Paying The Piper His Dues

"Paying the Piper his Dues" is a true story told through the eyes of a major hustler who left the game in his prime. I was faced with a dilemma which was play the hand I was dealt or give up and fall prey to the streets. As a youngster I saw the local hustlers getting money and all of the girls this only fueled my fire. As a result I became fascinated with the game, I thought this would be my ticket to the American dream and my way out of the hood. Nobody told me glitter and glim ain't what it seem and everything you get from the game the price you must pay in return is too high. I was expelled from High School, went to jail and labeled. Thank God for my mother, and the Hank-Lady I finished High School and went on to graduate from Alabama State University. Nobody told me the life I chose would be easy, but nobody told it would be this hard. Thanks to my street teachers Shoe Strang, and Mike I was able to take the game by a storm. I lost a lot to the game for example, my first love, my homeboys, and most of all my childhood. It was hard for me for me to leave the game not because of the money but because I was concern about the people who dependent on me to feeding their families. I thank God I was able to leave the game. To all my youngster steer clear of the game because in the end the price is too high to pay take it from me.

Americans have a gift for coining proverbs. "A picture is worth a thousand words" was not, as you might imagine, the product of ancient Chinese wisdom -- it was actually minted by advertising executive Fred Barnard in a 1921 advertisement for Printer's Ink magazine. After all, Americans are first and foremost a practical people and proverbs can be loosely defined as pithy statements that are generally accepted as true and useful. The next logical step would be to gather all of this wisdom together for a truly American celebration of shrewd advice.A Dictionary of American Proverbs is the first major collection of proverbs in the English language based on oral sources rather than written ones. Listed alphabetically according to their most significant key word, it features over 15,000 entries including uniquely American proverbs that have never before been recorded, as well as thousands of traditional proverbs that have found their way into American speech from classical, biblical, British, continental European, and American literature. Based on the fieldwork conducted over thirty years by the American Dialect Society, this volume is complete with historical references to the earliest written sources, and supplies variants and recorded geographical distribution after each proverb.Many surprised await the reader in this vast treasure trove of wit and wisdom. Collected here are nuggets of popular wisdom on all aspects of American life: weather, agriculture, travel, money, business, food, neighbors, friends, manners, government, politics, law, health, education, religion, music, song, and dance. And, to further enhance browsing pleasure, the editors have provided a detailed guide to the use of the work. While it's true that many of our best known proverbs have been supplied by the ever-present "Anonymous," many more can be attributed to some very famous Americans, like Ernest Hemingway, Abraham Lincoln, Benjamin Franklin, Mark Twain, J. Pierpont Morgan, Thomas Alva Edison, Abigail Adams, and Ralph Waldo Emerson, to name but a few offered in this fascinating collection.Who wouldn't want to know the origin of "the opera ain't over till the fat lady sings?" This uniquely American proverb and many more are gathered together in A Dictionary of American Proverbs. A great resource for students and scholars of literature, psychology, folklore, linguistics, anthropology, and cultural history, this endlessly intriguing volume is also a delightful companion for anyone with an interest in American culture.

A rock 'n' roll band to die for? Callie is about to find out.... Not much happens in fourteen-year-old Callie McCallan's sleepy Massachusetts town. So when the famous rock 'n' roll band, Brass Rat, schedules a concert in the Valley, it's big news. As a reporter for her school paper, Callie scores the scoop of a lifetime--a backstage pass to interview the lead singer of Brass Rat! Her friends are so jealous. But Callie isn't sure what the fuss is all about...until she meets the band. Lead singer Peter Gringras and his band mates are so cool. Especially Peter. When he plays his flute, it's as if he has some kind of hypnotic power. But there is something strange about the band, something Callie can't quite put her finger on. Maybe she's just being weird, but it's as if they're from here--but not from here--at the same time. It's when, on Halloween night, Callie's little brother Nicky disappears--along with all the other children of Northampton--that she begins to wonder if her suspicions are so weird after all. It's crazy, but Callie thinks she knows why the children have disappeared--and who took them. To prove it--and to rescue Nicky and the other children--Callie will be forced down a road that will lead to her to a mythical world filled with fantastical creatures. A world from which there may be no return.... At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

This book examines both 'old media' treatment of crime legends: news reports, fictional film and television depictions, as well as 'new' media interactive discussions of them via the Internet and electronic mail.

A New Year's resolution given in a moment of frivolity must be upheld when masks come off, leaving identities--and hearts--revealed. A blizzard and a masquerade ball provide Colin Randolph with the chance to convince Sophie Teasdale the man of her dreams has been by her side all along.

Those tales of old—King Arthur, Robin Hood, The Crusades, Marco Polo, Joan of Arc—have been told and retold, and the tradition of their telling has been gloriously upheld by filmmaking from its very inception. From the earliest of Georges Méliès’s films in 1897, to a 1996 animated Hunchback of Notre Dame, film has offered not just fantasy but exploration of these roles so vital to the modern psyche. St. Joan has undergone the transition from peasant girl to self-assured saint, and Camelot has transcended the soundstage to evoke the Kennedys in the White House. Here is the first comprehensive survey of more than 900 cinematic depictions of the European Middle Ages—date of production, country of origin, director, production company, cast, and a synopsis and commentary. A bibliography, index, and over 100 stills complete this remarkable work.