Open Your Eyes And Soar

Revealing stories by ten of the best writers of the Americas.

Doctors removed Jake Olson’s left eye at ten months old. When he was twelve, after years of radiation and chemotherapy, the cancer took his right eye as well. That’s when Jake’s story really began. When ESPN met Jake Olson, he was a twelve-year-old boy who wanted to spend his final weeks of sight with the USC football team. Jake’s story became one of the most recognized pieces in the network’s history, earning an award, instantly viewed by hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. But Jake’s story didn’t end with his final surgery or with ESPN—not by a long shot. Now sixteen, Jake Olson dreams of becoming the first blind golfer in the PGA. How is such a thing even possible? How does that level of perseverance endure in someone with so many reasons to give up? In Open Your Eyes, Jake Olson tells more than his story. He reveals the ways of thinking, living, and praying that have kept him and his family triumphant in the face of their tribulations. Told with sincerity and humor in tandem with leadership coach McKay Christensen, Open Your Eyes is not just a heartwarming chronicle of the Olson family’s struggle. Jake’s story is a step-by-step lesson in perseverance and motivation from a young man who knows how to put the past in the past. From the USC locker room to the fairways of Pebble Beach, Jake Olson will inspire you, your family, and your team with bravery, ability, and faith. It is time to learn from this remarkable young man and open your eyes to a happier life.

The daughter of a mentally ill mother and a violent, alcoholic father, Rose Brenda Lavis started life with less than a bright beginning. Despite her dysfunctional family and the years spent moving from one children's shelter to the next, Rose found an inner strength and resolve to not only survive, but thrive. Rose's World is the inspiring true story of an unwanted girl who fought against a dismal fate and created a secure and successful future. As the second oldest of five children, Rose grows up in a world of constant change. The family often moves, and Rose is forced to change schools, find new friends, and readjust to different towns. But her mother's mental illness and her father's frequent absences drive Rose to internalize her feelings, resulting in a fragile self-esteem. As an adult, Rose tries to put her difficult past behind her, but she soon realizes that to truly find healing, she must confront the darkness of her childhood. Through incredible determination, Rose begins to see her difficulties as learning experiences and discovers a world full of light, laughter, and warmth. Ultimately, Rose realizes that she can take control of her tomorrows by embracing the unknown with open arms. Poignant and bittersweet, Rose's World shares one woman's dramatic journey from despair to hope.

Cuban Studies has been published annually by the University of Pittsburgh Press since 1985. Founded in 1970, it is the preeminent journal for scholarly work on Cuba. Each volume includes articles in both English and Spanish, a large book review section, and an exhaustive compilation of recent works in the field. Widely praised for its interdisciplinary approach and trenchant analysis of an array of topics, each volume features the best scholarship in the humanities and social sciences. Cuban Studies 37 includes articles on environmental law, economics, African influence in music, irreverent humor in postrevolutionary fiction, international education flow between the United States and Cuba, and poetry, among others. Beginning with volume 34 (2003), the publication is available electronically through Project MUSE®, an award-winning online database of full-text scholarly journals. More information can be found at http://muse.jhu.edu/publishers/pitt_press/.

300 Tears is a collection of poems about my life from 2005 thru 2011. These poems are dedicated to a special person and my inner circle of my closest friends. There is about 15 or so poems that are dedicated to my father, Harold F. Hoppe, Jr. who passed February 21,2011. These poems are about my relationship with my father. I deeply miss him. All 300 poems are tears of happiness, anger, moments, and times that I shed tears for each moment of my life. These poems will show my emotions and feelings of life. You will be reading my moments and memories of my life's Journey.

This book asks what reading means in India, Nigeria, the UK, and Cuba, through close readings of literary texts from postcolonial, spatial, architectural, cartographic, materialist, trauma, and gender perspectives. It contextualises these close readings through new interpretations of local literary marketplaces to assert the significance of local, not global meanings. The book offers longer case studies on novels that stage important reading moments: Alejo Carpentier’s The Lost Steps (1953), Leonardo Padura’s Adios, Hemingway (2001), Tabish Khair’s Filming (2007), Chibundhu Onuzo’s Welcome to Lagos (2017), and Zadie Smith’s Swing Time (2016). Chapters argue that while India’s literary market was disrupted by Partition, literature offers a means of moving beyond trauma; in post-Revolutionary Cuba, the Special Period led to exploitation of Cuban literary culture, resulting in texts that foreground reading spaces; in Nigeria, the market hosts meeting, negotiation, reflection, and trade, including the writer’s trade; while Black consciousness bookshops and writing in Britain operated to challenge the UK literary market, a project still underway. This book is a vindication of reading, and of the resistant power and creative potential of local literary marketplaces. It insists on ‘located reading’, enabling close reading of world literatures sited in their local materialities.

We often allow ourselves to get defeated in sadness, depression, despair, loneliness, and, ultimately, self-destruction. These are terrible places to be. But there is a way out of those places, and that is through God's love and trust, along with belief in yourself. In And God Answered ..., author Rod Guerrero offers a discussion of how to turn negative thoughts into positive energy. Presented as a back-and-forth conversation between Guerrero and God, this study provides a serious and thoughtful discussion of topics relevant to the lives of all beings that inhibit and share our world. Guerrero maintains that to be mired in negativity is an exhausting waste of energy and that life is meant for joy and not struggle. We can fill our lives with love, peace, and prosperity by building on the inexhaustible supply of love that exists in all of us. You can unleash that authentic power within you and set yourself free. Including original poems, And God Answered ... communicates that any negativity can be bridged over to the positive by stilling your thoughts and communing with God to redirect your thoughts and create as you desire.

This book is about life, but not just any life; my life. Inspiration came from and continues to come from things in my life. This unconventional life story is told through poetry covering several topics; inspirational, feelings, country life for example. Throughout reading this book, I hope to help at least one person to feel understood and that they’re not alone, or inspired or encouraged. Words are powerful, no matter how they’re said or read. Words can build you up, comfort you, and bring you peace. These words aren’t empty, they’re written with meaning and hopefully, if you decide to read some of these words, they can convey the emotions and hope they were written with.