I See Said The Blind Man

Art Seamans writes the book I See, Said the Blind Man from a perspective of having been both sighted at one time and now visually handicapped. The book consists of a series of essays in which the author both describes what having age-related macular degeneration is like and offers advice to both the visually handicapped and those who associate with visually-handicapped people. The reader should have the sensation of sitting with the author over a cup of coffee while he reminisces and philosophizes about the experience of blindness. The author describes many of his own experiences and refers to a number of other books written by and about blind people. The reader will find in the book serious passages and slightly humorous ones, for the author does not hold himself to any mechanical or unitary vision of what it means to be blind. Chapters include description of his becoming visually-handicapped, his experiences at the San Diego Center for the Blind, thoughts on what it means to see and not see, rules and etiquette for both the sighted and visually handicapped, and a review of other books written by blind people.

Borrowing from the ancient rabbinic use of midrash as a means of opening Scripture to students, James Lowry has chosen six texts from among those in which he believes Mark deliberately left silences. The author is convinced Mark hoped his readers would be encouraged to raise a variety of possibilities as to what the evangelist left unsaid. Beginning with Mark choosing not to name the temptations of Jesus (Mark 1:12-13) and concluding with Mark choosing to conclude his narrative with the women leaving the tomb of Jesus in stunned silence (Mark 16:8), Lowry spins short stories that suggest several alternative ideas as to how the biblical narrative might have played. In half of the tales, Lowry enters the text and adds fictitious material to Mark's narrative. In the other half, his stories are set in the small textile town of Great Falls, South Carolina, where the author grew up in the 1950s. The hope is these stories will encourage readers of Mark and groups of his readers to raise other possibilities.

Eighth grader Lance (Bambi) Masterson writes the Bulldog Compact in hopes of improving Madison High School's basketball program; in doing this the team has to overcome bigger schools in the conference and also battle themselves in order to hang onto their dream.

First Published in 1969. This is a translation from Hausa of Frank Edgar’s three volumes of his African folktale, Tatsunijoyi Na Hausa, his major work. The Hausa whose folklore Edgar recorded so industriously are the largest ethnic group in Northern Nigeria and number many millions.

Amy Bloom was nominated for a National Book Award for her first collection, Come to Me, and her fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, Story, Antaeus, and other magazines, and in The Best American Short Stories and Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards. In her new collection, she enhances her reputation as a true artist of the form. Here are characters confronted with tragedy, perplexed by emotions, and challenged to endure whatever modern life may have in store. A loving mother accompanies her daughter in her journey to become a man, and discovers a new, hopeful love. A stepmother and stepson meet again after fifteen years and a devastating mistake, and rediscover their familial affection for each other. And in "The Story," a widow bent on seducing another woman's husband constructs and deconstructs her story until she has "made the best and happiest ending" possible "in this world."

Clinging To The Cross Soft pinks and lavenders filled the quietness of the evening sky. The shushed rustle of birds drifted to the silence of night. The full moon rose like unto a small pearl so gentle; so soft. Below stood I beside my wife's freshly dug grave and the statue of a woman clinging to the cross. I pondered our days in which we both labored under the sun. I recall all the blessings in our life that the Lord God had done. I remembered our trials; I recalled our victories and their cost. Yet what I remember the most is how through it all, my wife Leah forever in faith clinging to the cross. Now that she is gone and I this little man feel so alone. I think; I pray and I recall how God has always made the way. now I too know what I must do and that is like Leah... I am to cling to the cross each and every day. J. Allen Wilson 9/13/2008

‘Love is not consolation, it is light’ From the author of Maps for Lost Lovers and The Wasted Vigil comes a novel set in the months after 9/11, when Western armies invaded Afghanistan—a story of love, hope and grief, of uncorrupted faith and of what it means to be alive. Jeo and his foster-brother Mikal leave their home in Pakistan to help care for wounded Afghans. Within hours of entering the wide-horizoned Afghan landscape, Mikal and Jeo are separated and, emerging from the carnage, Mikal begins his search for Jeo. But his deepest wish is to return home—to the young woman he loves and who loves him, Jeo’s wife. The Blind Man’s Garden maps a place both phantasmally beautiful and chilling. Taking us on a journey from Al Qaeda’s hideouts in Waziristan and American-built military prisons to a family left behind—Mikal’s and Jeo’s blind, regretful father, Jeo’s resolute wife and her superstitious mother—it unflinchingly examines war and brotherhood, devastation, separation and remorse, while celebrating the redemptive power of nature, art and literature.

Gathers riddles, rhymes, folk poetry, stories, ballads, superstitions, customs, games, foods, and folk arts of the Mexican-Americans