Secondhand Origin Stories

An outsider with superheroic ambitions A near-invincible teen with infamous powers A prodigy with treasonous technology A frail girl with a family legacy A supervillian with mysterious motives And a family fractured by secrets Content Warnings: Please note that this work contains some elements that may cause distress to some people. This includes instances of misgendering, ableism, intense family conflict, racism, mention of systemic injustice, and mild animal endangerment. The author encourages anyone with specific trigger warning questions to reach out for "spoilery" information if they are concerned about the impact this may have on their wellbeing, and want further information. Please prioritize your needs when reading.

Opal has been planning to go to Chicago and join the Midwest's superhero team, the Sentinels, since she was a little kid. That dream took on a more urgent tone when her superpowered dad was unjustly arrested for protecting a neighbor from an abusive situation. Now, she wants to be a superhero not only to protect people, but to get a platform to tell the world about the injustices of the Altered Persons Bureau, the government agency for everything relating to superpowers. But just after Opal's high school graduation, a supervillain with a jet and unclear motives attacks the downtown home of the Sentinels, and when Opal arrives, she finds a family on the brink of breaking apart. She meets a boy who's been developing secret (and illegal) brain-altering nanites right under the Sentinel's noses, another teenage superhero-hopeful who looks suspiciously like a long-dead supervillain, and the completely un-superpowered daughter of the Sentinels' leader. Can four teens on the fringes of the superhero world handle the corruption, danger, and family secrets they've unearthed?

"'Second-Hand Stories : 15 Portraits of Louisville' is a cultural, political and social snapshot of Kentucky's largest city. Written between 1993 and 2005, the articles in this book highlight major figurers and movements in Louisville history."--Back cover.

Providing interdisciplinary and global perspectives, this book examines historical and contemporary changes in secondhand economies, including the emergence and specialization of secondhand venues, the materials involved, as well as the cultural significance of secondhand things and the professions associated with them. The objects in focus range from used clothing, scrap and waste materials, to antiquities and used cars, thrift stores and circular economies. Growing concerns with sustainability in the West have helped bring about the ‘rediscovery’ of practices of clothing re-use, re-purposing and re-cycling at the same time as major high-street retailers are establishing programs to return used clothing to their stores for re-sale or recycling. As the contributions to this edited volume demonstrate, recent concerns with the fast pace and adverse effects of global commodity flows have increased the scholarly attention to secondhand economies, both in terms of their history and their significance for livelihoods and sustainability. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the journal, Business History.

During the winter of 2018, second grade students read, compared, and discussed numerous pourquoi tales, also known as origin stories. Then, students used their knowledge of pourquois to create their own using the writing process (plan, draft, revise, edit, publish- all while collecting feedback). Second graders were so excited to type their own tales as well! Students illustrated their stories with collages using self- made paper. Each of the 23 pourquoi tales contains the hard work of a seven or eight year old- I hope you enjoy reading their work and remembering the excitement of childhood imagination. --Elizabeth Park, Second Grade Teacher

The Merovingian centuries were a foundational period in the historical consciousness of western Europe, and their stories were shaped through a process of historiographical adaptation across a millennium. This expert commentary is for scholars interested in early medieval history and historiography.