How Long She Ll Last In This World

Let go your keys, let go your gun, let go your good pen and your rings, let your wolf mask go and kiss goodbye your goddess figurine. With this invocation, Mar’a MelŽndez beckons us on a journeyÑan exotic expedition through lifeÕs mysteries in search of the finer strands of experience. In a Latina voice laced with a naturalistÕs sense of wonder, she weaves bold images reflecting a world threaded by unseen wounds, now laid before us with an unflinching love of life and an exquisite precision of language. Adopting multiple guisesÑfield researcher, laboring mother, grief-stricken loverÑMelŽndez casts aside stereotypes and expectations to forge a new language steeped in life and landscape. Whether meditating on a controlled prairie burn or contemplating the turquoise cheek of a fathead minnow, she weaves words and memories into a rich tapestry that resonates with sensual detail and magnifies her sense of maternal wildness, urging us to ÒLove as much as you / can, donÕt throw your heart / away to just one god.Ó In her paean to the Aztec deity Tonacacihuatl, mother of the gods, MelŽndez muses that ÒHow many spirits sheÕs twin to, and how long sheÕll last in this world, / are secrets stashed in the rattle / of corn ears, in the coils / of venomous snakes.Ó Through stunning images and stark realism, her poems embrace motherhood and vocation, love and grief, land and life, to bring new meaning to the natural world and how we experience it.

It’s the end of the Age of Kali and our world is dying, its bounds shrunken to encompass a single city. In the Earth's final days, lonely young Jay Grant finds his first love in the arms of his neighbor Michèle. Together with six other survivors, they break through the eggshell-thin walls of the world to find a mythical land where the ultimate power of creation resides. Washed ashore from an ocean of milk, they confront personages seemingly out of legend: Ananta Sesha, the lord of the Nagas; Varuna, whose eyes are the stars; Indra, king of the devas; and the tormented being who calls himself the Preserver. Jay and Michèle want nothing more than a life together, but the gods themselves stand in their way. Separated by divine malice and tormented by falsified memories, Jay and Michèle struggle to reunite, transforming themselves into beings beyond the merely human to confront the demiurge responsible for Earth's destruction.

A fractured world. An impossible friendship. When a mysterious ring suddenly appears on reclusive teenager Ellen’s bookshelf, she is granted the power to travel miles away from everything she’s ever known. There she meets Shard, a friendly dragon who offers to help Ellen grow her stunted-since-birth magic. Although it seems too good to be true, Ellen accepts, sure she can conquer her self-hatred by becoming an accomplished magician. Little does she know, her magical voyages have raised the suspicions of those who would destroy her. Young and lonely, Shard is determined to find his first friend in Ellen. But befriending a creature as detested as a human could spell banishment from his tribe — or worse. As the bond between them grows, they will have to face their deepest fears. If they can’t, their friendship is doomed … along with any chance they have of saving both their kinds from annihilation.

This book helps readers understand the extent to which shell shock continues to shape modern memories of the First World War.

Following the trails of Hawai‘i’s snails to explore the simultaneously biological and cultural significance of extinction. In this time of extinctions, the humble snail rarely gets a mention. And yet snails are disappearing faster than any other species. In A World in a Shell, Thom van Dooren offers a collection of snail stories from Hawai‘i—once home to more than 750 species of land snails, almost two-thirds of which are now gone. Following snail trails through forests, laboratories, museums, and even a military training facility, and meeting with scientists and Native Hawaiians, van Dooren explores ongoing processes of ecological and cultural loss as they are woven through with possibilities for hope, care, mourning, and resilience. Van Dooren recounts the fascinating history of snail decline in the Hawaiian Islands: from deforestation for agriculture, timber, and more, through the nineteenth century shell collecting mania of missionary settlers, and on to the contemporary impacts of introduced predators. Along the way he asks how both snail loss and conservation efforts have been tangled up with larger processes of colonization, militarization, and globalization. These snail stories provide a potent window into ongoing global process of environmental and cultural change, including the largely unnoticed disappearance of countless snails, insects, and other less charismatic species. Ultimately, van Dooren seeks to cultivate a sense of wonder and appreciation for our damaged planet, revealing the world of possibilities and relationships that lies coiled within a snail’s shell.

Surely, God did not allow African Americans to experience oppression for over four hundred years just for us to dwell in an exclusive neighborhood, acquire material possessions, attain middle class status, or be a famous black first. African Americans are not in America to imitate our white brothers and sisters. Our situation is unique. We are insiders and outsiders, Americans and of African descent, free and unfree. We are a split people seeking wholeness. By bringing new insights into the life of African Americans, Rev. Phillips uses a number of case studies of his former high school students to reveal the severity of the split in the life of the students and their community at large. He contends that if we do not attain true wholeness, our unresolved conflicts would harm us psychologically and spiritually, which in turn could detrimentally affect us socially, politically and economically. Many have already become hopeless and mentally challenged. Our educational and social problems are troublesome. Despite our progress in America, many are still experiencing a meaningless life and are seeking answers. How can one attain wholeness in a materialistic and black phobic world? Rev. Phillips takes us on an engaging journey to discover the answer.

This book provides a thought-provoking exploration into the diagnosis of shell-shock and medical culture in First World War Britain.

Being pushed into the sea by her boyfriend, Xia Lige returned to her eighteen years old! Her ex boyfriend cheated on her sister, her foster parents robbed her property, and even her death was schemed by them. She didn't tell anyone her true identity in her previous life. In this life, she would let everyone know that on one couldn't afford to offend her. This time, she wanted them to taste the pain. By the way, she had to dump the ex and be with her disabled husband first. Why? Because in the future, her husband would become a domineering king in business world! Oh, her shameless sister was coming. She needed to think about how to punish her now...