Invisible Lines

Coming from a poor, single-parent family, seventh-grader Trevor must rely on his intelligence, artistic ability, quick wit, and soccer prowess to win friends at his new Washington, D.C. school, but popular and rich Xander seems determined to cause him trouble.

An indispensable guide to seeing and understanding our planet through the divisions we make, find, or feel. Our world has innumerable boundaries. They range from the obvious—an ocean, or a mountain range—to subtle differences in language or climate. We cross boundaries all the time, sometimes without realizing it. They can be subjective: our perceptions of a boundary may not be shared by others. And yet they shape the way we engage with the world. Geographer Maxim Samson examines invisible lines, exploring the ways in which we divide this world—from meteorology and ecology to race and religion—and how they allow us to define “insiders” and “outsiders,” to identify places where particular attention and resources are especially urgent, to distinguish between two sides, two groups, two futures. From segregation along Detroit’s infamous 8 Mile to herds of red deer that still refuse to cross the former Iron Curtain, the existence—or perceived existence—of dividing lines has manifold implications for people, wildlife, and places. Vividly written and illustrated with maps, Invisible Lines is a compelling exploration of boundaries in all their consistency, and all their messiness too.

There are times when we all feel that no one is listening to us, and no one understands us. I look back on moments of my life where my path was elusive and I longed for expression. In creating World Voice: Invisible Lines I have shaped a platform where people across the globe can come together and share their voice. In sharing the sorrowful joy and the joyful sorrow of our lives as engaged people we begin to see ourselves in the lives of one another. World Voice: Invisible Lines is a snap shot of a small space in time and a select few people that now know "We" are listening. The goal of this book is to foster communication and commonality of all people across borders. We all have a need to share ourselves with another and when you read this book you share in their voice. Take your place, take a chance, leave your mark, and share your voice. We are a community within your community, and listening is only one part of the conversation.

How two invisible lines around you affect your life, health, success, luck and future: khateyn tarika. Lecture 131, Dirasaat 1969. A Publication of Jami'ya Ulema Ramadosh, and Times Square Press, New York. If you are "Outside Khateyn Tarika", you will never reach the top, in anything you do, no matter how happy, intelligent, influential, and rich you are." The Sahiriin and Rouhaniyiin told us that every human being on Earth is lined up with two invisible lines that determine her/his balance and harmony with their immediate surroundings, as well as the size and strength of his/her luck in this physical world. These two lines determine how healthy, successful and balanced you are or will be in your life. Tarika means a path, a road. It is usually linked to your present and future, with major impact on your health, love life and business.

"The Invisible Line" shines light on one of the most important, but too often hidden, aspects of American history and culture. Sharfstein's narrative of three families negotiating America's punishing racial terrain is a must read for all who are interested in the construction of race in the United States." --Annette Gordon-Reed, Pulitzer Prize winning author of The Hemingses of Monticello In America, race is a riddle. The stories we tell about our past have calcified into the fiction that we are neatly divided into black or white. It is only with the widespread availability of DNA testing and the boom in genealogical research that the frequency with which individuals and entire families crossed the color line has become clear. In this sweeping history, Daniel J. Sharfstein unravels the stories of three families who represent the complexity of race in America and force us to rethink our basic assumptions about who we are. The Gibsons were wealthy landowners in the South Carolina backcountry who became white in the 1760s, ascending to the heights of the Southern elite and ultimately to the U.S. Senate. The Spencers were hardscrabble farmers in the hills of Eastern Kentucky, joining an isolated Appalachian community in the 1840s and for the better part of a century hovering on the line between white and black. The Walls were fixtures of the rising black middle class in post-Civil War Washington, D.C., only to give up everything they had fought for to become white at the dawn of the twentieth century. Together, their interwoven and intersecting stories uncover a forgotten America in which the rules of race were something to be believed but not necessarily obeyed. Defining their identities first as people of color and later as whites, these families provide a lens for understanding how people thought about and experienced race and how these ideas and experiences evolved-how the very meaning of black and white changed-over time. Cutting through centuries of myth, amnesia, and poisonous racial politics, The Invisible Line will change the way we talk about race, racism, and civil rights.

“Suppose there is something going on in the universe which is to ordinary, everyday reality as our unconcious is to our daily lives? Softly, but unmistakably guiding it. Most of the time, we are unaware of it. Yet, every now and then, on account of some ‘fluke,’ we are startled by the results of its presence. We realize we have been part of something with neither consciousness nor consent. It is so sweet—and then it is gone. You say, ‘But I don’t believe in God.’ And I ask, ‘What makes you think it matters to God?"’ —from Lawrence Kushner, whose previous books have opened up new spiritual possibilities, now tells us stories in a new literary form. Through his everyday encounters with family, friends, colleagues and strangers, Kushner takes us deeply into our lives, finding flashes of spiritual insight in the process. Such otherwise ordinary moments as fighting with his children, shopping for bargain basement clothes, or just watching a movie are revealed to be touchstones for the sacred. This is a book where literature meets spirituality, where the sacred meets the ordinary, and, above all, where people of all faiths, all backgrounds can meet one another and themselves. Kushner ties together the stories of our lives into a roadmap showing how everything “ordinary” is supercharged with meaning—if we can just see it.

A Simon & Schuster Book. Simon & Schuster has a great book for every reader.

Ostracized by her white parents when she marries Jim Lyman, a black man, Mandy confronts the devastating racism in Los Angeles in the l950's. She leaves her church, her hometown and lifelong friends to live with her husband, a scientist, in the black community. When Jim faces discrimination on his job, difficulty in finding suitable housing and the hidden prejudices of some of their white friends, Mandy becomes increasingly discouraged about their ability to be happy in a racist society. During a horrendous trial when Jim is wrongly accused of sexual harassment, he has a fatal heart attack. Mandy returns to college for her teaching credentials to support their two children and encounters further racial biases in the school. She strives alone to deal with these challenges and the problems faced by her mixed children. Her beliefs are further tested when her son decides to marry a white girl. Should she encourage him?