupation has no place in a civilized society. It is time Palestine redeemed freedom from Israeli occupation, Scotland from British occupation, and Jammu and Kashmir from Indian occupation." Hometown Human is a work of valor and expansion in our struggle against narrowness, recklessness and human rights violations. In his usual bold and simple words Naskar states: "Power to people doesn't mean power, it means responsibility."

The northern lights shine, women gather to eat raw caribou meat and everyone could be family in this ode to small-town life in Nunavut, written in English and Inuktitut. Sisters Angnakuluk Friesen and Ippiksaut Friesen collaborate on this story about what it’s like to grow up in an Inuit community in Nunavut. Every line about the hometown in this book will have readers thinking about what makes their own hometowns unique. With strong social studies curriculum connections, Kisimi Taimaippaktut Angirrarijarani / ᑭᓯᒥ ᑕᐃᒪᐃᑉᐸᒃᑐᑦ ᐊᖏᕐᕋᕆᔭᕋᓂ / Only in My Hometown introduces young readers to life in the Canadian North, as well as the Inuit language and culture. Angnakuluk’s simple text, translated into Inuktitut and written out in syllabics and transliterated roman characters, is complemented by Ippiksaut’s warm paintings of their shared hometown.

Starting in 1911, and for many years, the Alberta Hospital Ponoka, or AHP, was the largest and highest-population psychiatric institution in the Western Canadian Province of Alberta. It was also located on the outskirts of Jack Martin’s hometown, and his father was employed there, which means that its story and Martin’s intersect in varied and interesting ways. In Hometown Asylum, Martin explores the Hospital’s history, along with some of his own. In this journey, Martin considers past and contemporary issues in mental health services and treatments from the perspectives of those receiving them, those attempting to provide them, and the citizens whose attitudes and tax dollars inevitably guide and contribute to these efforts. In telling the history of the Alberta Hospital Ponoka, this book describes a wide and varied range of treatments for those suffering mental disorders, and examines how societies, past and present, have responded to the challenges of caring for them. As a part of this, Martin raises questions about the nature of mental illness, the efficacy and ethics of treatments offered, the rights of the mentally ill, and the obligations and manner of their care.

Tum Dunya Tek Millet, literally translated, Whole World One Nation, is declaration of a dream - the dream of one world family. Thus speaks the humanitarian scientist: “From Karbala to Kurukshetra, from Jerusalem to Chanakkale, light of truth has never submitted to the howling audacity of divisive animality - then why should you? Remember, there is a karbala in each of you, there is a kurukshetra in each of you, there is a jerusalem and chanakkale in each of you. And till you accept defeat out of your own free will, not a force in the world can dampen the daring advances of love and reason. So, get up - get out - and get lost! Wanna lead the world? First learn about the world - get so lost in the struggles of each and every people of planet earth, that you forget where you came from altogether - get so lost in the struggles of the people of earth, that for the first time in life you start to breathe as a whole human being - get so lost, that for the first time you see the light of dawn not as a puny slave to puny borders, but as the civilized maker of a civilized world.”

“Home is a people, not a place. Move to a different city, and anyone from your hometown will feel like family. Move to a different country, and the very sight of someone from your native country will make you emotional. Move to space, and the very sight of earth will wreak tears of joy. We keep bickering over trivial things like race, religion, gender, sexuality, status and so on, because even in this day and age we still take human life for granted. Ask an astronaut, and they'll tell you, whether they can find any trace of those prehistoric barriers from up there in space.” Thus speaks the humanitarian scientist.

“Friday Azaan and Sunday Choir, All pray to the same light. Yet in our divisive stupidity, We use it as excuse to maintain divide. Secularism has three stages. First, you realize, all religions pray to the same God. Second, you realize, God exists only in the human heart. Finally, all talk of God disappears, and what remains among the humans, is a natural sense of oneness.” Thus speaks planet earth's humanitarian armor.

"You have to decide, do you want to live as ever-bickering concubines of pestilential politicians, or as an undivided planet's undivided civilians?" Thus speaks Naskar. "Kill the terrorists, You postpone terrorism. Jail the fundamentalists, You end terrorism. Sentence the corrupt, You postpone corruption. Empower the civilians, You eliminate corruption. Disband the soldiers, You postpone war. Rehabilitate the nationalists, You put an end to war."

"Ancient relics belong in museum, not in driver's seat. It's for the young of head 'n heart to get the society lit." Abhijit Naskar's Honor He Wrote is a poetic celebration of life, love and diversity, which also makes Naskar the poet with most sonnets in history, at over 500 sonnets and counting.