Spoken Here

Whether on the other side of the world or in our own backyard, languages everywhere are fading into oblivion. Mark Abley explores what the human family stands to lose — and explains why some endangered languages continue to thrive. Within the next couple of generations, most of the world’s 6000 languages will vanish, due mainly to the unstoppable tide of English. With an open mind and a well-worn passport, award-winning journalist and poet Mark Abley tells entertaining and vital stories about why languages matter. From Oklahoma to Provence, aboriginal Australia to Baffin Island, the cultures are radically different, but the problems of shrinking linguistic and cultural richness are painfully similar. Abley’s investigation provides a stunning glimpse of the beauty and intricacies of languages like Yiddish and Yuchi, Mohawk and Manx, Inuktitut and Provençal. More importantly, it offers a sympathetic and memorable portrait of the people who still speak languages under threat. When a language dies out, gone too are stories that have been told for centuries, unique ways of seeing the world, and perhaps even ways of solving problems both large and small. Abley believes we must see languages as abundant sources of richness, wonder and usefulness. And he shows that hope still exists: that the determination of even one person can revive a whole language and its culture, in the process creating something new, changing and alive — exactly what languages do best.

Wrestling Spoken Here follows the main character Robbie and his friend Matt through Robbie's first season as a high school athlete. Readers will enjoy the combination of humor and drama which develops in the story. High School sophomore Robbie Renfro is not the most confident young man in the world. He has grown up in a working class neighborhood, has a disgruntled father that drinks too much, and a problem with the neighborhood bully looming on the horizon. Robbie is by no means a natural, but his efforts lead to a growing confidence both on and off the mat. He must deal with competition, with issues at home, and with local bully Jake the "Snake." Racial tension interjects itself as Jake picks a fight with one of Robbie's black teammates, a situation that places Robbie in the middle of troubling issues. "I read it from cover to cover in one sitting." Former N.C. State head coach Jerry Daniels "It took me back to high school." Dr. Jim Decker, East Carolina University

A marvelously funny piece of Southern humor and a language-lover's delight, this book preserves and explains the South's linguistic heritage with some 3,000 specimens of the region's most picturesque, metaphorical, and gloriously inventive speech.

To Tony Montanaro, mime is "eloquent gesture", with or without words, with or without props. For 40 years, Tony has been a celebrated mime, at the top of his field, but his approach in this book is more than a lesson in theatre -- it's a lesson in communication. Actors, musicians, and performers of all types will benefit from Tony's techniques and insight.

Blink Spoken Here is a powerful tale of a family's rare twenty-seven year journey with ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease). It is told through the eyes of the patient, Christopher Pendergast and his wife Christine. The book takes the reader on a roller coaster ride to dizzying heights and abysmal lows experienced in the world of ALS. With un-sugared words, the couple reveal intimate, disturbing, frustrating, gut wrenching and life altering experiences. It is also an uplifting, joyous portrayal of indomitable strength, courage, faith, and ultimate triumph. The authors blend prose and poetry to produce a captivating glimpse into their inspirational lives with ALS. What these two ordinary people achieved through the darkest of times to become nationally recognized within the ALS community becomes self-evident on the pages of this extraordinary book of hope.