No Language Is Neutral

A joyful, imagistic discovery of woman as speaker and subject. As a woman, a black, and a lesbian, Brand arrives at a rigorous and nakedly ruthless reclamation of the poetic.

"Not Neutral: For Every Place Its Story" by Rios Clementi Hale Studios is a sumptuous and massive monograph that takes a comprehensive look at the award-winning, Los Angeles-based architectural firm and its cross-disciplinary work over the last thirty years. Since 1985, the architects, landscape architects, planners, and urban, interior, exhibit, graphic, and product designers at Rios Clementi Hale Studios have been creating buildings, places, and products that are thoughtful, effective, and beautiful. Their projects range in scope and scale from their award-winning urban design for Grand Park in downtown Los Angeles, to one-of-a-kind custom residential homes and gardens, and also to their unique housewares and products they create through their Not Neutral retail brand. Much of their work at all scales, shows their clever use of pattern, color, and materiality in innovative and creative ways. This book organizes the range of diverse projects not in a conventional chronological way, but instead into poetic chapters that evoke meaning and seek commonality such as: Nature in the City, Dreaming Cities, Wishing & Praying, and Patterns in the Wild. While incredibly diverse in form and function, Rios Clementi Hale Studios' projects share an underlying goal of approaching each project with the guiding principle that "For Every Place, Its Story." As Frances Anderton writes in her introduction: "The firm explicitly repudiates the one-size-fits-all "signature" approach that they see emanating from too many celebrated architects' offices. For them the goal is precise customization." Indeed, for Rios Clementi Hale Studios, finding the authentic narrative that drives each project has resulted in a body of work that is both inspiring and unexpected.

This "intense reading experience"* is a Printz Honor Book. Shawn McDaniel's life is not what it may seem to anyone looking at him. He is glued to his wheelchair, unable to voluntarily move a muscle—he can't even move his eyes. For all Shawn's father knows, his son may be suffering. Shawn may want a release. And as long as he is unable to communicate his true feelings to his father, Shawn's life is in danger. To the world, Shawn's senses seem dead. Within these pages, however, we meet a side of him that no one else has seen—a spirit that is rich beyond imagining, breathing life. *Booklist starred review

If you’re both overcome and angered by the atrocities of our time, this will inspire a “new generation of activists and ordinary people who search for hope in the darkness” (Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor). Is change possible? Where will it come from? Can we actually make a difference? How do we remain hopeful? Howard Zinn—activist, historian, and author of A People’s History of the United States—was a participant in and chronicler of some of the landmark struggles for racial and economic justice in US history. In his memoir, You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train, Zinn reflects on more than thirty years of fighting for social change, from his teenage years as a laborer in Brooklyn to teaching at Spelman College, where he emerged in the civil rights movement as a powerful voice for justice. A former bombardier in World War II, he later became an outspoken antiwar activist, spirited protestor, and champion of civil disobedience. Throughout his life, Zinn was unwavering in his belief that “small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world.” With a foreword from activist and scholar Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, this revised edition will inspire a new generation of readers to believe that change is possible.

A Map to the Door of No Return is a timely book that explores the relevance and nature of identity and belonging in a culturally diverse and rapidly changing world. It is an insightful, sensitive and poetic book of discovery. Drawing on cartography, travels, narratives of childhood in the Caribbean, journeys across the Canadian landscape, African ancestry, histories, politics, philosophies and literature, Dionne Brand sketches the shifting borders of home and nation, the connection to place in Canada and the world beyond. The title, A Map to the Door of No Return, refers to both a place in imagination and a point in history—the Middle Passage. The quest for identity and place has profound meaning and resonance in an age of heterogenous identities. In this exquisitely written and thought-provoking new work, Dionne Brand creates a map of her own art.

Foreword by Ciara In this breakthrough book, the author of Wall Street Journal bestseller It Takes What It Takes provides life-changing, step-by-step guidance on how to successfully navigate adversity and defeat negativity by downshifting to neutral thinking. It’s easy to be positive when everything is coming up roses. But what happens when life goes sideways? Many of us lapse into a self-defeating negative spiral that makes it hard to accomplish anything. Getting to Neutral is a step-by-step guide that shows readers how to use mental conditioning coach Trevor Moawad’s innovative motivational system to defeat negativity and thrive. Neutral thinking is a judgment-free, process-oriented approach that helps us coolly assess situations in high-pressure moments. Moawad walks readers through how to downshift to neutral no matter how dire the situation. He shows us how to behave our way to success, how to determine and practice our values in a neutral framework, and how to surround ourselves with a team that helps us to stay neutral. Filled with raw, inspiring stories of how Trevor navigated health challenges with neutral thinking as well as insights drawn from some of the world’s best athletes, coaches, and leaders, Getting to Neutral will help readers learn to handle even the most complex and turbulent situations with calm, clarity, and resolve.

COMPANION TO: COLLECTED: PAST + PRESENT, ISBN 9781982140397. The latest in the 'Collected' series of books by Sarah Richardson celebrates 'Color + Neutral', from interior and exterior spaces to products, places, and creative people. Filled with striking photos and smart advice from Sarah and her team, along with top designers on the global scene, this volume explores the joyful contrast between bright, energetic homes, and calming, soulful spaces - ensuring theres something for every one of Sarahs fans. Richardson lives in Toronto, ON.