My Cardboard Life

The memoir of Lina Di Carlo, beginning with her childhood in Italy.

How My Death Saved My Life is the remarkable story of author Denise Linn. In this triumphant autobiography, Denise speaks with a compassionate yet fiery conviction, born of deep pain, as she describes overcoming the horror of an abusive childhood and the terror of being stricken down by an unknown gunman. From the mundane to the mystical, follow Denise’s inner and outer journeys as she grows up in various homes from abandoned army barracks, to the slums of Chicago, to an Ohio farming community. Travel with her as she is fired on by a plane in Yugoslavia, is tear gassed during antiwar riots, explores the sexual revolution in the ’60s, lives in a Buddhist monastery, and travels to native cultures to become one of the world’s most sought-after speakers and a best-selling author. Thousands of people worldwide have attended her lectures . . . and now, for the first time, they can read the story behind this internationally renowned woman.

My Journey of Life with God is a true story about a boy who grew up in poverty and died a slow, painful death. He was hidden among his enemies and eventually brought back to life through many struggles. He would go on to become a man and then a hero. A beacon of light, hope, and inspiration to many in a world full of darkness and chaos. This is a story of hope and admiration in times of trouble. Of how a boy met his Creator and He showed him how to have a real relationship with his Father through hardships and adversity. And in no matter what trials and tests you go through in life that try to tear you down, things can and will always get better. In the end, his perseverance and endurance led him to the path of prosperity.

Have you ever wondered what happens to a cardboard box when you no longer need it? This lovely bedtime story helps children understand how and why we should recycle our cardboard.

“A love song to a lost New York” (New York magazine) from novelist, essayist, and critic Frederic Tuten as he recalls his personal and artistic coming-of-age in 1950s New York City, a defining period that would set him on the course to becoming a writer. Born in the Bronx to a Sicilian mother and Southern father, Frederic Tuten always dreamed of being an artist. Determined to trade his neighborhood streets for the romantic avenues of Paris, he learned to paint and draw, falling in love with the process of putting a brush to canvas and the feeling it gave him. At fifteen, he decided to leave high school and pursue the bohemian life he’d read about in books. But, before he could, he would receive an extraordinary education right in his own backyard. “A stirring portrait…and a wonderfully raw story of city boy’s transformation into a writer” (Publishers Weekly), My Young Life reveals Tuten’s early formative years where he would discover the kind of life he wanted to lead. As he travels downtown for classes at the Art Students League, spends afternoons reading in Union Square, and discovers the vibrant scenes of downtown galleries and Lower East Side bars, Frederic finds himself a member of a new community of artists, gathering friends, influences—and many girlfriends—along the way. Frederic Tuten has had a remarkable life, writing books, traveling around the world, acting in and creating films, and even conducting summer workshops with Paul Bowles in Tangiers. Spanning two decades and bringing us from his family’s kitchen table in the Bronx to the cafes of Greenwich Village and back again, My Young Life is an intimate and enchanting portrait of an artist’s coming-of-age, set against one of the most exciting creative periods of our time—“so thrilling…so precise in presenting a young man’s preoccupation and occupation” (Steve Martin).

A step-by-step instruction manual on how to build a lightweight 'environmentally-friendly' boat with recyclable resources. The boats simply fold up from ¼” thick cardboard obtaining their strength from the geometry of the component parts. The boats are 8-feet long, weigh about 25-pounds, and can accommodate a 250-pound person without risking structural damage. Each boat is constructed with 21-pieces of cardboard that are used to make 7-component parts. The 7 parts are assembled together with 'environmentally-friendly' contact cement and paper drywall tape. Once assembled the boats are sealed with an 'environmentally-friendly' water-based waterproof coating. No special tools are required and they are very simple to build. All of the materials used to build a boat are typically found at 'do-it-yourself' home improvement stores. The boats can be outfitted with 12-volt electric fishing motors, although they are typically propelled with traditional Kayak style paddles.

Living on the Edge is risky advice for living an adventurous life. I begin with a brief sketch about my life and the influences that took me in the direction it did. I discuss communication models and paradigms that have helped me live in cross-cultural risky environments. I learned to validate people without endorsing values that are counter to my own. I’ve learned how to create a space to put things I haven’t understood or about which I didn’t yet have enough information to make an informed decision. I’ve learned that it’s not a bad thing to be a “child of the light” in times of darkness. These and more comprise advice, some of it risky, I’d like to give my millennial friends. I suggest that God is the great Recycler and that he doesn’t make junk, and there’s more.